50th Anniversary Activities
As we celebrate our 50th Anniversary Season, we aren’t just reflecting on five decades of groundbreaking opera productions…we’re also examining how we fulfill a year-round commitment to our community. Our investment in St. Louis stretches far beyond the confines of our season every May and June. Throughout the year, OTSL is present in neighborhoods across the St. Louis region, bringing opera to new audiences and creating spaces for diverse voices to be heard. We hope to see you at one of the many events offered during our 50th Anniversary!
Event information
- Thursday Night at the Museum – July 31, 6:30 p.m.
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Tennessee Williams Tribute Performance: Streetcar and Beyond – August 10, 7:00 p.m.
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Patricia Sings Piaf – October 9, 8:00 p.m
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Festival Season Preview at World Chess Hall of Fame – October 16, 6:00 p.m
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Music as the Message Retreat – March 20–21 (2026)
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Music as the Message Concert – March 22 (2026)
Ongoing / To Be Announced:
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Belonging in Opera Series – 5th Anniversary in 2026
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Artwork & Arias – Date TBA | Contemporary Art Museum
Calendar of Community Activities
Music as the Message
Music as the Message Retreat: March 20 & 21 | Contemporary Art MuseumÂ
Music as the Message Concert: March 22Â Â
Celebrated soprano Adrienne Danrich puts a new spin on her program Music as the Message. Adrienne will host a ticketed retreat to explore music as medicine and healing through art at the Contemporary Art Museum, followed by a Music as the Message concert focused on creating community and uplifting spirits.
Stay tuned for more information about these ongoing programs:Â
An American Solider (2018) - (L to R) Andrew Stenson as Danny Chen and Kathleen Kim as Josephine Young in the world premiere of Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang's "An American Soldier" Photo (C) Ken Howard, 2018
Belonging in Opera Series
In 2021, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, in partnership with WashU’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE2) and Department of Music, began a multi-year exploration of race and opera.
In Spring 2026, the partners will commemorate the five-year anniversary of Belonging in Opera with a slate of activities surrounding a performance of the opera The Tongue and The Lash. The opera imagines a private conversation between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr., following the historic 1965 Cambridge Union debate over the motion “Is the American Dream at the Expense of the American Negro?” Baldwin, arguing the affirmative, won. Though their debate took place over sixty years ago, its themes remain strikingly relevant today.
View the full schedule of activities
Festival Season Preview at World Chess Hall of Fame
Join us for a special preview of Opera Theatre’s 2026 Festival Season and hear the “greatest hits” from the company’s upcoming productions, sung by OTSL’s outstanding Gerdine Young Artists.Â
Presented by the World Chess Hall of Fame
Festival Season Preview at the St. Louis County Library
April 25 | 6:00pm | St. Louis County Library – Clark Family Branch
Four of Opera Theatre’s Gerdine Young Artists will offer musical excerpts from Opera Theatre’s 2026 Festival Season in the beautiful setting of the St. Louis County Library’s Clark Family Branch. All ages are welcome!
Artwork & Arias Â
Spend an evening experiencing connections between opera and the visual arts. In this curated program of arias, the powerful voices of OTSL artists resonate with themes and emotions also explored by visual artists in an exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum.
Spend an evening experiencing connections between opera and the visual arts. In this curated program of arias, the powerful voices of OTSL artists resonate with themes and emotions also explored by visual artists in the exhibition And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth at the Contemporary Art Museum.
Co-presented with Contemporary Art Museum
More information to come
Explore the 2026 Festival Season
Season tickets on sale now! Save up to 15% off and snag exclusive subscriber benefits.
Subscribe and get special perks!
- 15% off regular ticket prices
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- and more!