Arizona Opera League tees off to raise funds

Join the Tucson Opera League for its first Charity Golf Tournament on Saturday, April 12, at Quail Creek Country Club Golf course at Quail Creek Resort Community, 1100 N. Eagle Hollow Road, Sahuarita.

Limited to 128 paid golfers, the entry fee is $90 per player including 18 holes of golf with a cart, a “goodie bag” full of surprises and a western barbecue lunch. Non-golfing guests may attend the luncheon for $15.

The tournament has a 7 a.m. check-in time with an 8 a.m. shotgun start.

Raffles, awards and lunch will be served at noon along with entertainment and raffle prizes and there will be a $10,000 prize for a hole-in-one.

All with an opera theme in mind, corporate sponsorships are also available at $1,000 for Aida, $750 for Carmen, $500 for Tosca, and $350 for La Traviata. Signage sponsorships are $125.

To register for the tournament or to become a sponsor, please contact tournament chairperson, Carolyn Cook at 625-3033 or e-mail Russ at rruscheri@aol.com. Payment can be made by check, Visa, or MasterCard.

For more information about the Arizona Opera League-Tucson, go to www.azopera.com.

Registration deadline is March 28.

All proceeds from this charity tournament will benefit Arizona Opera Education programs.

KNST 790 AM will broadcast tournament day from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and will feature comments from Arizona Opera President Cecile Follansbee and Laura Baldasano, the Opera League’s director of education.

“It has been consistently proven that music enhances children’s ability to learn, and this unique charity event supports the league’s belief that the future of the arts is stimulated in the minds of our children because of our programming,” Baldasano says. “The tournament is designed to raise funds to bring opera, theater, and music to 40,000 children in Southern Arizona schools.”

Baldasano reports that 54 schools were included in the Arizona Opera’s education outreach program last year adding that more than 2,000 students participated in “Opera in a Box.”

More than 900 students attended opera dress rehearsals and approximately 500 children were entertained in the “Seats for Students” opera program.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740