The Book Club Party
Nora's Updates
7/22/25
​​Have you ever found yourself in the midst of a book club gathering, navigating the diverse personalities and unspoken dynamics? Set that experience to music, and add some humor and heartfelt emotion. That’s precisely what Mark Vance is creating with his new opera, The Book Club Party.
THE CREATIVE VISION BEHIND
The Book Club Party is a new opera in progress by composer, Mark Vance. Written for Soprano, Sarah Saturnino and Baritone, Matt Cossack. It's a loving and whimsical look at a young couple planning a book club party. See synopsis below...
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4/8/26
THE BOOK CLUB PARTY SYNOPSIS
Kathryn and Robert are a happily married, middle-class. professional couple living in suburbia. Like most of us, they work hard, save little, and rely on one another for their emotional and financial needs. They don't have much, but they do have each other. Their social life revolves around their Book Club; well, Kathryn's book club, as Robert never quite reads beyond the dust jacket. Robert, content with their lot, cares little for the high-brow stuff, but Kathryn seems to want more. Her aspirations get triggered whenever The Book Club meets.
Alas, everyone else in The Club has what Kathryn thinks she wants. Susan's table seats twenty and she serves the finest wines--small matter that she and her husband George fight constantly. Then there are Terry and LaMonte with all their photos of their exciting travels and Doug and Patty with photos of their kids. Lots and lots of photos of the kids. Really a lot. Someone always gets drunk, Eleanor always arrives too early, but everyone, I mean everyone, has more than what Kathryn and Robert have. But do they really? And who is this newest addition arriving tonight? What might this surprise guest add to the turbulence?
It's now an hour or so before they all start arriving. Kathryn and Robert have never played host before; it must all be perfect, just like when Susan hosts. Will what they serve measure up? Will their simple fare and simple furnishings provoke disdain? Will Robert and Kathryn's marriage weather the strain? Our story begins and ends with a doorbell. Let's see what Kathryn and Robert do in between.
Mark Vance, Composer
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Mark Vance is a composer and music educator living in Nevada City, California. He has played an extensive role composing, teaching, coaching, arranging, conducting and promoting music throughout his community in the rural California Foothills. He is published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing and C. Alan Publications. His CDs It’s About Time! and God, I Love Chamber Music! are available on CD Baby and iTunes. He serves as Executive Director of the Nevada County Composers Cooperative since 2003. Here, he oversees a wildly talented group of composers planning and producing concerts of new music. He also created and teaches the award-winning education program Young Composers Project, a music composition program for teens.
Vance and his wife, Estelle, live with their two goldfish.
John Deaderick, Librettist
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John Deaderick has taught acting for 40+ years and has been a SAG / AFTRA member for just about as long. He has served as a Classical music announcer and opera and theatre critic. He has been privileged to work with Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, Alan Arkin, and Gary Snyder among others. The Book Club Party is the third libretto he has had a hand in and has performed in France, Switzerland, Scotland, LA, and well, around. A happy recipient of grant awards for scholarly research in music and drama, John says "The creative act is my religion; teaching allowed me to share that passion with others, and I'm still writing and producing as much as I can."
Stay tuned for Nora's upcoming
Book Club Party Blog...
Nora Miller Rubinoff
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Nora Miller Rubinoff is VP of Business Development and Operations for IPA Source. She focuses on streamlining processes, improving user experiences, and identifying new pathways for partnerships and innovation, helping IPA Source deliver the best possible resource to our customers worldwide. Nora enjoys biking, hiking, and camping. She resides in West Chester with her husband and dachshunds.