Opera for the Kiddos with Palisades Opera

This month, I joined Palisades Opera at the Byram Shubert Library in Connecticut to give an introduction to opera for kids.

Singing for kids is a trip because they will not feign interest if they are just not feeling it! But it helps to get them up and moving with you, as Jay and I did for the Papageno/Papagena duet from Mozart's Magic Flute! They were very cute and energetic and each took home a feather or two.

I like to let kids know there isn't anything really mysterious about opera, and explain that opera really is musical theater, just without microphones. And because opera singers don't get microphones, we have to learn how to be heard even though a lot of instruments (called an orchestra) are playing! So, you use your body as sort of a microphone, and it can take several years to be trained to do that. All of the neat stuff within the opera tradition is fun to jump into - getting to know the voice types, the instruments, opera plots, languages, musical qualities of different types of operas, and of course much more! But at the end of the day I want them to know it's just another way to share a story and is meant for everyone to enjoy.

Jay Stephenson as Papageno and me as Papagena!