On a brilliant summer’s day in 2012 on the campus of the State University of New York at Geneseo, Finger Lakes Opera, Inc., was born. Artistic Director and Founder Gerard Floriano and then SUNY Geneseo President Christopher Dahl envisioned creating a summer professional opera festival in the heart of the Finger Lakes, where outstanding singers, designers and directors could come together to create bold new productions of grand operatic masterpieces resplendent with spectacular sets, dazzling costumes, inventive staging, all accompanied by a professional orchestra. Floriano and Dahl also envisaged the company enlivening the local community through its residency and by the potential 2000 plus attendees who would attend performances each summer.