Tippett Home Benefit Features Stars of Longwood Opera; Perform Broadway Tunes and Light Opera

Five stars from the Longwood Opera perform Broadway tunes and light opera during a benefit for the 20th anniversary of the Stanley R. Tippett Hospice Home on Friday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. at the Needham Golf Club, 49 Green St.

VNA Care Network & Hospice, a nonprofit visiting nurse association, opened the Stanley R. Tippett Hospice Home in Needham to fill an unmet need in the community — a homelike place for terminally ill patients to receive hospice care when it is no longer possible or optimal to receive care in their own homes. Hospice addresses physical, emotional, social, practical and spiritual needs. The care gives comfort and support to patients and their loved ones, allows families and friends to make the most of their time together and promotes patients’ dignity.

Longwood Opera, Needham’s only opera company, was founded in 1986. Its mission is to give locally-based performers a chance to establish themselves as professional artists by providing them with opportunities to polish their performing skills in major roles before a live audience. By producing both master works and premier performances, Longwood Opera also seeks to foster an appreciation for opera in the Greater Boston area by offering high-quality, accessible and affordable operatic experiences to those who may not otherwise have access to the art form. Since its beginning, Longwood Opera has introduced more than 700 performers.

The 20th anniversary benefit for the Tippett Home kicks off with cocktails, heavy hors d’oeuvres and silent auction at 6 p.m. Longwood Opera’s Devin Dukes, James Lambert, Max McGrath, Scott Nicholas and Vanessa Schukis will perform at 7 p.m.

Devin Dukes attended the Eastman School of Music and received her degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. While living in New York City, Ms. Dukes became affiliated with the Amato Opera, performing many leading roles including Gretel in Hansel and Gretel and Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore. Most recently, Ms. Devin appeared in South Pacific with The Boothbay Playhouse as the eternally cockeyed optimist, Ensign Nellie Forbush.

James Lambert has appeared in opera, musical theatre and concerts throughout the United States. Recent operatic performances include the roles of Scarpia in Tosca, Enrico in Lucia Di Lammermoor, Germont in La Traviata, Dapertutto and Lindorf in Les Contes d’Hoffman and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Mr. Lambert studied music at the University of Colorado and the Aspen Opera Center.

Max McGrath is a New England native from Amherst, NH. He received training at the New England Conservatory in Boston under renowned voice teacher Patricia Misslin. He was recently heard in the Actorsingers (Nashua) production of Les Miserables as Jean Valjean, a role that earned him the title of Best Actor in a Community Musical at the 12th annual NH Theater awards.

With a repertoire spanning classical and musical theater, pianist Scott Nicholas has appeared throughout the U.S. and internationally in solo and chamber performances. He has served as pianist for the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, The Three Irish Tenors, the Borromeo String Quartet, the U.S. Air Force Band of Liberty’s Clarinet Quartet, Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera’s outreach programs, the Concord Women’s Chorus, the Boston Music Theatre Project and the Leontyne Price Vocal Arts Competition,among others.

Vanessa Schukis has sung a wide variety of operatic, oratorio and Broadway repertoire to critical acclaim and has performed roles with the Boston National Company of Nunsense, Boston Lyric Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Providence, New England Light Opera, Intermezzo Chamber Opera, Raylynmoor Opera, Wheelock Family Theater, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, New Opera and Musical Theater Initiative, Opera New England, Longwood Opera, Northeastern Repertory Theater, Boston Publick Theater, the StonehamTheater, Fine Arts Chorale in Weymouth and Newton Symphony.

Tickets for VNA Care Network & Hospice’s 20th anniversary benefit for the Stanley R. Tippett Home are $60 per person and may be purchased here or by calling VNA Care Network & Hospice at 888-663-3688, ext. 1361. Updates about the event will be posted to Facebook.

Article submitted by VNA Care Network