About UNIPAC - History
The Utah/Idaho Performing Arts Company started out as a dream sometime around August, 2000. It has now become a reality.
In July, 2000 I attended three performances of the Utah Festival Opera Company in Logan, Utah with my mom and grandma. We saw Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar), Carmen, and The Mikado. Also that year I began taking voice lessons. From these experiences my love of art song and opera began to grow. A short time later, I decided I wanted to have my own performing arts company, a way to bring more of this art form I was beginning to fall “in love” with, to more people. As time went on and I started producing solo vocal recitals, my love affair grew into a full-blown romance. Unfortunately, I had to lay my dream of a performing arts company on hold as I, at the time, did not have the means to begin such a venture.
I moved to the Salt Lake area towards the latter end of 2006. About 18 months later this dream that I had tucked nicely away (in the closet, so to speak), began to poke its head out of the door and sneak back into my life. I was developing my skills as a vocalist, a poet, and a composer. I needed (or dare I say, ‘wanted’?) a medium to present my material to the general public and a performing arts company seemed to be the right course of action. Such was the beginning of the Utah/Idaho Performing Arts Company. Of course, my love of opera took over (music is, after all, a harsh and jealous mistress).
And that is how the Utah/Idaho Performing Arts Company began. So, sit back and enjoy the performances. You won’t be sorry.
- Joey Calkins, Founder/General Director
August, 2009
In July, 2000 I attended three performances of the Utah Festival Opera Company in Logan, Utah with my mom and grandma. We saw Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar), Carmen, and The Mikado. Also that year I began taking voice lessons. From these experiences my love of art song and opera began to grow. A short time later, I decided I wanted to have my own performing arts company, a way to bring more of this art form I was beginning to fall “in love” with, to more people. As time went on and I started producing solo vocal recitals, my love affair grew into a full-blown romance. Unfortunately, I had to lay my dream of a performing arts company on hold as I, at the time, did not have the means to begin such a venture.
I moved to the Salt Lake area towards the latter end of 2006. About 18 months later this dream that I had tucked nicely away (in the closet, so to speak), began to poke its head out of the door and sneak back into my life. I was developing my skills as a vocalist, a poet, and a composer. I needed (or dare I say, ‘wanted’?) a medium to present my material to the general public and a performing arts company seemed to be the right course of action. Such was the beginning of the Utah/Idaho Performing Arts Company. Of course, my love of opera took over (music is, after all, a harsh and jealous mistress).
And that is how the Utah/Idaho Performing Arts Company began. So, sit back and enjoy the performances. You won’t be sorry.
- Joey Calkins, Founder/General Director
August, 2009
