Save the Dates

The Toledo Opera Guild will be celebrating another successful season with a gathering June 4 at the Belmont Country Club in Perrysburg.

Social hour will begin at 11 a.m., followed by lunch at noon. Call Barbara Baker at 419-534-2322 for lunch questions; R.S.V.P. with $25 to Christine Goslin.

We will be installing officers and marking the third year in a row that we have been able to contribute $40,000 to the Toledo Opera.

So that we can do that for a fourth year -- and even top it -- our work will begin anew this fall. Please mark your calendars for our 2014-2015 meetings and events, listed below.

Thanks to everyone for such an amazing year!

CALENDAR

Operas: "Tosca," Oct. 10 and 12; "Susannah," Feb. 13 and 15; and "Lucia di Lammermoor," April 24 and 26, all at the Valentine Theatre.

Major Events: Fall guild event (TBA), 7 p.m. Nov. 8, Toledo Club; Phashion of the Opera, spring date TBD; Opera Gala, May 9, Toledo Club.

Meetings: Executive committee 9:30 a.m. and general board 10:30 a.m. Sept. 3, Jan. 7, March 4, April 1; executive board retreat, 9:30 a.m. May 6; year-end luncheon and officer installation, 11 a.m. June 4.

'Mikado' for Grown-Ups

Ivan Kende painted this set for 'The Mikado.'

You don't have to be a third-grader to enjoy Opera on Wheel's production of "The Mikado"!

Toledo Opera's educational program, which brings a 40-minute adaptation to elementary schools throughout our region, will offer a special adult performance of the Gilbert and Sullivan comedic classic this month.

The event, which includes an Asian fusion buffet, will be held at 6:30 p.m. May 20 at the Park Inn by Radisson-Toledo, located at 101 N. Summit St. in downtown Toledo.

Tickets cost $50, and a cash bar will be available. RSVP by May 15 to Collin in the box office at 419-255-SING.

Toledo Opera 2014-2015 Season Announced

At the close of Toledo Opera's wonderfully successful 2013-2014 season, executive director Suzanne Rorick announced exciting plans to add a third opera to its upcoming season as well as a contemporary series.

Below are excerpts from her message in the "Faust" program. Click here for season subscriptions, which include priority seating, the bring-a-friend program, and ticket and event discounts.

We begin the season in October with Puccini's "Tosca" in a lush traditional production directed by Michael Capasso, who was last in Toledo to direct "La bohème."

Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah" [presented in February] will be the first in a series of American 20th and 21st-century operas that will be presented over the coming years. With this series, we intend to recapture a powerful dynamic of operatic performance: operas experienced in our audience's own language, set in or near their own time and place, and based on literature or stories that are still widely read or known.

Our third production of the season will be Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" ... [which] also will be Toledo Opera's second co-production with Opera Carolina.

School Students Enjoy Opera on Wheels

"It was very funny and creative the way they acted it out."

What better praise of the Opera on Wheel's production of "The Mikado" than from a local third-grade student.

Check out the recent article in The Blade's OurTown Sylvania section: Opera on Wheels performances introduce students to art form.