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Helping to ensure the future of UCSC Opera

Joan Cook is an unabashed music lover, and opera is her special passion. She was a founding member of UCSC’s new Opera Circle volunteer support group, and this year she also became the opera program’s first-ever production sponsor with a gift to the Spring Opera’s production of The Magic Flute. Cook has contributed generously to the Spring Opera over the years, and has also included UCSC’s opera program in her will to ensure that future audiences can enjoy these outstanding productions.

Joan Cook

“The UCSC opera program is so important,” says Cook. “We have cut music and art out of our lives because of budget cuts and a focus on other disciplines. We need to have cultural opportunities at the high school level and beyond.”

For Cook, who lives in the Dominican Oaks retirement community, “and beyond” also means sharing her love of music with her neighbors. Each year, she brings opera students to Dominican Oaks for mini-concerts. “Last time they were here,” she said, “they sang arias from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Everyone had such a great time — it really brightened their day!”

Please contact Matt Henry at [email protected] to learn more about the UCSC Opera program or to make a gift for this spring’s production of Menotti’s The Consul.