The (Stichting) Operetta Research Center Amsterdam is an initiative and developed out of the work of musicologist Dr. Kevin Clarke and a circle of international musical theater researchers devoted to the history of the genre. One emphasis of the Research Center’s activities lies on the so called “Silver Operetta”, i.e. works from 1905 to 1945. Special attention is paid to the jazz-operettas of the 1920s, the influence of American musical comedy on Viennese and Berlin operetta, the changes that occurred after the Nazis took over power in 1933, as well as the destiny of Jewish composers in exile. The Operetta Research Center tries to shed new light on these areas of research, and make the results easily available to users via the internet. Another special emphasis is put on Gender and LGBT aspects which have – historically speaking – played an important part in opéra-bouffe and operetta, still they are mostly overlooked by operetta fans and researchers today.
The Operetta Research Center sees itself as an online archive, first and foremost, keeping people interested in operetta informed about new productions and CD/DVD releases and publications.
The Research Center also organizes conferences, e.g. in cooperation with the Nationale Reisopera, it helps curate exhibitions such as Welt der Operette at the Theatermuseum Wien and München and it sometimes supports CD releases to make historically important recordings generally available. Its staff also teaches, for example at the University of Vienna or the Conservatory of Tilburg.
Operetta companies around the world are welcome to contact the Research Center so we can help promote interesting productions if possible.
A newsletter keeps the subscribers of the website informed about operetta events worldwide.
