Center for Contemporary Opera

We are committed to producing opera written after 1945. The mission has been going strong for 36 seasons. Dedicated to produce contemporary opera and music-theatre in New York, nationally and abroad. To commission new work, and to nourish the composers, performers and producers of that work. The Center for Contemporary Opera, founded in 1982 by Richard Marshall and Robert Ward in New York, is devoted to developing, producing, and promoting new opera and music-theater works and to reviving neglected operas written since WW2. CCO has developed a tradition of bringing European opera to the American stage, and of taking American works abroad. Over 38 seasons, the company has produced over 150 operas by 85 composers, 20 of them world premieres. Although we are the nation’s oldest opera company devoted to contemporary opera, CCO is very much a work in progress. As CCO prepares to enter its fourth decade, we embrace the vital subjects of the day, from social justice to issues of climate and sustainability.