“DOES PITTSBURGH NEED ANOTHER OPERA COMPANY?”

Absolutely. Undercroft Opera will provide audiences in Pittsburgh with an entire new spectrum of entertainment options, offering professionally executed performances from outstanding, classically trained local performers. It will also facilitate "on the job" training opportunities for vocal students and instrumentalists who are attending Pittsburgh's finest conservatories.

Last but certainly not least, it will create much needed performance opportunities for artists who make their home in this area. Sometimes local operatic talent is underutilized in larger cities, where many classical musicians are forced to perform in the chorus, as a “second-string” cast, in small, insignificant roles, or not at all.

Undercroft Opera will provide these singers and instrumentalists with the ultimate experience of performing traditional operas in their hometown, and provide Pittsburgh audiences with the pleasure of attending these performances.

The founding director of Undercroft Opera is Mary Beth Sederburg. A former apprentice with the Pittsburgh Opera, she is also a graduate of the Opera program at Carnegie Mellon University, and performer with many organizations around town, including the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Savoyards. Mary Beth has also sung with After Dinner Opera, Opera North, the Opera Theater of Lucca, the Erie Opera Theater, and the American Singers Opera Project.

Ms. Sederburg has been actively producing operas, concerts, and musicals in this area and in her hometown of Erie, PA for fifteen years. Works she has produced include The Tales of Hoffman, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Beggar's Opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Norma, The True Story of Cinderella, The Medium, and A Little Nightmare Music.

Mary Beth has been a church musician all her life and a professional educator on every level from elementary to college and beyond. She maintains a private voice studio and has worked as a collaborative pianist/vocal coach. Roles Ms. Sederburg has sung with various companies include the title role in Carmen, Dorabella in Così Fan Tutte, Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, the title role in The Medium, and Adalgisa in Norma.