Verismo Opera Board
Eliza O'Malley President/Artistic Director
Michael Moran Vice President/Music Director
Marsha Sims Secretary/Public Relations
Steve Zimmerman Treasurer
Cristin Williams
Nancy Hunt
Frederick Winthrop Artistic Director Emeritus
Verismo Opera was started in 2008 by founding artistic director, Frederick Winthrop. Our initial production was La Traviata. We are a cooperative opera group that includes skillful singers, orchestral musicians and artists who collaborate to present imaginative, low-cost but quality opera productions in a variety of settings in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most operas are sung in their original language but we offer supertitles in English at each venue. Performances include costumes, sets (often portable), and a chamber orchestra in intimate settings. Many of our performances have taken place at the Bay Terrace Theater (sponsored by the Mira Theatre Guild) in Vallejo, CA. We have also traveled to various locations that include: Alameda, Berkeley, San Francisco, Redwood City, Marin County, Sonoma, and Fremont. We depend on the volunteer work of our dedicated artists and have managed to create a wonderful family atmosphere for our participants. Verismo Opera Alumni have performed throughout the world including with the The New York Metropolitan Opera, The San Francisco Opera and many regional theaters throughout the country.
Frederick Winthrop, Verismo Opera's founding artistic director worked with Opera Pacific, Long Beach Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Opera, Honolulu Opera and San Francisco Opera and sang on stage alongside international vocal celebrities such as Pavarotti, Carreras and Domingo and even sang in one of their famous Three Tenor Concerts. For years he sang professionally with Los Angeles Opera chorus and then The San Francisco Opera chorus. He began producing operas when he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1984 where he founded San Francisco Lyric Opera and then went on to found Verismo Opera in 2008. All told, he produced over 125 plus operas and sang 110 roles during his prolific career.