iu opera and ballet theater

Opera-lovers everywhere should journey to Bloomington Indiana to see and hear wonderful performances of old favorites and innovative works. Indiana University's Musical Arts Center ("MAC") is one of the finest opera venues anywhere. Comparable in size and technical sophistication to New York's famous Metropolitan Opera House, the MAC is a wonderful place for both patrons and performers. The stage sets, designed and built by IU staff and students, are second to none in imagination and lavish beauty. Last, but certainly not least, are the performances themselves! In the pit, the orchestra is comprised of talented students of the famed Jacobs School of Music and regularly directed by nationally famous conductors. The singers, almost always of excellent quality, are undergraduate and graduate students at IU. For years, Jane and I have held season tickets to the IU Opera. Five or six times a year we make the hour's drive from Indianapolis southward to the IU campus at Bloomington for a dinner with friends at one of the town's fine restaurants then to be followed by wonderful operatic performances. We often attend Chicago's Lyric Opera and regularly see New York's Met live in HD. But we are so lucky to have the world-class IU Opera so close to our Indianapolis home.

The world-class operas with stage settings that draw applause from the audience every performance brings young student artists to the stage who will soon grace the top world stages. The training these students get at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University is revealed by the quality of what we hear and see. Each event leaves you in awe of the talent in the stage and yet so young! One cannot wait for the next event!

I took my daughter to her first opera here and the seats in the first balcony were amazing and were an excellent price. We will definitely return for another performance in the future.

The Nutcracker (ballet/musical) in December is amazing. We have World renowned opera singers, one in particular that you have to hear is Sylvia McNair -- however, these two examples are just a drop into a five-pound bucket of what IU has to offer... Go to IU.EDU and look up all of the areas of interest - and make a trip here!~