Opera Club:

Like Book Club, only LOUDER!

“I really loved today’s session. I thought it was very well done. You show so much enthusiasm, and your knowledge and passion for opera is outstanding. I think you are doing an amazing job and look forward to August and beyond!”

Community and Leisure Director, Senior Living Community

Upcoming OPERA CLUB events open to the public:

University Baptist Church, Baltimore, City - 4:30-6pm

October 5 - La bohème

December 14 - Gianni Schicchi

February 8 - Maria Stuarda

March 22 - Albert Herring

Opera Baltimore’s Opera Club is where opera aficionados, opera newcomers, and everyone in between can meet together once a month to explore the masterworks of the genre. A single opera will be discussed at each meeting, led by Opera Baltimore’s expert facilitators. However, Opera Club is not a lecture series! Instead, we come together for an informal, free-flowing conversation about the designated production. All participants will watch a specific production prior to meeting, so we will experience the same artistic vision. Just like a book club, this shared encounter results in a fascinating discussion at Opera Club.

Starting with better known operas, and sprinkling in rare musical treats along our journey, all members of Opera Baltimore’s Opera Club will find something familiar and something new to learn through the meetings. If you are interested in your organization hosting Opera Club, please contact Catrin Davies at catrin@operabaltimore.org or at 443-445-0226.

Opera Club - like a book club, only LOUDER!

About our Opera Club facilitators

**Catrin Davies**
*Opera Club Facilitator*

For over two decades, Catrin Davies has been an opera administrator, singer, and director. She has been on faculty at the Peabody Conservatory, Towson University, and the Road Scholar, teaching and lecturing on subjects as wide-ranging as American acting techniques, Gilbert & Sullivan, and *Porgy and Bess,* to name a few.

**Nicole Steinberg**
*Opera Club Facilitator*

Specializing in opera and commemoration, Nicole Steinberg is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also Adjunct Instructor of Music History & Culture at Towson University and has presented her research at various international and interdisciplinary conferences.

Opera Club: In Their Words

Opera Club has encouraged me to try to better understand how opera, as an art form, can uniquely address certain social and cultural issues in ways that other artistic media may not as readily accomplish.
Who would not want to be part of a club that creates a space where the rookie at opera is benefited as much as the opera buff.
What fun to learn more about an opera - the singers, composer, production - with some friends! We viewed some clips from the suggested production, as well as others, to review different approaches to staging and costumes. It was so interesting to hear what others found most appealing.
I loved learning about the history of the operas, the life and work of the composers, and definitely the stories about the performers. So much of the behind the scenes information is fascinating. Really enjoyable!
It has been enormous fun to get the “inside information” on famous singers we have only seen perform but not really know. This particular circle of “opera buffs” will be “singing the praises” of this delightful gathering for a long time to come, I feel sure.

Opera Club:

Like Book Club, only LOUDER!

About our Opera Club facilitators

Catrin Davies

Nicole Steinberg

Opera Club has encouraged me to try to better understand how opera, as an art form, can uniquely address certain social and cultural issues in ways that other artistic media may not as readily accomplish.

Who would not want to be part of a club that creates a space where the rookie at opera is benefited as much as the opera buff.

What fun to learn more about an opera - the singers, composer, production - with some friends! We viewed some clips from the suggested production, as well as others, to review different approaches to staging and costumes. It was so interesting to hear what others found most appealing.

I loved learning about the history of the operas, the life and work of the composers, and definitely the stories about the performers. So much of the behind the scenes information is fascinating. Really enjoyable!

It has been enormous fun to get the “inside information” on famous singers we have only seen perform but not really know. This particular circle of “opera buffs” will be “singing the praises” of this delightful gathering for a long time to come, I feel sure.