When Leah Solat was volunteering at Historic London Town & Gardens, the organization briefly closed in order to build a new education center. Fortunately for Solat, an opportunity to volunteer with Annapolis Opera presented itself, so she jumped at the chance to help out.
“They had a fall [event], saying, ‘If you’d like to volunteer with Annapolis Opera, come,’” Solat explains. “I went and they asked if I would organize providing rehearsal refreshments. From that, you know how it goes: You volunteer, and then you volunteer, then you volunteer. I ended up running the first gala that they had in a while. I joined the board as the secretary.”
Solat, who had a 30-year career with IBM, has been volunteering with Annapolis Opera since 2003. She’s held many titles with the organization, including co-chair of the volunteer committee, chair of the auditions committee, and chair of the Vocal Competition committee. Solat was Annapolis Opera’s board secretary from 2003 to 2007. She became board president during the 2007–2008 season, and then again in 2009 through 2012. For the past nine years, Solat has ran Annapolis Opera’s Vocal Competition, which is now in its 32nd year.
“[Leah] has had a major impact on the Annapolis Opera in many ways, but her dedication and purpose of mind to bring the best that the opera has to offer to the community has never changed,” Annapolis Opera General Director Kathy Swekel says. “From a volunteer helping singers find a warm-up room, to leading the organization to a new professional level, to guiding the company as president, she has enabled the company to achieve new heights.”
We recently caught up with Solat to discuss her philanthropic endeavors and roles with Annapolis Opera.
What do you enjoy most about volunteering with Annapolis Opera?The feeling that you’re making a contribution to something that’s valuable to the community and something that you love. Being involved enough with the singers to see them progress and to see that you had an impact in helping them. And then the people that you work with. You have a common sense of purpose.
I’m pleased to be able to use my professional skills—management and organization—to contribute to an art form I love by helping bring it to my community, as well as experiencing the joy of feeling part of the careers of the fine young singers who perform with us.
When you were president of the board, you led Annapolis Opera through a difficult financial and structural time. Can you talk a little bit about that? Well, first of all, I’m an Excel spreadsheet freak. I love it. If there’s any way I can put stuff on an Excel spreadsheet, I will. We have a lot of files—that I’m amazed to find still—that I created just because it was a way of managing things, like keeping track of our income donations, keeping track of our donations and our subscribers, that kind of thing. Just basic things that made it easier to manage the company. I don’t sing, they don’t want me to sing [laughs]. So, it’s my project management and administrative skills.
What is the Vocal Competition? How did you get involved with that and what do you love about it?It’s a regional competition [for opera professionals in the Mid-Atlantic area]. It starts with online applications, and applicants send us electronic examples of their work. Three judges sit and listen to the electronic submissions. They don’t know the name of the entrants; they don’t know what they look like—all they do is listen. From that, they select 30 semi-finalists and they perform for a different panel of three judges. From those 30, eight are selected to come the next day for finals and they are a judged by yet another panel of judges.
When I was president, somebody else was running [the competition] but then that person [stepped down]. So, I ended up doing almost all the administrative work that year, and then just decided if I’m going to do this, I might as well run it. I was transitioning out of the presidency then, anyway. It’s just a rewarding thing to do. You’re helping singers in lots of different ways. They get the experience of coming and singing even if they don’t get any further than the semi-finals, which is good experience for them.
What do you hope Annapolis Opera can accomplish in the future?Well, first, that we can successfully get through this transition [the retirement of Artistic Director and Conductor Ronald J. Gretz], because it’s a big one. We’ve been doing a lot of things the same way for 37 years. I would like to see Annapolis Opera recognized more widely. I mean, to be a regional opera company that is financially solvent that does the things we do is an incredible accomplishment.
For more information on Annapolis Opera, visit annapolisopera.org
