Cape Cod Opera

Welcome to Cape Cod's own opera company dedicated to the production of fully staged opera showcasing local and regional professional talent. "There's nothing more powerful than experiencing the majesty of opera performed live and in person in a small theatre."

The mission of Cape Cod Opera is to enrich the cultural lives of residents of and visitors to Cape Cod by presenting operatic programs engaging local and regional professional casts, directors and designers, and by bringing live operatic experiences to local schools and adults groups.


Philip Lima as Scarpia and Diana Toscano as Tosca in Puccini's TOSCA - August 2008 Photo credit: Focalpoint Studio, Orleans	Natalie Polito as Hanna with The Ensemble perform in The Merry Widow August 2010 Photo credit: Focalpoint Studio, Orleans	Gregory Zavracky, Rachele Schmiege, Sarah Callinan, Meredith Ziegler and Eugene Heard - Così fan tutte - August 2009 Photo credit: Focalpoint Studio, Orleans

THE MERRY WIDOW

by Franz Lehar

(English translation by Gershom Clark Morningstar with the kind permission of The Comic Opera Guild, Michigan)

On Sunday February 21st, 2010 Our Divas, Sarah Callinan, Beth MacLeod and Diana Toscana raised their glasses to a successful fund raising benefit at The Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth

This concert was held on Wednesday December 30, 2009 at The Methodist Church, Chatham, Massachusetts as part of Chatham First Night activities.

Valerie Kraft, Beth MacLeod, Paul Soper, John Tsotsoros accompanied by Lucy Banner, Pianist performed arias, duets and ensembles from La Boheme, Carmen and Broadway.

Together for the first time, the wonderful quartet started the fireworks display early!!

The newsletter is a Portable Document Format (PDF) File which means you must have an Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 program to look at and print it.

Here we are in the time of giving to ask those who have given, to give again in celebration of our sixteenth year of community offerings. Need I say that new contributors are more than welcome? We hope you all will respond with any remuneration, putting you on our list of enlightened supporters.

While we at CCO are trimming costs to the bone we are not cutting our commitment to Cape Codders. We are working every month of the year to produce professional and top quality staged productions, concerts and school outreach. Cosi fan tutte by Mozart, last August, was an artistic gem with its combination of ridiculous story and sublime music. We regretted limiting performances to only one but needed to cut orchestra and venue rental fees. Generous and understanding performers, designers and directors offered reduced fees. Members of our wonderful Company Chorus accepted half of their normal stipend and a few returned their checks as donations. Even though volunteers and in-kind contributors are constantly warming our hearts with help to bring quality opera to you and reduce cost, the final cost was $45.000.

On August 7th and 8th, CCO tickled your fancy by waltzing The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar into your arms. The vibrantly alive production lifted the bodies and souls of everyone who attended but we still need support to pay the bills.

A major production attendance is like a poker game: full houses are winners. We are getting close but not close enough. You can make it happen, dear audience and supporters. Please join our efforts to reach our goals for you, our Friends. Now, more than ever, we all need a song in our hearts.

Few art forms require as many moving parts to reach fruition than that of a fully staged opera production. Directors and conductors come together with their expertise in order to bring the musical, dramaturgical and visual aspects to life. No matter how grand or difficult the musical challenges may be with any given choice, we are ultimately telling a story on a stage and cannot forget that.

Auditions and casting the right singing actors is a vital first step. Once done the musical work begins on one end while the nitty gritty begins on another. Set, costume and lighting design are crucial elements that can take several months of collaborative work to reach the goal of creating the three dimensional reality that the audience sees and experiences. This sense of time, place and atmosphere that supports the emotional journey of each character through an opera is of huge importance to the performers as well. Our goal is to create an environment that can sweep the audience up and away and into the world of the story at hand.

In order to do so realistically, producers, directors, stage management, Board members and volunteers alike work tirelessly to secure rehearsal spaces, performance venues, procure furniture, props and costumes, coordinate transportation, housing, and schedule upwards of seventy five people to arrive on time, and ready to make the magic.

Finally in the theater we begin to see and hear the fruits of all our collective efforts. The conductor leads the orchestra and singers in the most important element of all, bringing the score to life. Music is the back bone of this wondrous way of story telling and we all breathe easier when we reach that final orchestra dress rehearsal and can see and experience the enormous collective efforts that have brought us there.

I am committed to keeping these moving parts and collaborations alive. Please help us continue to keep our annual productions, outreach programs and concerts of the highest caliber and inspire the next generation into this incredible art form.

Cape Cod Opera evolved from a 1994 recital sponsored by Friends of Monomoy Theatre under the name of Afternoon at the Opera. Opera New England of Cape Cod joined in sponsoring the next year's concert, followed by concert productions of Carmen and Die Fledermaus. This collaboration grew into Cape Cod Opera, an independent non-profit organization dedicated to the production of staged opera showcasing professional local and regional talent. Cape Cod Opera's outreach programs take live classical vocal music to Cape schools at no cost. 2001 saw the expansion of these programs to the senior population. The organization is administered by an all volunteer board.

The Cape Cod Opera Chorus was introduced to Cape audiences in August 2000. The chorus, with singers from all parts of Cape Cod, debuted with An Evening of Opera with Sigmund Romberg and have since accompanied principals in Cape Cod Opera productions of La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Die Fledermaus, I Paglacci/Cavalleria Rusticana, The Mikado, Carmen, Amahl and The Night Visitors, Tosca, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Merry Widow and have sung in most opera concerts. They appeared with Jonathan McPhee's Symphony by the Sea in July 2005 in a concert at The Hatch Shell on the Esplanade in Boston. Members of the Cape Cod Opera Chorus also sing comprimario roles in productions. The chorus always welcomes new members. Please email us at info@capecodopera.org.

2010	Acts of Love with Dueling Divas: Meet me At Maxim's benefit; The Merry Widow
2009	Così fan tutte; Opera and You! Outreach performances of Così fan Tutte; An Operatic First Night
2008	Tosca, Amahl and The Night Visitors, Celebrate the Forties!
2007	Amahl and the Night Visitors; Carmen; Masks and Merriment Concert
2006	Amahl and The Night Visitors; The Mikado; An Evening of French Songs; Hansel and Gretel
2005	An Afternoon of Opera with Robert Honeysucker; CCO Chorus at The Hatch Shell in Boston, Gianni Schicchi/Trouble in Tahiti, Amahl and The Night Visitors
2004	I Pagliacci/Cavalleria Rusticana; A Summer Evening of Opera; Amahl and The Night Visitors
2003	Die Fledermaus; The Golden Age of Operetta
2002	Madama Butterfly; Echoes of Grand Opera
2001	La Traviata; An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan
2000	Rigoletto; A Romantic Evening with Sigmund Romberg
1999	The Merry Widow; Fourth of July Musical Fireworks
1998	The Marriage of Figaro; Fifth of July Musical Fireworks
1997	Die Fledermaus; A Summer's Eve Opera Concert

Cape Cod Opera is pleased to be a part of The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod Passport to the Arts.
Tickets must be reserved in advance and are not available on line for the Passport for the Arts.
Please call 508.398.1068 for details.

We thank the following advertisers for supporting Cape Cod Opera, please visit their websites

	© Cape Cod Opera • P.O. Box 582, N. Chatham, MA 02650 • 508 246 0039 • info@capecodopera.org web content created by Linda Arthur, design by Cape.Com