Long Beach Opera Announces Marjorie Beale As President Of Their Board Of Directors

Long Beach Opera has announced the appointment of Marjorie Beale as their new President of the Board of Directors, effective June 28, 2023. This appointment marks the beginning of a new chapter in LBO's 44-year history as Beale sets the organization's sights forward toward a period of growth, community-building, and artistic excellence. Beale's appointment begins with a focus on working across the organization to build capacity and emphasis on strategy at a time when the company is preparing a season announcement and continues its commitments to its artistic residencies and programming of bold art-making initiatives. After being voted into the position unanimously by the full Board of Directors, Beale succeeds Dr. Robert N. Braun, whose tenure began in 2016. Braun saw the organization through major inflection points, including the commissioning and premiere of The Central Park Five which was subsequently awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the COVID-19 pandemic recovery, the appointment of James Darrah as Artistic Director & Chief Creative Officer, and most recently the successful world premiere of The Romance of the Rose earlier this year.
 
Marjorie Beale joined LBO's Board of Directors in December 2021 after previously serving on the LBO Board from 1997-2003. As an avid arts supporter who has been a part of LBO's storied history, Beale has now served on the Board during the tenures of Michael Milenski, Andreas Mitisek, and now the joint leadership of Jennifer Rivera, James Darrah, and Christopher Rountree. Beale's track record as a successful fundraiser will support LBO through the next period of growth and change as the company emerges from the pandemic with new leadership and an eye toward its 50th anniversary in 2029. This appointment also marks the first time in the company's history that the organization will be co-led by two women.
 
“Marjorie is a fantastic person to lead LBO into its next chapter. She fully understands the inner workings of non-profit management, which will be a critical skill at a time when all organizations are assessing their futures in this post-pandemic landscape. Further, she has such a natural affinity for and understanding of the nuances of artmaking and the plight of artists that she will assuredly lead the organization with empathy and grace. We are grateful to Dr. Robert Braun for his years serving as President and for successfully steering this organization through both triumphs and challenges, and we are excited to welcome Marjorie as the next steward of this culturally important company,” says Jennifer Rivera, General Director & Chief Executive Officer.
 
Beale shares, “I'm delighted to take up the role of Board President at this moment — Long Beach Opera is poised to make operatic history as we explore new venues, new performers, and new genres thanks to an exceptional partnership between our Artistic Director & CCO, James Darrah, and our Music Director, Christopher Rountree. I also look forward to collaborating with our General Director & CEO, Jennifer Rivera, to build on our recent successes and launch LBO into a period of sustained growth. Our Board of Directors is hard at work to strengthen LBO as a place where emerging talents can launch their careers, and where more established artists can experiment in a setting that prizes creative risk-taking. Where others see risk, we see opportunity — and we invite everyone to join us as we explore the myriad possibilities contained in the operatic form.”

BIOGRAPHY

Marjorie Beale is a fundraiser and nonprofit consultant who has worked with innovators in a variety of fields, from computer science and alternative energy to the performing arts and social services. She was educated at MIT, Harvard, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, and UC Berkeley, where she was awarded her doctoral degree in 1990. A native of Orange County, she arrived at UC Irvine in 1991, where she taught European intellectual history and critical theory. In the early 2000s, she transitioned to a career in fundraising for higher education, working with major national foundations and eventually leading UC Irvine's fundraising efforts for scientific research. After 22 years at UC Irvine, she briefly joined the campaign team at USC, moving to Caltech in 2015, where she led the principal giving program during their $2.5 billion BreakThrough campaign. More recently, she has worked as an independent consultant whose clients have included the University of Texas at Austin and at a variety of small and mid-sized nonprofit organizations throughout California. 
 
As a fan of all things avant-garde and provocative, Marjorie was part of the Long Beach Opera's Board of Directors in its early years under the direction of company founder Michael Milenski, and currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Ojai Music Festival. A long-time student of yoga and Vedic chant, she also enjoys reading contemporary fiction, gourmet cooking, wine, hiking, and international travel. She lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband Bill Meyerhoff and spends what spare time remains at the LA Phil, LA Opera, Wild Up, and the Monday Evening Concerts enjoying performances of contemporary music, opera, and jazz, as well as the classic symphonic repertoire.
 

ABOUT LONG BEACH OPERA

Established in 1979, Long Beach Opera (LBO) stands as the longest-running opera organization in the greater Los Angeles region. Having presented well over 100 productions in that time, LBO has carved out its space as a leader in constantly embracing the wide breadth of opera's history while innovating boldly and daringly toward its future. With repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to the commissioning of new contemporary works and world premieres, the company embraces the idea that no experience of opera should be standard or traditional. This commitment to the future of opera has earned critical acclaim, both locally and nationally, and also secured funding from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Long Beach, the Mellon Foundation, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and countless others. LBO's history demonstrates that its purpose is the advancement of opera and operatic repertoire as new experiences, embodied by stating that it creates “opera for a new era.”
 
LBOs highlights include a long list of premieres, monumental works, and a roster of both creative legends and up-and-coming talent which has resulted in accolades; including the 2019 commission and world premiere of Anthony Davis' The Central Park Five, which consequently won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize. Other world premieres have included Kate Soper's The Romance of the Rose, Stewart Copeland's The Invention of Morel, Tobin Stokes' Fallujah, and Stewart Wallace's Hopper's Wife. Also of note are many American premieres including works by Glass, Vivaldi, Mozart, Handel, Cherubini, Piazzolla, Szymanowski, and more. The company's fierce commitment to collaborations with composers, vocalists, instrumentalists, dancers, filmmakers, curators, conductors, designers, and community partners—as well as its commitment to the evolution of opera as an art form to be more equitable and accessible for all—has created a rich legacy at the company and provided a clear opportunity for growth in a new era of making work.
 
The work of LBO continues as it enters a period with new artistic and musical leadership, with rising star composers like Shelley Washington as Artist in Residence and a multi-year creative partnership with the legendary Martha Graham Dance Company. LBO continues to evolve into a home for the boldest artistic innovators in production, directorial work, and music with a bright future that is abundant with potent and unprecedented creative possibilities.