Connecticut Concert Opera
Organization Information
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The Company also aims to enhance general knowledge about opera by producing operas not usually performed by the larger local companies, and by allowing local schools and organizations to preview dress rehearsals free of charge. The company also invites noted musicologists, music critics or theatrical directors to deliver pre-performance lectures. From the beginning, the Company has developed and projected English supertitles above the stage during the performances, giving the audience a greater chance for enjoyment of the opera. Since 1999, for the New England premiere of Mefistofele,in addition to the souvenir program, a full libretto has been provided, in the original language and English, in lieu of supertitles.
Our education mission includes nurturing new performing talent, both vocal and instrumental. We offer talented students of all ages the opportunity to learn and perform complete operas—a chance rarely afforded to up-and-coming artists, given the high cost of opera production and the public’s desire to hear only “big-name” singers.
While it is not possible to track the careers of all young singers who have made their early professional performances with us, we know of four who have forged significant careers, singing with such major regional companies as Glimmerglass Opera, Sarasota Opera, the Caramoor Festival, Miami Opera, Virginia Opera, Washington Opera, and Central City (Colorado) Opera.
Connecticut Concert Opera wishes to provide the area with access to high quality singing at affordable prices. $15.00 tickets are offered to students while senior citizens and groups can receive reduced price tickets. The company also offers reduced price tickets to affinity groups, if purchased well in advance of the season. Full price for a typical opera is $35.
Currently the Company’s home theater—the primary performance venue--is the Hoffman Auditorium in the Carol Autorino Center for the Arts at Saint Joseph College in West Hartford. The Company’s first two seasons were held at the Centennial Theater at Westminster School, in Simsbury.
Performances have also been given at the Wallace Stevens Theater at the Hartford Insurance Group in Hartford, Millard Auditorium at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, Arts Exclusive Gallery in Simsbury, the Austin Arts Center at Trinity College, the Town and County Club in Hartford, the Seaverns Room at the Bushnell Memorial Hall, Crowell Concert Hall at Wesleyan University, the Hartford Golf Club, Duncaster, First Church Congregational in West Hartford, Westminster Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, the Arts Center in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Middletown High School, Cheney Hall in Manchester, Keeney Memorial Cultural Center in Wethersfield, and others.
The company’s affairs are governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. The Board meets monthly year round. Additional meetings of the Executive Committee are held frequently between Board meetings. The Executive Committee is comprised of the President, Secretary, Treasurer, and the Artistic Director. Average attendance at Board meetings is 7 to 8 Directors.
The company’s performances are attended primarily by audiences from Greater Hartford, but our mailing list and ticket orders extend from New York City to Boston.
The company raises funds in several different ways in addition to ticket sales. Advertising is sold in the programs, an extensive annual appeal is mounted each year, and two benefit trips to Cooperstown, New York and the Glimmerglass Opera Festival held there—one weekend trip and one day trip—raise funds for the company.
As part of the educational mission of Connecticut Concert Opera, considerable effort is put into study material and a pre performance lecture before the Company’s performances and on the Glimmerglass benefit trips. Excerpts from historic recordings, video productions, and articles are provided to increase the knowledge and enjoyment of our audiences and the participants on the trips. These pre-performance presentations are researched and delivered by the President of Connecticut Concert Opera as well as by guest musicologists from Trinity College, Dartmouth College, and the Hartt School. Frequently, recordings of Connecticut Concert Opera soloists are used in the demonstrations.
The Company has also been supported in the past by the Roberts Foundation, by a distribution from a trust at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and by the Ensworth Foundation, the Hartford Courant Foundation, the Mortensen Foundation, the Lincoln National Foundation, the Horace Bushnell Foundation, and the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.
The Company serves a large population in Central Connecticut and Western Massachusetts. Opera lovers of all ages attend the productions; the largest concentrations are in the student age category and the 45-70 year old category. The Company’s audiences speak English as their major language. Most are middle income or above, but for those with limited incomes the company offers reduced price tickets, which can be as low as $15 for students and faculty at schools such as Saint Joseph College, Hartt, UConn, Yale, Hartford Conservatory, and others. The company performs in venues with good handicapped access.
The Company welcomes comments from those that it serves and always provides forms for comments, names and addresses for mailing lists, and other feedback at each performance.
The Company’s Board of Directors is comprised of volunteers who also work on specific aspects of Company administration, as committee heads. In the administration of the Company, there are many tasks and the committee heads recruit additional volunteers to help with these tasks. The estimated total number of volunteers is between 50 and 60.
The Company frequently works with other non profit organizations in its performances. Examples are the 1994 production of Bellini’s I Puritani with Connecticut Choral Artists (CONCORA), the Jenny Lind Concert in 1997 during Mark Twain Days; the co-production in November of 1998 of Boito’s opera Mefistofele with the Asylum Hill Music Series; a production the Company sponsored of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri in October 1999, with the Boston Academy of Music, and the co-production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in 2001 with the New Britain Opera.