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This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.
This historic festival is gearing up for their 20th anniversary with productions including "My Fair Lady," "Faust," "Tosca" and "Kiss Me Kate." The Utah Festival Opera is a major economic engine for the entire state of Utah with half of their audience coming from outside the state. It's also one of the top tourist destinations in Northern Utah, adding to Utah's tourism base of over $6 billion per year.
The visionary behind this Northern Utah Gem is Michael Ballam. He was born in River Heights, Utah and had an opera career that spanned the globe. After he moved back to Cache Valley in the 80s, he learned the beautiful Ellen Eccles Theatre on Main Street in Logan was going to be torn down. He spearheaded the effort to save it, raising $6.5 million for a full restoration. He also thought the valley deserved to have first-class art provided to them, and his dream for an opera company began.
Today the Utah Festival Opera holds their season for five weeks in the summer and will be launching this season on July 11. Michael takes great pride in doing all the auditions himself, flying all over the world to hire the stars of today and tomorrow. The company has helped many stars launch successful careers.
Right now the Utah Festival Opera is renovating the Utah Theatre in Logan into a second venue. This will help add to the festival feeling the company is working to create and will increase the amount of shows they can offer. Their season can expand enough for them to do productions year-round.
Another area that's really heating up for the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre is their educational programming with the Opera By Children, Utah Festival Conservatory, and Festival Academy programs, and the Statewide Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards.
For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.
Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre 59 S. 100 West Logan, UT 84321 435-750-0300 www.ufomt.org
