Lyric Opera Guild

Welcome to the Guild!
Love opera but your friends and neighbors don’t understand? You’re new to opera, and you want to be more comfortable with this fresh adventure you’re on? Hey! You’ve come to the perfect place. The Guild is a social and support group for men and women of all ages who attend the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and enjoy the camaraderie of others who share their interests. Throughout the year we party, get up close and personal with the artists and help them get acquainted in town, take trips together, share opera stories, learn LOTS….and generally support the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. We even have a “sub-set” of the Guild: The Bohemians, just for young professionals under the age of 40. Join now and meet us in the Guild Room at performances, and learn more about our great group, meet us in the Guild Room at performance, or join now.

In addition to the private Guild Room where you are welcomed before each performance and during intermission for wine and snacks, the Guild offers many events through the year, most of them free. Two of the most popular: cast rehearsal suppers, and cast luncheon, provide members with opportunities to mingle with the casts of each opera. We have our outreach programs, providing in-depth information about each opera, evening and afternoon get-togethers. And, of course, we have many opportunities to help the Company, both financially, through our trips and boutique, and also through donating our time and talents to the staff many times throughout the year.

Guild Membership Levels:
$40 Individual & $60 Family
Access to the Guild Room where Guild members and their guests can meet and enjoy refreshments prior to the performances and during intermissions at Lyric Opera performances.

Receive the quarterly Lyrical Notes newsletter with behind-the-scenes information about the Company and upcoming productions

Invitations to cast rehearsal suppers

Discounted tickets for family and friends

$100 Sponsor
Above benefits and receive CD previews of the season’s operas twice a year (summer and spring). The CDs offer lectures and musical excerpts by Guild opera fans.

$150 Donor
Above benefits and an invitation to special events

$250+ Patron
Above benefits and an invitation to the Patron’s Party

If you would like to join the Guild please download and return a membership application or contact Virginia Long for more information.

Guild Fundraising:
The Guild sponsors frequent trips to other cities and countries so opera fans may sample the best of opera and musical performances elsewhere. For more information on Guild trips please go to the bottom of this page for complete trip details.

The Guild sponsors the Guild Boutique at all Lyric Opera performances. The boutique offers a wide variety of opera themed gifts and is staffed by members of the Lyric Opera Guild.

If you would like to join the Guild please download a membership application or contact Virginia Long for more information.

Guild Outreach Programs:
The Guild-sponsored free Opera Previews are presented by the Lyric Opera Guild beginning one hour before curtain in the theatre auditorium. The previews are entertaining, informational presentations about the history and context of the opera, composer, etc.

The Guild sponsors At Ease With Opera, an award-winning program featuring speakers who appear at local venues in four series of presentations a year, two in the spring and two in the fall. The programs sometimes revolve around a particular upcoming production, but more often deal with a general topic in the field of opera. For information about upcoming programs, visit our events calendar page.

The Guild sponsors Lyrical Notes, a quarterly newsletter which also serves as Company newsletter.

The Guild sponsors a hospitality program for visiting artists.

The Guild sponsors an opera video lending library containing dozens of titles, available for free to Guild members ($10 returnable deposit).

The Guild sponsors a program to keep Guild members updated on advocacy efforts on both the state and national levels. The Lyric Opera Guild is a member of, and has several of its members serving on the board of directors of, an international opera volunteers association called Opera Volunteers International. For information about this organization and the services it provides to opera volunteers everywhere, please click here.

The Guild created a book of Lyric Opera and Lyric Opera Guild history, published in 1995 under the title We Got More Than We Gave: A History of the Kansas City Lyric Opera Guild. This 76-page softbound book includes many anecdotes and photographs from the early years of the company. The cost is $10.00; to order, send a check to Guild treasurer, Larry Sullivan, 132 W. 61st Terrace, Kansas City, MO 64113.

Guild Members Don Dagenais and Morton Creditor wrote Fifty Years of the Lyric Opera: A Great First Act to commemorate the Company's 50th Anniversary Season. Request a copy by contacting us.

The Guild sponsors a Speakers Bureau, available for group programs throughout the year. Entertaining programs with musical excerpts are tailored to the individual organization, and can address individual operas the Lyric Opera is performing, an overview of opera or overview of the Company, or the upcoming season. Contact us for information about booking a Speakers Bureau presentation.

If you would like to join the Guild please download a membership form or contact Virginia Long for more information.

Guild Trips

A Preview of the Lyric Opera Guild's 2010-2011 Trips!
Domingo, DiDonato, Fleming, Netrebko, and more!
The 2010-2011 Lyric Opera Guild trips will be filled with fantastic performances by opera superstars. Vacationers will travel to San Francisco, New York (three times), Sarasota and Europe! The trips will include some unusual operas as well as performances of some of the most popular operas in the repertoire. For more information about the 2010-2011 trips contact Don Dagenais, or by phone at (816) 444-7407.
2010-2011 Lyric Opera Guild Trips Preview

Oper for Connoisseurs in San Francisco! November 9-12, 2010
Placido Domingo, Karita Mattila, Daniella Dessi and Stefano Secco
Join the Guild in San Francisco November 9-12, 2010 to see San Francisco Opera’s productions of Franco Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac starring Placido Domingo, Leos Janacek’s rarely performed The Makropulos Case starring Karita Mattila and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly starring Daniella Dessi and Stefano Secco. For information about this trip contact Wilma Wilcox, or by phone at (913)302-9789.
2010-2011 November trip to San Francisco Brochure

Join us for Four Operas in New York! November 17-21, 2010
Danielle DeNiese, Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Mariusz Kwiexzen
Join the Lyric Opera Guild in the weekend before Thanksgiving for four operas in New York. On November 17-21, 2010 the Guild will visit New York for The Metropolitan Opera’s performances of Mozart’s Così fan tutte starring Danielle DeNiese; Donizetti’s hilarious Don Pasquale with Anna Netrebko and Barry Banks; Verdi’s Il Trovatore with Patricia Racette and Marcello Alvarez, and Bizet’s Carmen starring Elina Garanca and Nicole Cabell. For information about this trip contact Don Dagenais, or by phone at (816) 444-7407.
2010-2011 November trip to New York City Brochure

New York City - February 16-20, 2011
Domingo, Graham, Vargas, Fleming, Brownlee, Netrebko and Polenzoni
Travel with Guild February 16-20, 2011 to see some of the most famous singers in opera today sing at the Metropolitan Opera. Performances include Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride starring Placido Domingo and Susan Graham; Rossini’s Armida with soprano Renée Fleming and tenor Laurence Brownlee and a repeat of the hilarious Don Pasquale with Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzoni. This trip to New York includes an interesting option. Guild members can choose to add-on a Saturday night performance of Nixon in China, featuring two recent Lyric Opera performers: John Maddalena (title role in John Brown) and Richard Paul Frank (title role in Rigoletto). For information about the 2010-2011 trips contact Don Dagenais, or by phone at (816) 444-7407.
2010-2011 Lyric Opera Guild Trips Preview

Sarasota - March 4-6, 2011
Don Giovanni, The Crucible, I Lombardi and La Bohéme
Travel with the Lyric Opera Guild to sunny Florida March 4-6, 2010 to see Sarasota Opera’s productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Robert Ward’s The Crucible and Verdi’s I Lombardi (Sarasota is doing a “Verdi cycle” of all the Italian master operas). There is also an optional performance of La Bohéme on Saturday evening. For information about the 2010-2011 trips contact Don Dagenais, or by phone at (816) 444-7407.
2010-2011 Lyric Opera Guild Trips Preview

New York City - April 20-24, 2011
DiDonato, Florez, Alvarez, Hvorostovsky, Terfel, Voigt, Fleming
Join the Lyric Opera Guild once again in New York for more operas at the Metropolitan Opera. This trip will include performances by Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Florez in a rare performance of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory, Verdi’s Il Trovatore with Marcello Alvarez and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Wagner’s Die Walküre with Bryn Terfel, Deborah Voigt and Jonas Kauffman; and Strauss’ Capriccio, starring Renée Fleming. For information about the 2010-2011 trips contact Don Dagenais, or by phone at (816) 444-7407.
2010-2011 Lyric Opera Guild Trips Preview

Germany and Austria - July-August, 2011
Travel to Europe with the Lyric Opera Guild! Join Eileen Broadie, a Guild member and Kansas Citian who formerly sang opera for 12 years in Germany, as she serves as your travel guide throughout the opera festivals in Germany and Austria. The 2011 schedules have not been finalized, but the trip will be somewhere between July 15 and August 15 and last a couple of weeks. Check back for more information or contact Don Dagenais, or by phone at (816) 444-7407.
2010-2011 Lyric Opera Guild Trips Preview

If you would like to receive Guild trips mailings, contact us and tell us to add you to the trips list!

Please Note:
Cancellation Policy
You may receive a refund for any monies not expended less $200.00 cancellation charge. If items have been purchased or deposits made based on your reservation, refunds will be made only for the items that can be resold and only for the amount of resale. We strongly recommend trip cancellation insurance to protect your investment in this trip. Please call your travel agent for details.
Deviation Policy
All deviations from this brochure must be made in writing at the time of the reservation and are subject to availability and the tour leader's approval. The tour leader must acknowledge all deviations in writing for the requested deviations to be confirmed.