TRR photo by Zac Stuart-Pontier Ron DeFesi, Artistic Director of the Delaware Valley Opera, has conducted and directed numerous plays and musicians in the Tri-State region for a number of companies including the Hudson Opera Theatre, Hudson Valley Gilbert & Sullivan Society, The Sussex Symphony, The Nassau Lyric Opera, Taconic Opera, The Manhasset Bay Opera and a number of others. Judith Schaff is the rehearsal accompanist. (Click for larger image)

DVO — people in love with opera

By LAURIE STUART

NARROWSBURG — DVO founder and visionary Gloria Krause was bit by the opera bug in 1976, when she played in the Tri-City Opera Orchestra in Binghamton. A music teacher in Livingston Manor, she traveled back and forth every weekend from her home in Monticello for fourteen years to play her bassoon in the pit.

During that same time, under the auspices of the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, she organized and mounted community performances of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas every summer.

That, she says, was before Bill Murray, a professional opera star showed up.

“Bill Murray came along from Pond Eddy. He was with the Berlin Opera Company, and conned us to do the ‘Marriage of Figaro’ by Mozart at the Monticello Presbyterian Church,” Krause said.

From there, the opera company, which became incorporated in 1986, moved on to “Elixir of Love,” “Hansel & Gretel,” “Triple Bill,” “Carmen,” “Cinderella,” “Madam Butterfly,” “Magic Flute,” “La Traviata,” “Suor Angelica,” “Don Pasquale,” “Opera Circus,” “La Boheme,” “Medium,” “Merry Widow,” “Barber of Seville,” “Street Scene,” “The Emperor’s Justice,” “Cosi fan futte,” “Mikado,” and “Orpheus In the Underworld.”

The troupe will perform “Tosca” in Italian on July 13, 14, 20 and 21, and “Rigoletto” in English on August 17, 18, 24 and 25. Making its home at the Tusten Theater since 1992, the group has been a magnet for the many artists and musicians who make their way to this rural arts Mecca in the Upper Delaware River Valley. Through the grassroots performances of the Delaware Valley Opera, professional performers and would-be opera stars experience their joy, dedication and love of the opera.

To experience the opera or for more information call 845/252-3136.