Journey North Opera Company

A grass-roots opera company with a bold mission to ask...

...What becomes possible when you shed the trappings of BIG opera productions... When the space between performers and audience members is measured in feet instead of yards... When you perform works by living composers and under-represented voices... When creativity is fueled by connection... When the stories we tell on stage are the stories that matter in your world?

At Journey North Opera Company, great music and great theater are just the beginning. We're reinvigorating opera through cross-disciplinary partnerships. We're working to remove barriers to entry, to diversify our programming, and to connect with diverse groups of people in our community.  We're confronting the problematic conventions of the repertoire and of the industry. We're stripping down stereotypes and embracing complexity.

We're making art that speaks to you and makes the world a better, more beautiful place to live.  

Creating Connection, Challenging Convention.  Join us. Support Journey North Opera today.

What will your donation do? 

As a small company, your donation is the difference between not the quality of the art we can make, but whether we can make art at all.  80% of our annual budget goes directly to the artists that create your experience - singers, directors, musicians, conductors, set, lighting and costume designers, choreographers, dancers and countless other collaborative partners who are essential to our mission and the quality of our work. 

The other 20% of our annual budget goes to the "trappings" - rehearsal and performance venues; performing rights; costumes, sets and props; scores ... you know... the non-essentials ;)  

Upcoming Productions Include:

• Changing the Narrative Concert and Story hour
  • Women and nonbinary artists have had to endure sexism, harassment, and worse as just a "normal" part of being in the performance industry. Through Changing the Narrative, we help shed light on artists' experiences and let artists share stories in their own words and perform a pieces that reflect their feelings in an open and safe environment.
  • Performed at Urban Growler Brewing in St. Paul, Minnesota's first women-owned microbrewery!
• OperaTease
  • Our ongoing series that pairs opera with cirque, burlesque, and more! Join us for fun and a fusion of the arts in both indoor and outdoor settings!

Past Shows:

September 2023: The Minnesota Premiere of Nico Muhly's Dark Sisters

•  Our 2023 mainstage production at The Southern Theater in Minneapolis
• DARK SISTERS follows one woman’s dangerous attempt to escape her life as a member of the FLDS Church (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints), a sect that split from mainstream Mormonism in the early 20th Century largely because of the LDS Church’s renunciation of polygamy. The male founders of the Mormon faith (Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, chief among them) loom large in American history; Dark Sisters puts the women front and center. 
• Cast of 6 women, 1 man - in keeping with our company goals of bringing treble voices front and center

November 2022: Missy Mazzoli's Proving Up - The Southern Theater, Minneapolis

•  Proving Up is a one-act opera based on the short story by Karen Russel on hope, disillusionment and the American Dream.  

September 2019: Britten's The Rape of Lucretia - Minnsky Theatre, NE Minneapolis

• Employed 8 singers, 13 orchestra members, and 9 creative and tech team members
• Brought an updated feminist viewpoint to this timely story

Reviews:

• Star Tribune
• Schmopera.com
• Twin Cities Arts Reader
• Life in Revue

January 2015: Hansel and Gretel–North Minneapolis

• Provided performance opportunities to 28 musicians
• Brought affordable, high-quality art to the North Minneapolis community 
• Free admission for the students of Plymouth Christian Youth Center

May/June 2014: Ariadne auf Naxos - Dinkytown/NE Minneapolis

• Served hundreds of members of the Minneapolis community
• Provided 13 young artists challenging performance experience
• Free admission to the residents of Catholic Eldercare

Support us in our mission to share affordable, innovative opera and promote local talent!