New Orleans Opera Association Archives
Scope and Contents
The New Orleans Opera Association Archives documents the business and creative operations of NOOA from its inception in 1943 to 2015. The contents of the collection were donated to Special Collections & Archives over the course of over a decade starting in 2003. Special Collections & Archives continues to receive programs of ongoing performances; these will be added to the collection annually (Subseries II-B: NOOA Programs). Board minutes, budgets, personnel files, promotional materials, and media documenting both performances and outreach efforts are just some of the facets of this collection. The business operations of NOOA are detailed in Series I: Administrative Files, while a complete timeline of NOOA’s performances can be compiled using the materials in Series II: Productions. Evidence of marketing and outreach activities are contained in Series III: Publicity. The collection contains a wealth of audio and visual media including photos, programs, posters, video, and sound recordings which recreate NOOA productions throughout the company’s existence in Series IV: Images and Media. The reel-to-reel tapes in the collection were recorded at the Municipal Auditorium using state-of-the-art stage microphones.
Dates
- Created: 1916-2015
- Other: Majority of material found in 1943-2015
- Other: Date acquired: 07/09/2013
Creator
- New Orleans Opera Association (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Most of the audiovisual items in the collection (Series IV, Subseries D-F) are fragile and in need of migration to newer and more stable formats. In addition, Special Collections & Archives does not have the required equipment to play some of the formats. As such, access to these items may be restricted. Please consult with Special Collections & Archives staff for physical access to the collection.
Conditions Governing Use
Physical rights are retained by the J. Edgar & Louis S. Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. Copyright Laws.
Biographical or Historical Information
The first documented opera staged in New Orleans was Ernest Grétry's Sylvain, performed in 1796. New Orleans has staged operas on almost a yearly basis ever since. The New Orleans Opera Association (NOOA), one of the oldest continually performing opera companies in the country, was formed in 1943, and began performing at the New Orleans Municipal Auditorium that fall. NOOA performers include not only local singers, many of whom went on to illustrious careers (Norman Treigle, Charles Anthony, Audrey Schuh, and Anthony Laciura being just a few), but also internationally recognized performers from around the world such as Dame Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills, Plácido Domingo, Birgit Nilsson, Richard Tucker, and many others. Due to its French heritage, NOOA has a history of performing rare French operas largely unperformed elsewhere in the United States in addition to performances of standard repertoire and world premieres. Almost from its inception in 1943 NOOA staged its regular season in the Municipal Auditorium. Since midway through the 1972/73 season, the company has performed at the Theatre of Performing Arts (now the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts) adjacent to the old Auditorium in Louis Armstrong Park. In 1956 NOOA launched the Experimental Opera Theatre of America (EOTA), a program for developing and training young singers, and it continued from 1958 to 1960. The NOOA Women’s Guild was formed in 1947 to promote and support NOOA. One of the many events produced by the Women’s Guild is the annual Opera Ball, a fundraising event that includes an auction. Since 1966 the Guild has also operated the Opera Guild Home, a Garden District mansion whose event rental profits benefit NOOA. In 1998 former New Orleans Opera General Director Arthur Cosenza created the MetroPelican Opera, an education and outreach touring ensemble. MetroPelican artists, as the name implies, have performed throughout “Metro” New Orleans and the “Pelican” State in a variety of repertoire. For many years the Association maintained its own studios for the construction and storage of props and scenery. This operation was greatly expanded in January 1984 with the dedication of the H. Lloyd Hawkins Scenic Studio in Metairie. There the Association maintains an inventory of sets and props, many of which have been rented to opera companies throughout North America.
Note written by
Extent
99.00 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement Note
When possible, and when apparent, the original order of the collection was maintained. For sections of the collection, however, an arrangement scheme was imposed during processing in the absence of a usable original order. The collection is divided into series and then further into subseries. Because NOOA frequently performed the same opera many times but under slight name variations (different languages, different capitalizations, etc.), the titles of operas were standardized using Uniform Titles for the purposes of this finding aid. The actual titles used for a given performance may vary from what appears in the finding aid; an appendix of alternate titles appears in the back of this document.
Custodial History
This collection was received around a decade before the Deed of Gift was signed.
Source of Acquisition
New Orleans Opera Association
Method of Acquisition
Gift, 2012.02
Accruals and Additions
SCA may continue receiving additional programs from NOOA.
Existence and Location of Originals
multi-part note content
Other Descriptive Information
Programs digitized and available at http://cdm16313.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/p16313coll95
Creator
- New Orleans Opera Association (Organization)
- Title
- New Orleans Opera Association Archives
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Elizabeth Kelly and Jack Belsom
- Date
- 11/30/2015
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
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Repository Details
Part of the J. Edgar and Louis S. Monroe Library, Special Collections & Archives Repository