On Saturday, February 29, from 7:00pm to 11:00pm, Boheme Opera NJ will host its 31st Anniversary Season Gala, RIGOLETTO’S COURTLY JEST. This will be held at Mercer Oaks Golf Course Clubhouse, 725 Village Road West in Princeton Junction.
The theme of the gala will reflect an exciting and gritty ambiance to commemorate the company’s upcoming production of Giuseppe Verdi’s RIGOLETTO in April. Featured will be Boheme Opera’s popular silent auction, a new mega-raffle of a major home goods item, sumptuous cuisine stations by Mercer Oaks Catering, a selfie station, and the centerpiece of the occasion, a quartet of rising stars performing three sets of Opera and Broadway.
Reservations are $140 for an individual, with discounts for purchase of full tables of 8 ($1040) or 10 ($1300). To make reservations, simply send a check payable to Boheme Opera NJ with guest names to Boheme Opera NJ, PO Box 4157, Trenton, NJ 08610 OR use our special reservation link: bohemegala2020.brownpapertickets.com OR call (609) 581-9551 to pay by phone or request an invitation.
Four levels of sponsorship receive VIP or preferred seating at the gala. Call (609) 581-9551 for details.
Boheme Opera’s 31st season gala artist quartet:
Soprano Jacqueline Quirk has performed for renowned companies in the U.S. and abroad, soon to be soprano soloist in a concert tour throughout the United Kingdom entitled Prayer for Peace under conductor Jason Tramm. She returns to Italy to sing Suor Angelica at the Comunale Teatro di Vincenza.
Mezzo-soprano Devony Smith will create the role of “The Lover” in the world premiere of Kate Soper’s highly anticipated The Romance of the Rose. She recently appeared as the title role in the workshop of the Metropolitan Opera-commissioned Eurydice and will sing the role of Maddalena in Boheme Opera NJ’s upcoming Rigoletto this April.
Tenor Jeremy Brauner was finalist in the MONC Competition and winner of an Encouragement Grant from The Wagner Society of New York. Having recently performed the role of B. F. Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, he will sing the role of The Duke of Mantua, in Boheme Opera NJ’s upcoming Rigoletto this April.
Baritone Robert Balonek is versatile in his acting, dancing and singing, as he has performed everything from oratorio work to Verdi operas. Praised by the New York Times as having a “commanding, steely baritone and direct, crystal-clear delivery”, he will portray the title role in Boheme Opera’s upcoming Rigoletto this April.
Accompanying the gala quartet is pianist Sandra Milstein Pucciatti, a protégé of Karl Ulrich Schnabel. She has appeared as piano soloist, duo-pianist, soloist with orchestra, in chamber music and in master class in the US and Canada. As an accompanist, she has collaborated with some of opera’s most distinguished artists in recital, most notably the late legendary Met bass Jerome Hines. Sandra co-founded Boheme Opera with her husband Joseph Pucciatti in 1989 and has been its Managing Director since 1997.
Tickets for Boheme Opera’s 31st season main stage production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto (April 17 & 19, 2020) are now on sale via a link on the homepage of bohemeopera.com or using the direct link: https://tinyurl.com/BONJ-Rigoletto.
Funding for Boheme Opera NJ programs is made possible in part by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, The Mark David and Anne Kupferberg Pepper Family Foundation, Dorothea Van Dyke McLane Association, Roma Bank Community Foundation, Investors Bank Community Foundation, Princeton Friends of Opera, corporations, businesses, individuals and collaborative contributions.
