Later this month, the curtain will rise on the Des Moines Metro Opera’s production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” at the Hoyt Sherman Place Theater.

“‘Amahl’ is to opera what ‘The Nutcracker’ is to ballet,” said Jeri Mace, the opera company’s executive director. “As far as we know, it has never been done at the professional level in Des Moines.”

The Des Moines Metro Opera was founded in 1973 by Robert L. Larsen, artistic director. In the beginning, its main objectives were to provide a place for gifted young American singers to perform and to educate Midwestern audiences about opera. In 2000, the Greater Des Moines Partnership gave the Des Moines Metro Opera its Celebrate Business “Best Kept Secret Award” in recognition of the troupe’s strong business model.  

“The Des Moines Metro Opera is one of the few [opera] companies that’s operated in the black for its entire existence,” Mace said. The company’s earned income, or money from ticket sales, concessions, advertising and sales in its boutique area, make up 45 percent of its revenues, she said. The rest comes from what she calls “unearned income,” like donations and government grants.

The opera has had a positive economic effect on Indianola, where it is based, and Central Iowa. It has eight year-round employees and approximately 150 seasonal staff members, including performers, technicians and designers. The total personnel costs for the year are approximately $975,000, according to Mace. The seasonal staff members and artists live in Indianola from six to 19 weeks. Most of them stay in housing rented from Simpson College, which also rents the DMMO its theater, rehearsal space and music building.

The DMMO draws tourists to the area. During its summer performing season in June and July, the Apple Tree Inn in Indianola is usually booked solid, according to owner Ardene Downing.

“Many of them come year after year,” Downing said. “We feel the effects of the opera year round. It’s a significant part of our clientele. We get visitors from all over, foreign countries even. They tell us what a gem we have here, and we believe it.”

Downing says she tries to keep the visitors busy during the day, directing them to nearby tourist attractions like Pella and the bridges of Madison County or shopping districts like Valley Junction.

“During the opera season, we increase our [volume of] sales,” said Paolo Bartesaghi, co-owner of A Touch of Italy in Valley Junction and a member of the DMMO’s board. “The opera people, they like the Italian opera, so they like our Italian store. They appreciate it because they don’t have this kind of store in their town.”

The Embassy Club provides on-site catering for the opera, serving 15 dinners each festival in a tent adjoining the theater.

“It’s more than 100 people for dinner at a time of year when there isn’t a lot going on in the food business,” said Michel LaValle, the club’s general manager. The series of festival dinners generates sales in excess of $25,000.

This summer, the DMMO will put on “La Cenerentola” by Gioacchino Rossini, “Ariadne Auf Naxos” by Richard Strauss and crowd favorite “Madama Butterfly” by Giacomo Puccini. For more information, visit www.dmmo.org.