Affordable Opera Is Music to Ears of This L.A. Fan

What she’ll do for love. Los Angeles resident Aida Monte, a lover of opera, was dismayed at the lack of places in Los Angeles where people could go to hear “The Magic Flute” or “The Barber of Seville.” But rather than despair, she became part of the solution.

She founded her own opera. And as a result, she was recently honored by the Julliard School of Music with a plaque for outstanding service in bringing opera/operetta to the community at affordable prices.

Monte’s interest in music began at the age of 6 when she began studying violin in her native Italy. She moved to the United States as a teen-ager and continued her violin studies at Julliard. After graduation, she toured with numerous orchestras and symphonies all over the world.

But Monte always had a strong desire to sing, she said, and she felt the call of the opera. So she enrolled in voice classes and began to study.

But she discovered that there were not many places where she and others could perform. “I wanted to do it for love, but I found there was nowhere to sing in Los Angeles,” she said. So she set out to solve the problem.

With the financial help of her husband, Monte rented the Wilshire Ebell Theater in 1975 to produce her own opera. “I didn’t know a thing (about directing an opera), but it didn’t discourage me,” she said. “I did lose my shirt the first year but the next year, just my underwear.”

For the past 16 years, Monte’s labor of love, the Hollywood Opera Ensemble, has been producing and financing operas on the Westside. “I just do what I love to do,” she said. “The wonderful reward is from the public, I’d rather have people than money.”

Currently, she is directing “The Merry Widow” at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. A final performance will be held today at 2 p.m. For information and tickets, call (213) 851-0271. Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 senior citizens and students.

Dennis Fox has been named principal of Culver City Middle School.

Fox began his teaching career at El Rincon School in 1969 before going on to counsel and teach at Culver junior and high schools. He later served as an assistant principal of the Middle School before returning to El Rincon as principal in 1988.

He holds degrees in political science, professional and educational psychology.