Miami Lyric Opera

Miami Lyric Opera (MLO) was an opera company in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company was founded by the Italian tenor Raffaele Cardone, establishing itself as a non-profit organization in 2004. It attempted to take advantage of a small niche market for opera in the region.^[1][2][3][4]

After having an inaugural concert of arias in October 2004, the company "presented its first fully staged production" in April 2005, with a performance of La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi.^[2] This was followed by an August performance of Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni.^[2][5]

Performances of the company are held at the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.^[6] The theater also applies grant funds towards underwriting the performances of the opera company.^[7]

In April 2024, Cardone announced that the company was shutting down. "The principal reason is financing— not enough being available to make a decent production. Venue, labor, musicians and artist costs and others, have all increased". The company's final performance was a double bill of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini.^[8][9]