To the Editor:

Your reviewer, Nancy Plum, is to be commended for her laudatory comments about Mozart’s The Magic Flute, as presented by Boheme Opera N.J. on April 22. There is one area, however, that is misleading in her review, and as the first president of the board of directors and now a member of the board of trustees of the company, I feel it is important to correct this misunderstanding.

Ms. Plum mentions that the company has performed in many “school auditoriums,” but now is fully ensconced in Kendall Hall Theater on the campus of The College of New Jersey. All true, but the comment about where it has performed previously makes it sound as if Boheme has not quite been on a professional level, only now performing in a fully regarded theater.

Quite the contrary. Boheme Opera N.J. performed in Trenton at the War Memorial Theater, now called Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, for over 13 years, hardly a ‘school auditorium.’ During the five years when the theater was being remodeled, the company did perform at local auditoriums, but still managed to keep up the quality of its performances and its loyal audience. Boheme only left the Patriots Theater at the end of the 2010 season when the venue became financially out of the company’s reach.

Your reviewer also refers to the “professional opportunities” Boheme offers to national and local performers. Indeed, Boheme is a company with great impact on emerging singers; world-class, and well-known artists in debut roles; and talented stage directors and designers. Throughout its history, Boheme Opera N.J. has collaborated with many New York management agencies that respect its reputation for integrity and casting. Not the least of its accomplishments is the major impact it has exhibited in public education and community outreach, building high-end careers and offering countless opportunities to teens and college singers with a passion for opera theater.

Boheme Opera N.J. looks forward to continuing to bring first class opera to the region for many years to come.

Francine Engler
Tuscany Drive, West Windsor