Rochester Opera Factory is an opera chorus of professional quality whose mission is to develop opera audiences and performers through regular rehearsals, concerts, performances, and workshops. ROF singers are volunteer musicians from the Rochester community. The group was formed in September of 1999 and incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in NY State in January of 2000.
Rochester’s Own
ROF has quickly become the premiere choral group in the Rochester area. Productions are 100% local; ROF is committed to using exclusively local performers, and all singers in operas and ensembles are drawn from the larger chorus. ROF seeks to provide opportunities for the Rochester community to understand and appreciate opera more fully by making the art form accessible, understandable, and fun. This is accomplished by explaining the setting, the action and the characters and presenting opera scenes in manageable bites.
Opera – Music that has Endured, But Why?
The beautiful music of opera has been sung and enjoyed for hundreds of years – a testimony to its dramatic power and beauty. However, many people today disdain the art form as irrelevant and boring. ROF tries to bring people back to understanding why the music and themes have had such a lasting appeal. What can be more relevant today than love, lust, and power? These themes pervade modern literature, drama and movies, as well as daytime dramas. Opera, both classical and contemporary, address the same human emotions in theatrical drama and exquisite music. Each performance is about an hour long. Come to an ROF performance and find out more!
A Story in Song
Many of ROF’s performances are based on a format called “A Story in Song” unique to the group. A narrator weaves an entertaining tapestry of song and story consisting of all the “hit tunes” from the opera: solos, ensembles, and choruses, introduced with an explanation of the characters, plot and setting, and interspersed with a summary of the intervening action and story developments. “A Story in Song” format appeals to audiences of all ages and all levels of familiarity with opera. Rochester Opera Factory has also based entire performances on selections from a variety of operas, and in doing so summarizes the plot and actions for each song, and weaves them together with a common theme.
A Uniquely Talented Group
ROF singers are professional caliber musicians, all of whom have chosen to make their living in other ways. Currently among the musicians are nurses, lawyers, engineers, computer experts, secretaries, human resources specialists, corporate executives, teachers, full-time mothers, and students, among other occupations. The youngest member is 13, and the oldest is retired.
ROF strives to improve continuously, developing both repertoire and vocal technique through regular master classes and coaching. The group has developed a finely tuned blend of voices, a goal that can only be reached by extensive rehearsals with a consistent group of singers. Rochester Opera Factory has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in the Eastman Theatre and the Genesee Symphony Orchestra in Batavia, as well as at the Bausch & Lomb Wintergarden, The School of the Arts, Asbury First United Methodist Church, Oak Hill Country Club, Monroe Community College, and Genesee Community College. ROF has also performed at local nursing homes and senior living centers, and at Borders Books and Music.
Rochester Opera Factory is an affiliate member of Opera America, the service organization for opera in America, and a member of the Greater Rochester Choral Consortium.