Odyssey Opera

In September 2013, Rose founded Odyssey Opera, a Boston-based opera company that is dedicated to the production and performance of dynamic, eclectic, and historically important but underperformed operatic repertoire.

Odyssey Opera presents adventurous and eclectic works that affirm opera as a powerful expression of the human experience. Its world-class artists perform the operatic repertoire from its historic beginnings through lesser-known masterpieces to contemporary new works and commissions in a variety of formats and venues. Odyssey Opera sets standards of high musical and theatrical excellence and innovative programming to advance the operatic genre beyond the familiar and into undiscovered territory. Odyssey Opera takes its audience on a journey to places they've never been before.

The company made its debut in September 2013, with a concert production of Wagner's six hour long Rienzi. Since then, Odyssey Opera has continued to garner unanimous acclaim from both the press and public for the more than thirty operas it has brought to Boston. In what has become an Odyssey tradition, it has heralded the beginning of the classical music season with a concert production of a rarely performed grand opera, including Jules Massenet’s Le Cid, starring internationally acclaimed tenor Paul Groves; Antonin Dvořák’s Dimitrij, which introduced Aleš Briscein to American audiences; and the restored versions of Charles Gounod’s La reine de Saba and Camille Saint-Saëns’s Henry VIII.

In the fall of 2015, Odyssey Opera released their first commercial recording, Pietro Mascagni's Zanetto. Their second release in 2018 featured three one-act operas by Dominick Argento followed by a three-disc, world premiere recording of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s The Importance of Being Earnest in 2019. Future releases include the world premiere recording of Gounod’s original La reine de Saba and Saint-Saëns’s Henry VIII. Odyssey Opera also appears on releases by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, including the GRAMMY® Award-winning Tobias Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox and Norman Dello Joio: The Trial at Rouen, which also earned a nomination.

In 2017, Odyssey Opera was part of the New York City Opera’s celebration of the 90th birthday of American composer Dominick Argento at Carnegie Hall. They remounted their 2014 production of two one-act operas: Miss Havisham's Wedding Night, and A Water Bird Talk, adapted from Chekhov's play On the Harmfulness of Tobacco and John James Audubon's Birds of America.

In 2020 Odyssey Opera, in collaboration with BMOP, presented the world premiere of Arnold Rosner’s The Chronicle of Nine, about the tragic nine-day reign of Lady Jane Grey. Odyssey Opera’s and BMOP’s fourth commercial recording together will be released on BMOP/sound in 2021.

Since their debut, Odyssey Opera has distinguished itself in the opera industry for their strong thematic seasons—The British Invasion, When in Rome, Wilde Opera Nights, Trial by Fire, GounOdyssey, Helen of Troy, and The Tudors, all resulting in critical acclaim and a growing audience.

Odyssey Opera has been hailed by The New York Times as “intriguing” and “bold,” named by WBUR “2017 Company of the Year,” and declared by New York Arts as “indispensable by providing skillful and inspired productions of operatic rarities with impressive casts.” This young company has produced thirty-five operas in six seasons, including three world premieres, two US premieres, and nineteen Boston premieres while working with a roster of international singers and directors.

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