Toledo Opera will host their annual fundraising Gala at the Toledo Club (235 14th Street, Toledo, OH 43604) on Friday, May 3, 2024. This year’s event will pay tribute to the legacy of Suzanne Rorick, who is retiring after thirteen years as Toledo Opera’s Executive Director.
The gala will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a cocktail hour. The concert will commence at 7:00 p.m., followed by a plated dinner prepared by the Toledo Club. This year’s dinner program will feature tribute speeches and a paddle raise for Toledo Opera in Suzanne Rorick’s honor. Toledo Opera will present an evening of songs and arias with guest soloist, tenor Victor Robertson. He will be joined by the 2023-2024 Toledo Opera Resident Artists: Sara Mortensen, soprano; Imara Miles, mezzo-soprano; Jon Suek, tenor; Evan Fleming, baritone; and Steven Naylor, piano. Co-Artistic Director and Head of Music Preparation Kevin Bylsma will serve as Master of Ceremonies and as accompanist. Singers will perform a variety of solo selections ranging from classical opera, to Broadway selections, plus many more. They will be accompanied by both Kevin Bylsma and Steven Naylor.
Tickets include the cocktail hour, concert, and dinner. Full tables for 8 are available, as well as sponsorships. Sponsorships are $3,500 and include the full evening for up to 8 guests and recognition at the event and on the Toledo Opera website. Tickets can be purchased at 419-255-SING (7464) or at toledoopera.org. Proceeds for the evening will benefit the Toledo Opera’s Resident Artist program.
“We are very excited to honor Suzanne and her years of stewarding Toledo Opera with this gala,” shared Co-Artistic Director James M. Norman. “We hope her colleagues and friends will share their support and purchase a ticket to make this gala a splashy send-off for a much beloved fixture of the Toledo area non-profit world.”
“What better way to celebrate Suzanne’s tenure with Toledo Opera than with great performances by one of our audience’s favorite singers, Victor Robertson, the star tenor of The Barber of Seville and I Dream,” added Co-Artistic Director Kevin Bylsma. “Joining Victor are the current roster of Resident Artists, Sara Mortensen, soprano; Imara Miles, mezzo soprano; Jon Suek, tenor; Evan Fleming, baritone; and Steven Naylor, pianist. This is a night not to miss!”
American tenor Victor Robertson recently garnered excellent reviews in the roles of Street and Elijah (X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X) at the Metropolitan Opera of New York. Recent season highlights include another Anthony Davis role: Raymond Santana (Central Park Five) at Portland Opera. He sang Elijah and Street at Detroit Opera, Opera Omaha, and then in a concert recorded and produced by Boston Modern Orchestra Projects which was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award. In past seasons, Mr. Robertson sang Alfredo (La Traviata) at Orland Opera, and Rinaldo (Armida) at Virginia Opera, a role he debuted at the UK’s prestigious Garsington Opera Festival. He sang his signature role, Count Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) in opera theatres across the US including here at Toledo Opera. He also appeared as Tonio (La Fille du Regiment), Ramiro (La Cenerentola), title role in Romeo et Juliette, Fenton (Falstaff), Nemorino (L’Elisir d’Amore), title role in Les Contes d’Hoffman, Nadir (Les Pecheurs de Perles), and Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi). He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in their 2017 production of The Merry Widow as Raoul, and in the same year, Mr. Robertson made his Broadway debut in its longest running show, The Phantom of the Opera as Piangi. In 2018 with Toledo Opera, he premiered the role of Hosea Williams in Douglas Tappin’s I Dream, a piece based upon a series of dreams, reminiscences and premonitions leading up to the fateful moment in modern American history – the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.
With more than three decades experience as a vocal coach, collaborative pianist, choral conductor, and organist, Kevin J. Bylsma is a musician of impressive depth and ability, well known for his work in opera, art song, and oratorio. A longtime member of the Toledo Opera staff, Mr. Bylsma is currently the Co-Artistic Director/Head of Music Preparation and Chorus Master. He was formerly Music Director of the Department of Community Programs for the Michigan Opera Theatre and vocal coach, accompanist, and chorus master for OPERA! Lenawee. In recitals and master classes, he has collaborated with the great American singers Samuel Ramey, Diane Soviero, Marilyn Horne, Dawn Upshaw, Michelle De Young, Irina Mishura, Kathryn Lewek, and Jennifer Rowley. He is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of the Ann Arbor Festival of Song, and, for the past twenty-nine years, he has served the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit as Associate Organist and Choirmaster. Dedicated to the education and training of the next generation of operatic talent, Mr. Bylsma is the Coordinator of Opera and Repetiteur for Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts, responsible for vocal coaching as well as serving as a collaborative pianist for the school’s large body of young singers. From 2009–2018, Mr. Bylsma taught at OperaWorks, an intensive summer opera program, based in Los Angeles, CA, and since 2014, he has served the Michigan District Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition as principal pianist. Increasingly active as a music director, Mr. Bylsma has conducted Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Poulenc’s Gloria, R. Vaughan Williams’ Mystical Songs, and Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasy, and most recently led the Bowling Green State University Opera Theatre’s production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.
Noted for her shimmering, soaring voice, soprano Sara Mortensen is a proud Michigan native. She earned her bachelor’s degree from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and her master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Mortensen has had the privilege of performing the roles of Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Sylviane (The Merry Widow), and La Maestra delle Novizie (Suor Angelica) with Toledo Opera in their 2022/23 season, and covering the roles of Hanna (The Merry Widow) at Toledo Opera, and Cupid (Orpheus in the Underworld) at Manhattan School of Music. In her spare time, she enjoys sewing, crocheting and watching Jane Austen film adaptations. Ms. Mortensen is in her second year as a resident artist for Toledo Opera.
Hailed for her expressiveness and lush sound, Imara Miles (She/They) is a mezzo-soprano from the Washington, DC area. With experience in both operatic and musical theater repertoire, Miss Miles has been a featured performer in shows such as Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Berta), The Drowsy Chaperone (Title Role), Gianni Schicchi (Zita), and Porgy & Bess (Lily) to name a few. As a graduate of York College of Pennsylvania (B.A.) and Indiana University (M.M.), she has been a young artist in programs such as The Glimmerglass Festival, Grant Park Music Festival, Pensacola Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and is currently a Resident Artist with Toledo Opera. Her past awards and recognitions include the Mollie Shapiro Award at Des Moines Metro Opera, an Encouragement award winner from the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition, a semi-finalist in the George Shirley Vocal Competition, and the 2022 Elizabeth Greenfield Award. their recent credits include Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), La Badessa (Suor Angelica), Mercécès (Carmen), and Tisbe (La Cenerentola). She’s very excited to return to Toledo Opera for her upcoming role debut as Sarah (Ragtime).
Jon Suek has sung the roles of Masetto (Don Giovanni), performed as an undergraduate at Western Washington University and Pandolf (Cendrillon). Being a native of the Evergreen State, Mr. Suek’s transition to singing tenor repertoire coincided with his transition to the Midwest for graduate school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a formative experience in both how cold winter can be and how elusive high notes can be. While enrolled at UNL, he sang the roles of Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), King Kaspar (Amahl and the Night Visitor), Dino (A Wedding), and Hoffmann (first act only) (Les Contes d’Hoffmann). At UNL, recital apogees for him were performances of Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Britten’s Winter Words. After his time in Nebraska, Mr. Suek moved to Graz, Austria where he taught English for two years and then moved to Italy for six months to study il linguaggio dell'opera! After returning to the states, he sang an attenuated version of the role of Steve Jobs in a Seattle Opera Guild Preview from Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, as a chorister for Seattle Opera’s production of La Traviata, and as Tamino in a reduced English-language version of The Magic Flute with the Seattle based opera company N.O.I.S.E. You may have seen Mr. Suek in the Summer of 2023 singing at the Aquilon Music Festival (reviving his interpretation of Don Ottavio), at the Mostly Modern Festival in New York, or at the Lyric Opera Studio Weimar singing Tamino (in German). If you are interested in seeing and hearing more of Mr. Suek (rhymes with “book”), you can find him tooling around your local municipal golf course. He will gladly trade his rendition of your favorite tenor aria for golf balls.
American Baritone Evan Fleming is a New Jersey native and versatile stage performer engaging in opera, musical theatre, and contemporary music. In the 2022-2023 season, he created the role of Father in the world premiere opera OURLAND: A Dystopian State with the San José Chamber Orchestra. In May 2023, Mr. Fleming joined the Opera Company of Middlebury as an Apprentice Artist for their summer festival. While in Vermont, Mr. Fleming debuted roles in Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge (David) and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Telephone (Ben). In 2022, Mr. Fleming made role debuts in two of Stephen Sondheim’s best musicals. In the spring, he appeared as Anthony Hope (Sweeney Todd). Returning to Opera Steamboat for a second summer, Mr. Fleming debuted a dream role: Bobby in Company. A graduate of Montclair State University (B.M. 2019) and The University of Alabama (M.M. 2021), Mr. Fleming created roles in two world premiere productions during the 2019-2020 season. In collaboration with the Tuscaloosa Symphony and conductor Adam Flatt, he created the role of Little John in Joseph Landers’ Let Us Now Praise Famous Men which was recorded by Alabama Public Television for broadcast in 2020. In addition, he was seen in multiple roles in Michael Ching’s modular work RSBE: Remove Shoes Before Entering. Past roles include Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) (Opera Steamboat), Dandini (La Cenerentola) (Red River Lyric Opera), Groom in Mark Adamo’s Avow and Man in Michael Ching’s Leo: An Opera in One Cat with The University of Alabama. Mr. Fleming is elated to join Toledo Opera as a Resident Artist for their 2023-2024 season.
Steven Naylor graduated from Bowling Green State University in 2022, earning bachelor’s degrees in performance and composition. A Michigan-native, he graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 2017. His mentors have included pianists Laura Melton, Thomas Rosenkranz, and Michael Coonrod, and composers Elainie Lillios, Mikel Kuehn, Marilyn Shrude, Christopher Dietz, and Catherine McMichael, a piano and composition mentor. Mr. Naylor performs frequently as a soloist and collaborator in northwest Ohio, and has presented several solo piano and composition recitals. He has been a Resident Artist with Toledo Opera since fall 2022. A fierce advocate for contemporary music, Mr. Naylor performed solo works at the 8th International Conference on Music and Minimalism in 2022 and the virtual 2020 BG New Music Festival and has served as music director for Evil Dead: The Musical at BGSU in April 2023. His 2022 recording project New Piano Music from Bowling Green, Vol. 1, exemplifies his frequent collaboration with living composers. His debut album as pianist and composer, idyll, released in 2021. Mr. Naylor's micro-opera, Visionary, won BGSU’s 2021 Music Composition Competition, and was performed at the 2022 BG New Music Festival. The short film Play Date directed by Kate Schnepf, which he scored, was screened at several international film festivals. His recent compositions focus on ecological and astronomical themes, and have included works written for the Newphonia Ensemble, Keynamics piano duo, and BGSU Student Organization for Music Research. Mr. Naylor is music director at First Presbyterian Church of Perrysburg, OH, and an engraver for St. James Music Press.
Toledo Opera’s fundraising gala will take place at the Toledo Club on Friday, May 3 beginning at 6:00 p.m. To learn more about contributing to Suzanne Rorick’s Tribute Book, to learn about sponsorship opportunities, or to purchase tickets visit: toledoopera.org. For media access, please contact Rachael Cammarn at rcammarn@toledoopera.org.
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