Mission Opera – Classical Music for a New Generation

Growing up on a horse farm in the southeastern part of Ohio, across the river from West Virginia, Josh Wentz didn’t have many opportunities to be exposed to opera. He listened to country music and planned on becoming a lawyer. While studying towards his BA in International Business at Muskingum University, he became interested in musical theater. It wasn’t until his professor pulled him aside one afternoon and told that him he couldn’t dance (much to his dismay), and instead suggested the university’s opera program, that he discovered his true calling. Now double majoring in International Business and Voice, Josh had to decide which he preferred better.
After graduation, he had already planned on continuing into law school and abandoning his college hobby of singing, but when the same professor offered him an audition at the University of Akron, Ohio, he obliged. Unfortunately for his legal dreams, he nailed the audition and was offered a full scholarship to study voice as a graduate student. Then, at the age of 22, Josh Wentz began his professional opera career.
Now internationally known for his baritone voice, Josh can say he has no regrets. He has sung in seventeen countries and all throughout the United States, but calls the Santa Clarita Valley home. He and his partner enjoy taking their husky up to Castaic Lake, when he isn’t teaching voice or directing operas. He currently serves as an Associate Professor of Music at Los Angeles Mission College, and at Cal State Northridge as a professor of Vocal Arts. He had worked for numerous prestigious opera companies in his storied career, before founding his own in 2019.
Josh Wentz decided to launch Mission Opera in 2019 to provide students and  members of the community the opportunity to participate in theatrical productions and to foster a deeper appreciation of opera and musical theater. The OPERA America Professional Membership company began with a showing of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte in the spring on 2019. Before the onset of the global pandemic, Mission Opera was growing steadily with their showings through May and June. But once many of the other production and entertainment companies came to a screeching halt, it became apparent Mission Opera had the guts to brave into the unknown.
Where opera seemed to have a problem with accessibility, Josh Wentz found solutions. Bringing shows into school assemblies, utilizing technology during performances, and uploading live recordings on the internet has helped Mission Opera garner a sizable audience within the community. Mission Opera regularly posts on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook to advertise and show previews of upcoming productions. In 2021, Mission Opera won a coveted Telly Award for their production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium. Recently, they were also awarded first place in for the American Prize in Opera, in the Digital Performance category. In 2022, Mission Opera premiered “The 13 Clocks” by David Avshalomov, a local LA-based composer on a Fairy Tale from the 1950’s James Thurber children’s book of the same name. Most recently, they produced “Girondines,” a brand new work written by SCV local Sarah Van Sciver, a CalArts alumna, and Kirsten C. Kunkle, a Native American female librettist. The show was received by enthusiastic crowds at their home venue at Canyon High School from people around the nation interested in new music, and the changing face of opera in America. As the Artistic and Executive Director of Mission Opera, Josh Wentz constantly strives to bring this amazing art form to new audiences.
For their upcoming production of Madama Butterfly, Mission Opera is utilizing the talents of two prestigious and internationally known Italian stars. Giovanni Pompeo will be conducting the orchestra, and Christian Catena is set to direct the renowned hundred-and-twenty-year-old opera for a new audience. Madama Butterfly follows a young Japanese girl who falls in love with an American soldier, a romance turned tragedy with themes that apply for the modern viewers. While Mission Opera values and produces many new works and musicals, they also feature traditional operas, such as Madama Butterfly, which will be presented in its original Italian with English supertitles.
On February 23rd and 24th, Madam Butterfly will be premiering at Canyon High School’s Performing Arts Center for the perfect Valentine’s date night. In June of 2024, Mission Opera has plans to produce the operetta The Merry Widow. The Merry Widow will be produced in conjunction with the 2024 OPERA America National Conference and World Opera Forum, to be held in Los Angeles during the first week of June 2024. The fantastical Parisian culture written by Franz Lehár will come to life with a full orchestra, costumes, and sets; telling a comedic story about a rich widow scheming to keep her money within the principality. A lighter production with more theatrical elements, Mission Opera hopes to capture the imaginations of audiences who might have never been exposed to opera before.
Ushering in a new age of combined technological advancements and traditional performances, Mission Opera is striving for success. You can follow them on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook at Mission Opera. Tickets are available at www.missionopera.com/tickets.

Comments