New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera to Host Open House & Silent Auction, 9/12

The New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera's (Verismo Opera), the house opera company of the Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC), will hold its fall Open House and a silent auction fundraiser on Saturday, September 12, 2015. The annual event will be held at The Performing Arts School at bergenPAC in Englewood, New Jersey at 2:00 p.m.

Artistic Director Lucine Amara, a Met Opera luminary, invites the public to attend the free event and learn more about the grand opera company's fall season. The program will feature vocalists performing solos from Verismo Opera's 2015 season and past productions. Opportunities will be discussed to get involved in the nonprofit opera company as supernumeraries acting in non-speaking and non-singing roles, volunteers working behind-the-scenes, and singers performing in the Verismo Opera Chorus. Exhibits will display memorabilia, costumes, and photos from Verismo Opera's years of producing grand operas, sponsoring an annual international vocal competition, presenting concerts, holding master classes, giving operalogues, and training the stars of tomorrow.

To continue the grand opera company's work, a silent auction will feature a range of fine items available for purchase. Among the products available to bid upon will be opera CDs from artists, including Lucine Amara and records; ivory, alabaster collectible opera plates by Italian master Franco Ingargiola; prints; large photos posters personally signed by Lucine Amara; and several other items. Funds from the auction will be used to support the volunteer chorus.

Ms. Amara, Verismo Opera Music Director/Principal Conductor Anthony Morss, Stage Director Evelyn La Quaif, Associate Conductor/Chorus Director Mara Waldman, and President Dr. James Garvin, MD will discuss Verismo Opera's mission, vision, and history. They will introduce the grand opera company's new productions of Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Verismo Opera's premiere of Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda.

The company will perform Lucia di Lammermoor on October 18, 2015 and present La Gioconda on April 17, 2016. Both productions will be performed at bergenPAC, located at 30 North Van Brunt Street in Englewood, New Jersey, at 3:00 p.m.

The Open House site is handicapped accessible. A parking lot has a designated handicapped parking space. The New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera is committed to ensuring its programs and services are accessible to all. Members of the public requiring a special accommodation or with specific questions about the physical features of a facility where Verismo Opera performs may call (201) 886-0561 at least two weeks prior to the event.

Funding

The 2015 season is made possible, in part, with funds provided by the New Jersey Council on the Arts/Department of State, through grand funds administered by the Bergen County Department of Parks, Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. Other supporters include Children's Aid Foundation, Robert J. Campbell, MD, Cesare L. Santeramo, KSJ, Paul Weiss Matching Fund, The Gerda Lissner Foundation, Inc., Mary Casella Briggs Fund, and Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund.

For further information about the program or Verismo Opera, call (201) 886-0561 or send an e-mail to info@verismopera.org.