Our Mission
Raison d’Etre Opera (RDO) began as a reaction to diminished opportunities available to singers aged 55+. Our two founders strongly believed that the talent and experience of older singers should be shared with audiences—so that we could not only be performing more ourselves, but also challenge and enlighten public perception of older people through those performances.
We envision a future where an individual’s perceived abilities are not defined by their age.
Our first full season attracted many more singers to audition for the following season, and proved that our vision is warmly supported by audiences of all ages. In just a few years we have grown into a thriving organization with exciting new operatic works being commissioned and more and more outreach.
Scene from "The Village Singer," April 2024
The Founding of Raison d'Etre
Founder Debra Gilroy envisioned an opera company where singers over the age of 55 are given the opportunity to perform; a company where age has no limit. Raison d’Être Opéra (RDO) formally became a non-profit organization in 2019. After an interruption due to COVID, the inaugural concert occurred in the fall of 2023, followed by a reading of "The Village Singer "by Stephen Paulus, various fundraising events, the first annual "That’s Amore" concert in February, and finally, our first fully staged opera, "The Village Singer," in April 2024.
The rest is history. We have hosted fundraising events with legendary mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, presented programs to retirement and nursing facilities through a generous Mission Grant from the Deaconess Community of the ELCA, begun a series of yearly Veteran’s Day concerts, and more.
Most importantly, we've presented fully-staged performances of "The Mother of Us All" (composed by Virgil Thomson to a libretto by Gertrude Stein), the newly-commissioned "All In Time" (composed by Paul John Rudoi), and are working on additional opera performances. The vision has become reality!
Scene from "All In Time" from January 2026