Opera at Simpson is known throughout America and has been cited as an exceptional college program by U.S. News and World Report. Two productions of either opera or musical theater each year, as well as the intense opera workshop every other year during May Term, give students an in-depth experience combining music and the stage. Alumni can be found at the very highest levels of the profession.
Recent productions have included: Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Mozart's Così fan tutte, Britten's Albert Herring, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, Puccini's Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffman, Mozart's The Magic Flute, Wright and Forrest's Kismet, Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Britten's Midsummer Nights Dream, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Léhar's The Merry Widow, Rodger and Hammerstein's Carousel, and the contemporary American opera The Crucible.
All students are encouraged to audition for involvement in staged musical productions. Open auditions occur at the beginning of the academic year.