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    • Home
    • Buy Tickets
    • 2025 Season
      • 2025 Season
      • Tinned Opera
      • Count Ory
      • Let's Brunch!
    • Neighbourhood Opera Tour
    • Support
      • Donate
      • Volunteer
    • Learn More
      • About Us
      • Previous Seasons
      • Opera Around Town
  • Home
  • Buy Tickets
  • 2025 Season
    • 2025 Season
    • Tinned Opera
    • Count Ory
    • Let's Brunch!
  • Neighbourhood Opera Tour
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Volunteer
  • Learn More
    • About Us
    • Previous Seasons
    • Opera Around Town

Experience the Underground

Experience the UndergroundExperience the Underground

Who we are

Manitoba Underground Opera presents a season of three mainstage operas between May and September each year. Opera was originally an artform that resonated with people from all walks of life, and our goal is to continue that tradition by making classical works relevant to the modern world. Whether we’re reimagining Don Giovanni as a #metoo era parable, examining the issue of social media bullying with Dido and Aeneas, or presenting an opera on an 18th-century boat, you always know that an MUO production will be like nothing you’ve seen before.

Beyond the Season

We’re also active beyond of our annual season. MUO’s Neighbourhood Opera Tour has brought live opera to over thousands of children and parents across Manitoba. Our Opera Around Town initiative (OAT for short) brings pop-up opera performances to locations around Winnipeg throughout the year, with intimate or outrageous concerts presented in museums and gay bars!

Past, Present, and Future

MUO began in 2008 as a group of students who simply wanted to share their love of opera, and today we’ve grown into an established fixture of Winnipeg’s arts scene. Thank you for being a part of our journey! We can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Photo: Cast of Castor et Pollux, August 2023.

Be in the loop

To stay up to date on MUO news and events, don’t forget to join the Telegram mailing list. Telegram is a short form email update you’ll receive one to three times per month. It includes info about upcoming shows, ticket sales, behind-the-scenes stories, and more.

Mission

Through unique and immersive experiences in unconventional venues, Manitoba Underground Opera follows opera’s historical tradition telling stories that matter today. 

Vision

Manitoba Underground Opera's audience is diverse and engaged. As members of this audience experience the world in different ways, so does our company continue to grow and evolve.  

Guiding Principles

  • As a company whose reach spans 5 Numbered Treaties, we believe that our roots help to orient us in our current time and place. 
  • We are advocates for opera’s ability to speak to the modern day in innovative ways, and reflect the diversity of our communities.
  • We are supporters of local artistic talent by working towards offering competitive compensation. 
  • We are partners with charities, artists, and organizations working towards the future of accessible and inclusive arts in Manitoba. 
  • As a charitable organization, we believe that outreach, education, and audience development activities reap benefits above and beyond an appreciation of opera.

Photo: Jolean Groundbeef, October 2022.

Manitoba Underground Opera was founded on Treaty 1 land, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. These lands are the traditional territories of the Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak, and Nakota Nations. In addition, our tours extend throughout the province of Manitoba, also encompassing Treaties 2, 3, 4, and 5.


As expressed in our Mission and Guiding Principles, MUO believes that our historic roots help to orient us today, and we acknowledge that we are telling stories on lands that have witnessed storytelling over thousands of years. We also acknowledge that opera has not always been welcoming of communities of colour, including Indigenous communities. We are committed to collaborating with Indigenous communities, and believe in the arts as a driver of dialogue and change.

Our Team

Brendan McKeen

Brendan McKeen

Brendan McKeen

Executive Director

Carmen Harris

Brendan McKeen

Brendan McKeen

Social Media Manager

Julia Cirillo

Brendan McKeen

Julia Cirillo

Director of Production

Board of Directors

Dr. Carolyn Weiss, Chair

Jackie Kreitz, Treasurer

Peter Steur, Secretary

Geneva Halverson, Artists' Representative

Taliesin Dorais-Fleming

Katherine Hardy

Kyler Humble

Nicole Zajac

The Coronation of Poppea at La Cathedrale de Saint-Boniface, 2018

Annual Reports

2024 Annual Report (pdf)Download
2023 Annual Report (pdf)Download
2022 Annual Report (pdf)Download
2021 Annual Report (pdf)Download
2020 Annual Report (pdf)Download
2019 Annual Report (pdf)Download
2018 Annual Report (pdf)Download
2017 Annual Report (pdf)Download
2016 Annual Report (pdf)Download
  • 2025 Season
  • Neighbourhood Opera Tour
  • Donate
  • Volunteer

Manitoba Underground Opera was founded on Treaty 1 land, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. These lands are the traditional territories of the Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak, and Nakota Nations. In addition, our tours extend throughout the province of Manitoba, also encompassing Treaties 2, 3, 4, and 5.

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