Do you know who really loves opera? Bugs Bunny.
And you know who really loves Bugs Bunny – kids.
So, it’s no surprise that kids love opera, too, which makes perfect sense when you
think about it. Like cartoons, opera is action-packed, it’s tense, it’s full of impossible
love stories (think Pepe LePew); it’s hilarious one moment and violent the next.
Many of us have our profound attachment to opera because our parents or
grandparents shared the music and stories with us as children. Maybe we didn’t
get the adult themes, but we got opera – something exciting was happening and
we could feel the music stirring within us.
Opera Tampa loves sharing this art form with kids because they inherently “get”
it. For years, our outreach programs in the schools have done precisely that –
put opera singers in a classroom to teach children the music and stories our
parents and grandparents taught us. Last year, we launched a web series called
Milkshakes & Opera hosted by 12-year-old Seth Black-Diamond (pictured left),
a Patel Conservatory student who has performed in several productions with
Opera Tampa including Macbeth.
Seth’s love of opera became an outreach of its own, attracting thousands of
viewers to Milkshakes & Opera, many of whom are, like Seth, middle-schoolers.
Seth’s latest episode of Milkshakes & Opera featured an interview with Opera
Tampa’s Artistic Director and Straz Center President Judy Lisi. For Die
Fledermaus, Seth’s twin sisters Alyssa and Arielle (pictured below), took over as
co-hosts, interviewing conductor Joseph Mechavich. Seth, we are overjoyed to
report, is busy in New York rehearsing for his role as Schwartz in the New York
production of A Christmas Story the Musical
but should be back on the Milkshakes &
Opera set for Lady Swanwhite in February.
Making concerted and consistent efforts
to engage children in opera stands as
one of Opera Tampa’s founding principles.
We’re thrilled to continue to present our
opera-in-the-schools programs and take
opera to kids in the digital age.
The Opera Tampa Singers Outreach Program is funded
in part by Opera Tampa Gala Luminaries and an
anonymous donor.
You can watch all the episodes of Milkshakes & Opera on our YouTube channel;
just go to YouTube then search for “David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing
Arts.” For more information on Opera Tampa’s education and outreach programs,
please contact communityprograms@strazcenter.org.
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