Another year in the BLACK!

David Roth has done it again.  After a very challenging season, Kentucky Opera has closed the 2011-12  season in the black. 

While KO presented the Brown-Forman 2011/12 Season without canceling one performance, General Director David Roth says, “The challenges KO had to overcome last season were unprecedented in our industry. We wish to thank all of our patrons for supporting us while we worked to overcome those challenges. We also wish to thank the musicians, management and board of the LO for coming together in April this year and reaching an agreement that guarantees live music for the 60th anniversary season of KO.”

Read the whole press release here.

Opera at the Anchor!

Eat Drink & Be Merry while supporting
Kentucky Opera!

On Monday, July 9 from 5-10pm come to the Village Anchor Pub and Roost (11507 Park Road, Anchorage, Kentucky 40223) for dinner and Kentucky Opera will receive 10% of dinner sales.

Make reservations by calling at 502-708-1850 and tell them you’re eating for the Opera!
Bring your friends (100 people is a lot. If you come with one other person that’s only 98 we have to bring!) Carry out orders count too! – Just tell them you’re eating for the Kentucky Opera!

If 10% proceeds to your favorite opera company isn’t enough to entice you, how about cold hard cash?

Thanks to US Bank The Private Client Reserve, we will be giving away three $100 gift cards as door prizes!
You must eat to be entered to win!

Presenting the Kentucky Opera 2012 Car Raffle Winner!

Tim Coupe wasn’t grilling burgers at his Connecticut home on Memorial Day weekend. Nor had he taken his two sons hiking in the Adirondack Mountains. Tim was in Ames, Iowa wrangling 6 fifth-graders at an international problem solving competition. The last thing on his mind was the tickets he purchased through OldCarRaffle.com - until he got the call.  It didn’t connect when he saw the 502 area code.  He was still in disbelief when David Roth told him he had won a $60,000 voucher or a $50,000 cash option.  What finally made it sink in was when the crowd of about 50 people who had gathered at the Porsche dealership of Blue Grass MOTORSPORT yelled CONGRATULATIONS! Then the K-4 Technology teacher was convinced he had indeed won the 2012 Kentucky Opera Car Raffle.

Tim went back and forth several times before he decided to take the $50,000 rather than come to Louisville to pick up his Porsche! (Many in the Opera office offered to bring it to him, but he politely declined.) He is in the process of building a new house and the money will probably turn into a pretty amazing kitchen. Perhaps he will use a small amount towards his goal of visiting all 30 professional baseball stadiums with his sons Ian and Theo (they have been to 19). 

While this was thefirst time he ahd purchaced Kentucky Opera Car Raffle tickets, he assures us that he will be purchasing again next year. 

Congratulations Tim!

Join me at Maxim's

There has been a lot going on with the Opera.  In case you missed it, we have a group of talented musicians who have offered their services for the Merry Widow.  (Read the announcement here) While we were hopeful the musicians of the Louisville Orchestra and it's union would have accepted our repeated offers to perform with us, we are extremely grateful for the talent that has been presented. 
Wednesday night we had our first sample of what is to come. One attendee posted on Facebook "I was at the final dress rehearsal performance and not only were the performers on stage wonderful SO was the musicians and the conductor in the pit orchestra."

Remember, Opera is the most collaborative of all art forms.  It takes a lot of people to put on a performance and there is an enormous amount of talent in this production.  We have an amazing set, beautiful costumes, an intuitive stage director, wonderfully talented singing actors, a chorus who can can-can while they sing (!) and an orchestra pit filled with talent and heart!
We also have two fairly full houses. 

There will be union member protesting outside the Brown Theatre, but inside you will find a light-hearted romantic comedy that will have you dancing in your seat and singing on the way home!

There is still time to join us for the last performance of the Brown-Forman 2012/13 Season.  Tickets are available by calling 502.584.7777 or by clicking here.

CARNEVALE! la vie parisianne!

Carnevale … la vie Parisienne!

Kentucky Opera’s black tie gala, Carnevale… La Vie Parisienne will be Saturday, January 21, 2012 at the Marriott Ballroom.  The event begins at 6pm with the grand wine and spirit tasting, followed by dinner and entertainment by Kentucky Opera Studio Artists.  The evening continues with the exciting live auction featuring rare wines and luxury items and finishes with dancing at Chez Maxim’s Lounge (conveniently located in the ballroom).  Carnevale tickets are $225 per person.  Michael Miller at 502.584.4500 or visit KYOpera.Org.

This year’s 1905 Paris theme, La Vie Parisienne is inspired by Kentucky Opera’s final production of the Brown-Forman 2011/12 Season, The Merry Widow.  The Event Company will bring turn of the century art nouveau Paris to modern-day Louisville and Kentucky Opera’s Studio Artists will sing arias and ensembles from Franz Lehar’s romantic comedy along with other musical delights.  

Throughout the evening partygoers will have the opportunity to bid on fun and festive silent auction items such as a beautiful Summer Eliason necklace; a foursome at Valhalla; a signed equine giclee by Jeaneen Barnhart and a night at the Brown Hotel. The silent auction has a little something for everyone, even a $5,000 total body makeover donated by Louisville Dermatology Clinic. After a scrumptious dinner, the premier live auction will begin featuring high-end luxury items such as dinners (Drs. Frank and Carolyn Burns put on a great party and have an AMAZING wine cellar), trips to Athens Greece and Sonoma Valley California, and of course, lots, and lots of hard-to-find wines.  

New to the event this year, the Opera will raffle a one-week stay at MaisonRose, the most beautiful house in the pettiest village (St-Jean) of Dordogne, France.  Kentucky Opera has printed just 30 raffle tickets and the lucky winner and five friends/family members will have a week in this beautiful home.  

The second prize is a wonderful dinner for eight with French food and wine at the beautiful Cherokee Triangle home of Tanja Eikenboom and Rick Albrink here in Louisville.  Not quite Maison Rose in France, but a prize more than worth the $500 price of a raffle ticket.

The winners need not be present to win.  Airfare and ground transportation are not included.  Commonwealth of Kentucky Charitable Gaming License #0534.

Chances are available for $500. To be one of the 30 entries in this raffle, contact Michael Miller at Kentucky Opera at 502.584.4500 or via email at Michael_Miller@KYOpera.org.

More information on Maison Rose can be found here.  Read a Wall Street Journal review here.

Carnevale is one of Kentucky Opera’s major fundraisers. Last year the event raised $115,000 supporting Kentucky Opera’s mission through its education programs and mainstage productions.

La Vie Parisienne! La Vie Masion Rose!

“It’s said that St-Jean is the prettiest of the countless pretty villages in the Perigord.  It’s also said, to our embarrassment, that Maison Rose is the most beautiful house in the village.  There’s some stiff competition for both of those titles.  All we know is that we feel unbelievably privileged to have found a house here, and to be able to share it with our friends.”  --Jim and Mary Oppel, owners of Maison Rose in Dordogne, France

(Photo by John Nation) - The back terrace; people who visit in the warm weather months say this is the best part of the house.

Kentucky Opera has printed just 30 raffle tickets and the lucky winner and five friends/family members will have a week in this beautiful home.  There are three bedrooms so go in with two other friends and the $500 ticket price is only $166 each.  What a wonderful vacation!  Those who have visited Maison Rose describe it as a gorgeous home in an equally gorgeous setting, convenient to many day trips and activities.

The second prize is a wonderful dinner for eight with French food and wine at the beautiful Cherokee Triangle home of Tanja Eikenboom and Rick Albrink here in Louisville.  Not quite Maison Rose in France, but a prize more than worth the price of a raffle ticket.

The winners of these two fabulous prizes will be drawn at Kentucky Opera’s black tie event--Carnevale. . .la vie parisienne! at the Louisville Marriott Downtown Hotel
at 10 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012. 
The winners need not be present to win.  Airfare and ground transportation are not included.  Commonwealth of Kentucky Charitable Gaming License #0534.

To be one of the 30 entries in this raffle, contact Michael Miller at Kentucky Opera at 502.561.7934 or via email at Michael_Miller@KYOpera.org.

More information on Maison Rose can be found here.

Read a Wall Street Journal review here.

The Weddings were a Great Success!

We had sold out audiences for the Marriage of Figaro!

 

 Check out the review from Arts-Louisville.com - where reviewer J. Barret Cooper says, "All are strong in voice, showing that Kentucky Opera does not scrimp on getting the best available talent in Opera today."

Selena Frye of Louisville.com stated "All in all, I think the night was a success -- and something of an experiment for both artists and audience." You can read her full review here. 

We were overwhelmed with the great support from the community and our loyal subscribers who let us know they understand our situation by showing up! We received a lot of anecdotal feedback about the lack of an orchestra in the pit. Most of the patrons who spoke to Opera staff acknowledged the difficult decisions that had to be made. We heard multiple times, "I expected to not enjoy this performance, but by the beginning of the second half I was won over." Or “at a certain point I forgot the orchestra wasn’t there.”

We gave the opportunity for people put pen to paper to tell us how they felt. While only a small number actually wrote out their comments, the written responses were varied and honest for the most part. 

"A wonderful effort! It would have been superlative with an orchestra."

"A Mozart Opera without an orchestra despite the stellar performances of the cast, is simply an incomplete opera."

A surprising number of people seemed to think that Kentucky Opera has 
influence over the contract between the Louisville Orchestra and it's musicians with statements like:

“The LO is entitled to a contract”

“Pay the musicians and orchestra their due. Give them their unemployment benefits.”

"I wonder where are the 'benefactors' for our orchestra like Louisville has for its sports programs."

But the majority of our patrons made statements like:

"We were comforted by the beauty of the music, our laughter and the strength of the performances today."

“Mozart is probably somewhere applauding wildly! What a masterpiece - masterfully sung, staged, acted.”

“The piano & harpsichord seemed appropriate accompaniment for this particular opera.”

“We appreciate the hard decisions that must be made. - You have our full support.”

Did you see Marriage of Figaro?  What did you think?  Leave a comment here or email us at info@kyopera.org.