Verismo Opera Names Dr. James Garvin, Jr. President & Ria G. Hawks to Board of Trustees

            Dr. James Garvin, Jr., M.D., Ph.D. and Ms. Ria G. Hawks, MS, CNS, CPN of Englewood, New Jersey have been elected to the Fort Lee-based New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera’s (Verismo Opera) board of trustees.  Dr. Garvin assumed the position of president and Ms. Hawks was named a trustee.  Verismo Opera, a community non-profit organization, is the only professional, grand opera company based in North Jersey.

            Dr. Garvin is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Director of the Alfano Family Foundation Program in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at New York Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center, as well as Attending Physician in Pediatric Oncology in the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York Presbyterian.  Ms. Hawks is the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Coordinator at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York Presbyterian.    

              Dr. Garvin and Ms. Hawks have been involved with Verismo Opera for four years in various capacities.  In April, Verismo Opera’s Artistic Director/Metropolitan Opera star Lucine Amara presented them with the organization’s Volunteer of the Year awards.  They were recognized for their service on the organization’s advisory board and volunteer contributions.

              Ms. Hawks has served as a costumer in the company’s costume department and appeared as a supernumerary in various roles, including a mother superior in Il Trovatore and a cigarette vendor in Carmen.  Dr. Garvin has appeared as a supernumerary in several productions and assumed the roles of a cardinal, a scribe, and a member of the firing squad in the company’s production of Tosca and a soldier in Aida.

            For more information about the New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera, visit its web site, www.njavo.org, follow the company on Facebook at http://bit.ly/9JXTP8, or call (201) 886-0561.