Opera Appreciation Club dispels common misconceptions and gains popularity at Ann’s Choice

By Mark Abromaitis
THE ERICKSON TRI BUNE

According to LJ Herman, creator of the Opera Appreciation Club at Ann’s Choice, her passion is one that wrongly has a bad reputation. And it’s something that she is trying to change, one person at a time.

“It’s not boring. It can be fun and wonderful,” she says. “It just has to be presented right.”

That means presenting it with a little bit of information and a lot of humor.

“This isn’t your parents’ opera,” she says with a smile. “We use short talks to explain the program. This is nothing scholarly by any stretch of the imagination, but it is fun. And it doesn’t hurt that each week we hear nothing but the best voices.”

Each week, the club meets to watch the best operatic performances on videotape in the auditorium. Prior to showing the videotape, Herman puts the performance in perspective and gives the audience tips on the plot twists.

A new ‘peanut gallery’
Herman discovered her love for the art form when she saw an operetta with her parents at the age of ten.

“I came from a poor family so of course we were sitting in the peanut gallery,” she says. “But I was hooked.”

The lighthearted performance helped Herman realize that opera didn’t have to be boring. She began collecting the best performances on videotape. Years later she began to share her passion with residents of local retirement homes. “Then I figured, why not do it here at Ann’s Choice, where I live?” she says.

Herman says that the club has been so poular that it grew out of the community music room and now holds presentations in the clubhouse’s performing arts center and asks for a $5 donation. All of the proceeds go to the Ann’s Choice Scholarship Fund.