Princeton Friends of Opera presents its fourth annual garden party at the home of Sam Greco in West Windsor on Saturday, September 7, at 4 p.m. The program this year celebrates German and Italian arias sung by soprano Megan Pachecano. Refreshments include appetizers, beverages, Italian cheeses, desserts, and figs from the garden. The raindate is Sunday, September 8. Tickets are $50 and $75.
Pachecano, a Princeton resident, learned about the organization through her involvement with Opera Modo. They performed Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’amore” under music director Derrick Goff, who will also be the accompanist at the garden party. Greco hosted an evening at his house for the cast and some members of the Princeton Friends of Opera. “It is such a wonderful thing to have a local group working to promote and support opera in our area,” says Pachecano.
“Opera in our current pop culture tends to be viewed as a somewhat inaccessible art form, but I feel that couldn’t be further from the truth,” she says. “I sat at the back of the audience at one of our L’Elisir performances on a night when the other cast was singing, and I watched a small group of young New Jerseyans in front of me respond to the show. They commented to each other about things happening in the opera, reacting with surprise or laughter at the different turns of events, and when the protagonist and his unrequited love finally shared their first kiss, one of the guys in the group even threw his fist in the air and said, ‘YES!’”
“I later found out that this group of individuals were friends of someone performing that night and that it was the first opera they had ever attended,” says Pachecano. “It made me so excited to see how much they seemed to enjoy it, and I wondered if they ever would have seen an opera on their own if it weren’t for supporting their friend.”
Pachecano graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor of music in voice performance and received a master of music in classical voice from Manhattan School of Music. She has worked with Austin Lyric Opera and Opera New Jersey and will be performing in upcoming roles with Salt Marsh Opera and Caramoor Center for Music and Arts. Pachecano has been a concert soloist with Austin Symphony Orchestra, Astoria Symphony Orchestra, Somerset Valley Orchestra, and Round Rock Symphony Orchestra.
“As performers, it is up to us to do justice to the art — to work our craft so that the presentation is polished and beautiful, to engage the audience with our charisma or vulnerability, to thoughtfully interpret and present the material in a way that is relevant to our public, but these are things we can only do once people are in the door, filling the seats,” she says. “That is why groups like the Princeton Friends of Opera are so important. They work both to help young artists develop those necessary performance skills, and to expose our community to this wonderful art form.”
Greco, born in Italy, was raised in New York City by his parents, both Russian immigrants. His father served in the American Army during World War I and became an American citizen. “When you have poverty you strive to achieve,” he says. “I went from illiterate parents to a college degree.”
Greco worked his way through college. “The tuition was $800 a year and the GI bill only paid for the first two years,” he says. He graduated from MIT with a degree in chemical engineering in 1951. Greco worked for Exxon Mobil until 1995 and has 14 patents to his name.
“I was raised with wonderful music — only classical,” he says. “We were also the dance generation” Greco still enjoys the peabody and jitterbug.
Greco and his late wife, Jeanette Rankell, moved to West Windsor in 1971 and were one of the first families to move into the Princeton Ivy development (behind High School South).
Their four children, three daughters and one son, were raised in West Windsor. His son John graduated from Princeton High School and his daughters, Susie Dicker, Vicki Lipinsky, and Laura Milo, all graduated from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School. They and their children continue the musical legacy with music from flute, violin, and cello.
“At its most fundamental level, I consider opera to be a form of expression of the range of human emotion,” says Pachecano. “From passages of music that pull at your heart strings with their dissonance, to phrases that sound so much like the girlish laughter of young love that you can’t help but grin, much can be expressed in music. Throw in some passion, drama, and comedic genius, and it is quite the entertaining art form.”
Annual Garden Party, Princeton Friends of Opera, 18 Hathaway Drive, West Windsor. Saturday, September 7, 4 p.m. Benefit for opera and arts-related programs, scholarships for young singers, as well as opera training, development, and performances. Appetizers, Italian cheeses, wine, and figs. Raindate is Sunday, September 8. Register. $50 to $75. 609-799-2633. www.princetonfriendsofopera.org.
