Founded in 2013 by Alexandra Babbel and a group of local arts leaders, today, Opera Kelowna is led by Artistic Director Rosemary Thomson, and Managing Director Brianna Wells. Following our values of inclusion and artistic exploration, Opera Kelowna reaches an annual audience of roughly 5000 people with a full-scale production from the traditional operatic canon, contemporary Canadian opera presentations, and a wide range of community, enrichment and education programming. We are a registered, non-profit, charitable status society and member of the Association for Opera in Canada and the BC Arts and Culture Alliance.
Our Mission:
Crafting unique and inviting opera for the Okanagan.
Our Vision:
Be an innovative opera company that celebrates artistic imagination and connects with our community.
Our Values
- Accessibility: we create opportunities for everyone to engage in opera.
- Collaboration: we are committed to strengthening our community and our art form through reciprocal relationships.
- Growth: we build appreciation for opera; capacity of our artists; and knowledge of our board and staff.
- Imagination: we are curious and courageous in approaching opportunities, art and challenges.
- Inclusivity: we build practices that continually address biases and barriers that may negatively impact those who work with and for us.
- Integrity: we do what we say; we are accountable to our partners, artists, supporters, and audiences.
- Sustainability: we are focused on building our organizational capacity and resilience for the long term.
