Accessibility Through Contextual Relevance

Presents free concerts featuring opera, popular, and instrumental music in Brooklyn and Queens, including seasonal festivals, community arts events, and outdoor performances at locations such as Sunset Park, Marine Park, and local businesses. Events include the Make Music New York festival, Oktoberfest, Fall Festival, Winter Gala, and neighborhood cultural festivals.

Provides public access to opera through free open dress rehearsals with piano and orchestra for full productions such as La Bohème, Suor Angelica, and Carmen, as well as special vocal concerts, allowing community engagement with the artistic process.

Stages full productions of operas such as Puccini's La Bohème, Suor Angelica, and Bizet's Carmen, performed in original language with English supertitles, at venues including OLP Catholic Academy of Brooklyn. Performances occur multiple times per production across the season.

Makes recorded or live opera performances available to a broader audience through free online streaming, expanding access beyond in-person attendance.

Conducts performances, workshops, and educational programs aimed at introducing opera to the general public.

Organizes and hosts free public performance events including Bravo Nights, Aria Slams, and special recitals to showcase rising local opera singers and provide professional development opportunities.

Hosts pre-screening meet-ups and social gatherings for Met Live in HD opera simulcasts and other opera video presentations, including intermission refreshments and group viewing experiences.

Plans and hosts group trips to attend performances at the Glimmerglass Festival, including post-performance gatherings such as dinners at the Brewster Inn.

Publishes Viva Voce, an online magazine dedicated to opera, providing free access to subscribers and maintaining an archive of past issues for public viewing and download.

Supports and promotes opera presentations, fosters community appreciation, and provides educational programming in the Greater Rochester area, including lectures, film screenings, and recitals.

Funds regional opera productions and performances, including support for the Finger Lakes Opera, Rochester Oratorio Society, and Glimmerglass Festival.

Provides a school-day program that engages elementary school students in creating, producing, and performing operas, offered virtually during the pandemic and free of charge to Title I schools.

Commissions and produces original operas, including "Looking at You" in 2019, and incurs production expenses for future immersive opera projects involving new forms of performance media; no performances were held in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Commissions and produces original operatic works, including the world premiere of Two Corners by B.E. Boykin and Jarrod Lee, scheduled for June 2024, marking the organization’s first commissioned opera.

Hosts annual free Juneteenth programs as part of its Summer Festival, beginning in 2024, to highlight joy, resilience, and the journey toward freedom, justice, and equality through operatic and community-focused performances.

Organizes and hosts over 30 community engagement events annually, including in-school visits, performances at elder care homes, virtual recitals, online performances by Young Artists, and educational podcast series such as Great Voices of the 20th Century and Behind the Curtain, expanding access beyond traditional stage productions.

Runs a professional Young Artist Program launched in 2018 that trains emerging operatic talent, including performances, tours, and educational outreach, with over 300 applications received annually and expanded access following a major gift in 2019 that eliminated pay-to-sing participation fees.

Produces annual professional opera performances during the summer season in Rochester and the Finger Lakes region, including full-scale productions such as Tosca, La Traviata, Carmen, La Bohème, Die Fledermaus, and Aida, with recent collaborative productions involving local arts organizations and reaching over 2,000 attendees annually.