Opera Volunteers International is dedicated to spreading the word that volunteers are a valuable resource for opera companies. Equally important is the belief that groups and individuals need to be recognized publicly for their creative and selfless contributions.
Projects of Special Merit Award can highlight volunteer-driven projects and the ingenuity shown by your
support group members.
Have a Question for our Projects of Special Merit Awards? Reach out via email:
Sarajane King: oviquestions@gmail.com
Click here to complete an Online Form
Click here to download a Microsoft Word document of the application materials.
2026 Application Window opens October 1, 2025!
Projects of Special Merit 2025
40th Anniversary Cotillion Class – Opera Omaha
The goal of this continual project is to raise funds for Opera Omaha and for the engagement with middle school youth through dance and social skill learning opportunities. Beginning in 1985, for 40 years, students have been learning ballroom dance, the art of dining, how to write a thank you note, and the skills of being a guest or host in social settings. The classes end with a Graduation Event, where students share what they have learned with a dinner, a short opera performance, and dancing.
Currently, 120 to 150 students attend, many of whom are second-generation participants. Each year, more than 25 volunteers, parents, and Guild members come together to plan, help with classes, and attend the final Graduation Event. Cotillion remains Opera Omaha’s largest fundraiser. The students pay a fee to attend the classes and the Graduation Event, which is attended by about 300. The Guild is proud to continue the legacy of this special and successful tradition.
Children’s Choir in La Bohème Project – Knoxville Opera
Goal: to offer a high-quality live-performance experience for children from various neighborhoods in Knoxville. The volunteers coordinated check-in, costuming, hydration, guidance supervision, and safety. Knoxville Opera staff organized all volunteers, hired all personnel, taught and prepared all music and staging, communicated with parents, prepared costumes, and assumed all costs. This 256-hour project would not have been practical or possible without the joint efforts of Knoxville Opera staff and the help of volunteers.
A few children’s comments:
“I loved the feeling of community that the opera brings. It’s so lively and fun.” “I loved all of it, but my favorite part is the performing and rehearsals.” “I learned that I can be a confident singer.” 100% of parents were pleased with their child’s experience and would like their child to be involved in future productions involving children’s chorus. We asked how their children benefited, and one responded: [It has been] so important to [my child’s] development and her confidence. Because she has some academic struggles and it’s never easy for her, I also think the constant repetition of practice and the emphasis on preparation is key for her to understand how to be successful through preparation and persistence.” Another said: “[My child] loved every minute. The challenge of learning the music boosted her self-confidence, the bond she formed with the cast was priceless, and the experience of being in a major production was a huge learning experience for her.”
Viva Voce: New Look – Opera Guild of Rochester
Opera Guild Rochester exists to foster an interest in and appreciation of opera within the Greater Rochester area rather than an affiliation with a single opera company. The Viva Voce publication began seventeen years ago as part of the mission to provide support for diverse opera experiences to a broader community audience. In order to build engagement and readership, they undertook a 2024 six-week project to analyze the current publication and how well it met the needs of their readers. Recommendations were made in consideration of their older readership’s needs for a readable font size, limited use of different type styles, and engaging photography. Viva Voce is written, edited, and managed by volunteers. The new design was launched with the February 2025 issue and had a 41 percent e-mail open rate, already a slight increase. The goal is to increase readership by 10 percent this year.
Viva Voce is an ongoing publication. Viva Voce: New Look was a one-time focused project to successfully update the style and substance of the publication.
Projects of Special Merit 2024
Coloratura! Newsletter – Portland Opera Guild
The Portland Opera Guild newsletter has undergone a major redesign and editorial overhaul recently, as the Guild resumed its activities post-pandemic. The goal of The Coloratura! is not just as a newsletter, but a way to augment positive public/opera influencer opinion about the artform in the state. As an organization that is older than the opera company its supports (founded in 1960), the Guild’s mission is broad: “To stimulate interest and participation in opera for the benefit of cultural, educational, and musical life in all of Oregon.” It also provides a curated platform to provide information about opera resources beyond those in the region. The Coloratura! is produced in conjunction with each luncheon that occurs one week before the first performance of each Portland Opera production.
Richard Horswell is responsible for the re-design of the newsletter, which he originally designed i2005, in a full-bleed four-color high-paper grade format that can be either a self-mailer or distributed via envelope. The online version can be downloaded on the guild’s website. The Coloratura! has a printing partner that delivers “at cost” production work for approximately 130 newsletters that are printed. Each Coloratura! newsletter costs approximately $2.00 per piece (delivered) 4/year. It is the primary communications vehicle for the guild and is used for membership recruitment, retention, news, milestones, and opera world news as space permits. Coupled with other vehicles including social media, phone tree, and email communications, members remain informed on guild projects. These project goals have been achieved:
- Highly-subscribed readership achieved.
- Extraordinary feedback to new format
- Ease of use
- Interest in editorial, and function for administrative matters like luncheon reservations.
- Building awareness with the Portland Opera and their leadership
- Cohesive new partnership opportunities being developed between Portland Opera and Guild leadership.
- Thought leadership positioning achieved as a single point-of-contact for quality and reliable information about Guild and opera news in Oregon.
Opera for All FILM SCREENINGS – Opera Maine
The 2023 Film Series, conceived, researched and planned by the Volunteer Programming Committee, presented a series of filmed operas from some of the world’s most acclaimed opera companies, orchestras, directors and soloists. Admission is open to all, and free to selected senior communities and, through Opera Maine’s Opera for All initiative, free to audience members aged 25 and under. New volunteers from the University of Maine graduate program will offer pre-show talks and set up and operate audio visual equipment and provide tech support. As always, the volunteers provided friendly greetings and served as ambassadors for Opera Maine. The success of the project led to it continuing in 2024. The 2023 Opera Film series, featuring three opera film screenings presented at Lunt Auditorium in Oceanview at Falmouth, Falmouth, Maine, engaged 14 Opera Maine volunteers, including the volunteer Programming Committee, ushers, technical/production support, and a dramaturg, all of whom made significant contributions to the program’s success.
The eight-person volunteer Programming Committee took on the responsibility of researching and selecting opera films that would appeal to both long-time opera fans and newcomers to the art form, and that would offer a diverse range of musical and visual experience for the audience. Collectively, the committee has a vast range of opera-going experience and knowledge, and provided exceptional guidance. The committee met several times during the late fall/early winter 2022 planning period.
The three film screenings took place in January (Die Fledermaus, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 2003, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski), March (La Fille du Régiment, Royal Opera, 2007, conducted by Bruno Campanella), and May (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, 1988, directed by Claus Viller for film and conducted by Gabriele Ferro.) Our volunteer ushers were the first members of the Opera Maine community to greet audience members upon their arrival, offering a warm welcome, providing information, and helping audience members to their seats. Our team of four ushers included one or our regular summer-season ushers as well as three new volunteers. The winter/spring film series allowed us to draw new volunteers as well as new audiences, and we anticipate engaging more winter/spring volunteers in the future. Opera Maine’s Executive Director, Caroline Koelker, also greeted audience members and shared information about Opera Maine.
Opera Maine also engaged a new technical/production support volunteer to operate the projector and sound system for the screenings. In our summer live-opera season, we typically do not have a need for technical/production support volunteers, so the film series created a new engagement opportunity.
The Opera Film Series also allowed us to expand the ranks of our volunteer dramaturgs. Rebecca Goff, a graduate student at the University of Southern Maine (MM in Vocal Pedagogy) served as the dramaturg for the series, engaging audiences in a pre-screening talk and lively discussion for each film.
The Opera Film Series was attended by 180 audience members, with 42 people also attending the pre-show dramaturgical conversations.
Projects Archives