Opera Bootcamp: Basic Training

Thursday, December 8, 6pm

Minnesota Opera Center

Learn your operatic do re mi from your fa so la ti in a must-attend intense Opera Bootcamp. Last year Drill Sergeant Keeton broke a glass with her voice (not to mention, our fearless board chair dropped and gave his 20)—wait until you see what she has in store for us this year!

Tickets: $10 Tempo members or $15 General admission
Call the Minnesota Opera Ticket Office M-F, 9am-6pm at 612-333-6669.

Still hesitant?  Check out these rave reviews from last year's event:

http://blogs.citypages.com/dressingroom/2010/12/stand_at_ease_f.php

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/style/112035624.html

http://cocogoesout.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-enlist-in-opera-boot-camp.html

http://www.minnpost.com/maxsparber/2010/12/10/24106/basic_training_for_future_opera_patrons_fitzgerald_with_sound_effects

Bring a new and unwrapped toy to the event for Minesota Opera's Toys4Military Kids drive and receive a free copy of Angela Keeton's (aka Minnesota Opera’s Teaching Artist and Bootcamp Drill Sgt.) debut recording.

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The Met in Minneapolis? Drop-in on the Met Opera Regional Auditions this Saturday

Join some of your fellow Tempo opera-phites anytime between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2:30 this Saturday, December 3 at the McKnight Theatre in the Ordway Center for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Auditions. Different auditions will be taking place during this time-span, and you are free to come and go as you please!

What are the Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Auditions? They are the preliminary rounds for the National Council Auditions that will lead to fame, success and glory. Many of the world’s foremost singers, among them Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, Jessye Norman, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt and Dolora Zajick have received awards from the National Council. Annually, approximately 100 former auditioners appear in Metropolitan Opera productions. For more information on the auditions, visit: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/auditions/national/index.aspx

Special appearances from friends of Minnesota Opera will take place at 11:05, 11.25, 12:25 and 12:45.

11:05AM- Victoria Vargas, mezzo soprano – Victoria is a resident artist with Minnesota Opera and a featured performer at Opera Tasting 2011.

11:25AM- Angela Mortellaro, soprano – Angela is a resident artist with Minnesota Opera and was featured this season as Despina in Cosi fan tutte and Madeleine in Silent Night.

12:25PM- Rudolfo Nieto, bass baritone – Rudy was a resident artist with Minnesota Opera during the 09-10 and 10-11 seasons, as well as a featured performer at OT 2011.

12:45PM- Brad Benoit, tenor – Brad was a resident artist with Minnesota Opera during the 08-09, 09-10 and 10-11 seasons, as well as a featured performer at OT 2011. If you attended opening night of Silent Night, you will remember Brad’s brilliant tenor voice filling in for a sick William Burden.

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20(s)? $20!!

Project 20-something (P20S) is a program designed by Minnesota Opera and funded by the Minnesota State Arts Board to give access to people in their twenties to attend the opera by offering them $20 tickets for opening night performances and related activities. The objective of this program is to build the next generation of opera-goers.

Can you participate?  Kristin Matejcek, Minnesota Opera liaison for the project says “all schools are welcome although we have active student liaisons at U of M, St. Thomas, St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus College, Northwestern, Hamline, Bethel and St. Mary’s Minneapolis campus.”

The participants of the program will be invited to join Tempo ($50 membership fee) and receive membership benefits that include: discounted tickets ($30) and discounted subscriptions ($80-$120) as well as invitations to special events and educational classes throughout the year.

Are you a 20-something? Want a $20 ticket?! Contact Minnesota Opera at 612-333-6669 for more info.

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Tempo Sketch Artists: Thomas Boguszewski

Tempo invites sketch artists to dress rehearsals at MNOpera to create an artistic rendering of how they perceive each opera. Here is Thomas Boguszewski's vision of Silent Night (more available at http://thisisartinprogress.blogspot.com/2011/11/silent-night-at-opera.html):

"I am a history enthusiast and a fan of the film Joyeux Noel, which the opera Silent Night is based on.  I thought the staging of this opera was magnificent.  The costumes were spot-on, the stage (which used a rotating circular platform in the center) was ingenious, the acting and blocking were well-thought-out.  Any person who knows about or would like to learn more about the Christmas Truce of 1914 should see Silent Night.  Watching this production warms the heart a little, but also gives one a sense of the terrible irony of war —where humanity is looked upon as "weird" and violence is the norm.  I think the message of this play is not only that "Artists make bad soldiers" as Lieutenant Horstmayer points out at the beginning of the play, but also that good human beings make bad soldiers."

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Tempo Sketch Artists: Kate Saturday

Tempo invites sketch artists to dress rehearsals at MNOpera to create an artistic rendering of how they perceive each opera. Here is Kate Saturday's vision of Silent Night:

I'm always amazed by the strength and simplicity of the sets at MNOpera, but Silent Night went way beyond previous shows.  I was amazed by how viewpoint and sympathy could shift as the stage rotated, and how dropping a window onto the battlefield could transform it into a mansion while retaining the sense of lonliness and fragility.  ~Kate Saturday

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Silent Night Sketch Artists: Lee Blauersouth

Tempo invites sketch artists to dress rehearsals at MNOpera to create an artistic rendering of how they perceive each opera. Here is Lee Blauersouth's vision of Silent Night (also accessible at http://godseekercomic.com/2011/11/13/another-comic-artists-night-at-the-opera-events-pics/):

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Silent Night Sketch Artists: Ryan Dow

Tempo invites sketch artists to dress rehearsals at MNOpera to create an artistic rendering of how they perceive each opera.  Here is Ryan Dow's vision of Silent Night (also accessible at http://ryandow.com/ic/2011/11/14/sketch-night-at-the-opera/):

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Changing the narrative

 

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

 NPR questions Is Opera Stuff (Only) Rich People Like? How can we, as young professionals, change that narrative?

Should our passion for great art come with the ire of others? The New York Times, in an article discussing a successful year of fundraising at the Metropolitan Opera, received some harsh commentary:

In the comments section, vitriol against the Met donors spewed hot and heavy. "At least some of those sickening Wall Street bonuses are going to good use," wrote one reader. "Sounds like at least a few folks can afford to pay more taxes," groused another. One more sample: "Just as drug money built the Miami skyline, the corrupt nature of New York's financial center will continue to fund the monuments of their success."

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Save the Date: Silent Night Preview Event on October 26

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 6:00 pm

Humphrey School of Public Affairs, 301 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55455

Minnesota Opera’s commissioned opera Silent Night tells the story of Christmas Eve in the Great War’s trenches. Preview this work in an evening where all is calm and all is bright: Art and policy intersect as Minnesota Opera and the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs convene a public conversation concerning military policy and dissention. Musical selections presented by composer Kevin Puts and the cast of Silent Night.

Go AWOL with fellow Tempo members in a pre-lecture cocktail hour, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Fill your fatigues with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar before the lecture.

Admission: Free for Tempo members, $5.00 general admission with RSVP; limited seating. $10.00 for everyone at the door.

Call 612-333-6669 to R.s.v.p.

For information visit mnopera.org/tempo.

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10 Questions with MN Opera Intern and Future Tempo Blogger Clark Rahman

Photo by Drew Krason

1. What’s your sign?
Libra

2. Favorite opera?
I will do top three.... That is just a toughie; it is like asking someone's favorite movie!
a. Bizet's Carmen (I am a proud francophile) http://youtu.be/jG-0_p_yefg
b. Stauss' Ariadne Auf Naxos (best memories of my life are in Germany and it is such a vocal delicacy) http://youtu.be/SzM9QOUPeI0
c. Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti for my Scottish roots http://youtu.be/JW5Ol3jNrJI

3. If you could have any other job in the world, what would it be?
I would be Jackie O.

4. What is your favorite dessert?
Pot de creme

5. If you had to describe yourself using three words, what would they be?
Sassy, busy, fulfilled

6. What is your favorite holiday?
Depends on what country I am in.

7. What was your first opera?
It might not count as a full fledged opera, but The Mikado when I was four years old during the Tulip Festival in Iowa. My mom was sure my sister and I would hate every moment but it has always remained one of my favorite childhood memories.

8. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you?
It would be sort of a cross between The Red Shoes (1939) and Breathless (1960). Don't care who plays me, as long they are smouldering.

9. Are you a morning or night person?
Night.

10. What’s your favorite thing to do in the winter?
Going on vacation.

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Newlyweds Matt & Chad win Tempo Membership and Subscription

Chad (L) and Matt (R) with Robyne Robinson (C) at Opera Tasting 2011

Newlyweds Matt and Chad won a Tempo membership and a 5-opera subscription to Minnesota Opera at Opera tasting 2011!  To win, Matt concocted a highly creative 3-opera season:

Opera 1:  Sandra Bullock directs Faust on a moving bus that cannot go slower than 60 MPH
Opera 2:  The Octomom directs Don Giovanni - - in the womb.
Opera 3:  Carmen Sandiego directs Carmen, set in historic places around the globe and conducted by Rockapella.

Chad received honorable mention for his...er...sensual...entry:

Opera 1:  Paris Hilton directs The Magic Flute - - with her mouth.
Opera 2:  Bob Barker directs Tosca using a cast of spaded cats.
Opera 3:  Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Will Smith direct Porgy & Bess set in L. Ron Hubbard's basement.

Who knows?  Maybe Tempo has some new opera impresarios that just joined the ranks?  Good luck producing these operas, and welcome to Tempo, Matt & Chad!

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The Guardian takes on "The Little Pavarotti"

Vittorio Grigolo is no doubt one of the hottest (and Hottest) singers on the international scene right now.  The Guardian chronicles his arrival at opera-stardom.

Vittorio Grigolo: 'Opera is just like boxing or Formula 1. It's dangerous."

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Last Call: Opera Tasting 2011: Pouring out from the Heavens

Photo from OT 2010

Like your Puccini with hints of smoky etherealness, bouquets of strawberry and oak, or aromas of earth and tobacco? Then come and taste your opera while enjoying lashings of wine at Opera Tasting 2011: Pouring out from the Heavens on Saturday, September 17, at Minnesota Opera Center.

What is Opera Tasting chair Megan Pelka most looking forward to?  "I'm definitely psyched for the season preview - while we all know what is being performed it will be fascinating to hear about the details of the production as well as costumes and scenery. And of course, performances from the Minnesota Opera Resident Artists. There are new singers this season and I'm looking forward to hearing their voices and getting to know them!"

A five course wine tasting courtesy of Solo Vino with delicious pairings from Toast Wine Bar & Café accompany your main dish - Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artists - as they swoon you, with a little Italian on the side. Indulge your taste buds on cadenzas, cabalettas, and arias by opera’s greatest composers as you preview Minnesota Opera’s 2011-2012 season. Wear decadent glam to fit in with our theme of Pouring out from the Heavens: Garden Party under the Stars.

Tickets are $50 for Tempo members; $75 for non-members.

Purchase your tickets by calling the Minnesota Opera Ticket Office at 612-333-6669.

Opera Tasting 2011 Sponsors

Food and Beverage Sponsors: Solo Vino, Toast Wine Bar and Café
Media sponsor: l’étoile and CityPages

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Sustain your Passion: Give to MN Opera

As do all young professionals, Tempo members and friends understand the importance of philanthropy.

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." ~Winston Churchill

Minnesota Opera is offering exclusive incentives for Tempo members who become sustaining donors to the Annual Fund.  Sustaining donors provide Minnesota Opera with a reliable revenue stream, which is vital to the company’s current and future success.  Donors receive exclusive benefits and behind-the-scenes experiences (visit mnopera.org/DonorBenefits for a current list of benefits).

Sign up online at mnopera.org/SustainingGiving or call 612-342-9569 to enroll by phone.  Join at the $5 a month level (or a $60 one-time gift) by Friday, September 16, and we will send you one Ordway drink/dessert voucher.  Sign up for $10 or more a month (or a $120+ one-time gift) and you will receive two Ordway drink/dessert vouchers.  These vouchers are in addition to the existing donor benefits, found at the link above. Every gift makes a difference.

Make your life by sustaining your passion.  Give to Minnesota Opera today.  Help continue the programs that make your life rich with music and art.

http://www.mnopera.org/SustainingGiving

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Reminder: Opera Tasting 2011: Pouring out from the Heavens

Opera Tasting 2011 Chair, Megan Pelka, and her date
at the 2010 Opera Tasting

Opera Tasting 2011: Pouring out from the Heavens is coming up on Saturday, September 17, at Minnesota Opera Center.

Opera Tasting Chair and Tempo board member, Megan Pelka describes the event:  "Dress in your best cocktail and be ready to pose for pictures! Solo Vino has been very generous and is providing delicious wine for the evening. Toast Wine Bar & Cafe will be serving up hors d'oeurves perfectly paired with the wines.This is a great opportunity to network with professionals and supporters of the Minnesota Opera."

Tickets are $50 for Tempo members; $75 for non-members.

Purchase your tickets by calling the Minnesota Opera Ticket Office at 612-333-6669.

Opera Tasting 2011 Sponsors

Food and Beverage Sponsors: Solo Vino, Toast Wine Bar and Café
Media sponsor: l’étoile and CityPages

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Save the Date: Opening Night of Così fan tutte + Cast Party

Bring your date (or two) for a little lover’s switcheroo following the opening night of Mozart’s masterpiece, Così fan tutte. Tempo members and their invitees simply show their opening-night tickets for access to this exclusive cast party.

The evening’s specialty cocktails, Mozartini and Love Potion #9, are guaranteed to wash away your inhibitions with fellow party-goers, the cast of Cosi. Sakura is your oyster, where our aphrodisiac-laden dessert selection melts in your mouth. Don’t miss this evening of formal folly: Black tie admired, but not required.

Join us at Sakura for Tempo's Opening Night Cast Party after Così fan tutte

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Win a Tempo Membership with Two Tickets to the entire MN Opera 2011-2012 Season

On Saturday, September 17, Tempo members and friends will attend Opera Tasting 2011: Pouring out from the Heavens. If YOU were to create your own “opera tasting,” what would it sound like?

In the comment section below, create your own season of 3-operas, listing who would direct each opera (John Waters? Hideo Nakata?) and a theme for the setting of each opera.  Be creative and feel free to list as much detail as you would like!

Ex. 1. Hideo Nakata directs La Traviata set in a Burmese brothel; 2. Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs Tristan und Isolde set in Cinderella's Castle in Disneyland Paris; and 3. John Waters directs The Girl of the Golden West set in a moon-colony. 

Get your friends to participate too! If we receive ten entries, we will draw one winner for a FREE Tempo membership with two opening night tickets for each opera in the 2011-2012 Minnesota Opera season.

Each individual may only enter once by creating their opera season in the comment section, below.  After you have commented, you must also email your answer with your contact information to tempo@mnopera.org. Only entries that are both commented on in the Tempo blog and emailed to Tempo will be eligible for the drawing.  Participants must be 21-39 years of age to enter.

The contest begins TODAY and will end on Monday, September 12, 2011. The winning entry will be randomly selected and presented at Opera Tasting on Saturday September 17. You need not attend Opera Tasting on September 17, 2011 in order to win.

Ready? Set? GO OPERA!

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Radio Broadcast: Das Rheingold from San Francisco Opera

Das Rheingold, photo from www.sfopera.com

Radio Broadcast: Das Rheingold, Sunday, September 4, 10pm CST/8pm PST.


Tune in to KDFC to hear Das Rheingold, the first installment in Wagner's epic masterpiece, The Ring of the Nibelung.


The broadcast features Mark Delavan, Stefan Margita, Gordon Hawkins, Elizabeth Bishop, Ronnita Miller, David Cangelosi, Andrea Silvestrelli, Daniel Sumegi, Brandon Jovanovich, Gerd Grochowski, Melissa Citro, Stacey Tappan, Lauren McNeese and Renée Tatum; conducted by Donald Runnicles.


The broadcast was recorded in summer 2011 as the first installment of San Francisco Opera's acclaimed presentation of The Ring of the Nibelung. The broadcast will be hosted by Dianne Nicolini.


Tune in to kdfc.com. For more information on San Francisco Opera radio broadcasts, visit sfopera.com/broadcast.

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How to Survive Your First Opera: A Guide

The auditorium of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York Photograph: Archive Holdings Inc./Getty Images

The Guardian.co.uk recently published a first-timer's guide to opera:  How to Survive your First Opera.

"Are you an opera virgin? We suggest how and where to make your own operatic debut. You can even go in jeans …"

Tempo is wild for first timers - we would love to introduce you to opera, the MN Opera community, and the fun that all young professionals have at Tempo!

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Suffering from a lack of opera?

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Get your tickets for Opera Tasting 2011: Pouring out from the Heavens!

Like your Puccini with hints of smoky etherealness, bouquets of strawberry and oak, or aromas of earth and tobacco? Then come and taste your opera while enjoying lashings of wine at Opera Tasting 2011: Pouring out from the Heavens on Saturday, September 17, at Minnesota Opera Center.

A five course wine tasting courtesy of Solo Vino with delicious pairings from Toast Wine Bar & Café accompany your main dish - Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artists - as they swoon you, with a little Italian on the side. Indulge your taste buds on cadenzas, cabalettas, and arias by opera’s greatest composers as you preview Minnesota Opera’s 2011-2012 season. Wear decadent glam to fit in with our theme of Pouring out from the Heavens: Garden Party under the Stars.


Tickets are $50 for Tempo members; $75 for non-members.

Purchase your tickets by calling the Minnesota Opera Ticket Office at 612-333-6669.

Opera Tasting 2011 Sponsors

Food and Beverage Sponsors: Solo Vino, Toast Wine Bar and Café
Media sponsor: l’étoile and CityPages

Read more...

A Chinese Crescendo

Chinese visitors are seen in a hall of the Guangzhou Opera House in April 2010,
Imaginechina via AP Images

Time magazine has the scoop on the burgeoning opera scene in China: As Opera Struggles in West, an Art Form Flourishes in China.

"As if any more proof was needed of China's growing dominance, it is now being bellowed at full volume by tenors and sopranos. Chinese composers have become a major source for opera in Europe and North America, while more opera festivals are staged in the People's Republic than anywhere else."

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10 Questions with Jamie Nieman

Meet Jamie Nieman, Marketing & Communications Chair

1. What’s your sign?

Taurus, and that's no joke.

2. Favorite opera?   

At Minnesota Opera—The Adventures of Pinocchio but the Met production of Le Comte Ory may have topped it for all time favorite. Yummy opera threesome.

3. If you could have any other job in the world, what would it be?

Archeologist—I blame a childhood obsession with Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford.

4. What is your favorite dessert?

Ice cream, it’s one of my few food weaknesses.

5. If you had to describe yourself using three words, what would they be?  

Sassy, Resourceful, Fearless

6. What is your favorite holiday? 

Thanksgiving—food, football and booze—what’s not to love?

7. What was your first opera?

Operetta actually—The Pirates of Penzance

8. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you? 

Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock would star as me—I’d like to think it would be a Romantic Comedy and one of the good ones like Love Actually or When Harry Met Sally.  The disaster area called my personal life can be quite amusing at times. Can I request Colin Firth play my love interest?

9. Are you a morning or night person? 

Night—at all costs avoid me in the morning.  If you do have to deal with me in the morning it's wise to come bearing large quantities of coffee.

10. What’s your favorite thing to do in the winter? 

Sit in front of a roaring fire with a bottle of wine and a good book.

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Tempo Hearts New Works!

Tempo members know that Minnesota Opera frequently presents new works, often in the form of that opera's American premiere or world premiere. So we are excited to see that Santa Fe Opera is presenting three new works in the 2013 - 2015 seasons!


The New York Times Arts Beat has the DL: Santa Fe Opera to Present Three New Works.


The works include:

David Daniels will star as Oscar Wilde

1. "Oscar," based on the life of Oscar Wilde and composed by Theodore Morrison with a libretto by John Cox. The great American countertenor, David Daniels, who starred in Minnesota Opera's production of Orpheus & Eurydice last season will sing the title role.

Nathan Gunn will star in Cold Mountain

2. "Cold Mountain," based on Charles Frazier's novel, composed by Jennifer Higdon and a libretto by Gene Scheer. In the 2003 movie version, the very attractive Jude Law played the lead role of W.P. Inman, the Confederate soldier. Matching Mr. Law's good looks, that role will be sung at Santa Fe by American baritone Nathan Gunn.


3. "Miss Fortune," by British composer Judith Weir and based on a Sicilian folktale, "Sfortuna."

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Opera MBA: Business Benefits of Funding Opera

Photo by bzylek100 from flickr

Bloomberg news analyzes the business benefits of funding opera: Investec Hails Benefits of Funding Opera Festival.


Speaking about funding Opera Holland Park in London, David Bulteel, executive director of investment management at Investec Wealth and Investment explains:  “It has been the most fantastic success.”  He continues:  “The response from all the clients and fund managers we’ve taken has been amazingly positive.”


Moral of the story?  Support the arts and succeed!

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10 Questions with J.R. Kamra

Meet J.R. Kamra, Tempo Board of Directors

1. What’s your sign? 

Aries

2. Favorite opera?

Barber of Seville

3. If you could have any other job in the world, what would it be?

Mayor of Memphis or Athletic Director of the University of Memphis

4. What is your favorite dessert?

Scotch

5. If you had to describe yourself using three words, what would they be?

Perseverance, loyalty, driven

6. What is your favorite holiday?

Fourth of July

7. What was your first opera?

Roméo et Juliette

8. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you?

The relationships that I have with my friends and family…Kal Penn.

9. Are you a morning or night person?

Morning during the week, night on the weekends

10. What’s your favorite thing to do in the winter?

Stay warm

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Get your tickets for Opera Tasting 2011: Pouring out from the Heavens

Opera Tasting 2011:  Pouring out from the Heavens

Garden Party under the Stars

Like your Puccini with hints of smoky etherealness, bouquets of strawberry and oak, or aromas of earth and tobacco?  Then come and taste your opera while enjoying lashings of wine at Opera Tasting 2011:  Pouring out from the Heavens on Saturday, September 17, at Minnesota Opera Center.

A five course wine tasting courtesy of Solo Vino with delicious pairings from Toast Wine Bar & Café accompany your main dish - Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artists - as they swoon you, with a little Italian on the side.  Indulge your taste buds on cadenzas, cabalettas, and arias by opera’s greatest composers as you preview Minnesota Opera’s 2011-2012 season.  Wear decadent glam to fit in with our theme of Pouring out from the Heavens:  Garden Party under the Stars. 

Tickets are $50 for Tempo members; $75 for non-members. 

Purchase your tickets by calling the Minnesota Opera Ticket Office at 612-333-6669.
Going to Opera Tasting? On Twitter?  Then you'll need these: #operatasting #tempo

Not yet a Tempo member?  Join now for only $50 to get your discounted ticket to Opera Tasting 2011, as well as innumerable benefits:  over 65% off your Minnesota Opera season tickets, access to opening night cast parties, networking events, and reciprocal benefits with opera companies nationwide. 

All proceeds from Opera Tasting 2011 further the mission of Tempo, Minnesota Opera’s young professionals group.  Tempo is a membership program that seeks to build the next generation of opera goers by providing fun and folly for both new and seasoned opera-goers ages 21-39.

Opera Tasting 2011 Sponsors

Food and Beverage Sponsors:  Solo Vino, Toast Wine Bar and Café

Media sponsor:  l’étoile

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