By Christian Kirkpatrick Special Writer
Opera New Jersey had a lot to sing about Oct. 17 at the Hyatt Regency Princeton. Guests at its fifth annual Celebrate Opera Gala remembered its acclaimed 2009 season and looked forward to 2010 with an evening of wine and song.
Throughout dinner guests enjoyed a concert- worth of arias and standards. During the salad and entree courses, they heard the delicious voices of Jan Cornelius, Cody Austin and Andrew Garland, three rising stars in the opera world. After dinner, star mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves took the stage. Her dark and supple voice was a rich taste of what patrons who hear her in Opera New Jersey’s upcoming production of “Carmen” will savor. Then, during dessert, the three younger singers returned to offer a frothy collection of well-known arias and Broadway tunes.
“I think it’s just fabulous to see opera of this caliber in Princeton,” commented gala co-chair Sheila Siderman about Opera New Jersey. “It’s a local treasure,” agreed co-chair and fellow Princeton resident Laura Todd.
Ms. Todd also noted that Opera New Jersey honored another local treasure Saturday night — William H. Scheide and Judith McCartin Scheide of Princeton, in recognition of their generous support of Opera New Jersey, as well as other organizations that benefit people and their communities.
“It’s a thrill for us to see how Opera New Jersey has grown since the first time Lisa came to see us in 2003,” said Mrs. Scheide, referring to Ms. Altman, the organization’s executive director. “We love them.”
Sara Roche reminisced about Opera New Jersey’s beginnings. An early and active volunteer, she recalled imagining with Ms. Altman and her husband, Scott, now its general and artistic director, what kind of organization they were creating.
“We wanted it to perform throughout the year and across the state, and we wanted it to include education and work with emerging artists,” remembered the Princeton resident.
Today, Opera New Jersey does all these things. The organization sponsors concerts and stages operas throughout New Jersey. It gives emerging artists valuable exposure, and its interactive adaptations of well- known operas are experienced by about 10,000 children every year.
With an annual budget of $1.7 million, it is the largest opera organization in New Jersey. All this success has been astounding, especially when you consider that it staged its first full-length production in 2004.
Changes are on the horizon for the organization, however. About a week ago, Opera New Jersey’s founders, Scott and Lisa Altman, announced that they were resigning. Mr. Altman has agreed to become the general director of the Arizona Opera, a 40-year-old company that stages productions in Phoenix and Tucson.
“It’s one of those happy and sad things,” sighed Ms. Altman.
“Opera New Jersey will always be a part of me and Lisa,” added Mr. Altman, who said it was as much their child as their two little boys. Fortunately, they are leaving the organization in the care of “the most dedicated group of trustees, patrons and opera lovers that any founder could have dreamed of.”
Yet even a beloved child matures and leaves his parents. Mr. Altman said that he believes that Opera New Jersey is poised for its next phase of growth.This change will be an opportunity to move the organization “from a founders company to a mature company,” noted John Salapatas, chairman of Opera New Jersey’s board of trustees.
“I’m pleased and thrilled for him,” said the Franklin Township resident. “Scott has a great number of talents.” And he leaves “a great legacy for us to build on.”
In particular, Mr. Salapatas noted the organization’s important relationship with emerging artists and its newer association with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, with which it is partnering it the upcoming production of “Carmen.”
“I’m confident the organization will move forward in ways we hadn’t dreamed possible,” asserted Neil Ann Levine, a trustee from Princeton.
Opera New Jersey’s next production will be George Bizet’s “Carmen,” staring Denyce Graves. Performances will take place at McCarter Theatre on Feb. 5, the State Theatre in New Brunswick on Feb. 7, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark on Feb. 12. Next summer the company will stage Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” Gounod’s “Faust” and Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale.”
Opera New Jersey receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
