Miami Lyric Opera (MLO) was an opera company in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company was founded by the Italian tenor Raffaele Cardone, establishing itself as a non-profit organization in 2004. It attempted to take advantage of a small niche market for opera in the region.
After having an inaugural concert of arias in October 2004, the company "presented its first fully staged production" in April 2005, with a performance of La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. This was followed by an August performance of Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni.Beth Feinstein-Barti, "Hallandale Soprano Takes Lead at Miami Opera", South Florida Sun Sentinel (August 17, 2005), Arts&Culture page 1.
Performances of the company are held at the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.Joshua Lawrence Kinser, Moon: Florida Keys: Including Miami & the Everglades (2017), p. 49. The theater also applies grant funds towards underwriting the performances of the opera company.Mark Miller, Miami & the Keys (2012), p. 52.
In April 2024, Cardone announced that the company was shutting down. "The principal reason is financing— not enough being available to make a decent production. Venue, labor, musicians and artist costs and others, have all increased". The company's final performance was a double bill of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini.
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