Why does Opéra de Baugé merit your support?
Because:-
We bring professional quality fully-staged opera at affordable prices to our audiences.
We provide an almost unique opportunity for young singers, instrumentalists and backstage specialists, most of whom are educated and will build their careers in the UK, to develop their skills and make their operatic debuts, and we can prove how we have provided this springboard to people who have worked with us in past seasons.
We attract visitors and income to the region where we are based.
Opera is expensive to perform and almost always depends substantially on a mix of public subsidy and private giving. Box office sales alone do not sustain opera.
Opéra de Baugé has only nominal official subsidies and its future depends on support from those of its patrons who can afford this. Most opera festivals rely on ticket sales for only about 40% of their revenues, whereas ticket sales represent about 80% of Opéra de Baugé’s income.
We have established a UK charity called Opera de Bauge (no accents!) in order to be able to claim GiftAid on donations. The bank details of the charity are shown below.
Becoming a Friend is one way in which you can express your support for what we are doing and help us succeed in the ways set out above. We offer in return some modest benefits.
British Friends’ Membership
Friend £120
Stay in touch by newsletter with our future plans as well as developments in the careers and lives of our singers, musicians and all who work with us. Enjoy preferential seat allocation throughout the year, subject to overall availability of seats. Bring one guest into our Friends’ salon at Les Capucins before a performance or during the interval.
Donor £250
Benefits as for Friends, plus the right to attend all of our dress rehearsals. Bring three guests into our Friends’ salon at Les Capucins before a performance or during the interval.
Benefactor £400
Benefits as for donors, plus the right to receive a complimentary copy of our season’s programme, to visit us at any time during the rehearsal and performance period and to meet members of our management, and to be invited to our annual benefactors’ party held after a performance during the season.
How to join the Friends
Please send an email to the President of the British Friends, Dr J Gil Rodriguez (email address gilrodriguez@onetel.com) stating that you want to become a Friend and in what category. At the same time, send the requisite payment either by cheque to Opera de Bauge, 98 Westbury Road, New Malden KT3 5AN or make a bank transfer to Opera de Bauge, HSBC, 40-34-24, account number 41459821. If you are a UK taxpayer we will be very grateful for your using Gift Aid so that we can recover tax on your donation. A Gift Aid form can be downloaded here.
