The UE Opera (UEO) provides theatrical performing opportunities for music and non-music majors alike. All productions are fully staged with lights, costumes and sets. Fall Semester activities are usually focused on a performance of scenes or one-act pieces organized around a theme. Spring Semester features performance of a complete opera. Recent additions to our students' experience have been productions in foreign language, the addition of instrumental accompaniment, off-campus tours and children's productions, and presentations on the stage of the Victory Theatre in Evansville.

In 2016 and with a generous grant from the William E. Schmidt Foundation, UE Opera launched two new initiatives: the Schmidt Opera Series and the Schmidt Opera Collaborative. The Schmidt Opera Series is UE Opera's Mainstage productions with two productions per year, one with instrumental accompaniment. The Schmidt Opera Collaborative provides outreach into the Tri-State Area in a variety of venues including schools, nursing homes, and churches.

Students involved in UE Opera also have the opportunity to gain professional experience through an ongoing collaboration with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. In recent years, students have provided the chorus and comprimario roles in several EPO productions including: West Side Story, La traviata (Verdi), Mass (Bernstein), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), and Madama Butterfly (Puccini).

Recent UEO productions include:

• 2019 – Così fan tutte by W.A. Mozart
• 2018 – Coffee Cantata by J.S. Bach
• 2018 – Riders to the Sea by Ralph Vaughan Williams
• 2017 – Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti
• 2017 – Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach
• 2016 – The Impresario by W.A. Mozart
• 2015 – The Telephone and The Old Maid and the Thief by Gian Carlo Menotti
• 2014 – Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Gioacchino Rossini
• 2013 – The Magic Flute by W. A. Mozart
• 2012 – Trial by Jury by Gilbert and Sullivan
• 2012 – Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss
• 2011 – La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini
• 2010 – Cosi fan tutte by W.A. Mozart
• 2009 – Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck
• 2008 – Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini
• 2007 – Four American One-Act Operas
• 2007 – The Marriage of Figaro by W.A. Mozart
• 2006 – Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti
• 2006 – Tartuffe by Kirke Mechem

UE Opera is supported by generous grants from organizations including the William E. Schmidt Foundation, ALCOA, and the Friends of UE Music.