Opera Theatre Of St. Louis

Name

Opera Theatre Of St. Louis

Legal name

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

Website

https://opera-stl.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1976

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Opera Performing Arts

NAICS

Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (711110), Performing Arts Companies (7111), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Opera & Operetta (MPAGABAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Theater & Performing Arts Venue Operations (Playhouses, Opera Houses) (MPAGALAB), Classical & Contemporary Theatre (Plays/Drama) (MPAGABAH), Performing Arts, Music & Theatre Group Tours (THAKAGAH)

Keywords

• Opera performances
• Performing arts education
• Music festival programming
• Arts nonprofit services
• Opera production services

Headquarters

HQ city

St Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Revenue from season subscriptions, single tickets, and group sales for festival performances and educational programming
2. Individual Donations: Philanthropic contributions from individual donors and supporters
3. Corporate Sponsorship: Sponsorship funding from corporate partners including Bayer Fund, Berges Family Foundation, and others
4. Government/Foundation Grants: Funding from Missouri Arts Council, Regional Arts Commission, Mellon Foundation, and other institutional funders

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presents an annual spring festival season of four mainstage opera productions performed in English during May and June at the Loretto-Hilton Center, with casts of rising opera singers accompanied live by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. The company supplements this with year-round programs including the Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training Program for high school singers, the Gerdine Young Artist and Richard Gaddes Festival Artist programs for emerging professionals, the New Works Collective commissioning initiative, Opera on the Go! school touring, and the Phyllis' Free Seats accessibility program.

Product overview

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis operates as a spring festival presenting four mainstage opera productions annually during May and June at the Loretto-Hilton Center, accompanied by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of programs including the Gerdine Young Artist Program and Richard Gaddes Festival Artist Program for emerging singers, the Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training Program for high school students, the New Works Collective for commissioning new operas, and Opera on the Go! for educational outreach. Accessibility initiatives include Phyllis' Free Seats providing complimentary tickets, while special events like Center Stage, Our Songs, and Young Friends Nights engage diverse audiences. The company has presented 45 world premieres and 27 American premieres as of the 2025 season.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training Program: A nationally acclaimed initiative that identifies, coaches, and encourages promising young high school singers both on and offstage. Created in 1990, the program has supported over 300 students and awarded more than $768,000 in scholarships.
• Gerdine Young Artist Program
• Richard Gaddes Festival Artist Program
• New Works Collective
• Opera on the Go!
• Phyllis' Seats
• Center Stage

Products and services

• Festival Season Productions Annual spring festival season featuring four mainstage opera productions performed in English with supertitles, featuring casts of rising opera singers accompanied live by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts. Targeted at opera patrons, festival subscribers, and the St. Louis community.
• Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training (AIT) Program Nationally acclaimed initiative identifying, coaching, and encouraging promising young high school singers through weekly vocal lessons, master classes, and public performances. Students compete for approximately $17,000 in scholarships at the annual Spring Recital. Has supported over 300 students with $768,000+ in scholarships over 35+ years.
• Gerdine Young Artist Program Nationally recognized training program for opera's most exciting young talents, providing early-career singers with vocal coaching, master classes, understudy opportunities, and onstage experience during the Festival Season. Targeted at emerging professional opera singers.
• Richard Gaddes Festival Artist Program Distinguished designation for returning Gerdine Young Artist alumni who have demonstrated remarkable potential, providing advanced professional development opportunities during the festival season. Targeted at advancing emerging opera professionals.
• Opera on the Go! Educational touring program bringing interactive opera experiences to students in grades 3-10 through workshops on music, makeup, and stagecraft, plus abridged opera performances, in St. Louis schools and public libraries. Targeted at students and educators.
• Phyllis' Free Seats Groundbreaking accessibility initiative offering 50 free tickets at every Festival Season performance and 30 free tickets at New Works Collective performances, distributed via weekly lottery. Targeted at community members who cannot afford standard ticket prices.
• New Works Collective Innovative commissioning initiative that allows a panel of community leaders to choose where to award financial compensation for the creation of new operas, supporting emerging composers and librettists. Targeted at supporting new opera development and community-led artistic direction.
• Center Stage Concert Annual showcase concert featuring the talents of OTSL's Gerdine Young Artists and Richard Gaddes Festival Artists, accompanied by members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Targeted at opera patrons and supporters of emerging artists.
• Our Songs Free community concert featuring a different guest curator each year, celebrating music, connection, and community. Targeted at St. Louis community members seeking free musical experiences.
• Young Friends Nights Special evenings for guests 45 and under featuring opera tickets, picnic, open bar, and pre-show talk to introduce younger audiences to the festival experience. Targeted at younger adult patrons seeking social opera experiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• 80,000+ people reached annually through year-round programming
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• CaleresmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 December 2025OTSL closed on purchase of Caleres headquarters building in December 2025, expanding organizational facilities and footprint.
• St. Louis Symphony OrchestracoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe acclaimed SLSO provides live orchestral accompaniment for all OTSL mainstage festival productions, featuring Grammy Award-winning musicians under conductors including Music Director Stéphane Denève.
• Webster UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSustaining partner providing the Loretto-Hilton Center as OTSL's main performance venue. Students from Webster receive vocal instruction in AIT program and university facilities support operations.
• Center of Creative Arts (COCA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-production partner for Joshua's Boots opera, with performances at Catherine Berges Theater at COCA. OTSL and COCA collaborate on innovative productions.
• Ballet 314minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerChoreographer Robert Poe, Artistic Director of Ballet 314, provides choreography for Opera on the Go! Treemonisha production.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Minnesota Opera: Minnesota Opera is a mid-sized regional opera company with a robust new-works commissioning history and an artist development program, making it a closely comparable peer to OTSL in scale, audience, and artistic programming.
• Seattle Opera: Seattle Opera is a major regional opera company that recently appointed OTSL's former Artistic Director James Robinson, and shares the same U.S. regional opera scale, training programs, and subscription-based revenue model.
• Houston Grand Opera: Houston Grand Opera is a major U.S. opera company known for premiering new works and supporting young artists through programs like the HGO Studio, mirroring OTSL's commissioning of new opera and young artist development activities.
• Opera Philadelphia: Opera Philadelphia is a mid-sized U.S. opera company recognized for innovative programming, English-language productions, and new-works development under a festival-style format, closely mirroring OTSL's mix of tradition and innovation.
• Glimmerglass Festival: Glimmerglass Festival is a summer opera festival in upstate New York that combines repertoire opera with American works and young artist programs, similar to OTSL's spring festival format and training mission.
• Palm Beach Opera: Palm Beach Opera is a festival-format regional opera company that performs a limited number of productions in a concentrated season, paralleling OTSL's spring festival model.
• Santa Fe Opera: Santa Fe Opera is a U.S. opera company best known for its festival model featuring productions by rising international singers, closely paralleling OTSL's spring festival format, English-language supertitled performances, and emphasis on launching young talent.
• Pittsburgh Opera: Pittsburgh Opera is a mid-sized U.S. regional opera company with comparable season scale, subscription pricing, and education outreach programs to OTSL.

Broad incumbents

• Lyric Opera of Chicago: Lyric Opera of Chicago is a much larger U.S. opera company with a broader season, established Ryan Opera Center young artist program, and active new-works commissioning, giving it overlapping capabilities with OTSL at a larger scale.

Others

• St. Louis Symphony Orchestra: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is OTSL's core strategic partner, providing live orchestral accompaniment for every mainstage production, making them a critical enabler and ecosystem partner rather than a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/OTSL
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/OperaTheatreSTL
• Facebookfacebook.com/operatheatre
• Instagraminstagram.com/operatheatrestl
• TikToktiktok.com/@operatheatrestl

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Opera Theatre Of St. Louis