History

In 2002 the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre’s Young Artist Program was created, under the guidance of Dr. Kleinknecht and stage director, Gerald Dolter, an Iowa native and current professor of music at Texas Tech University. The Young Artist Program gives undergraduate and graduate college and university students from all over the United States, who are majoring in vocal performance, an opportunity to sing in opera choruses and to participate in their own fully staged productions. To date, the Young Artists have performed Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Gondoliers, Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte and Candide by American composer Leonard Bernstein.

Additionally, the Young Artists regularly present free performances to Cedar Rapids area elementary schools, local hospitals and the Iowa Children’s Museum of unique children’s one-act operas in conjunction with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre’s January mainstage production including Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing, Why Dinosaurs Don’t Smoke, Goldilocks, Jack & the Beanstalk, The Night Harry Stopped Smoking, Little Red’s Most Unusual Day, and Herman the Horse: A Healthy Tail.