Join us for Treemonisha! 🌳

Celebrate community with this classic American opera

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Experience a rarely-seen masterpiece of American art with Scott Joplin's Treemonisha! This visually stunning story of love, joy, and hope has only been produced a handful of times since its publication in 1911. Now, a vibrant new edition takes the stage at Opera Theatre.

Originally a tale of the fictional Treemonisha, the heroine who leads her small rural community, this new edition writes Joplin and his bride, Freddie Alexander, into the pages of their own story...and by doing so, transforms Joplin's original tale into a moving and poignant celebration of love.

Treemonisha starts May 20 and opening night is nearly sold out! Don't wait a moment longer to save your seat for this beautiful production.

Get Your Tickets Today

Learn more about what makes this new edition of Treemonisha different with an exclusive preview of program notes by our director, composer, and librettist!

Get the first glimpse of program notes on our blog ➜

The First Purely American Opera

Joplin published Treemonisha in 1911. One music critic hailed it as the first purely American opera: "It has sprung from our soil practically of its own accord." Joplin’s opera follow follow classical conventions, all while embedding Black musical traditions from spirituals to ragtime. From start to finish, the score is rich, exciting, and uniquely American. Check out two samples from Joplin's original opera below!

Listen to the overture ➜

Listen to "We're Goin' Around" from Act One ➜

Treemonisha Fun Fact #1

Scott Joplin made three known attempts to stage Treemonisha and even tried to produce concerts of excerpts, all to no avail. He died nearly 60 years before it received its first full staging at Houston Grand Opera.

Treemonisha Fun Fact #2

Composer Damien Sneed's encounter with Treemonisha began when he was just a student. This opera has followed him for many years, and it feels like a miracle of destiny that he is now masterminding this new version of Joplin's score.

Read the full story ➜

Treemonisha Fun Fact #3

When Joplin started writing Treemonisha, he was at the height of his fame as a ragtime musician, thanks in particular to one of his best-known pieces, The Entertainer. Joplin penned this tune while in residence at what is now the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, west of downtown St. Louis!

Learn More About Treemonisha

Explore the 2023 Festival Season

Leadership support for Treemonisha comes from Noémi K. Neidorff and the Whitaker Foundation.

Made possible in part by the Fred M. Saigh Endowment at Opera Theatre and the Sally S. Levy Family Fund for New Works.

Major production support comes from Tim & Robin Wentworth. The production received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Fund. The commission is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Opera Theatre promotes diversity and inclusiveness and affirms its ADA compliance.

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