(light playful music) - [Ruth] She didn't speak many lines or sing many notes, but all eyes were on Sheri Greenawald in Opera Theatre of Saint Louis's 2025 production of "Don Pasquale."

You see, Greenawald was also in the first opera OTSL ever produced.

That was "Don Pasquale" too.

But back then, the soprano sang the leading female role of Norina.

Greenawald's return for Opera Theatre's 50th-anniversary season was a big deal.

And she wasn't the only person having a full-circle moment.

- What I really want you to do is, yeah, I think it's better, and then he brings it out.

- [Ruth] Christopher Alden directed "Don Pasquale" for Opera Theatre in both Season 1 and Season 50.

- When I was asked to do this 50th-anniversary production of a show that I had done 50 years, I just didn't wanna be the only old, you know, codger in the room that had been here 50 years ago.

So Sheri came into mind, popped into my mind, and I was like, "She's gotta come along for the ride."

And then I started, well, I think in conversation, started to develop, you know, ideas about how she could be involved in this production.

And there's this little role of the notary who comes in, a kind of interesting little character part.

♪ We need another witness ♪ But there always must be two - But then it didn't seem like, just didn't seem like enough.

So then I developed, you know, another role for her, which kind of tracks through the whole production, of a woman who runs a cafe down the street in Rome from where Don Pasquale lives.

And this old dude, and he comes there with all of his buddies every morning to have coffee.

And Sheri plays the lady who runs the cafe but who also has her sights set on Don Pasquale as a potential, you know, romantic possibilities.

- [Ruth] Opera Theatre of Saint Louis was founded as a summer festival, typically presenting four operas, all sung in English.

OTSL has attracted an impressive string of singers and directors over the decades and has staged more than a dozen American premieres and more than 30 world premieres.

- Opera Theatre of St.

Louis gave me such wonderful opportunities in the past.

The first time I sang Mimi, I sang in this house.

The first time I sang Violetta in "Traviata" was in this house.

I think, well, it wasn't my first Pamina, but I sang Pamina in this house.

First time I sang "Turn of the Screw" was in this house.

So some of my favorite and most important roles I got to sing in this house first.

So I have a real attachment to this house.

- [Ruth] Opera Theatre's first General Director was the late Richard Gaddis, who served from 1976 to '85.

He was succeeded by Charles MacKay, who led the organization until 2008.

Then Timothy O'Leary from 2008 to 2018.

Andrew Jorgensen is the current General Director.

- I think it sort of captures the entire ethos and mission of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, this idea that, 50 years ago, Sheri Greenawald and Christopher Alden were emerging artists at the very beginning of their careers.

This was one of Christopher's first directing assignments.

He was in his 20s.

He's now directed at every major theater in the world.

And to come back 50 years later and to direct the same opera and to train the next generation of young talent and pass on all that he has learned to those singers is extremely profound.

Just as meaningful: Sheri Greenawald, this wasn't her professional debut, this came just after her professional debut, but it was a jumping-off point for a career that was equally great.

♪ Maybe wiser staying single - The idea that, you know, 50 years from now Susanne Burgess, who is singing the role of Norina today, might be celebrated in the same way.

And that this full lifecycle of identifying and nurturing and then launching extraordinary young talent and then bringing those same talents back to help to mentor and propel the next generation.

To capture that full lifecycle in one evening at the opera, it encapsulates the very mission of this organization.

And I couldn't be more proud to see that production on our stage.

You know, it was unlikely that Opera Theatre would be a success.

On the opening night of the very first season, ticket sales were poor.

The story is that actually they were giving tickets away to anybody who would come.

And many efforts to produce an opera company in St.

Louis before had actually failed.

I have a subscriber, a 50-year subscriber who jokes with me: "I was a subscriber in the first season "because I was sure there wouldn't be a second one."

But something magical happened on that opening night of that first "Don Pasquale."

And 50 years later, we are deeply grateful to the St.

Louis community for sustaining one of the most vibrant arts organizations anywhere in the country right here at home in St.

Louis.

And I hope that whether or not St.

Louisans walk through the doors of this theater and participate in our performances, that they are proud to know that there's a cultural institution of truly international standing that St.

Louis has made possible over these last 50 years.

(bright orchestral music) (audience applauds)