Do you have tickets to see an opera at the Kauffman Center? Come fifty minutes early to learn about the who, what, where, when, and why of the production you’re about to see.
Unless otherwise indicated, Pre-Opera Talks are held in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. You may sit in any available seat for Pre-Opera Talks. We kindly ask that you relocate to your ticketed seat for the performance.
Upcoming Talks
La bohème
Dr. Rebecca Johnson, speaker
- Saturday, September 19, 2026, 6:40–7:00 pm
- Friday, September 25, 2026, 6:40–7:00 pm
- Sunday, September 27, 2026, 1:10 pm–1:30 pm
With a background that combines extensive instrumental and choral skills with a love of music education and history, Rebecca Johnson has worn numerous musical hats during her career. Her performance ensembles include the Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City, Sacred Arts Chorale, and Vox Luminis. Groups under Dr. Johnson’s baton have performed in England, Brazil, and across the United States.
Recently retired as Coordinator of Music at Metropolitan Community College Blue River and Director of Sacred Arts for Central Theological Seminary, Johnson holds a Doctor of Music from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado.
In addition to teaching and performing, Johnson is a frequent lecturer. Locally, Johnson has loved providing Pre-Opera Talks and Opera Dives Deep lectures for Lyric Opera of Kansas City for over ten years. Abroad, her favorite lectures have included “Sacred Music in America” in South Korea and “The Music of Louis Armstrong” to high school students in Yangon, Myanmar.
The Marriage of Figaro
Dr. Martin Nedbal, speaker
- Saturday, November 7, 2026, 6:40 pm–7:00 pm
- Friday, November 13, 2026, 6:40 pm–7:00 pm
- Sunday, November 15, 2026, 1:10 pm–1:30 pm
Martin Nedbal, Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Kansas, is the author of Viennese Opera and Morality in the Age of Mozart and Beethoven (Routledge, 2017) and translator and editor of The Published Theoretical Works of Leoš Janáček (Editio Janáček, 2020). His articles on Mozart, Beethoven, and Czech music have also appeared in many journals and books.
The Pirates of Penzance
Dr. John Stephens, speaker
- Saturday, February 20, 2027, 6:40–7:00 pm
- Friday, February 26, 2027, 6:40–7:00 pm
- Sunday, February 28, 2027, 1:10 pm–1:30 pm
A native of St. Louis, John Stephens holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Illinois. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Hamburg, Germany and took advanced training at the Juilliard School of Music. Stephens was a professional opera singer for forty-five years, singing lead and supporting roles with opera companies including The Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New Orleans Opera, Cleveland Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Company of Boston, Minnesota Opera and many others. He has a long relationship with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and has performed in many of our productions from 1981–2014, including the 1995 production of The Pirates of Penzance.
Stephens has directed professionally for the past nineteen years, specializing in the works of Mozart, Gilbert & Sullivan, and Benjamin Britten. Concert appearances have been with the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the National, Boston, Kansas City, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras, as well as several years as bass soloist with the Bach Aria Group. He has recorded for Columbia and Nonesuch records.
Stephens has been a member of the faculty at the University of Kansas School of Music since 1981, teaching voice and directing opera. There he received the Kemper Award for Teaching Excellence, and his students have sung with major opera companies around the world including The Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Paris Opera, Covent Garden, The Beyreuth Festival, Santa Fe Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Houston Grand Opera, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the Tanglewood Festival, as well as on Broadway and in numerous national tours.
Aida
Dr. Andrew Granade, speaker
- Saturday, April 24, 2027, 6:40–7:00 pm
- Saturday, April 30, 2027, 6:40–7:00 pm
- Sunday, May 2, 2027, 1:10 pm–1:30 pm
Andrew Granade is Professor of Musicology at The University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory. He is the author of Harry Partch: Hobo Composer, “Cracking the Code: What Notation Can Tell Us About Our Musical Values” in the first volume of Open Access Musicology, and several articles on music and science fiction television and music history pedagogy. He is currently editing two collections (one on Harry Partch and the other on Arkansas music for Illinois Press), and is beginning a monograph about the wind band in American history. He also co-hosts the podcast “Hearing the Pulitzers” with David Thurmaier.
