GENESEO — Finger Lakes Opera at SUNY Geneseo will launch during a summer gala with the help of singers from some of the world’s top opera companies.
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The concert, on August 10, will feature a 40-piece professional orchestra that will include an official public announcement of the new professional summer opera’s company’s first full production scheduled for the summer of 2014.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be embarking on this venture and to announce our 2014 production at the gala concert,” said Gerald Floriano, the company’s artistic director and conductor.
According to a press release, the event will feature an evening of arias, duets and ensembles from some of the world’s best-known composers such as Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Donizetti, Massenet, Gounod, Catalani, Mascagni and Cilea. Scheduled to perform are Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Pastin, Seattle Opera tenor Rolando Sanz, baritone Evan Jones, and mezzo soprano Jessica Best.
“The bucolic setting of the Finger Lakes area is ideal for lovers of opera and lyric theater to escape for world-class entertainment,” said Christopher Dahl, President of SUNY Geneseo.
Friends of Finger Lakes Opera have begun efforts to attempt to raise $1 million to help support the first five seasons through 2017.
“We will start with a single production next summer, but the company’s vision is to present several productions in repertory during the season, always showcasing some of the finest singers and musicians in the country,” Floriano said.
Dahl and Floriano said the company will draw patrons from a wide area of Western New York and surrounding states, capitalizing on the area increasingly becoming a tourist destination.
“The project also will support economic growth in upstate New York by enhancing quality of life, which promotes job creation and tourism by attracting new businesses and residents,” Dahl said.
The concert will be held at the Wadsworth Auditorium at 8p.m. Tickets for the Finger Lakes Opera gala are available online for purchase at www.alumniconnections.com.