Youth Opera Company of OCM

04/26/2026

04/24/2026

What?! A week has almost gone by and we haven't shared photos with you of our deeply wonderful production LA GIORNATA!!! Music Director Mary Jane Austin collaborated with 13 young singers from ages 10-19 in a dramatic staging of all 24 of the Italian Songs and Arias of the 17th and 18th centuries. A script by co-founder and director Sarah Cullins weaved the stories together, based on the characters of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (see if you can tell who some of the characters were from these photos) and narrated by the fabulous Jonathan Isham. Enthusiastic, supportive, generous audiences greeted us in Barre, Middlebury, Montpelier and South Burlington! THANK YOU to the singers, their families, our Youth Opera Committee, our Production Manager Benjamin Weiss, our intern Elsie Pawul, and ALL who lent a hand!

04/18/2026

Our singers performed last night at the Barre Social Club as a collaboration with the Vermont Italian Cultural Association to preview this weekend of shows!

Don't feel too bad if you missed it, you still have three chances to see ☀️Una Giornata 🌑, an original opera continuing the story of Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi!

Come see these wonderful singers this weekend!

APRIL 18th
7pm at Champlain Valley Universalist Unitarian Society in Middlebury
APRIL 19th
2pm at The Montpelier Performing Arts Hub
7pm at Faith United Methodist Church in S. Burlington

04/18/2026

What a beautiful night at the Barre Social Club with the Vermont Italian Cultural Association!! If you haven’t yet been to the Club, make it the NEXT spot on your list to try out - relaxed, stylish, friendly and funky with the most wonderful hosts! Thank you to our enthusiastic audience too - we had a blast previewing La giornata, wich opens TONIGHT in Middlebury!

04/14/2026

Great exercises! Hmmm we may have to incorporate some into our warm-ups for La giornata…!

04/14/2026

Yes!

04/14/2026

It's performance week, and we're getting ready! Are you?

We have new hoodie colors! Available for purchase at our Una giornata shows for $40.

Our singers have completed their dress rehearsal and are ready to perform for you!

Save the dates!

APRIL 18th
7pm at Champlain Valley Universalist Unitarian Society in Middlebury
APRIL 19th
2pm at The Montpelier Performing Arts Hub
7pm at Faith United Methodist Church in S. Burlington

01/01/2026

From all of us at Opera Company of Middlebury's Youth Opera, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It's been an amazing year of growth and giving back, of opportunities and collaborations, and lots and lots of joy and beautiful singing!!

Youth Opera singers had the opportunity to collaborate with their peers from the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association in an all-Mozart production called Dear Diary and then with YOC alumni in a Meet the Singers: YOC alumni edition concert.

Several YOC singers also performed roles in the OCM Young Artist Program's production of Gianni Schicchi while others sang in the ensemble of the mainstage production of La Boheme!

Over the summer, a cast of nine current and former Youth Opera singers joined together to offer nine Project Serenade concerts in senior residences, kicking-off the season with our annual Shelburne Vineyard benefit concert.

In the fall, our after-school program mastered diction in FIVE languages to perform musical theater and light-opera selections in our Cabaret on 46th production. Meanwhile, we continued our annual school residency program, thanks to a Vermont Arts Council Artist-in-Schools grant, to rehearse and produce Purcell's Dido and Aeneas within a choral curriculum, this year at Champlain Valley Union High School.

Visit www.ocmvermont.org to learn more and make your gift to the Annual Fund (Education programs) to support our work!

Happy New Year!
Sarah Cullins and Mary Jane Austin