Since 2005, Opera Grand Rapids has hosted a consortium of colleges and universities. Students who attend schools in the OGR Collegiate Consortium benefit from free application to the VanderLaan Prize, access to master classes and student recitals, and tickets to Opera Grand Rapids productions, among other benefits.
Schools derive benefit from Consortium membership by pooling funds with other area colleges and universities to facilitate group educational events at Opera Grand Rapids. Students are able to gain professional exposure and build community with their peers in the region at dozens of annual Consortium events.
Consortium schools must provide OGR with both a faculty point person or persons and a list of names and email addresses of all students in the voice area.
Contact
William Bokhout
wbokhout@operagr.org
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
Level 1
Membership Price: $1,000
Market Value: $4,000
- Free Application to the VanderLaan Prize
- Admission to VanderLaan Prize lectures
- 20 free student tickets VanderLaan Prize Concert
- Participation in a Masterclass with OGR artist
- Access to all rehearsals
- Participation in two student recitals
- OGR Chorus auditions on your campus
- 20 free tickets to H.M.S. Pinafore and Madama Butterfly
- School Recognition in all opera programs
Level 2
Membership Price: $2,500
Market Value: $7,000
- Includes all of Level 1 benefits
- 20 free tickets to all contemporary and Explore Opera events
- 2 tickets to Night with the Opera, Opera Gala
- Masterclass with an OGR artist on your campus
2025/26 CALENDAR
September 19 –
October 8, 2025
H.M.S. Pinafore Rehearsals
Betty Van Andel Opera Center and Forest Hills Fine Arts Center
Students and professors may coordinate with OGR to observeany facet of the rehearsal process, from the first music rehearsal to the final dress rehearsal.
October 10, 2025 7:30 PM
OR October 11, 2025 7:30 PM
H.M.S. Pinafore Performance
Forest Hills Fine Arts Center
Each school receives up to 20 free student tickets to attend either performance.
October 20, 2025
7:30 PM
Student Recital: German Lieder
Betty Van Andel Opera Center
Consortium students perform for each other a recital of German Lieder. A light reception follows.
November
13, 2025
Chorus Concert
Betty Van Andel Opera Center
We are pleased to be able to spotlight our wonderful chorus at this special concert. As Michigan’s longest-running professional chorus, OGR’s Chorus empowers working artists by providing one of the only paid, professional, season-long, selective vocal music employment opportunities in the performing arts in the Grand Rapids area.
Each Level 2 school receives up to 20 free student tickets.
January 30 –
February 18, 2026
Stuck Elevator Rehearsals
Betty Van Andel Opera Center
Students and professors may coordinate with OGR to observe any facet of the rehearsal process, from the first music rehearsal to the final dress rehearsal.
February 20, 2026 7:30 PM
OR February 21, 2026 7:30 PM
Stuck Elevator Performance
Betty Van Andel Opera Center
Opera Grand Rapids proudly presents the Michigan premiere of Stuck Elevator, a ground breaking chamber opera by composer Byron Au Yong and librettist Aaron Jafferis. Inspired by the true story of an undocumented Chinese immigrant trapped in a Bronx elevator for 81 hours, this genre-defying work fuses opera, hip-hop, and spoken word to illuminate the unseen struggles of immigrant life in urban America. This landmark production features an all native Chinese-speaking cast and the first all-Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) creative team to stage the opera, under the visionary direction of Mo Zhou, marking a significant milestone in the work’s performance history.
Each Level 2 school receives up to 20 free student tickets to attend either performance.
March 12, 2026
7:30 PM
Opera is Lit
Venue TBA
…literature, that is!
Musicologist Camellia Adams curates an event that aims to explore the connection between music and text.
Each Level 2 school receives up to 20 free student tickets to attend either performance.
March 17, 2025
7:30 PM
Student Recital: Music Theater — The Best of Broadway
Betty Van Andel Opera Center
Participating students present pieces that Bring the best of the music theater stages both class and contemporary. A light reception will follow.
March 28, 2026
2:00 PM
VanderLaan Prize Lectures
Betty Van Andel Opera Center
The three adjudicators of the VanderLaan Prize each give short, interactive lectures on the opera industry today. Previous lecturers have included a GRAMMY winner, artists featured in Pulitzer Prize-winning works, and a MacArthur Fellow.
March 28, 2026
7:00PM
VanderLaan Prize Concert
Betty Van Andel Opera Center
The top ten students from around the nation compete for one of the largest purses available for undergraduates.
Each school receives up to 20 free student tickets.
April 24,
2026
Night With The Opera
Meijer Gardens
Opera Grand Rapids will at Meijer Gardens for an amazing evening of opera, philanthropy and fun. Stay tuned throughout the season for event details and artist announcements.
Each Level 2 school receives 2 tickets.
May 15 & 16, 2026
7:00PM
Madama Butterfly Performance
DeVos Performance Hall
In post-WWII Nagasaki, Japan, the opera of Cio-Cio-San, a young Japanese woman who marries American naval officer B.F. Pinkerton, believing it to be a lasting union. When Pinkerton returns later with his American wife to claim the son he never knew he had, Cio-Cio-San is forced to confront the devastating truth. With Puccini’s lush, heart-wrenching score, Madama Butterfly remains one of opera’s most emotionally powerful and enduring works.
Each school receives up to 20 free student tickets.
MEMBER SCHOOLS
