RVC Residents Marty And Sue Bevilacqua Support Long Island Opera, Madison Theatre

Rockville Center residents Marty and Sue Bevilacqua recently opened their home to close to 100 guests for an intimate performance by Long Island Opera. The "Cocktails and Arias: For the Love of Opera" event introduced community members to Long Island's oldest opera company and provided a preview into the company's debut performance of Rigoletto at the Madison Theatre at Molloy College on Oct. 6.

"For the Love of Opera" guests enjoyed an intimate performance of famous arias and duets performed by professional opera singers.

Bevilacqua experienced his first opera as a teenager when the uncle of a close friend took him to the Boston Lyric Opera Co. Ironically, that opera was Rigoletto. "The performance made quite an impact and left me with an understanding that there was something much more out there then the streets of Brooklyn, where I grew up," he said.

Over the years, Bevilacqua has been to many performances, even taking his wife Sue to see Die Fledermaus on their first date. An avid support of Long Island Opera, he is eagerly anticipating the upcoming performance at Madison Theatre. He urges those who may be on the fence about attending the opera should give it a chance.

"Opera is a beautiful art form that combines the richest vocal abilities, the most intimate depictions of human drama and magical orchestral music that stimulates imaginations and awaken passions," he said. "If you think you would like to give opera a try this production of Rigoletto will be the right one to start with. An intense story about love, lust, revenge, and sacrifice is weaved together by powerful, familiar music and then ignited by truly talented artists dedicated to making a lasting impact on Long Islanders."

For Bevilacqua, support of Long Island Opera stems even deeper than his love for the art. As owner of Oceanville Mason Supply, Bevilacqua played a prominent role in the construction of the Madison Theatre, donating the bricks to build the Public Square building, which houses the state-of-the-art playhouse on Molloy College's Rockville Centre.

"The Madison has superb acoustics and clear sightlines from every seat.  It is an intimate space of nearly 600 seats so all will feel a connection to the performers," said Bevilacqua.

With the theater's mission to provide a versatile, first-class facility that will offer a diverse range of world-class entertainment for the South Shore and greater Long Island region, Bevilacqua is also working to see Long Island Opera establish its home at the Madison. "Doing so, would enable the opera company the opportunity to offer operatic experiences to Long Island communities as well as incorporate a program for children that would create future opera lovers," he said.

Long Island Opera was established over 50 years ago as an adult education course offered in Floral Park by Nino Luciano, a leading tenor of New York City Opera and today the non-profit organization remains the oldest opera company in existence on Long Island. In 2009, Joy Berta, opera singer herself, came on board as executive director with the goal of bringing captivating, high-quality, fully-staged operas back to Long Island.

Last month, the opera company presented a stellar performance of George Bizet's Carmen at Guild Hall in East Hampton and, the Oct. 6 performance of Rigoletto will not only be Long Island Opera's debut at Madison Theatre but also its first full-staged with orchestra performance in over a decade.

"This production of Rigoletto will be the 'litmus test' of Nassau County's desire to experience opera," assured Bevilacqua.

The Madison Theatre at Molloy College is located 1000 Hempstead Avenue in Rockville Centre. For more information or to purchase tickets to Long Island Opera's Oct. 6 production of Rigoletto, visit www.MadisonTheatreNY.org or call the box office at 516-678-5000. Information on Long Island Opera is available at www.LongIslandOpera.org or by calling 631-772-9546.