Opera Buffs present scholarships

When tenor Jesus Leon learned that he had been selected – along with sopranos Angel Blue and Karen Vuong and baritone Andrew Fernando – to receive a Career Achievement Award of $5000 from the Opera Buffs, he went straight from the rehearsal hall to his computer. “Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!” he wrote the organization’s Board President. “I have no words. Please thank everybody.”

But for Board President David Gibb, receiving fervent thanks from grateful singers was the last thing on his mind when he became involved with the organization.

“I resonated to the Opera Buffs’ mission instantly,” Gibb recalls. “We’re dedicated to supporting emerging opera singers at a very crucial juncture in their lives – the years of transition from student to professional performer. We offer performance opportunities, auditions practice, moral support and funding for career-related expenses based on current talent and career potential. This is a niche generally not served by opera companies, competitions and music schools.”

Career Achievement Awards can perhaps best be described as the Opera Buff’s way of saying bravo once it becomes apparent that a singer once nurtured by the organization is well on his or her way to preeminence in the world of opera.

For instance, after appearing at a Fall Performer’s Showcase for the Opera Buffs in 2006, Angel Blue is now preparing for three roles at the Valencia Opera House in Valencia, Spain, where she is based. Similarly, after performing three times for Buffs’ audiences between 2002 and 2005, Jesus Leon has gone on to make his debut at the Royal Albert Hall as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and, currently is traveling with the Glyndebourne Festival Tour in Great Britain. Karen Vuong – a past participant in LA Opera’s Young Artist program – is scheduled to sing in the world premiere of composer Daron Hagen’s opera Amelia at Seattle Opera in 2010 while Andrew Fernando, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a “young singer to watch,” has recently performed with Opera San Jose and Long Beach Opera.

“We follow our singers’ careers very closely,” explains Gibb. “Nothing thrills us more than to see them succeed. We’re very proud of Angel, Karen, Andrew and Jesus and can’t wait to see where their careers take them next.”

An all-volunteer organization whose members believe “that of all musical instruments, the human voice is the most sublime,” the Opera Buffs raises $40,000 to $60,000, primarily from membership dues. “We place as much money as possible into the needy hands of talented young musicians,” says stage director and Opera Buffs Board Member Frans Boerlage, who will lead a Master Class for singers on January 17, 2010. “We have no paid employees. Often board members pay for items out of their own pockets.”

To learn more about the Opera Buffs, the singers it supports, and its upcoming events, including the Spring Performers Showcase, Brush Up Your Shakespeare, on February 27, 2010, visit www.operabuffs.org or call 818.248.3391.