Geneva Light Opera

07/22/2026

We're ready to welcome you! Donizetti’s comic and romantic “The Daughter of the Regiment” will be performed at the Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca Street, Geneva, New York, fully staged and with orchestra, on Thursday, July 23, at 7:30, and on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, at 3:00 pm. It will be sung in French, with English dialogue, and with English surtitles. Tickets start from $20 (if you’re under 30) and are available at the door or online at https://geneva-light-opera-inc.square.site/product/tickets-for-geneva-light-opera-2026-la-fille-du-r-giment/CKPIOWWIT5BR47A7S4ZEFWEF?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false.

Geneva Light Opera's mission is to inspire, educate and entertain Finger Lakes audiences by presenting high quality operatic performances.

07/18/2026

Brian Keith Johnson is a familiar figure in northeast Ohio and beyond, singing major roles in both opera and musical theater. He’s also a long-time music teacher in the Akron public schools and an avid motorcycle buff. His mother was a music teacher, too, and his father a school principal, but Johnson started out as an “accounting major, because back in the 80s, there was a program for talented minority students called Inroads, but the only fields that you could go into were engineering, accounting, and physical therapy. So I was an accounting major for two and a half years. I thought it was great. And then I realized I could not do this for 30 years. I wanted to be happy.”

He went over to the music school and asked if he could be in the choir, and immediately floored the professors because he could sing Italian, accompany himself on the piano, and sightread. He had modestly thought that everyone in the music school had the same gifts. And from that point on he knew what he wanted to do: to make music and share music. He “never looked back.”

Johnson is now a regular with the Geneva Light Opera, appearing in six of the last seven productions, and he’s becoming something of a specialist in portraying sergeants. He sang Sergeant Belcore in 2023’s “The Elixir of Love” and this year he’s Sergeant Sulpice in “The Daughter of the Regiment.”

The roles are very different, of course. Sulpice is “the ultimate father figure, the ultimate caregiver and ultimate protector of his daughter. And I know all of the people are all their fathers. But I think he considers himself the single most important protector of her. And when she talks about some other man he doesn’t like that at all, but that’s the father in him.”

Like the Marquise, but far more speedily, Sulpice comes to see how important Tonio is to Marie. At first he thinks, “I'm not so sure about this guy. Let me find out about him and let me let me not be so quick to judge, because ultimately I want my daughter to be happy. Even if I’m not going to be happy, it’s not about me.”
I told him that Dawna Rae Warren, who sings Marie, thinks that Sulpice and the Marquise ought to get together. He laughed. “Well, you know, we are toying with that,” he admitted. “I don’t want to give anything away because we haven’t gotten to that part yet. But I see that, too. When she’s trying to reveal the big secret about Marie being her child she goes, ‘Have you been in love?’ And Sulpice says, ‘Well, of course, my dear.” And he goes to kiss her hand. And she’s like, ‘Well, not with me.’ That’s such a cute scene.”

Johnson takes both pleasure and pride in talking about his teaching and the many students who’ve kept in touch with him years after they graduate. “You have to be able to relate to the kids. You can't teach a single thing unless you build a good relationship first. So every year I introduce my family, my wife. I show them pictures of my motorcycles, my wedding, my best man, my best friend. And so they know all about me.”

It’s that same openness and warmth that’s important for him at GLO. “I have to have a relationship with my colleagues. They know about my life, motorcycles, my heart condition. And then I learn about what they like to do, what they do outside of singing, their favorite foods, because we try to go to different restaurants together. And when we have that kind of connection with each other, then the music is just that much easier to make. When you have a relationship off stage, you can make so more of your relationship on stage.”

Donizetti’s “The Daughter of the Regiment” will be performed at the Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca Street, Geneva, New York, fully staged and with orchestra, on Thursday, July 23, at 7:30, and on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, at 3:00 pm. It will be sung in French, with English dialogue, and with English surtitles. Tickets start from $20 (if you’re under 30) and are available at the door or online at https://geneva-light-opera-inc.square.site/product/tickets-for-geneva-light-opera-2026-la-fille-du-r-giment/CKPIOWWIT5BR47A7S4ZEFWEF?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false. Come see if sparks fly between Sulpice and the Marquise!

Geneva Light Opera's mission is to inspire, educate and entertain Finger Lakes audiences by presenting high quality operatic performances.

07/15/2026

Dawna Rae Warren, who plays Marie, the “daughter of the regiment,” thinks Donizetti’s comedy is “a great entry level drug for opera. There’s spoken dialogue. It’s very lively. There’s a lot of slapstick, good wholesome moments, romance. There’s a little something for everybody, really.”

But there’s also a lot underneath the fun. There’s Marie’s predicament, for one thing. She’s been named a vivandière, “but in order for her to have this title, to be a woman who’s allowed to travel with the regiment now that she’s of age, she has to be married to one of them. Otherwise she’d have to leave.” The regiment is “her family, the only people she has,” but she can’t marry any of her “fathers.” So Tonio falls in love with her, joins the army, and he becomes the solution.

But Marie is no romantic butterfly. She’s “this wonderful character who’s really duty driven. It’s a comedic role, she’s a love interest, sure, but she’s driven by duty, and her duty was to serve the army.

“She meets her aunt, and her aunt tells her she’s going to take her away, and Marie says, ‘But what about my fathers? What about my friends? And what about my duty? This is my job.’ This is the way a soldier lives their life, by duty. This is how she’s been raised. She's a woman of integrity.

“And then, one of her fathers, Sulpice, tells her, This is your new duty, your heritage. And she has to pivot. Totally. But she does it. Willingly, because she’s driven by duty. It’s interesting, she’s had no mother, no mother figure, whether or not she realizes that’s something she might miss. And it doesn’t come in the way she wants it.

“But she desires to please the Marquise and do what she wants. Even when it comes to Tonio and marrying him, she doesn’t go do anything behind her back. She comes to her and says, you know, I’ll do what you ask, but you must know what it costs me.”
And the Marquise lets her choose love. She gives “her daughter a chance to have the love that she didn’t allow herself to have.” Warren thinks that this is “a generational curse being broken. She’s like, ‘Marie, here you are sacrificing everything. And I couldn’t do that to you.’

“It’s really touching. I wish we had an epilogue, you know? I wish we got to know what happens. All we can do is imagine. We all like to think the Marquise ends up with Sulpice! And they all live happily ever after in the Birkenfield residence, along with the entire regiment!”

This is Warren’s first Donizetti role, and like other singers she’s relishing the chance to play with the music, to improvise a little. Her repertoire is broad, ranging from Elizabethan lute songs to contemporary music, and she sings jazz as well as classical music. “I kind of have a foot in both worlds, classical and jazz, and when I talk to jazz and pop musicians, you know, what they might call, riffing or scatting or whatever, I always get on my little dorky soapbox, and I’m like, these traditions, they come from opera!”

And she’s happy to be back in Geneva. (She was the cover for Nanetta in last year’s “Falstaff.”) “Although this is only my second year, the moment you see a face you know, you know, it’s just hugs, and how are you, and I've been keeping up with you on social media, and I'm so glad you’re here. It’s just a family. It’s a home away from home in a way. You know, a musician’s life is lonesome. And it’s just such a tight-knit group here. Everyone’s so kind. The legacy Gina has created here is just something very special.”

Donizetti’s “The Daughter of the Regiment” will be performed at the Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca Street, Geneva, New York, fully staged and with orchestra, on Thursday, July 23, at 7:30, and on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, at 3:00 pm. It will be sung in French, with English dialogue, and with English surtitles. Tickets start from $20 (if you’re under 30) and are available at the door or online at https://geneva-light-opera-inc.square.site/product/tickets-for-geneva-light-opera-2026-la-fille-du-r-giment/CKPIOWWIT5BR47A7S4ZEFWEF?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false. Join us!

Geneva Light Opera's mission is to inspire, educate and entertain Finger Lakes audiences by presenting high quality operatic performances.

07/13/2026

Jingfu Zhang has always had a foot in two worlds. Not so much China and the US, as you might think, but art and commerce. Art came first. “I grew up in Guangzhou, China,” he told me, “and I was always a boy soprano soloist in my choir. And then my conductor took me for a world tour with different choruses. So I had a semi-professional voice career back then.

“But my parents wanted to steer me towards having a proper academic career. So I came to US for high school and gave up chorus singing. I went to Eastman and U of R to study business and sing at the same time. But my dad really wanted me to go to a school of his choice, so I transferred to Cornell and studied hotel management, which I love. Travel is another passion of mine.

“I worked in hotel development, building new hotels in the Asia-Pacific region for four years, while performing with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra's chorus and at the Shanghai Opera House.” When he came back to the US after COVID to do an MBA, though, he found himself drawn to music more and more. He went to the opera regularly, took classes at Julliard, and he was “encouraged to really give a shot at singing professionally. I got into Carnegie Mellon for a master’s program in opera performance on a full ride. And I just graduated from Carnegie Mellon.”

This is his first time singing Tonio in “The Daughter of the Regiment,” and in that role he’s faced with a celebrated vocal challenge: the high C’s in his aria “Ah! Mes amis.” (Donizetti wrote eight of these in the score but a ninth is often added.) It’s a challenge he’s faced, though not on stage; Zhang has often used “Ah! Mes amis” as an audition piece. Beyond that, he sees Tonio as a “very lovesick and determined teenager whose idealization of love can trump just about everything else, even to joining France’s army just to get closer to” Marie. He’s “young and foolish” but he “has this bravery in him.” Tonio is “not afraid of anything as long as he gets his way toward love in the end.

“So we're celebrating this very committed character, but at the same time, we see in him so much of ourselves when we are young, when we are just so determined to accomplish something that it becomes the whole world. I would love to portray a character like that.”

Marie, too, is a courageous soul. She’s “the core of the entire opera,” able to maintain “such a good relationships with all of her ‘fathers’ in the military, rediscover the family that abandoned her, and, at the same time, proudly choose love after everything that she has gone through, and to really stand by her love. I see bravery in both of them.”

Thanks to his undergraduate years Zhang knows the Finger Lakes well; he admires the local wineries and was even studying to be a sommelier. He’s never performed in Geneva, but he “met Maestro Douglas down in the city half a year ago, and he seemed like a wonderful person. “I really look forward to working with him and the entire team.”

Like Geneva Light Opera veterans, too, he’s saddened by the death of Gena Rangel, GLO’s founder. “I got to meet her in person at my audition in New York City and we had a lot of conversation afterwards. But, you know, we should do our best to make the show happen in the best memory of her.”

Donizetti’s “The Daughter of the Regiment” will be performed at the Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca Street, Geneva, New York, fully staged and with orchestra, on Thursday, July 23, at 7:30, and on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, at 3:00 pm. It will be sung in French, with English dialogue, and with English surtitles. Tickets start from $20 (if you’re under 30) and are available at the door or online at https://geneva-light-opera-inc.square.site/product/tickets-for-geneva-light-opera-2026-la-fille-du-r-giment/CKPIOWWIT5BR47A7S4ZEFWEF?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false. Join us!

Geneva Light Opera's mission is to inspire, educate and entertain Finger Lakes audiences by presenting high quality operatic performances.

07/10/2026

Milica Nikčević loves Geneva Light Opera. She appeared last year as Mistress Quickly in GLO’s “Falstaff,” and, she said, “The community is so wonderful and warm and welcoming and helpful, and they just are so excited about the operas and the artists and learning about us and really listening and enjoying the time that we have together.” This year she has the good luck to be cast as the Marquise of Berkenfield – the funniest character in “The Daughter of the Regiment,” who enters complaining about the war with the French as a personal affront, an annoying personal inconvenience instead of a tragedy. In the second act she’s something of a social climber, still a figure of fun. But the Marquise has a secret, and that secret changes her; by the final chorus she’s a different and a better person. One surprise about Donizetti’s opera is that the comic relief character turns out to have the most human story.

It’s that story that appeals to Nikčević, who likes to play strong women. “Her character development is really interesting and exciting for me,” she told me. “I love characters like that, where when she first comes on the scene, she comes across a certain way, but by the end of the opera, she has such depth.” Best known as a dramatic mezzo, she’s played Carmen, Amneris in Aida, and major roles in works by Wagner, Verdi, Rossini, and Menotti, but this is her first Donizetti role. “I’m very excited about that, and it’s been a lot of fun to just sit in the music, and look at the character, and think about her, and who she is, and why she does what she does. Any character development would require that, but I think she's something special.”

I mentioned to her that I like the character a lot, but I wished the libretto had fleshed it out a bit more. Nikčević, though, saw that as an opportunity. “I rather enjoy having some mystery in the writing and leaving some space for the artist to decide how they want to interpret her. Sometimes it’s really nice to have a very straightforward character, but leaving it sort of open for interpretation while maintaining a specific arc is a challenge. And I personally love that.

“You can try all the different ways to portray her while maintaining the very specific aspects of her character, and nuancing it every time you perform the role. It’s not that you’re changing who she is or what her music is, but you can add different layers that the audience can appreciate and the artist can appreciate. Boredom doesn’t set in. It would never set in with a character like her!”

This is part of the bel canto style of the early 1800s. “Bel canto was like, well, you know, you decide. You're the artist. I’m just gonna write it, and you make it pretty. … It goes back to the spaces that Donizetti allowed for character development, even in the music, because you can hear it. Even in my arietta, we have pauses so that I can do a little cadenza here and there. I can add something different. And I think what’s surprising is just how much freedom there is in it.

“Obviously, the story is light, and, you know, it’s about love and heartbreak and desire and all the things that we love about opera. But he allows the space for people, for the cast and the artists to really develop. So for me, that was the wonderful surprise. It keeps it compelling each time I listen and get involved with it.”

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Donizetti’s “The Daughter of the Regiment” will be performed at the Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca Street, Geneva, New York, fully staged and with orchestra, on Thursday, July 23, at 7:30, and on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, at 3:00 pm. It will be sung in French, with English dialogue, and with English surtitles. Tickets start from $20 (if you’re under 30) and are available at the door or online at https://geneva-light-opera-inc.square.site/product/tickets-for-geneva-light-opera-2026-la-fille-du-r-giment/CKPIOWWIT5BR47A7S4ZEFWEF?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false. Join us!

07/03/2026

People have written entire books on the interpretation of Wagner’s Ring cycle. I know; I’ve done it myself. Nobody’s likely to do the same with “The Daughter of the Regiment.” It seems completely self-explanatory. But there’s a bit more to it than you might think, and a little background may help us see what Donizetti and his audience took for granted when they thought about Marie.

Marie, of course, has won the hearts of the soft-hearted soldiers of the 21st Regiment, and, as she tells the most paternal of her many father figures, they made her a vivandière. It’s not a familiar term these days; Wikipedia translates it as “canteen girl,” which makes it sound trivial or even dubious. But in the Paris of 1840 everyone knew what a vivandière was—though the common French term was “cantinière”—and the title would have accorded Marie a good deal of respect.

“An army moves on its stomach,” Napoleon supposedly said, but in those days the army brass did little to fill it. Rations were skimpy, and soldiers were too easily tempted to use their weapons against local farmers instead of the enemy to extort a chicken or two. Somebody had to feed the troops so they didn’t resort to foraging, and that’s where the vivandières came in. They cooked and sold food, supplied wine, and had a store of necessities that made camp life a little more bearable. They were businesswomen, but they became integral parts of the army. Vivandières were formally under army command, they were assigned to their regiment, and by the middle of the nineteenth century they wore military uniforms.

It was a hard life. They went wherever the troops went, setting up sometimes in the line of fire, and their business sense was tempered by their compassion. During battle no money changed hands; the vivandières feed the troops, nursed the wounded, and consoled the survivors. Some of them even fought alongside the men. The relationship was so successful that many other countries adopted the system; there were vivandières on both sides of the American Civil War.

Marie was thus a real member of the 21st regiment, and Donizetti’s Parisian audience would have seen her as a figure of courage and compassion. She steps into the world of opéra comique with a hint of romantic heroism.

There’s only one thing missing. By law, a vivandière had to be married to one of the soldiers. This only added to the emotional appeal of the role. Love and patriotism came together in the picture of a husband and wife sharing all the hardships of army life and all the terrors of battle. The images above, from a late nineteenth century wallpaper pattern, hints at the emotions called up by the thought of the vivandière.

So Marie’s “appointment,” however well deserved, was a little irregular. But we all know that this small problem will be rectified as soon as the curtain falls. Marie and Tonio will take their rightful roles as a loving couple and a pair of heroes. They’ll live—and fight—happily ever after. Vive la France!

06/29/2026

Conductor Douglas Martin has an exceptional range of experience, working with an intimately-scaled New York City opera company, leading over a hundred performances of Baz Luhrmann’s Broadway production of “La Boheme,” and associated for many years with Eve Queler, a great champion of forgotten or neglected works.

Nobody would call “The Daughter of the Regiment” neglected—it was recently done at the Met with Sandra Oh in the speaking role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp—but Martin’s study of the score was filled with surprises for him. “Working with the orchestration of this opera,” he said, “it’s astonishing. The colors, the way he uses the instruments, in some of the arias, you'll have pizzicato for two or three pages. And then suddenly the viola and second violin will do two bars of bowing, and in the middle of nowhere, there will be a French horn trill.”

“The high C’s in “Oh, mes amis” and the E flats that Sutherland sang, those are the things that one tends to remember. But the seriousness at the beginning of the opera, these heartfelt prayers—Gena was talking how it was something to be appreciated, and the translation that she was working on reflected her belief that there was much more going on than people gave it credit for.”

Of course this is a comic opera, and the GLO audience will be in for love songs, military music, and even slapstick comedy. But this performance will have something unexpected musically, another benefit of Martin’s study of the score. “It’s often cut,” he told me, “but there’s a section of fugue in the first act finale that no one ever does. I opened the cut. This fugue sounds like it’s Bach and it’s beautiful.

“I sort of learned with Eve Queler, in the ensembles, when you hear the big tune of the finale and then something else goes on and you hear it one more time, and then suddenly, without you being aware of it, suddenly the room is enveloped by the sort of Donizetti experience. Just voices in union, and simple harmonies, but beautiful harmonies. Don’t underestimate it, I would say. Don’t underestimate the piece.”

Donizetti’s “The Daughter of the Regiment” will be performed at the Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca Street, Geneva, New York, fully staged and with orchestra, on Thursday, July 23, at 7:30, and on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, at 3:00 pm. It will be sung in French, with English dialogue, and with English surtitles. Tickets start from $20 (if you’re under 30) and are available at the door or online at https://geneva-light-opera-inc.square.site/product/tickets-for-geneva-light-opera-2026-la-fille-du-r-giment/CKPIOWWIT5BR47A7S4ZEFWEF?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false. Join us!

06/23/2026

Gena Elizabeth Rangel (Ungerer) Obituary
Gena (Ungerer) Rangel

August 1, 1940 – June 18, 2026

GENEVA- Longtime Geneva, NY, resident, Gena (Ungerer) Rangel, Musician, Singer, Concert Organizer, Producer, and Educator died in Geneva on June 18th, 2026.

Gena was born on August 1, 1940 in McLean, VA, to Virginia Dolan (Joplin, MO) and Herman G. Ungerer (Geneva, NY). At an early age, Gena demonstrated an affinity for music and song, as well as high level verbal skills. Gena had a strong connection with the Finger Lakes Region as she and her family would frequently spend summers and holidays in both the Lyons and Geneva areas, as her father’s family (Ungerer and Braconier) resided in the area. She received a full academic scholarship to attend Vassar College in 1957 (All women at that time), where she majored in Music and Spanish.

After graduating, Gena moved to New York City, where she embarked on a career in Music and Teaching. She joined the Arcadia Nova Chamber Ensemble and also became a permanent choir member at the Church of the Ascension (NYC, Greenwich Village) with Vernan DeTar. She became certified to teach High School and got a job teaching at the La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts (NYC). She also married John Rangel (Ponce, Puerto Rico) and had three sons and picked up a fabulous step-daughter in the deal. After retiring from her teaching job in NYC, she made her final full time move to Geneva in 2005.

Gena passed away doing what she loved most: preparing for a new show, working with musicians, stage technicians, set designers, and with the incredibly dedicated, warm, hard working, appreciative and patient people on the board of the Geneva Light Opera (GLO), the Smith Opera House, along with the wonderful, exuberantly, generous and passionate members in the Geneva community. GLO’s production of The Daughter of the Regiment is projected for July 23, 25 and 26th, 2026.

Gena (Ungerer) Rangel is survived by her sister Jan Ungerer Baker, step-daughter Minerva Rangel, Son John F. Rangel (Daughter in-law Barbara Benntree and step-dog Shadow), son Chris Rangel (Daughter-in-law Burul Sadekova, grandson Josh Rangel) and son Gregorio Rangel (Daughter-in-law Aimée Samuelson, grandson Sebastián and grandson Olivier Martín).

Family and friends may call on Wednesday (June 24) starting at 10:00 a.m. at the McGuigan & Bero Funeral Home 45 High St. Geneva. Funeral services will follow at 11:00 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be in Glenwood Cemetery immediately following the service.

06/20/2026

It is with profound sadness that I announce the passing of Gena Rangel, President, Artistic and General Director of Geneva Light Opera Thursday July 18, 2026.

Viewing 6/24 McGuigan Funeral Home, 45 High St., Geneva NY 10 AM. Services following 11 AM.