06/01/2023
As most of you know I love opera and have been organizing themed opera concerts since 2012, mostly in New York City and Chicago. My last concert was in Santa Barbara just before Covid-19 shut everything down! I have an opportunity to create/ organize a couple of concerts in Atlanta in the spring of 2024. I've decided to do a tribute concert to African American opera singers who may or may not have lived into the recording era. A few of the singers I'd like to pay tribute to are: Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Mary Cardwell Dawson, Marian Anderson, Sissieretta Jones, Paul Robeson, Thomas Bowers, Oliver Sueing and possibly a couple others. A second concert to be done the same week is "A Drag Show of Operatic Proportions with a Twist of Lime" thus will of course include scenes from Tancredi, Le Comte Ory, Der Rosenkavalier, Cherubin, Ariadne auf Naxos just to name a few. Yes, I plan to have Drag Queens involved staging the show and performing 3 special scenes lipsyncing to live opera singers! In order to accomplish this, I need to do a fundraiser. The goal of the fundraiser is to properly compensate each person involved in both shows and for those coming from out of state, hotel accommodations and food while staying in Atlanta. Who of my Facebook friends would be willing to donate a little towards helping this to become a reality? There'd be about 15 opera singers involved, one or two pianists, sets, props and costumes. My budget is $40,000 but it could exceed that with unknown expenses like piano tuning, insurance for the evening of each concert etc. I've done GoFundMe campaigns in the past with little success. I don't want to start the campaign if no one will contribute. On the other hand getting on stage without it could be challenging. Please give me your honest feedback. Just a side note, the theater and its staff are being graciously donated! The concerts will be performed at the newly opened Crossroads Theater and Sound Stage in Atlanta.
