Dr. Wallace Peace to teach lesson on opera on Oct. 23 at library

The Belleville Area Council for the Arts has organized a way for local residents to both learn about and attend Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” at the Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit on Nov. 10.
“The Marriage of Figaro” is considered Mozart’s best work and among the most important operas of all time, said Barbara Miller, chairperson of the project.
Council members and friends are invited to attend a dress rehearsal performance of the opera at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 10. Dress rehearsal brings the reduced price of $35 per person. The tickets are for open seating. Participants will car pool or arrange their own transportation. Limited transportation will be provided through the Van Buren Township Senior Citizens.
Opera educator Dr. Wallace Peace will give a talk in Belleville on the opera at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23, at the Belleville Area District Library. There is no charge and the public is invited. Refreshments will be provided after the presentation.
Dr. Peace, who presents talks regularly at the Michigan Opera Theater, is a very popular and entertaining speaker, Miller said.
Tickets to the opera must be purchased by 5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 20. Tickets are $35 and checks should be payable to the Belleville Area Council for the Arts (BACA). Vouchers for opera tickets will be distributed by the Chamber of Commerce, Van Buren Senior Citizens and by the law office of Barbara Rogalle Miller at 321 Main Street, Belleville. Voucher holders will pick up their actual tickets the week before the performance. Twenty-five opera tickets have been reserved. More may be available upon request.
For more information, call Miller at (734) 697-4455.
Dr. Wallace Peace, grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, in a very musical family. His mother graduated from college as a music major and his father was bass soloist at the First Baptist Church Senior Choir in Raleigh.
He attributes his great enthusiasm for opera to the love of music in the family. Dr. Peace earned his BA and MA in history from Howard University in Washington, D.C. He served in Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star medal and afterwards earned his Ph.D. degree in Urban Higher Education from Union Institute in Cincinnati
After the war, he moved to New York City, where he met and married his wife. He wished to be close to the Metropolitan Opera and inexpensive vinyl records. He became an administrator at St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn. There he introduced a class in Opera for Beginners and taught the course for several years.
The family moved to Detroit in 1981 where he became Dean of Students at Lewis Business College while his wife, Dr. Caroline Addison, became founder and Dean of Nursing at the University of Detroit.
Dr. Peace began lecturing as a volunteer for Michigan Opera Theater the following year. A work/study student at Lewis College was secretary to Karen DiChiera, Director of Community Programs for Michigan Opera Theater. She told DiChiera about this new dean at Lewis who listened to opera music in his office. An introduction took place where DiChiera discovered Dr. Peace’s great passion for the opera. Dr Peace met the DiChiera family and was made an honorary member of the family, as well as a volunteer opera lecturer for the MOT from then on.
In 2000, Dr. Peace received the coveted Volunteer of the Year award from the Michigan Opera Theater Volunteer Association headed by Betty Brooks and was later appointed to the Opera Volunteer Board of Directors by Gloria Clark, the next president. He gave lectures to the opera company’s volunteers during the year. That same year, Dr. Peace became master of ceremonies at the Opera House introducing the opera to the Michigan Opera Theater audiences one hour before curtain time. That year Dr. Peace became an elder in the Outer Drive Faith Lutheran Church in Detroit.
Professionally, Dr. Peace has been a counselor and history professor at Wayne County Community College since 1983. He will be retiring in December of this year, but will continue to volunteer at MOT and speak at schools, clubs, and community groups.
He and Dr. Caroline Addison-Peace have three sons, all of whom hate opera. Mrs. Peace has been her husband’s strongest advocate.