The Central Florida Lyric Opera and St Timothy's

The first production we saw when we were in the process of moving to The Villages was put on at the church we subsequently joined - St Timothy's Catholic Community. The music director of this church, Bill Doherty, is also the General Director of the Central Florida Lyric Opera Inc.  Several times a year he brings some of the opera singers/students from the Lyric Opera to perform in concerts at St Timothy's as well as some of the other venues around The Villages. Over the past year we attended 3 of these concerts. The first was a Christmas special last December. We also attended a Broadway Hits concert over the winter and a Patriotic music concert for the 4th of July. There was a 4th concert featuring an opera singer from Italy, but we were unable to get to that one. They are putting on the Christmas music concert again on December 11th, but we have other plans and won't make it this year. There is just so much to do in this area that we constantly find ourselves having to pick and choose between all the great options.

The Lyric Opera performers are excellent and we are really fortunate to have the opportunity to hear them perform within 5 minutes of our house. These concerts also raise money for the church, and other good causes when the performances are scheduled for other area venues. The sound system in the church is reasonably good, but at mass this morning, the pastor announced that the church is getting a new sound system sometime between now and Christmas. We are looking forward to more concerts next year with this enhancement.

Mr Doherty also directs the church choir and just returned from a trip with them to Italy, where they visited several religious sites and performed at a church in Rome. The choir is fairly large. This isn't too surprising considering the size of the parish, but what was surprising is the fact that it also includes a handbell choir. I have never attended a church that had a choir like this. It was a wonderful surprise. St. Timothy's is another one of the many wonders we have found here in The Villages. There are enough activities sponsored by the church to keep a person busy, even if they didn't look at the 60 pages of activities published every Thursday in the Villages Recreation News.