Puget Sound Concert Opera

Welcome to Puget Sound Concert Opera!

Puget Sound Concert Opera's mission is to foster the appreciation of Opera and Classical Music through performance, education, and community outreach.

Puget Sound Concert Opera dedicates itself to performing operas concert style with piano and chamber orchestra. The concert opera format allows audience members to see, hear and feel the music up close and personal. The size of PSCO's venues is comparable to a traditional European opera house, where the intimacy makes the musical experience unique and thrilling: singers receive immediate feedback from the audience, and the audience can see, hear and literally feel the entire performance. It almost becomes a dialog between performer and audience.

Our passion is to share with as wide a range of audience as possible, the beauty, passion and magnificence of opera. As such, we perform operas that are a little "off the beaten path" as well as those that are extremely popular. As much as possible, these operas are performed uncut and in the original languages.

By keeping the size of our group and our venues small and intimate, Puget Sound Concert Opera charges less than half of the standard rate for most opera and classical music performances. It is a great introduction to opera for children and adults 12 and over.

Puget Sound Concert Opera is a 501(c)(3) organization

Artistic Director

With a musical career spanning nearly 20 years, soprano Regina Thomas is an active performer, stage director and impresario.

Noted for her portrayal of Alice Ford Falstaff for Repertory Opera Company, Los Angeles, she is described as a "buoyant soprano with solid technique". A high honors recipient in both Opera and Art Song divisions at the Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside(Bellevue, WA) and a semi-finalist at Il Concorso Internationale di Canto Lirico (Siena, Italy), Regina now continues her studies with Jane Eaglen. Other operatic performances include Angelica Suor Angelica, Vitellia La Clemenza di Tito, Marguerite Faust, Leonora Il Trovatore, for Puget Sound Concert Opera, Medora Il Corsaro for Willamette Concert Opera; Prince Orlovsky Die Fledermaus and Mother Hansel and Gretel for Kitsap Opera; Alice Ford Falstaff for Opera Reperatory Los Angeles; selected scenes as Lady MacBeth, Manon Lescaut and Floria Tosca for Seattle Opera Guild, WA. Countessa Almaviva Le Nozze di Figaro, First Lady and Subsequently Pamina Die Zauberflote for Shaker Mountain Opera, PA; La Prima Cercatrice Suor Angelica for Aspen Opera Theater, CO; and the Mother Amahl and the Night Visitors. In concert, Regina has performed Ein Deutsches Requiem and Bach's Magnificat under the musical direction of Karen P. Thomas in Seattle, WA; Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Olympia Chamber Orchestra.

In addition to her active performance schedule and artistic direction of PSCO, Regina is the stage director and commentator for the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle Opera Program, a free and open to the public concert series which features opera scenes and one-acts at a variety of venues throughout Seattle including the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum and the Seattle Public Library.

Principal Conductor

Conductor Samuel D. McCoy (conductor) is honored to be returning to Puget Sound Concert Opera as Principal Conductor with Cendrillon. Sam was recently seen leading Puget Sound Concert Opera's productions of Suor Angelica and Simon Boccanegra, as well as conducting scenes from Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, Turn of the Screw, Die Zauberflöte, and Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor with the UW Opera Workshop. A new transplant to Seattle, Sam was recently chosen to be the assistant conductor for the Seattle Bach Choir. Before moving to Seattle, Sam lived in Brooklyn, NY where he was the co-conductor of C4: Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, the assistant conductor for the New Amsterdam Singers Chamber Chorus and a member of the early music vocal ensemble Guildsingers. Currently a DMA Choral Conducting student at the University of Washington, Sam studies with Dr. Geoffrey Boers. He earned his BM in Vocal Performance and MM in Orchestral Conducting from Oklahoma City University, where he studied with Florence Birdwell, Matthew Mailman, Mark Parker, Jan McDaniel and Stephen Coker.

Assistant Conductor/Chorus Master

John Burkhardt returns for his second season with Puget Sound Concert Opera. In addition to his work as chorus master and principal accompanist, John will conduct La Damoiselle Elue in January 2010. John is also the principal accompanist and chorus master for Bellevue Opera. He works for the University of Washington Alumni Association, running their Web sites and e-communications programs. He is musically active in the Unitarian Universalist church and has been an opera and musical theater pianist for many years in Seattle and elsewhere.

Our Partner - Bellevue Opera

The Bellevue Opera Company is a registered 501(c)-3 non-profit organization serving audiences throughout the Eastside and the Greater Puget Sound region.

Bellevue Opera's mission is to:

  • Carry on the tradition of grand opera by presenting professional productions of the highest quality.
  • Make this rich and historic art form accessible to audiences of all ages through education and outreach programs.
  • Provide opportunities for talented performers to participate in professional productions that further their artistic careers.
  • Strengthen the regional cultural and artistic community by collaborating with a diverse range of performing arts organizations.

For more information: www.bellevueopera.org