Leave a Legacy

Remember Opera Rara in your will to ensure the operatic legacy of the 19th and early 20th centuries stays alive

Opera Rara is a charity and relies on the passion and commitment of its donors, customers and audiences to ensure that we can bring back to life the neglected 19th and early 20th century operas through acclaimed recordings and performances.

Leaving a legacy is a wonderful way to continue your support for Opera Rara and enables you to extend support beyond your lifetime. By remembering Opera Rara in your will you can ensure that future generations will experience the joy of discovering the riches of this operatic work.

One person who realised the importance of our musical archelogy was Sir Peter Moores CBE, DL; Patron of Opera Rara between 1975 and 2013. He sadly passed away in 2016 but his passion and love for the company lives and remains true, as demonstrated in his message to others below:

‘I urge you all to follow my example and give to Opera Rara so that it can continue to research, restore, record and perform the lost operatic heritage of the 19th and early 20^th centuries. One very efficient way of doing this is via a Legacy.  It is very simple to include a legacy to Opera Rara in your will. You can make a gift of a specified sum of money or a gift of a proportion of your estate.  Another way is to make a gift of shares.  If you have already made your will but decide to include Opera Rara, you can simply add a codicil. And, remember that if you leave at least ten percent of your estate to a charitable cause in your will, your tax contribution will fall!

Supporting Opera Rara with a legacy means you can help them create a lasting legacy; whatever your own resources I do hope you will follow my example and help.”

Sir Peter Moores CBE, DL (1932 to 2016)

WHAT YOU CAN ENJOY NOW

Without the legacy from Sir Peter Moores and the generosity of donors, Opera Rara would not be here today. Over 60 full studio recordings of operas, such as Rossini’s epic Semiramide and the world-premiere of Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida, would not have happened. Since our foundation in 1970 we have created 43 new performing editions of neglected operatic masterpieces.  Following our championship of these works, many of them have since been performed in fully staged productions at some of the most prestigious opera houses in the world.  Thanks to Opera Rara’s ground-breaking work, scores of operas have found their way into the repertoire of opera companies around the world.

So if you pledge a legacy gift in your lifetime, to thank you we would be delighted to invite you to join the Sir Peter Moores Benefactors; an honorary group who collectively have committed to the future of this thrilling, rare art-form.  As part of this group you will enjoy an annual event with our Executive and Artistic team.

You can ask for your gift to be kept anonymous, otherwise all legacies pledges of over £500 are acknowledged on our website but we would be delighted to explore other ways your gift can be recognised.

Every:

• £1000 enables an Intensive period of rehearsal, coaching and mentoring between our conductor and a talented emerging young artist.
• £10,000 facilitates a concert performance of one of Opera Rara’s rediscovered works at one of London’s major performing venues
• £20,000 would bring a lost operatic gem back to life, through the ‘live operatic archaeology’ for which Opera Rara is admired.
• £50,000 enables Opera Rara to engage a cast of world-class singers to record a full-length Opera on the recording studio.
• £100,000 allows Opera Rara to engage a professional orchestra and chorus for one of our studio recordings
• £300,000 brings one of our projects fully to life, from the initial musicological research, planning, casting through to a full-studio recording, live concert performance and bringing the final recording to market in all formats for enjoyment by our audiences worldwide.

‘Legacy’ is at the heart of everything that Opera Rara does. Unlike most opera companies, our work to create a permanent record of an opera through a studio recording creates an inspirational legacy for future generations of audiences. Your own ‘legacy’ on any of these scales will help to deliver Opera Rara’s own ‘legacy’ of artistic excellence now and in perpetuity.

BENEFITS OF LEAVING A LEGACY

A legacy also benefits those you leave behind. In 2011 the Chancellor of the Exchequer launched Legacy10, an independent campaign to encourage people across the UK to pledge 10% of their taxable estate to the arts, culture and charity. For those who pledge 10% of their estate to charity in their wills. Inheritance tax will be cut from 40% to 36%.

MAKING OR CHANGING YOUR WILL

It is important that you talk to a solicitor if you haven’t drawn up a will but you will have to decide if you wish to leave either;

1. A residuary gift. This is the remainder of your estate, or a percentage of it, once family and friends have been provided.

OR

2. A pecuniary or cash gift. This is a specified amount of money.

If you already have a will, it might be easier to use:

1. A codicil form; which allows you to alter your current will. This form with the amendment should be kept together with your will but we advise that you ask your solicitor to check that it is valid.

Or

2. A Letter of wishes, which is a non legally binding intention of your wishes, before going through the process of changing your will.

If you do decide to leave Opera Rara a will you will need our charity name, address and registered charity no. Below is some useful wording.

“I leave all (or a percentage of*) the residue of my estate to the Opera Rara, Studio 11, Cloisters House, Battersea Park Road, SW8 4BG/ Charity Number 261403), and I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer or duly authorised officer shall be a valid and appropriate form of discharge to my executors.”

*Insert/delete as appropriate

Gifts can be directed to a specific recording project but unspecified bequests enable us to put funds where they are most needed.

We would be delighted to talk to you further about this method of giving. So please do contact us.  In the meantime, below are some more stories from Sir Peter Moores Benefactors.