The Toledo Opera is an American opera company based in Toledo, Ohio. Founded in 1959, the company's first General Director was Lester Freedman with conductor Joseph Hawthorne of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra serving as Music Director. In 1960 Freedman founded the Dayton Opera and for many years he led the two organizations simultaneously - an arrangement which cut down on production costs for both companies. In 1983 Freedman was forced out of his position by the Toledo Opera's board after several years of financial problems and in-fighting among the company's leadership. Several interim directors kept the company going over the next three years, including David Bamberger and Johan van der Merwe.
In 1986 conductor James Meena became the company's new permanent director. In 1994 a major financial boon was given to the company by Toledo philanthropists Theodore and Lucille Gorski who gave a 1 million dollar challenge grant to the company which enabled them to establish an endowment for the organization. That same year the company played a major role in supporting the renovation of the historic Valentine Theatre in Toledo; a decision which saved the theatre from demolition. The renovations of the theater took several years, and Toledo Opera could not move into its new permanent home until 1999. The company had the honor of opening the newly renovated theater for Toledo Opera's 40th Season gala night on October 22, 1999 with a production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, featuring Diana Soviero in the title role.
In 2000 Renay Conlin succeeded Meena as the director of Toledo Opera after he left to become director of Opera Carolina. Her husband, Thomas Conlin, is a Grammy Award winning conductor who conducted several operas for Toledo Opera during his wife's tenure. Their daughter, mezzo-soprano Vanessa Conlin, has also performed several roles with the company.
During Conlin's tenure the company premiered many 20th-century operas including The Turn of the Screw, Susannah, Candide, The Crucible, Sweeney Todd, The Rake's Progress, Ariadne auf Naxos and The Rape of Lucretia, along with standard repertory. David Shengold in OPERA Magazine, London UK, February 2006, Vol 57, no 2 issue said that "Toledo's proudest legacy of its glory days of glass and automobile manufacturing is its astonishing Museum of Art, free to all and with a collection to make strong curators weak. But operatically-minded visitors should not overlook the worthy Toledo Opera, housed in the impressive yet intimate Valentine Theatre, a beautiful 900-seat house built in 1895. As general director since 2000, Renay Conlin has promulgated high standards and valiantly performed 20th-century repertory....". Charles Parsons in American Record Guide, Vol 74, No 2 March/April said of Toledo Opera's production of The Rake's Progress that "Under the dynamic leadership of General and Artistic Director Renay Conlin, Toledo Opera has entered a brave new world. Now the name of the game is quality. In OPERA magazine in September 2009, a review states that Toledo Opera "owes its place among North America's finest smaller companies to the high artistic standards and casting shrewdness of the Intendant, Renay Conlin."
In 2005, Conlin launched a capital campaign to increase the endowment and was able to raise $2 million. Ms. Conlin was also able to secure the company's first NEA grant.
In March 2011, Conlin resigned from Toledo Opera to take a position as CEO of the Napa Valley Museum in California. Her departure followed the resignation of some members of the Toledo Opera board's financial committee who were working on behalf of the Valentine Theatre to take over the Opera. They alleged that the company had "serious problems with cash-flow shortages" and had "earned a reputation in the community for not paying its bills.". The Toledo Opera board rallied against this group and demanded their resignation.
The board of directors appointed a former development director, Suzanne Rorick, as Toledo Opera's new Executive Director. Under Rorick's leadership, the company has focused on fundraising and has undergone an artistic re-organization that saw the return of several former Toledo Opera colleagues, including James Meena, who currently serves as guest conductor and artistic adviser.