Opera Reading Project

Ensure a Vibrant Future for the Singers and Audiences of Opera Reading Project! 

We are making a special appeal at the year's end time. 

Thank you for visiting Opera Reading Project’s online giving page through GiveMN. It's a happy time for us because as of November 2023, we are now a fully tax exempt non-profit organization and able to accept donations directly!

Your financial contribution to ORP goes to pay artists and clinicians, run opera education classes, present opera readings for the public and program community outreach events. We are also making a special appeal at this year's end time as we seek to transition our role reading professional development training from a tuition-based model to one that is tuition-free. Even though ORP's programming is already low cost and high value, for some singers even a hundred dollars can be a barrier to participation. And if the opera career development work our role reading series provides is essential for singers building and maintaining a career, shouldn't the playing field be more level for all? 

Would you partner with us today?  

And we want to make sure that once we make the move to tuition-free, we can sustain this model. So while the ask is for today, we also hope we can count on your continued generosity and investment moving forward, so please also consider a monthly recurring donation.

Thanks to your generosity:

• In 2023-24 we are continuing to offer public performances of our readings to engage and connect with audiences and give our singers a public forum in which to share their work.
• We have increased rehearsal and role preparation time.
• We have reduced role tuition fees by 30%.
• We will continue to bring in guest clinicians to work with ORP performers.
• We are paying singers in outreach activities for senior and youth.
• We have a new IDEA fellow, soprano Momoko Tanno.
• Our organizations's administrative and creative capacities are growing.

Season Highlights:

2022-23

First-Ever Public Reading June 2023 Performance: Balls/Laura Karpman & Once Upon the Wind/Theo Popov

Readings: Cendrillon, Falstaff, La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola’d’Alcina

IDEA Fellowship, second season

Masterclasses: Handel Repertoire with Patrick Terry, Effective Auditioning with Symone Harcum and Thomas Glass

Seminars: Aria Vita, Italian diction, TBA Health & Wellness offerings

Nonprofit status granted by the state of MN and application for 501c3 designation in-progress

2021-22

Production: Bon Appétit!

Readings: The Turn of the Screw, La traviata, Die Zauberflöte

Masterclasses: David Portillo, Kathy Saltzman Romey, Lara Bolton, Gary Briggle

Seminars: English Lyric Diction, Singer Mental Health, Verdi Style, Alexander Technique, Aria Vita

IDEA Fellowship, inaugural season

2020-21 (Virtual)

Readings: Carmen, Dido & Aeneas, Faust

Masterclasses: Priti Gandhi, Christina Baldwin, Sandra Piques Eddy

Seminars: French Lyric Diction, Russian Language Bootcamp, Singer Vocal Health, Yoga, Aria Vita

IDEA Fellowship Fundraising Campaign and Launch

Anti-Racism Book Club

2019-20

Concert: Prepare, Polish, Perform, Pledge!

Readings: Hänsel & Gretel, Le nozze di Figaro

Masterclasses: David Toro, Alexandra Loutsion

Seminars: Handel Ornamentation, Aria Vita

2018-19

Readings: Cosi fan tutte, Madama Butterfly, Alcina

Masterclasses: Andrew Whitfield

About Opera Reading Project

Opera Reading Project (ORP) was founded in 2018 as a local hub for high-quality/low-cost opera training and arts connection. Our more than 30 community events and 15 opera readings since then have engaged hundreds of participants and patrons. We are a resource to benefit the opera singers and music educators of Minnesota as well as Twin Cities audiences, especially those seeking affordable artistic enrichment. Our mission is a commitment to foster artistry for vocal performers and audiences through holistic opera education, storytelling and human connection. 

ORP’s programming focuses on process, not product, and enables a safe space for artistic risk-taking and vocal discovery. We offer multiple opportunities for singers to musically prepare and polish an opera to professional standards, culminating in a concert-style public performance or a peer-to-peer reading. Our IDEA Fellowship is a development and leadership program for MN-based singers of color. IDEA is our first step to building representation in opera performance and administration. Additionally, we offer masterclasses, diction classes, mock auditions, and mental health awareness events. These programs are open to both opera singers and opera fans.

Opera Reading Project has been designated as a tax-exempt organization under IRC Section 501(c)(3).

EIN: 92-1856840