Fifty years of life, work, or marriage are events worth celebrating. Such celebrations rarely come without the acknowledgement of both periods of growth and success and also challenges along the way. And so it has been for Calgary Opera.
Contrary to the tradition of humble beginnings, professional opera in Calgary came into being abruptly, initiated by typical western entrepreneurial bravado, and with more than a tinge of inter-city rivalry. Prior to the founding of the Calgary Opera Association in 1972, opera in Calgary had generally been a hit-and-miss affair, consisting mostly of touring productions by the Canadian Opera Company, leavened with occasional local amateur ventures. But virtually overnight, Calgary, at the time a brash, Johnny-come-lately prairie city, fixed on the Calgary Stampede and petrodollars, became the home of a professional…