Twin Cities Opera Guild has excelled at introducing students to opera and quality music since 1952. We are dedicated to cultivating music education and outreach, both in the schools and for the general public. As an all-volunteer non-profit organization, we rely on our members and friends to help us fund our grants for music education.
TCOG is Hiring for the First Time
After 74 years of solely volunteer, unpaid support, TCOG seeks a paid, part-time employee program administrator to assist in administering TCOG's activities, working primarily remotely and on site at meetings and events. TCOG anticipates that the program administrator will work a variable schedule of approximately 10 hours per week. The full position description is here. If you have questions about the position, please contact Colleen Nelson at president@twincitiesoperaguild.org or (651) 249-4083. If you are interested in the position, please send your resume to Colleen Nelson at the same email address.
From TCOG’s President
As Always, Thank You. So many good things have happened in TCOG world the past several
months. We held our February “Members & Friends” lunch, our March Cocktail Collaboration,
our long-standing Spring Benefit: A Musical Bouquet in May, and our July “Party in Pink,” in
addition to our regular Executive Committee and Board meetings, our annual member meeting
in June, and the release of two newsletter issues. All require significant involvement from the
Executive Committee and the Board and I sincerely thank everyone who contributed to the
effort. I also sincerely thank everyone, members and nonmembers alike, who attended these
events and made them the fun, festive and welcoming events that continue to spread the word
about TCOG. Without all of you, we would go nowhere fast.
Full Speed Ahead. As we head into late summer and fall, we have so much more to look
forward to. On the business end, our fall and winter/spring grant application deadlines are close
at hand. With the fall projects deadline on August 31 and the winter/spring projects deadline on
October 31. If your organization or school is interested in applying for a grant, please refer to
our grant program page.
On the fun side, our third Cocktail Collaboration takes place on September 11 at the Luminary
Arts Center. We are having so much fun with these early evening collaborations with our grant
recipients at the Luminary. This is our second with the MN Opera Resident Artists and we look
forward to sharing the excitement of the new class for 2026-2027. As with all of our events, we
hold them to share the talents of our grant recipients and other young performers, reward our
members for their loyalty, attract new TCOG members, and develop continuing and future
audiences for the opera industry.
And, to promote and support our mission, plans for our signature fall fundraiser, our Candlelight
Dinner on October 17 at the always elegant Town & Country Club are well underway with an
especially talented team of performers.
We hope you will join us as we continue celebrating our 74-year history of supporting music
education and performance experience for the young. We would be thrilled to see you in this
memorable year.
Please Consider Joining our Mailing List. We invite you to subscribe to our mailings by
sending an email to info@twincitiesoperaguild.org, as we continue to transition to email delivery
of newsletters, invitations, and announcements, in our effort to more efficiently and cost-
effectively deliver them. We look forward to sharing our news and information more regularly
with you.
Cheers to the rest of this active year. With warm regards from Colleen Nelson
A national pioneer in opera education for children
How we make it happen
Our grants fund:
- Delightful musical productions in-school, staged and performed by students -- in both the cast and orchestra
- Interactive in-school student programs conducted by professional singers and musicians
- After-school music programs for children, including student choirs
- Special student matinees at operas produced by the Minnesota Opera
- Summer music programs for children
Coming events
COCKTAIL COLLABORATION |
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CANDLELIGHT DINNER |
Mark your calendar |
Impact
(over the past 5 years)
In the past five years our organization:
- Served a total of 96,890 children
- Served children from ages three through college
- Granted funds to an average of 25 organizations and schools each year
- Gave grants totaling $384,970
Grants that enrich our youth
School children are the principal beneficiaries of our funds. During the last past five years, we have funded programs bringing music education to more than 96,890 children, both in the seven-county metropolitan area and throughout the state of Minnesota, western Wisconsin and eastern North Dakota.
Twice each year (Fall and Winter), we review applications for new education grants.