Bozeman News

Gallatin Valley Non-Profit Series

Intermountain Opera Association: Sharing the Joy of Opera

By Alison Grey, 1-31-08

The Gallatin Valley is home to over 200 non-profits. These organizations do not hinge on metropolitan amenities, and are often created to stimulate local communities of the West. As part of our New West economy, NewWest.Net/Bozeman is highlighting Gallatin Valley organizations in a weekly series.

For 30 years, the Intermountain Opera Association has provided two or three performances of at least one fully-staged opera classic each year starring singers well-known in the opera world, backed by an orchestra and chorus made up of the best musicians from our region. With 15 people serving on the board, two year-round part-time staffers and hundreds of volunteers, the organization is currently expanding their outreach activities to develop new audiences and ensure the survival of live opera in Montana. President Janet Young expands on the organization and their efforts.

NewWest.Net: Why and how did your organization come into being? Why is this organization in Bozeman?

IOA: IOA was born through the lucky coincidence that a young voice professor at MSU (Verity Bostick) wanted to sing opera in Bozeman, that an internationally known operatic baritone (Pablo Elvira) married a Bozeman girl and made his home here and that an arts philanthropist and opera lover (Mrs. Robert W. Martin, Jr.) moved from New York City to Bozeman – all at the same time. With Bostick’s and Elvira’s contacts in the professional opera world and Martin’s fundraising prowess, the Intermountain Opera Association was born, the first professional opera in the Northern Rockies.

NewWest.Net: What are the advantages and challenges of operating in this area? Are there other non-profits in this area that you partner with or would like to?

IOA: Leading opera singers like to come perform for us because of Bozeman’s scenic setting, and because of the excellent reputation of our productions. They love the enthusiasm of our audiences. The challenges include the fact that the altitude is a challenge for many singers but the greatest challenge is – as it is for many other performing arts organizations – Bozeman’s dearth of performance venues. The Willson Auditorium has served us throughout our 30 years of productions, but fitting rented scenery onto the stage and scheduling the two weeks we need to put our show together are ongoing challenges, given the fact that the Willson is still the principal performance venue for the entire Bozeman School District. Finding rehearsal space in Bozeman is also a challenge.

We cooperate with the MSU Music Department and the Extended University as well as with the Bozeman Schools music program and art department and with Wonderlust. We are currently partnering with the Bozeman Schools and the Bozeman Symphony to purchase new orchestra chairs and music stands for the Willson.

NewWest.Net: Where are you directing your resources?

IOA: We put everything into our productions and outreach activities. We have recently established an endowment fund to ensure the IOA’s long term survival.

NewWest.Net: What is your annual operating budget, and can you please break that down between administrative and fund-raising versus program expenses?

IOA: In 2007, with only one production, our expenditures totaled $220,742. Of this, 11 percent went for office and administration costs, 6 percent for fund-raising expenses, 4 percent to community outreach, and the remaining 79 percent went directly to produce The Magic Flute.

NewWest.Net: How are you fulfilling your mission statement?

IOA: By producing the finest quality opera performances in the Northern Rocky Mountains and by keeping our ticket prices affordable.

NewWest.Net: What is your most recent success story? Accomplishing our mission for 30 years while

IOA: Accomplishing our mission for 30 years while maintaining an excellent reputation nationwide in the opera world. The standing ovation at
the end of each performance is always the most recent success story.

NewWest.Net: Thank you!

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