1 New Orleans Opera Association Archives 99 boxes/68 linear ft Special Collections & Archives J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library Loyola University New Orleans Collection 74 2 Contents Collection Summary ....................................................................................................................... 3 Series Description .......................................................................................................................... 7 Container List ................................................................................................................................. 8 Series I: Administrative Files ..................................................................................................... 8 Subseries I-A: Artist Fees ...................................................................................................... 8 Subseries I-B: Awards and Grants ......................................................................................... 8 Subseries I-C: Board of Directors 1943-1999 ........................................................................ 9 Subseries I-D: Budgets ........................................................................................................ 10 Subseries I-E: Clubs and Guilds .......................................................................................... 10 Subseries I-F: Correspondence ............................................................................................ 10 Subseries I-G: Facilities and Sets ......................................................................................... 10 Subseries I-H: Personnel Files ............................................................................................. 11 Subseries I-I: Publications ................................................................................................... 27 Series II: Productions ............................................................................................................... 28 Subseries II-A: Production Files .......................................................................................... 28 Subseries II-B: Programs ..................................................................................................... 31 Subseries II-C: Non-NOOA Productions ............................................................................. 33 Series III: Publicity .................................................................................................................. 34 Subseries III-A: Concert Series & Special Events ............................................................... 34 Subseries III-B: Marketing .................................................................................................. 34 Subseries III-C: News and Reviews ..................................................................................... 35 Subseries III-D: Microfilm and Data Cartridges .................................................................. 36 Subseries III-E: Public Relations ......................................................................................... 36 Subseries III-F: Posters ........................................................................................................ 37 Series IV: Images and Media ................................................................................................... 38 Subseries IV-A: Piano Rolls ................................................................................................ 38 Subseries IV-B: Images ....................................................................................................... 38 Subseries IV-C: Women’s Guild Scrapbooks ...................................................................... 40 Subseries IV-D: Audiocassette Tapes .................................................................................. 40 Subseries IV-E: Videos ........................................................................................................ 44 Subseries IV-F: Reel-to-reel Audiotapes (unprocessed) ...................................................... 47 Appendix A: Chronological List of NOOA Performances ........................................................... 48 Appendix B: Index to Performances by Title ............................................................................... 61 Appendix C: Alternate Opera Titles ............................................................................................. 64 Appendix D: List of New Orleans Opera Administrators…………………………………….….66 3 New Orleans Opera Association Archives Reference Code Collection 74 Name and Location of Repository Special Collections & Archives, J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans Title New Orleans Opera Association Archives Date 1916-2015, bulk 1943-2015 Extent 99 boxes Name of Creator New Orleans Opera Association Administrative/Biographical History The first documented opera staged in New Orleans was Ernest Grétry's Sylvain, performed in 1796. New Orleans has staged operas on almost a yearly basis ever since. The New Orleans Opera Association (NOOA), one of the oldest continually performing opera companies in the country, was formed in 1943, and began performing at the New Orleans Municipal Auditorium that fall. NOOA performers include not only local singers, many of whom went on to illustrious careers (Norman Treigle, Charles Anthony, Audrey Schuh, and Anthony Laciura being just a few), but also internationally recognized performers from around the world such as Dame Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills, Plácido Domingo, Birgit Nilsson, Richard Tucker, and many others. Due to its French heritage, NOOA has a history of performing rare French operas largely unperformed elsewhere in the United States in addition to performances of standard repertoire and world premieres. Almost from its inception in 1943 NOOA staged its regular season in the Municipal Auditorium. Since midway through the 1972/73 season, the company has performed at the Theatre of Performing Arts (now the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts) adjacent to the old Auditorium in Louis Armstrong Park. 4 In 1956 NOOA launched the Experimental Opera Theatre of America (EOTA), a program for developing and training young singers, and it continued from 1958 to 1960. The NOOA Women’s Guild was formed in 1947 to promote and support NOOA. One of the many events produced by the Women’s Guild is the annual Opera Ball, a fundraising event that includes an auction. Since 1966 the Guild has also operated the Opera Guild Home, a Garden District mansion whose event rental profits benefit NOOA. In 1998 former New Orleans Opera General Director Arthur Cosenza created the MetroPelican Opera, an education and outreach touring ensemble. MetroPelican artists, as the name implies, have performed throughout “Metro” New Orleans and the “Pelican” State in a variety of repertoire. For many years the Association maintained its own studios for the construction and storage of props and scenery. This operation was greatly expanded in January 1984 with the dedication of the H. Lloyd Hawkins Scenic Studio in Metairie. There the Association maintains an inventory of sets and props, many of which have been rented to opera companies throughout North America. Scope and Content The New Orleans Opera Association Archives documents the business and creative operations of NOOA from its inception in 1943 to 2015. The contents of the collection were donated to Special Collections & Archives over the course of over a decade starting in 2003. Special Collections & Archives continues to receive programs of ongoing performances; these will be added to the collection annually (Subseries II-B: NOOA Programs). Board minutes, budgets, personnel files, promotional materials, and media documenting both performances and outreach efforts are just some of the facets of this collection. The business operations of NOOA are detailed in Series I: Administrative Files, while a complete timeline of NOOA’s performances can be compiled using the materials in Series II: Productions. Evidence of marketing and outreach activities are contained in Series III: Publicity. The collection contains a wealth of audio and visual media including photos, programs, posters, video, and sound recordings which recreate NOOA productions throughout the company’s existence in Series IV: Images and Media. The reel-to-reel tapes in the collection were recorded at the Municipal Auditorium using state- of-the-art stage microphones. System of Arrangement When possible, and when apparent, the original order of the collection was maintained. For sections of the collection, however, an arrangement scheme was imposed during processing in the absence of a usable original order. The collection is divided into series and then further into subseries. Because NOOA frequently performed the same opera many times but under slight name variations (different languages, different 5 capitalizations, etc.), the titles of operas were standardized using Uniform Titles for the purposes of this finding aid. The actual titles used for a given performance may vary from what appears in the finding aid; an appendix of alternate titles appears in the back of this document. Conditions Governing Access The collection is open for research use. Physical Access Most of the audiovisual items in the collection (Series IV, Subseries D-F) are fragile and in need of migration to newer and more stable formats. In addition, Special