Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra

The Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra was a non-profit, professional opera company and orchestra founded under that name in 1993 and based in Stamford, Connecticut, in the United States. By uniting several organizations including the then-Connecticut Grand Opera in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the Stamford Chamber Orchestra under the general director and conductor Laurence Gilgore, the opera company and orchestra came together as one organization.[1][2] The amalgamated company is often referred to as CGO&O.

CGO&O is a member of OPERA America and has received critical praise from The New York Times, [3] London's The Financial Times, [citation needed], Opera News, [citation needed], Opera magazine, [citation needed] and The New Yorker.[citation needed]

The company presents three fully staged operas each year. In August 1985, under General Manager John Hiddlestone, it became the third American opera company ever to have been invited to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival with Menotti's The Consul. [4]

Past productions having featured artists such as Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes, Alessandra Marc, Peter Serkin, and Renée Fleming, as well as directors Arvin Brown and Tom O'Horgan.

According to Form 990 Tax forms, they terminated their non-profit activities in 2012 [5]

  1. ^ Valerie Cruice, "Opera and Orchestra in Merger Con Brio", The New York Times, 20 September 1992 Retrieved 29 January 2012
  2. ^ "Forty-five minutes to Broadway. . ." on OperaOnline.us Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 29 January 2012
  3. ^ Sherman, Robert (1997) [May 25, 1997]. "Opera and Orchestra's Youth and Experience". The New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  4. ^ Performances at the Leith Theatre, including those of the Edinburgh International Festival on friendsofleiththeatre.wordpress.com. Retrieved 29 January 2012
  5. ^ https://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2012/061/362/2012-061362686-08805957-9.pdf [bare URL PDF]