 The company, originally named Cincinnati Opera Association, gave its first performance, Flotow's "Martha", on Sunday, June 27, 1920.During its early years, the company was under the direction of Ralph Lyford, an American composer and conductor whose single opera "Castle Agrazant would receive its world premiere at Cincinnati Music Hall on April 29, 1926, following Lyford's departure from Cincinnati Opera in 1925.From 1956-1990 the company ran a singing competition known as the American Opera Auditions.