Dear Friends,

I would like to introduce you to Kansas Concert Opera (KCO), a non-profit company dedicated to bringing high-quality opera performances to audiences throughout the state. With our headquarters based in the centrally located city of Emporia, KCO performs full-length operas in concert version with piano, English surtitles, opera chorus, and no sets or costumes. This unique (and portable) performance style allows us to bring world-class singing to Kansas communities and introduce some of our state’s finest up-and-coming singers, who perform lead roles side-by-side with seasoned guest artists. KCO connects with every community in which it performs by engaging local choirs for the opera chorus and occasionally contracting local musicians for a small orchestra.
    You may be known in your community as someone who encourages and supports cultural and aesthetic development in your city and state. By supporting KCO you will help what is destined to become one of the finest concert opera companies in the nation. Our Board of Directors includes legendary Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle and popular Kansas Public Radio personality Dr. James Seaver, host of “Opera Is My Hobby.” Each of us is committed to the highest professional and artistic standards.
    The September 2007  premier production of Puccini’s Tosca in Lawrence and Emporia elicited raves from audiences and established KCO as an exciting new force on the Kansas arts scene. The soprano in the title role, Andrea Garritano, who also be played the lead role of Ciò-Ciò-San in last April's Madama Butterfly, is an Emporia resident who graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and is currently persuing her DMA in Voice Performance from the University of Kansas. Along with  nationally renowned tenor Hugo Vera, sent chills through the crowd with their dramatic high notes and unforgettable artistry. Our May, 2008 production of Carmen was equally exciting and included Kansas City based mezzo-soprano Elaine Fox who brought breathtaking beauty and sultriness to the title role (see Youtube video). Our second (2008-2009) season started with a Kansas Arts Commission grant funded production of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at the Bell Cultural Events Center in Olathe. Twenty-four year old, 2009 regional metropolitan Opera Audition winner and dramatic tenor Ben Gulley sang Turridu, and Kansas' favorite soprano, Sylvia Stoner as Nedda, were two of our stars bringing a high level of excitement and world class singing to our stage. On December 6, 2008 we had our first Christmas production of a KCO CHRISTMAS at the newly renovated Granada Theater in Emporia. This variety show included Laura Lorson, from Kansas Public Radio, as our MC, New York broadway musical star Joseph Mahowald, and a large variety of talented musicians from around Kansas. This was followed with an April production of Madama Butterfly and a return of Ben Gulley as Lieutenant Pinkerton, his voice teacher and renowned baritone Dale Morehouse and soprano Andrea Garritano, who returned as Butterfly. 

    I encourage you to join us at this critical time as we continue our third season. As a sponsor of KCO you will be among the supporters who help us  build our programs for touring and education. In this important role, you will receive statewide exposure in all KCO programs and advertising and take pride in knowing that you are helping young Kansas artists achieve their dreams. KCO is thinking big: plans for national and international tours are in the works; a voice competition and scholarship fund will be implemented, hopefully next season.

    As we highlight in our Mission Statement, KCO’s purpose is “to entertain, educate and enrich the cultural and musical life of the people of Kansas by producing, in concert format, opera of the highest possible quality. In doing so KCO will engage young artists of professional potential from Kansas and provide them a needed forum and an opportunity to work with seasoned professional singers.” The need for this performance experience is great.

     As a professional concert and opera singer myself for the past 25 years and music educator for the past eight (Assistant Professor of Voice at Emporia State University), I have discovered that Kansas lacks the performance venues singers need to gain the professional experience for building a professional singing career. While basing my singing career in New York for 14 years I had the opportunity to sing in many concert operas, and found that these intimate and exciting presentations are enormously popular with audiences and vital to young performers. I founded KCO to provide a stepping-stone to a professional career for Kansas singers, and to provide vital educational experiences for every musician involved, as well as every audience member. Along with the rest of the KCO company, I have dedicated myself and the KCO family to not only entertaining our audiences, but to raising the bar of musical organizations that are home grown in our state. If you also feel strongly about the vitality of the arts in Kansas, we can achieve this objective with your support.    
    Thank you for taking the time to review the sponsorship levels listed on our Patron Support/Online Donations page. I would be very happy to discuss any questions you may have about where your support dollars will be spent, and any other questions about KCO, at your convenience. On this website you can find KCO photos, schedules, artist biographies and much more. Or come join our Facebook site where you will be able to view KCO photos, receive audition and production notices and watch some of the videos we have shot. We want you to feel like you are part of our company because, like you, we feel it is important to bring quality  music to Kansas audiences. 

Have a great summer.

Stanford Felix
Founder/Artistic Director