Artists Fund - "Pirates of Penzance"

Artists Fund – “Pirates of Penzance“

Help Anchorage Opera support our artists who continue to struggle with their livelihoods during the pandemic. Opera with all its ‘moving parts’ and opera singers in particular have proven to be one of the most efficient means of spreading the virus. Thank you for helping our artists survive to perform with us again. As you may imagine, the postponement of our Pirates of Penzance production impacted our company financially and the longer we waited to hit the brakes on it the more it would do so, with a high probability of having to postpone anyway, as COVID cases in our cast and team, necessitating quarantines of all exposed, and extending beyond the performance dates were very likely. We also feel we owe it to our artists to compensate them in part. All of them cleared their schedules to perform with us, sometimes turning down other work, and all have already invested a great deal of time and effort in their preparations. They are our family, and we cannot leave them in the lurch.

But this was not in our budget and these payments are in addition to their full compensation when we reschedule our production.

All funds raised from this dedicated campaign go directly to support our Pirates of Penzance Artists, Orchestra Musicians, Stage Director, Conductor, Chorus Master, Costume, Hair/Makeup, Scenic and Lighting Designers in light of the postponement of our production. They love Anchorage Opera and they love our community. Won’t you show them your love in return and help them survive financially to perform with us again?

To donate to the Artists Fund CLICK HERE>>>

Watch video messages (below) to our community from some of the Pirates of Penzance Cast & Crew!

Lindsay Ohse – Mabel

Brian DeMaris – Principal Conductor

Katie Eakes – Principal Bassist

Curt Olds – Pirate King

Scene & Costume Shop

Katie Strock – Kate

Dawn Lindsay – Concert Master

Kyle Gantz – Sergeant of Police

John Riesen – Frederic

Pirates of Penzance Artists

Guest Artists you know from previous stellar performances (and may even gotten to know them personally at our fun Take One preview events) such as:

Curt Olds (Candide, The Mikado, The Sound of Music & more)

Lindsay Ohse (Don Pasquale & La Boheme)

John Riesen (HMS Pinafore)

Andy Papas (Barber of Seville)

Brian DeMaris – AO Principal Conductor (Carmen, Rigoletto, La Boheme, Barber of Seville & more)

Richard Gordon – Chorus Master/Accompanist (too many to name!)

Others live, work and raise families in Anchorage such as:

Kyle Gantz (La Boheme, HMS Pinafore, Rigoletto, Carmen, Madama Butterfly, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte and over 25 more!)

Cedar Cussins – Lighting Designer (Maria de Buenos Aires, Frida, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, HMS Pinafore, Rigoletto, Carmen & more)

Katie Strock – (Solo roles in HMS Pinafore, Rigoletto, Candide & more. Children’s Chorus Master for La Boheme. Chorister in countless!)

Elle Janecek – Hair/Makeup Designer (Maria de Buenos Aires, Frida, Rigoletto, HMS Pinafore, Carmen, The Mikado, Candide & more)

Kate Bass – (debut – Pirates of Penzance & Missing in 2022)

Helen Irene Muller – Stage Manager (debut – Pirates of Penzance)

The ENTIRE fabulous Pirates of Penzance Orchestra musicians:

Dawn Lindsay, Olesya Waln, Heather Threat, Kathryn Hoffer, Brad Ramsey, Kate Kroko, Katie Eakes, Laura Koenig, Sandra Cox, Ilona Barber, David Donaldson, Steven Alvarez, Corliss Kimmel, Nina Bingham, Sun Yoon, Karen Halliburton, Elise Gelbart, Brett Lindsay, Tania Vincent, Sharman Piper, Kyle Noonan, John Cleveland

Still others are world-renowned and were just about to make their debuts with Anchorage Opera such as:

Jenni Bank (debut – Pirates of Penzance)

John de los Santos – Stage Director (debut – Pirates of Penzance)

ALL of them are amazing artists!

Anchorage Opera is on a mission to Enrich. Inspire. Educate. Collaborate & Build Community…(one note at a time). But we can’t do it without your help. Orchestra, soloists, chorus, conductors, stage directors, dancers, sets, costumes, lighting, hair & make-up, tech crew, etc. all make opera the most expensive art form to produce, but isn’t it worth it? We think so!

Opera is the ultimate team sport…thank you for being on our team and THANK YOU for supporting our artists!