Venice in the Golden Age of Opera was wonderfully channeled at the elegant Grand Harbor Club, which overflowed with laughter, color, gourmet food and drink, and, of course, wonderful music during a Grande Masque Ball, the climax of the Vero Beach Opera’s 2022 season.
Beneath the soaring ceiling of the great hall, round tables were dressed in black and white, each centered with bursts of colorful flowers surrounding dazzling, feathered masques.
The opera-loving glitterati went all out, with dashing gentlemen in black tie and lovely ladies in swirls of color. With unavoidable irony, everyone was delighted to don masks: exquisite, exotic masks in true Venetian style, featuring black, gold, silver, crimson, harlequin checks, feathers, sequins, ribbons and mystery.
Among the 70-plus attendees were Rich Vogel, who has graciously hosted VBO parlor concerts, a splendidly costumed Linda Sposato, and Carolyn Lange channeling the elegance of another era in an exquisitely hand-embroidered green and gold gown, a rare, 100-year-old treasure.
Grand Harbor had prepared an elegant repast that included a splendid surf and turf of lobster tail and filet mignon, and concluded with an utterly decadent chocolate denouement.
Highlighting the evening were performances by five Rising Stars competitors, who entertained the delighted guests with opera favorites throughout the evening. The performers were again accompanied by Jared Peroune, their incredible competition pianist.
Unfettered by competition, the Rising Stars engaged with the audience, often moving about the floor while sharing their exceptional vocal skills, as well as the joy and passion they clearly have for their art. Also providing music through the evening was accordionist Zoltan Racz.
Meryl Dominguez, the 2021 Rising Stars First Place winner, performed “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta” from Puccini’s “La Rondine,” “Quando m’en vo” from Puccini’s “La Bohème,” and “I Dreamed a Dream” by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer from “Les Misérables.”
Dominguez’s husband, opera baritone Aaron Keeney, wowed as the swaggering toreador with “Votre toast” (aka the Toreador Song) from Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” and “The Impossible Dream” composed by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion for “Man of La Mancha.”
The couple joined voices for a moving interpretation of “If I Loved You” from “Carousel,” by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.’
Among the 2022 competitors performing at the gala were the charming and animated soprano Murella Parton, Ryan Capozzo, a tenor with a compelling dramatic sense, and baritone Eleomar Cuello, who walked onto the floor and led the audience in a sing-along of sorts, with the famous aria “Largo al factotum” (often called ‘that Figaro song’ by opera newbies), from Gioachino Rossini’s opera buffo “The Barber of Seville,” with laughter punctuating the music as the tempo increased.
The Third Place winner, tenor Jose Romero, brought the exceptional showmanship he displayed in the competition, this time in the aria “La Donna è Mobile” from Giuseppe Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”
The Vero Beach Opera Guild was founded by a group of opera-loving friends in 1988 and reorganized in 2003 to support a more professional platform and more ambitious mission. The Opera Guild became the Vero Beach Opera, Inc. in 2006 and began producing professional performances with world-class stars.
The VBO offers a Community Outreach Program, a homestay program, and vocal and piano scholarship programs. As Joan and Roman Ortega-Cowan, president and artistic director respectively, and VBO leaders since the guild days, are wont to say, “The best is yet to come.”
For more information, visit verobeachopera.org.
Photos provided
