South Bend Lyric Opera Celebrates 10 Years

By Cynthia Connell Davis

Although it was born from Emanuel-Cristian Caraman’s talent and passion for opera, South Bend Lyric Opera (SBLO) did not begin with a mission. Nor even a future. In such a large undertaking as producing an opera, Caraman says, “You never know whether it will work out.” However, in the fall of 2015 Caraman decided that South Bend should have opera. In 2016, with college friends who had developed LangLab (south of downtown South Bend), Caraman produced La Boheme. It was a tremendous success.

South Bend hasn’t had an opera company since 1997. Before that, there was opera at Indiana University South Bend in the early 1980’s. Yet in the ten years since 2015 and that risky step, South Bend Lyric Opera has done eighteen shows. Not only famous classical operas such as Hansel and Gretel, La Traviata and Don Giovanni but also contemporary operas. They have presented two world premieres: The Gift by composer Paul Herman and Our American Odyssey by composer Marjory Rusche. And on October 16, 2025, the Grammy-nominated song cycle Songs in Flight was produced at IUSB. The composer Shawn B. Okpebholo was in attendance and gave a talk. This song cycle reframes the advertisements for runaway slaves – advertisements, with dehumanizing descriptions, that sought their recapture.

South Bend Lyric has its own orchestra and has also paired with the South Bend Chamber Singers, South Bend Civic Theatre, the Vesper Chorale, South Bend Symphony, and other local groups. In March 2025, Alastair Willis, conductor of the South Bend Chamber Singers, and Caraman worked together to satisfy a recurring demand, “When are you going to do ‘Tosca’?”

Caraman, a native of Bucharest, Romania, arrived in South Bend at the age of 19, to study at Bethel College (now university). He was admitted with a full scholarship thanks to his talent and training in piano and his tenor voice. His father, a tenor, is a professional singer in Romania. “I followed in my father’s footsteps,” he says. Now at the age of 47, he has outstanding accomplishments to his credit. He earned a doctorate in music from National Music University in Bucharest. Since 2022, as assistant professor of music at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, he teaches voice and serves as director of opera studies. When I spoke with him, he had just finished a production of Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, with 90 students onstage and in the orchestra. Before his position at Western Michigan, he taught for a short time at Indiana University South Bend. Prior to that, he did ten years of intense international travel, singing in major cities such as Miami, Houston, Chicago, Rio De Janeiro and San Paulo. He sang with the Los Angeles Opera, from 2012 to 2013 and made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 2019.

Emanuel-Cristian Caraman

Caraman believes that opera is not only entertainment for the elite but for everyone. For Europeans, it may not be for the elite now; however, some of its roots lay in the entertainments called “masques” done for the royal courts of the past. In the time of Queen Elizabeth I of England, masques were said to offer “drama, poetry, music, dance, tableau, and spectacle.” In Caraman’s words, “When the alchemy of talents joining music, singing, drama, poetry, plastic arts, and dance is realized, you get something much larger than life . . .well . . . you get opera” (southbendlyricopera.org).

For Americans in South Bend, Indiana, “opera for everyone” may have seemed like a bit of a stretch. But eighteen shows in ten years tell a different story. Why? Caraman says that it’s natural for us “to express ourselves in ways that communicate an understanding of our shared experiences” (southbendlyricopera.org). Opera shows us human emotions. In beautiful settings through the power of soaring voices, South Bend Lyric Opera has shown audiences the extreme consequences of romantic love and jealousy (Puccini’s, Tosca); of vengeance (Haggie’s, Moby Dick); of betrayal (Puccini’s, Madame Butterfly); tragedy (Puccini’s, La Boheme); delight and bemusement (Johann Strauss II’s, Die Fledermaus) – i.e., the stuff all humans are made of.

It takes a lot of money and support for such a large organization. South Bend Lyric Opera is a professional company which means pay for singers, musicians, and the production team. Plus the company must cover other production costs: sets, costumes, sound, lighting, etc. Its life depends on the commitment and support of our community. It must win grants, encourage donations and keep awareness of its glorious shows in people’s minds.

South Bend Lyric will give a gala on February 13, at the Palais Royale, to present the Lyric Community Impact Award to South Bend native opera singer Nathan Gunn. In May and June, they will again stage La Boheme in celebration of their founding. (see: southbendlyricopera.org)

Because he chose to stay here, Caraman has enriched South Bend with something much larger than life. But to him, the opera’s amazing growth and success is not about him. It’s about “South Bend should have opera.”

Photos compliments of the South Bend Lyric Opera by Blue Krishna Photography.