Concert Operetta Theater

Concert Operetta Theater's Mission
Founded in 2001

Concert Operetta Theater is dedicated to presenting, preserving, and educating audiences about operetta through professional performances of classic and neo-classic operetta.
A minimalist production concept highlights the story and the music, bringing the the production closer to the audience in an intimate setting.

COT is the only performing arts group in the USA that produces operettas in a concert version in new translations or original language, and is the only organization that has a
full season dedicated to operetta. These productions are unique because this type of music does not get performance time on a regular basis in the USA. In the past five seasons Concert Operetta Theater has presented eight operettas, five of which are Philadelphia premieres, and two which are the Philadelphia premiere of a new English translation and new German version.

Past Concert Operetta Theater Productions

The Loves of Lehar, Richard A. Raub, music director

Countess Maritza / Kalman, James Batt, music director

The Student Prince / Romberg, Luke Housner, music director

The Cousin from Batavia / Künneke , Jeremy Gill, music director
**COT – Philadelphia Premiere of Operetta**
***COT – Philadelphia & East Coast Premiere of new English translation**

The Merry Widow / Lehar, Nicholas Mastripolito, music director
**COT – Philadelphia & East Coast Premiere of new English translation**

An Afternoon of Operetta Classics, Nicholas Mastripolito, piano

The Czarevitch / Lehar, Richard A. Raub, music director
**COT – Philadelphia Premiere of Operetta**

A Night in Vienna!, Jeremy Gill, piano

The Music of Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy,Gloria Collins, music director

Die Schöne Galathée / von Suppe, Benjamin Blozan, music director
**COT – Premiere of new German edition**

The Chocolate Soldier / O. Straus , Jeremy Gill, music director

The Duchess of Chicago / Kalman, Gloria Collins, music director
**COT – Philadelphia Premiere of Operetta**
**COT – East Coast Premier of new English Translation**

Cabaret concert featuring
Eileen Duffy, chanteuse & Daniel Pantano, baritone

The Count of Luxembourg / Lehar, James Batt, music director
**COT – Philadelphia Premiere of Operetta**

Music of the American Operetta, Gloria Collins, piano

Countess Maritza / Kalman, James Batt, music director
**COT - Philadelphia Premiere of new English Translation**

Paganini / Lehar, James Batt, music director
**COT – Philadelphia Premiere of Operetta**

Operetta in ¾ Time!, Gloria Collins, piano

A Recital by Daniel Pantano, baritone & Benjamin Blozan, piano

The Gypsy Princess / Kalman, Gloria Collins, music director
** COT – Premiere of new English Translation**

Red = potpourri concerts & Blue = operetta productions

Daniel Pantano, Executive and Artistic Director

Has performed in opera, oratorio and cabaret productions with repertoire that has been most diverse, and from which he has made a home in supporting and character roles. He has worked with such groups as Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Delaware, Augusta Opera, The Pennsylvania Opera Theater, Banff Opera in Canada, Des Moines Metro Opera and The Academy
of Vocal Arts Theater.

During his time as an Artist -apprentice with The Des Moines Opera Company, he sang Fiorello in their production The Barber of Seville, which was televised live for PBS and aired nationally.

Before his performing years Mr. Pantano studied
make-up design and apprenticed with Opera Company of Philadelphia. He later did design work for Boston Opera, New Hampshire Opera, Boston University Opera Theater and was the designer for Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle that was performed both in Boston and on Broadway in NYC.

Mr. Pantano served for three years as Board President for The Voices for Children Foundation of Philadelphia. During that period they recorded three Christmas CD’s that had the distinction of being the #1 holiday recordings each year at Tower Records which helped raise over $65,000, which was donated in grant-form to local nonprofit groups working with pediatrics AIDS.

Along with musical ventures his talents have taken him into the food industry, where he was Food Manager at The Bellevue Hotel (Founder's Dining Room), Omni Hotel (Azelea's) and Wharton’s Steinberg Conference Center. While working at the University Park Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa, Daniel was the founder of the only singing waiters group in that state called The Hemingways Singers. They made frequent television appearances and were invited to open the Iowa State Fair two years running. He was also a regular in cooking segments for local morning television, introducing Chilean Wines and Wild Game recipes to the public.

Mr. Pantano was awarded the DiRoNA (Distinguished Restaurants of North America) while at the Bellevue Hotel and has also been listed in Outstanding Young Men in America (1986), and in the National Register’s Who’s Who of Executives and Professionals (2001). Mr. Pantano is a graduate of Boston University and an alumni of the Academy of Vocal Arts and Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida.

Recent singing credits include The Helena Symphony (MT) and The North Penn Symphony (La boheme), River City Brass Band (Gershwin), Main Line Opera Guild (The Gypsy Baron), and four recitals for the Lunch Box Concert Series at Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square. He has been a core member of the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, and a regular performer with A Touch of Classics quartet, with recent cabaret appearances (The Best of Broadway, America Forever and A Christmas Remembered) at the Skytop Lodge in the Poconos.

Mr. Pantano have been a recent guest speaker for the Nelson Eddy Appreciation Society (Cambridge Springs, PA), and the Friends of Operetta (Los Angeles, CA)