The Brunch Bunch
On December 10, 2016, OPERA America hosted Backstage Brunch: Women in Opera, a first-ever special event designed to highlight and support the work of OPERA America’s Women’s Opera Network, an alliance founded in 2015 to foster discussion about gender parity in the opera field. The brunch was the brainchild of Jeri Sedlar, a member of the National Opera Center Board of Overseers, who co-chaired the event with Nancy Barton, a longtime supporter of OA and The Glimmerglass Festival.
Jane A. Robinson (center), with Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners (photo: Anne-Michèle Mallory)
Marc A. Scorca, Rene Orth, Donna Di Novelli and Ellen Reid (photo: Anne-Michèle Mallory)
The event began with a panel discussion moderated by OPERA America President/CEO Marc A. Scorca and featuring three past recipients of OA’s Opera Grants for Female Composers: composers Ruth Orth and Ellen Reid, and librettist Donna Di Novelli. During the brunch that followed, Scorca also interviewed special guest Alexander Sanger, trustee of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, the organization that supports the grants. Attendees then went to the Metropolitan Opera for the matinee performance of Kaija Saariaho and Amin Maalouf’s L’Amour de loin.
Lori Cotler, Jill Steinberg and Sahra Lese (photo: Anne-Michèle Mallory)
Guests at the Brunch (photo: Anne-Michèle Mallory)
The Backstage Brunch sold out, raising more than $15,000 for the Women’s Opera Network, which will enable the creation of a pilot mentorship program for female administrators working in opera.
This article was published in the Spring 2017 issue of Opera America Magazine.
