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New Opera St. Louis breaks out with winter seasons
(by Kara Krekeler - August 20, 2008)
Gina Galati never thought she’d grow up to be a professional opera singer.
Sure, she sang a lot growing up, becoming a Muny kid and performing in musicals in high school, but she thought she’d just continue the family trade and work at her parents’ restaurant, Dominic’s Ristorante in the Hill neighborhood, when she got out of school.
But when Galati was a 19-year-old business major at St. Louis University, her plans changed because she failed an economics course.
“I went home and my mom said ‘Well, you’ve always loved singing. Why don’t you try that?’ The next thing you know, I’m an opera major” at Washington University, Galati said.
After several years of performing in operas across the country, last year Galati came home and founded her own company, New Opera St. Louis. This month, she celebrates the not-for-profit company’s first year and looks forward to what’s in store for New Opera’s future.
Galati said that New Opera St. Louis was born out of her desire to locally produce an opera during the winter; St. Louis’ two pre-existing opera companies, Opera Theatre St. Louis and Union Avenue Opera, produce performances during the summer months only.
After a little work, she’d chosen an opera, Verdi’s Rigoletto, and secured a venue for the performances, St. Ambrose Catholic Church on the Hill. But once she started thinking about selling tickets, she realized she’d have to set up some sort of organization to receive the money.
“I looked into starting a company, and the next thing I knew, I was starting a non-profit organization,” Galati said.
The response to Galati’s endeavor was huge. Rigoletto sold out every 450-seat performance a full three weeks before it opened. And as recent fund raisers at Dominic’s have been similarly successful, Galati admits that she’s been lucky in her first year running a not-for-profit, particularly as she did it on her own. (She has recently hired a few people to help her handle the daily tasks of running the opera company.)
“I’ve always had a such a warm welcome doing stuff on The Hill,” Galati said, adding that she lives on the Hill.
“I wanted to do something for the community and do it like they do in Italy, where the churches sometimes host operas. I’m trying to make it an event rather than just going to the opera.”
To accomplish that goal, Galati is going outside typical performances by hosting monthly “Night of Opera” fund raisers at her parents’ restaurant — which feature professional opera singers serenading diners — and by creating a coloring contest based on Samson and Delilah, which opens New Opera’s second season Nov. 15. The winner of the contest will receive a role as an extra in the production.
Galati is also working hard to expand her already-large audience base. While New Opera’s events have thus far been focused on engaging the Italian community on The Hill, the organization will be branching out geographically in its second season.
Performances of Samson and Delilah are scheduled to take place at the Brith Sholom Kneseth Islam temple in Richmond Heights, and I Pagliacci will be performed at the Missouri History Museum before Don Pasquale returns to St. Ambrose.
“Opera lovers are diehard fans. They’ll go wherever they can to see opera,” Galati said. “But there are lots of people who have never seen opera. and we want them to try us out.”
But while appearing at different venues is fine for now, Galati said that she’d one day like to open a performance venue on the Hill. She said she envisions a 600-seat opera house that would be “elegant but casual” and something that the community could use between New Opera performances.
“It’s so difficult to find venues. Theaters are so expensive and don’t have a pit for the orchestra. I want to have a venue that everyone can use,” she said. “I have big dreams, but I think they’ll happen.”
• For more information about New Opera St. Louis and its upcoming season, visit www.newoperastl.org.
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