Director Millikin's Lyric Opera Theatre is distinctive because it educates a strictly undergraduate vocal student population through an ambitious set of offerings. Opera students participate in as many as four mainstage performances per year, including two musicals. Recent works have included The Marriage of Figaro, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Hansel and Gretel, The Tender Land, The Magic Flute, The Merry Widow, The Elixir of Love, Smetana's Bartered Bride, and the U.S. premier of Antonin Dvorak's The King and the Coal Village. Trial by Jury, Albert Herring, and Cosi Fan Tutte are scheduled for the 2001-2002 season. In addition, students receive training in scenes concerts that are staged every semester.
Students also receive training and experience in technical theatre.
The repertoire is designed to lead a student in four years through the major periods and styles of opera and American musical theatre. The Millikin University School of Music enjoys rich and varied chamber music offerings by both faculty and students. Student ensembles range from typical and atypical string, woodwind, brass, and percussion configurations to a cappella vocal groups. We describe just a sample below. I and II are at the core of the program, performing a variety of chamber works ranging from standard repertoire to the avant-garde.