Shreveport Opera to be held at EHS
Performance set for 11:30 a.m. Thursday
The Shreveport Opera Resident Artist Program is bringing its performances to El Dorado High School for one day.
Along with a free performance for the public at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. The artists will put on two student shows for elementary students, one called ‘Leo the Lyin’ Lion’ and the other discusses bullying.
The artists are young professional singers receiving training from the professional opera company. Each season, four singers and one pianist become part of the program after being chosen from auditions every December in New York City. This year’s ensemble is comprised of three firstyear and two second-year resident artists that are all between the ages of 27-32.
“The bulk of what they do is school shows in the local area and that includes the local regional area,” said Jennifer McMenamin, executive director for the Shreveport Opera. “The majority of our performances are grant funded or individuals fund them through family foundations. We see about 30,000 school age students per year.”
McMenamin said they’re able to put on the shows in El Dorado for free because of a grant from Ouachita Valley Community Foundation.
Along with the performances, McMenamin said the opera has provided study guides to the schools that go along with the shows to discuss some basic musical vocabulary, the history of operas and quizzes about the central theme of the show.
‘Leo the Lyin’ Lion’ focused around honesty so the study guide is focused around what honesty means and how to be honest. Also included in the study guide are several coloring pages.
The ‘Stop, Bully!’ production is focused around defining what bullying is, how to identify it and what to do about it.
The public show will include pieces from Broadway classics and opera favorites in solos, duets or group songs. Providing a public show is a way to bring awareness of the Shreveport Opera to the people of El Dorado.
“We don’t want to sing obscure Italian arias the entire time for everyone,” she said. “We want this to be enjoyable. We got the grant to come to the school and we thought, ‘well, as long as we’re there in the middle of the day, maybe we can do a community concert.’”