Sacramento Opera Staff


	Sacramento Opera Staff Joey Castaneda, Community Engagement Coordinator Joey first joined Sacramento Opera as an intern at the end of his senior year in 2006. His principle duties were marketing and development assisting, until his recent appointment as Community Engagement Coordinator. Joey received his two bachelor’s degrees in Music (emphasis in flute performance) and Communication from the University of California, Davis. Though he performed strictly instrumental music, his interest in opera came when he studied the opera Lucia di Lamermoor, by Donizetti, in a music history course. Knowing that musical performance would not be the route chosen, the door to arts administration opened. Joey is excited to be a part of a spectacular art form, and enjoys sharing his love of opera with his friends, other young professionals, and children. Growing up in a low income community and school district, he feels his exposure to music allowed him to grow imaginatively and artistically, as well as fueled his desire to pursue a college education. Joey still resides in Davis, and when not attending arts functions, he likes to go dancing, watch classic films, and dabble with Bach Sonatas on his flute. His favorite opera is Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and, although not a vocalist, if he could ever sing one role, it would be Strauss’ Salome. jcastaneda@sacopera.org Melissa Cirone, Director of Development Melissa has 20 years of professional experience in development, strategic planning, and communications for arts organizations. For eight years she served as Director of Communications and Development at Williams College Museum of Art, where she designed and implemented the museum's annual communication and fundraising plans. While at Williams, she secured foundation funding for major traveling exhibitions and education programs. Prior to that, she held the position of Assistant to the Director for Marketing and Development at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center, directing a two-year capital campaign for building an expanded conservation and educational center. Melissa also served as Executive Director of Small Press Distribution, one of the nation's largest nonprofit literary organizations, located in Berkeley, California. Melissa has served as development and marketing consultant to a number of performing arts companies, museums and visual arts centers in California and Massachusetts. She is currently a volunteer on the planning committee of the Sacramento French Film Festival. Melissa received her BA in English and Art History from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass. mcirone@sacopera.org Beverly Collard, Subscription Sales Associate Beverly Collard assists with bookkeeping, database management, and subscription sales. Ms. Collard has been a generous patron and a volunteer for Sacramento Opera for many years. bcollard@sacopera.org. Rod Gideons, Executive Director Mr. Gideons comes to us from Tacoma Opera, Washington where he was Executive Director. At Tacoma Opera he helped to increase individual donations impressively as well as government and foundation grants. He implemented a Young Artists program and expanded education programs to include 33 touring performances. He also started an extensive community lecture series in local libraries which made opera more accessible to many people throughout the Tacoma area. For 14 years prior to joining Tacoma Opera in 1999, Mr. Gideons was with the Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts (formerly Arkansas Opera Theatre) in Little Rock, Arkansas. He served there as Associate Artistic Director, Principal Grant-writer and Director of Education and Outreach. At various times he also acted as Production Manager and Tour Road Manager, giving him an unusual depth of experience. His performance career included extensive work in both theater and opera. Prior to entering arts management full-time, Rod worked with InterFirst Bank Corporation of Dallas, Texas. He attended North Texas State University in Denton, Texas, majoring in theater and vocal performance. rgideons@sacopera.org Jennifer Lin, Director of Marketing & Audience Development Jennifer is responsible for marketing, public relations, and audience development activities. She previously held curatorial, development, artist residency, editorial and administrative positions at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS), the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While working in Washington, DC, Jennifer managed an emerging artists piano series at the Kennedy Center, assisted with many artist residencies such as Yo-Yo Ma and Silk Road Project, helped with the programming and production of nearly 80 classical, jazz, and international music and dance performances a year throughout the DC region, organized arts administration seminars in Philadelphia, La Jolla, and DC, and coordinated grant giving programs for individuals and arts organizations. Jennifer has written and edited for several publications including WPAS’ Insights, exhibition catalogues on artists Donald Lipski, Jana Sterbak, and Mariko Mori, and program notes at the Kennedy Center. Jennifer received her BA in English and Music: Piano Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MA in Arts Management from the American University in Washington, DC. She currently studies ballet at the Deane Dance Center, the Sacramento Ballet, and The Ballet Studio in Sacramento. jlin@sacopera.org Timm Rolek, Artistic Director Timm Rolek is Artistic Director & Conductor of Sacramento Opera, and Artistic Director of Lake Tahoe Music Festival. He made his debut with the Nevada Opera in May 1999 conducting Faust. Rolek began his conducting career at the age of 22 conducting the American premier of Ernst Krenek's Das Geheime Koenigreich while still a music composition student at the University of Minnesota. After further study with Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Neville Marriner, Klaus Tennstedt, and James Levine, he joined the conducting staff of the Metropolitan Opera. After many years of guest conducting, he held the position of Music Director of the Heartland Symphony (MN) from 1993-1998, for whom he composed a work to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Rolek has conducted opera productions with many American companies, including the Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Skylight Opera Theatre, Chatauqua Opera, and Opera Delaware in repertoire ranging from Johann Strauss to Puccini, Sondheim to Musgrave. His symphonic guest conducting includes the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Waterloo-Cedar Falls and Glacier Symphonies, and his performances have earned reviews such as "Music under the baton of Timm Rolek was beautifully, sensibly balanced...", "A knockout opening-night performance", "...led his players through a highly polished reading." Rolek's recordings include Jerre Tanner's The Kona Coffee Cantata and Joseph Fennimore's Eventide (both on the Albany/Troy label), which was recorded following it's successful Ravinia Festival debut under Rolek's direction. In addition to his duties on the podium, Maestro Rolek is very active with other endeavors. Rolek organized a national relief effort on behalf of the musicians in his Grand Forks Symphony who suffered losses in the flood of 1997. Rolek has participated in the Pierre Boulez/IRCAM composers and conductors workshop at Carnegie Hall, and has also served on a Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest grant panel for Opera America. He has also worked in radio and television, appearing as an arts commentator on the two-time Emmy Award-winning program Arts on 2, produced by Twin Cities Public Television KTCA-2, and has produced a 9-part series for Northern Lights Public Radio called Music In Our Century. An avid sailor, Rolek went into the water in August 2001 for the annual "Swim With the Sharks" event, swimming the mile-and-a-half from Alcatraz Island to the San Francisco Aquatic Park in just under an hour. trolek@sacopera.org Jessica Schultze, Assistant to the Artistic Director Jessica Schultze is completing her BA in Music Management at Sacramento State where she is also involved with the Opera Theater program. Having been around musical performance all her life, she has recently discovered a passion for the backstage processes of a production. Opera is also a new world to her. Before transferring to CSUS, Jessica had been a choral and jazz performer at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo and American River College. jschultze@sacopera.org Gene Sirois, Subscription Manager Coming Soon