Welcome to Opera Guild of Rochester
The Opera Guild of Rochester, Inc. presents free opera lectures at local libraries, tours to productions of leading local opera companies and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, as well as our popular Beat-the-Blahs — The Haskell Rosenberg Memorial Series atTemple B'rith Kodesh in January 2018. The Guild also has a newly updated Reading Room that contains Handouts and Playlists for all of our free lectures, as well as our monthly Newsletter and Opera Flyers, that are handed out at local opera events such at the MET HD broadcasts in local theaters.
Donors to the Opera Guild of Rochester are invited to the annual Donor Recital in May.
You will find links to regional opera companies and local music organizations with their exciting programs, as well as the Metropolitan Opera's schedule of HD telecasts in local movie theatres. Click here to view the MET 2017 Summer Encores series plus the exciting new 2017-18 Series of LIVE in HD telecasts.
Perhaps the most exciting feature of our website is the ability to view production photos, cast photos and bios, programs, and reviews of Mercury Opera Rochester's six seasons. Click here to view the history of Mercury Opera Rochester and re-live your favorite moments at the opera.
Visit our website often to stay in touch with opera events in Rochester and the surrounding area.For more details about company seasons and other events in the Western New York region, see our free newsletter Viva Voce. You can subscribe by clicking here.
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Rochester Premiere! Opera Preview Gala at Max's of Eastman Place
Orlando Diaz is a Rochester-based award-winning pianist and composer, who has written an opera, Adventure Gospel based on the strange but true story of a man who in 1986 abandoned his life to spend the next 27 years in the woods of North Pond, Maine. Click here to learn more about this story.
The premiere will take place on October 20 at 6:00 pm at Max's of Eastman Place located at 25 Gibbs Street in Rochester, NY.
Garrett Wellenstein conducts, and Emily Cuk is the director, with performances by Eastman musicians. Be among the first to hear this new work by an experienced man of the theater!
Enjoy a dinner catered by the delicious Max's of Eastman Place (included in ticket price). Tickets are $40 and available online at Eventbrite.
For more information, visit their page on Facebook.
Eastman Opera Theatre Presents L'Incoronazione di Poppea
Eastman Opera Theatre will present Claudio Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea) on Thursday, November 2, 3, 4 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, November 5 at 2:00pm in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music located 26 Gibbs Street. The opera will be performed in Italian with English supertitles. Grammy Award winning lutenist Paul O'Dette is the music director with staging by Stephen Carr.
Monteverdi's opera is a cautionary tale of a narcissistic emperor, his unstoppable lover, and the lives left in their wake as she ascends to power. Take your seat alongside the Gods, and bear witness to opera's most incendiary parable of ambition and power.
Tickets are available at the Eastman Theatre Box Office, 433 East Main Street, by phone 585-454-2100, or online at eastmantheatre.org. Pre-performance talks will be presented one-hour before each performance in the Ray Wright Room (Room 120) in the Eastman School of Music.
For more information, visit Eastman Opera Theatre's Facebook page. Click on the poster to view full size.
Rochester Lyric Opera Presents Mrs. President, the Opera
Rochester Lyric Opera will present Mrs. President, the Opera by Victoria Bond with a Libretto by Hilary Bell on Saturday, November 18 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in New York State.
In her opera Mrs. President, Bond tells the story of the first woman to run for President of the United States. Victoria Woodhull (pictured right) was a true revolutionary who fought for women’s rights under the law. An entrepreneur, she had a stock brokerage firm on Wall Street and her own newspaper. Woodhull ran for the country’s highest office in 1872, before women had been granted the right to vote. She was jailed on election night as a result of revealing preacher Henry Ward Beecher as a womanizer.
The final scene of Mrs. President, the Opera finds Woodhull in her prison cell, silenced but not defeated, looking ahead to future generations of women who will rise up to realize her vision of equality: “From my ashes a thousand more will rise. They will seize what I’ve begun, hold it high and carry it on. Arise!”
Click here for a synopsis of the opera. For more information and to see videos about this production, visit Lyric Opera's website.
Carol Crocca Named President of Opera Guild of Rochester
All good things must come to an end - and so, Agneta Borgstedt, who has presided over the Opera Guild for 17 years, has become President Emerita. At eighty-six, our still energetic board member will continue her activities as Treasurer and Chair of the Traditional Events committee. Agneta's devotion and hard work for the Guild will still assist us until the transition for these particular functions that she has faithfully performed all these years.
At the Board meeting on June 27th, Agneta graciously nominated Carol Crocca as her succesor; she was elected President and agreed to serve. Carol began work for the Guild in 2007 as a lecturer and was elected to the Board shortly after that. She has served on the Executive Committee as Treasurer and then Vice-President for Development; she will continue her roles as Editor of the newsletter and docent.
Carol is married to Bill Crocca, who publishes the Viva Voce newsletter. They have lived in Penfield for almost 30 years. A former attorney, Carol did legal research and writing for (what used to be) Lawyers Coop in Rochester. Carol has also done long-term volunteer work for AFS, an international student exchange oganization, and the Rape Crisis service (now "Restore") of Planned Parenthood, among other organizations.
Carol sings in the Chorus at Oasis, where she has also taught opera courses, studies Italian when she has time, and enjoys her new granddaughter, who, so luckily, lives nearby. She says,"I very much look forward to working with the Board to support our current endeavors and to broaden our involvement in the vibrant Rochester music community. If you haven't yet, please consider donating or volunteering for the Guild as we explore new territory and find inspiration in our love for opera."
Shown in photo: Carol Crocca with Agneta D. Borgstedt (seated)
Spotlight on Our Volunteers
Pictured, left to right, are Sylvia Marshall, Margaret Dundas, Agneta Borgstedt, and Elizabeth Beumer, preparing a mailing to Opera Guild constituents including the brochure for the current season.
Volunteers have opportunities to work together on projects of mutual interest.
For more information on becoming a volunteer, please contact Carol Crocca, President, at operaguildofrochester@gmail.com.
Rochester Opera Guild's Reading Rooms Online
Contained in the navigation tab of Reading Rooms is the new digital library of the Opera Guild of Rochester. Here you will find various materials for your research and reading pleasure. We intend to enrich the content of this library both in depth and breadth. If you have suggestions for and/or contributions of new content, please contact us at operaguildofrochester@gmail.com.
Volunteer with the Guild
Enjoy meeting others in Rochester's opera community and contributing to the availability of opera activities by volunteering for the Opera Guild! Learning a small job or part of a larger one will pay off in numerous ways for anyone who wants to participate. For more information or to apply, contact Carol Crocca, President, at operaguildofrochester@gmail.com.
The following voulunteer positions are available: Assistant Publisher and Event Hosts.
