A Message: Honorary Chair Joseph Calleja
FROM THE DESK OF JOSEPH CALLEJA
Internationally acclaimed Tenor and Cultural Ambassador of Malta
To my dear friends at Opera Naples,
I first became inspired to become an opera singer in my early childhood, after seeing the film “The Great Caruso,” starring Mario Lanza. Following my success in several vocal competitions and my debut as Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth at age 19 in my home country of Malta, I embarked on an international career that has since brought me to the great opera houses of the world and has given me the opportunity to sing with some of the most legendary singers of our time. I am thrilled to return to Opera Naples as the Honorary Chair of this season’s Gala and to find myself once again among the many special friends that I made last March on the occasion of my solo recital with my close colleague and collaborator, Ramón Tebar at the piano.
In the short period of its existence Opera Naples has grown significantly and continues to take bold steps towards establishing itself as an emerging organization of great potential. It is blessed with visionary leadership and a solid and creative staff that works hard to deliver first-class performances, a vibrant community outreach program, as well as a variety of inspirational and educational activities for the local youth. As a result, Opera Naples' national reputation and recognition is evergrowing.
Please join me in supporting the efforts of this outstanding young opera company as it continues to reach for the stars! In doing so, you will not only be enriching your community, but you will also be declaring yourself a champion of opera, an art form universally beloved by people of all ages and backgrounds around the world.
Thank you.
Joseph Calleja
Honorary Chair, Bal à Paris
A Message From Our Co-Chairs
Dear Sponsor:
You may be aware that Opera Naples has been thrilling audiences here in Collier County for over 15 years. Each season we’ve staged stellar productions that have earned critical and public acclaim, and steadily growing audiences.
Today, Opera Naples is an important part of the cultural fabric of our community and is proud to include Artis-Naples as one of our performance venues for three productions. This is an important recognition that has been won only by repeatedly attracting major artists, outstanding reviews and standing ovations.
Much of what has been achieved is due to a small cadre of enthusiastic patrons, businesses and private individuals. But now we’re entering a new phase of growth and development, and need to reach wider and deeper into the community for help.
As we grow, we need to raise more funds than ever before. Not only to allow us to continue to stage outstanding performances, but also to continue the outreach, development and educational programs that now include the Opera Naples Academy and Resident Artists Program.
The creation of the Academy and its series of master classes and concerts further elevates our reputation as our educational programs reach beyond local school children to serving emerging young opera professionals from around the world. The Resident Artists Program provides training and performance opportunities to emerging opera singers.
We want those who contribute to these efforts to have a great time doing so. So we’re hosting a benefit in conjunction with the staging at Artis-Naples this February of Verdi’s opera La Traviata, featuring stunning costumes and remarkable sets in a fully-staged production of an explosive tale of love, passion and heartbreak.
We’re planning a benefit at the newly renovated Club Pelican Bay to set the stage for this dazzling event. The gala is a great opportunity for you to show your support of one of the town’s major cultural institutions while at the same time providing an opportunity for yourself, your employees and your clients to enjoy an evening they will long remember.
We will be very happy to discuss further this perfect opportunity to promote your business during an exceptional event in front of one of our community’s most elite audiences.
Louise Ost, Cindy Stegemann and Sondra Quinn
Bal à Paris Gala Co-Chairs
About Opera Naples
Nurturing the Art and Soul of our Community
When an opera company in Naples was founded in 2005, it was an idea whose time had come.
Its debut event was a Viennese-style New Year’s Eve Ball hosted by the Community School of Naples.
The following year, the company’s first fully-staged production was Puccini’s powerful and dramatic Tosca, quickly followed by the classic Amahl and the Night Visitors/L’Enfant Prodigue.
A year later, Gulfshore Life named Opera Naples as Best Performing Arts Group.
Since then, Opera Naples has built upon its early reputation producing beloved operas, earning consistent praise from both critics and patrons, and receiving numerous standing ovations from its audiences.
A milestone was reached in 2009, when Opera Naples purchased a building on Linwood Avenue, in the Bayshore-Gateway Triangle, a redevelopment area focusing on cultural arts. This renovated building, now known as the David and Cecile Wang Opera Center, houses a black box performance and rehearsal space, master classes and outreach educational activities, administrative offices, workshops and storage.
Its outreach programs include a Student Apprentice Program (ages 7-21), a Summer Youth Program, In-School Tours, a High School Partners in Education program, and Sing for Smiles.
In 2011, the company took another major step forward elevating its status in the community still further. After seven seasons of producing opera in a variety of venues, Opera Naples made its first appearance in a major performing arts center, staging Tosca at Artis-Naples. In choosing to stage that opera in particular, the company had come full circle, reaching back to its earliest performance to celebrate a new beginning – the next phase in its promising and exciting future.
Further performances followed at Artis-Naples, each earning a rousing audience response and rave reviews. This season, the company will stage La Traviata at Artis-Naples, in two eagerly awaited performances of one of the most popular, operas ever produced.
Meanwhile, the Wang Opera Center now serves even more purposes. It is the venue for an annual chamber music series, attracting some of the best-known recording stars of this genre to its stage, and a jazz series featuring top-notch jazz musicians.
Two years ago, the Operas Naples Academy was founded by the internationally renowned soprano Renata Scotto, who starred in leading roles in Metropolitan Opera performances for more than 30 years. Already, the Academy’s master classes attract emerging young professionals from all over the world.
This coming season, the company enters yet another promising new phase. Opera Naples Artistic Director Ramón Tebar, an acclaimed guest conductor worldwide, will be joined by Sondra Quinn.
Now firmly established with a distinguished history, Opera Naples is determined to continue to nurture the art and soul of our community without compromise, and continue to extend its reach across new horizons, but it can only do so with the help of the community it serves.
The Sum of Many Parts
An opera company is the sum of many parts. Casts need to be identified, assembled and rehearsed. Contracts need to be negotiated and signed. Sets, costumes and props need to be built, rented or purchased. Venues need to be scouted and booked. Productions need to be advertised. Playbills must be written and created.
All this takes people. Literally hundreds of people. Gifted leadership and talented staff. Superb singers, musicians and conductors. Technicians and stage hands. Lawyers and accountants. Advertising and PR professionals. Set designers, costume designers, graphic designers, and countless others somewhere behind the scenes.
Some are professionals who are paid for their services. Some give their skills pro bono. Some give out of friendship, a sense of community or simply a love of the art form. Many donate their time, money and talent, again and again.
Each in their own way is a keeper of the flame, helping to carry the love of some of the world's greatest music and drama into our communities, our schools and our hearts.
Sponsorship Opportunities
The Opera Naples Gala is our major fundraising event of each season, attracting well over 300 high net worth attendees who are dedicated to the ongoing success of Opera Naples. The gala includes cocktails and fine dining, operatic performances, a silent auction as well as a live auction of several truly exceptional lots. Bal à Paris being held in the newly renovated Club Pelican Bay makes this even more of a Naples must-do social event! Attendees will be treated to a myriad of treasured experiences.
Bal à Paris precedes the April 28 and 29 performances of La Traviata at Artis-Naples. This magnificent opera, along with Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story to be performed later in May 2021, are original Opera Naples productions. They will be designed, directed and choreographed by a handpicked creative team, and will star internationally recognized artists in principal roles and Opera Naples Artists-in-Residence in supporting roles. The acclaimed Spanish conductor and Opera Naples Artistic Director Ramón Tebar will lead the distinguished Naples Philharmonic Orchestra. Both operas will be performed at Hayes Hall, the 1,400-seat theater housed within Artis-Naples, the premier center for the arts in Southwest Florida.
Bizet Sponsor $25,000
Our Bizet Sponsorship at $25,000 is named after Georges Bizet who wrote the most popular opera ever, Carmen. As a Bizet Sponsor, you will be acknowledged in the gala program and in all advertising and publicity for the gala as well as being acknowledged in the playbills for other Opera Naples presentations. In addition, you will receive the following benefits:
"Bizet Sponsor" Media Recognition:
- Name recognition in all print advertising and publicity* for the gala, and in email blasts and social media
- Logo on Opera Naples website and on our supporter recognition web page
- A full-page ad in our 2020-2021 Season Program Guide*
(distributed at all season performances) - A full-page ad in the Bal à Paris gala program
- Mention in all radio/TV advertising and publicity for the gala
VIP Event Experiences:
- A ten-seat Composer's Table (a $5,000 value) at the Bal à Paris gala
- Four Orchestra Center Front section tickets for both La Traviata and West Side Story at Artis-Naples
- Two VIP Season Tickets to all Opera Naples events at the Wang Opera Center
- Two invitations to all post-performance VIP receptions at the Wang Opera Center
- Invitation to rehearsals at the Wang Opera Center and dress rehearsals at Hayes Hall
*In order to be included in this season’s printed promotional materials and program guide, your high resolution logo and ad artwork must be received by November 15, 2020.
Ravel Sponsor $10,000
Our Ravel Sponsorship at $10,000 is name after Maurice Ravel. Who hasn't been seduce by his Ravel's Bolero? As a Ravel Sponsor, you will be acknowledged in the gala program and in all its advertising and publicity as well as being acknowledged in the playbills for other Opera Naples presentations. In addition, you will receive the following benefits:
"Ravel Sponsor" Media Recognition:
- Logo in all print advertising* for the gala, and in email blasts and social media
- Logo on Opera Naples website and on our supporter recognition web page
- A full-page ad in our 2020-2021 Season Program Guide*
(distributed at all season performances) - A full-page ad in the Bal à Paris gala program
VIP Event Experiences:
- A ten-seat Composer's Table (a $5,000 value) at the Bal à Paris gala
- Two VIP Season Tickets to all Opera Naples events at the Wang Opera Center
- Two invitations to all post-performance VIP receptions at the Wang Opera Center for the season
- Invitation to rehearsals at the Wang Opera Center and dress rehearsals at Hayes Hall
*In order to be included in this season’s printed promotional materials and program guide, your high resolution logo and ad artwork must be received by November 15, 2020.
Debussy Sponsor $5,000
We have named our $5,000 sponsorship after Claude Debussy, who was inspired by the fairies, fauna and the sea. You will be acknowledged in the gala program, all advertising and publicity as well as all Opera Naples' playbills. Benefits also include all those shown below.
"Debussy" Media Recognition:
- Logo on Opera Naples website for the gala, and on our supporter recognition web page
- A half-page ad in our 2020-2021 Season Program Guide*
(distributed at all season performances) - A half-page ad in the Bal à Paris gala program
VIP Event Experiences:
- Two seats at the Bal à Paris gala (a $1,000 value)
- Two VIP Season Tickets to all Opera Naples’ events at the Wang Opera Center
- Two invitations to all post-performance VIP receptions for the 2020-2021 season
- Invitation to rehearsals at the Wang Opera Center
*In order to be included in this season’s printed promotional materials and program guide, your high resolution logo and ad artwork must be received by November 15, 2020.