Vintage Opera Posters

John Lesser began collecting orignial posters for musical theatre performances, chiefly operatic, forty years ago and has one of the largest collections in North America. The works range from an 1845 Russian announcement for a performance of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia to the 2003 season poster for Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

While his collection includes posters from France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, England, Belgium, Japan, Austria, and Poland, Lesser has a special passion for late 19th and early 20th century Italian posters. Many posters in the collection were created for world premieres or for early performances of operas by Puccini or Massenet.