Celebrating 69 Years of Opera Education for Children Summer 2021 Newsletter 2021 Spring Benefit to Fund Music Education for Children Enjoy A Virtual Celebration – A Video from Fargo Moorhead Opera Young Artists August 24, 2021 Interlachen Country Club • Edina Featuring Alyssa Anderson, Mezzo Soprano Justin Spenner, Baritone Julian Ward, Pianist Our Newly Designed Website We are happy to announce that the Twin Cities Opera Guild has a new website that can now be accessed on your phone. Check us out at: www.twincitiesoperaguild.org on your computer or phone Letter from the President of TCOG It looks like we made it! We are Country Club and the delicious miso sea bass, so we at the end of the tunnel, and it are holding our fun Party in Pink, with sea bass, at looks bright and sunny. All of us Interlachen on August 24. I am so looking forward to suffered in many ways – illness, hearing opera in person again! Details are elsewhere grief, loneliness. Getting my in this newsletter. I hope everyone can come! Our Big Welcome Back Party vaccine in February was the best This is my last letter as President. I have enjoyed thing imaginable, I could reenter meeting you all, our events, and projects. Twin Cities the world. Opera Guild is in fine shape, and our new President, TCOG decided to wait a bit before resuming our Kathryn Keefer, has a long history with TCOG and events, to give folks time to get vaccinated and adjust will do a wonderful job. I hope to see you all at our to the new maskless world. Our coming-out will be a party in August! big party in August – everyone has missed Interlachen Fondly, Judy Berge TCOG Has Many Exciting Things To Celebrate At our annual meeting on June 14 at the Pool and Yacht Club, Twin Cities Opera Guild members gathered to celebrate the success of Judy Berge’s presidency and all we have accomplished under her leadership, and the election of our new president Kathryn Keefer, a skilled leader and performer. Also elected were officers for a two-year term, four new Board members and seventeen renewing Board members. Celebrating this return to live meetings, were sixty attendees who were treated to an opera performance by Kiley Hazelton, Miles Herr and Carson Rose Schneider. Outgoing President Judy Berge (right) presents the New members, Board of Directors 2020 and 2021 gavel to Kathryn Keefer. Enjoying the delightful opera program Miles Herr, Kiley Hazelton and Carson Rose Schneider Twin Cities Opera Guild Introduces Its New Website Check us out at: www.twincitiesoperaguild.org on your computer or phone page 2 LET’S CELEBRATE! Our Big Welcome Back Party August 24, 2021 Interlachen Country Club • Edina 11:15 AM Social Hour 12:00 PM Program Featuring 12:45 PM Lunch Cost: $60 You can make your reservation by phone or online at www.twincitiesoperaguild.org Invitations will be mailed mid-July Pink attire welcomed Alyssa Anderson Justin Spenner Mezzo Soprano Baritone Alyssa’s talent spans the ages from Baroque to contemporary music with a focus on art song and chamber music. Along with some major operatic roles she has premiered ten works for The Dream Songs Project, a vocal/guitar duo. She won first place in the Metropolitan Opera District Auditions several times and received an encouragement award at the National Metropolitan Opera Auditions. Baritone Justin Spenner is known as a versatile artist encompassing art song, opera, musical theater and stage receiving praise as a “standout” by the Star Tribune. An avid educator, Justin has been involved in the introduction of opera to young Julian Ward audiences throughout his career and is co-founder of B-Sides Art Song Collective Pianist which strives to draw lineage between classical art song and commercial music. Julian Ward is well-known as a pianist/vocal coach for programs at the University of Minnesota and metro musicians. page 3 Members, Donors And Volunteers Make Possible These School Performances 2021 Spring Benefit to Fund Music Education for Children Continues Alicia Russell Madison McIntosh Gabriel Hernandez Nathan Haltiwanger Neill Campbell Soprano Mezzo-soprano Tenor Baritone Director/Coach Experience first hand what your support makes possible. Share this video through the eyes of the students. All our members, patrons and friends are offered the chance to hear this talented quartet. You Can Still Enjoy The Musical Bouquet Virtual Video www.twincitiesoperaguild.org/2021-spring-benefitwww.twincitiesoperaguild.org/2021-spring-benefit When viewing the video, it helps to understand that this is a pastiche-style show with a rough plot, playing on various operatic archetypes. There are five characters: Don Gaston Tomfredo (Don Giovanni - Figarillo (Tony+Tamino Gaston) the (Figaro+Pedrillo) Gertrina Julietta +Alfredo) the villainous baritone, the friendly (Gertude+ (Juliet+Violetta) heroic tenor and played by Nathan baritone, also Rosina) the romantic true love of Julietta, Haltiwanger played by Nathan her friend and lead soprano, played by (in a red shirt) Haltiwanger mezzo-soprano, played by Gabriel Hernandez Alicia Russell (but in a blue played by shirt this time) Madison McIntosh The plot follows a simple arc - Julietta, happy to be in love, is kidnapped by the evil baritone. Just when all seems lost, the heroic Tomfredo a tenor, arrives with his friends to rescue her, and all escape to live happily ever after. Since many of the arias are in languages other than English, title cards were created to help explain the plot to the students. page 4 Members, Donors And Volunteers Make Possible These School Performances Nationally Selected Fargo Moorhead Opera Quartet The Twin Cities Opera Guild was proud to offer public and private schools an outstanding performance group, the Young Artists of the Fargo Moorhead Opera Company. Four outstanding singer/actors and a pianist/coach are chosen from auditions in New York to perform Alicia Russell Madison McIntosh Gabriel Hernandez Nathan Haltiwanger Neill Campbell Soprano Mezzo-soprano Tenor Baritone Director/Coach scenes for elementary, middle and secondary schools. Schools were offered the chance to view one of three special videos that were customized to work best for elementary, middle, and high schools. The special story that is told through the video is described on the previous page. In addition to the video, the quartet and their coach made time available for a video call to discuss the performance with the students. As things began to reopen, more than 3,000 students and individuals were able to experience the talents of the Fargo Moorhead Opera Young Artists through the creative use of video performances, artists interactive virtual gatherings with schools, and at the end, limited live productions! www.twincitiesoperaguild.org/2021-spring-benefit Quotes from high school students after viewing the Fargo Moorhead Opera Young Artists video and interacting with the artists through a video conference “We all really loved watching your performance. Such impressive singers-absolutely blew us all away. And it’s always ”Opera is not only a great way to help people with their really great to just hear from people who are actually out there vocals…and the range of it is also really amazing” in the world, just making music, so it’s really fun.” “I really appreciated your visit and it was really great to see “…something that I learned about myself from your your performance directly before performers… I love musicals performances is that I enjoy opera. Thank you for with big casts and you know other things done by a large group, Tomfredo coming to our classroom.” but it just feels a lot more intimate when it’s done by a small (Tony+Tamino group of performers. And that’s what I really appreciated that you guys had a small team behind that.” +Alfredo) the “And one of the cool things I learned was behind the scenes, sort heroic tenor and of like the preparation that goes into opera… and it also made true love of Julietta, me question whether I want to try doing opera sometime.” “I learned a lot about opera and the different parts played by it takes to sing opera and how diverse it is and Gabriel Hernandez range-there’s like a big range and I learned “It was really cool to learn about opera, hear about your I could sing pretty deep if I want to.” different experiences with auditions and rehearsals, and also what kind of music you guys like to listen to outside of opera.” If you wish to help fund music education use the form on page 7; or donate online using your phone or computer while checking out our new website at www.twincitiesoperaguild.org page 5 TCOG APPRECIatES AND SAYS “THANK YOU” to ALL OF ITS MEMBERS Members are so important to the fabric of TCOG – members help us achieve our mission, members form wonderful friendships while sharing the love of music, members help us to extend the love of music into the schools, members enable students to experience the joy and magic of opera and music that will remain with them forever. A huge “THANK you” to all our members. LiFe MeMBerS Diana Urban Patricia Farnham Maryanne Moren Arlene G. Alm Alexandra Woods Molly Flowers Jo Ann Musumeci Joyce Anderson Katherine Wyers Patricia Freeburg John Clingerman and Barbara Michael Baker Bonita B. Frels Doug Myhra MEMBERS Marilyn Freund Barbara Burgess Nelson Judy Bender Bert Anderson Connie Fullmer Colleen Nelson Connie Berde Marvel Anderson Rosemary Geist Furst Nancy Nelson Alexandra Bjorklund Susan Anderson Joan Gacki Richard Nicholson Carol A. Bowditch Betty Andrews Jane Galbraith Charlotte Oliver Judith G. Boylan Margaret Armstrong-Law Gretchen Ganfield Tamara F.