Shreveport group dishes up a little taste of opera
An opera invasion hits Texarkana soon with a tasty array of songs on the menu for “Operatizers” at Texarkana College.
The Shreveport Opera’s Shreveport Opera Xpress will provide this delicious dish of music, which features both top arias and fun Broadway songs to be savored by local music lovers.
SOX has visited Texarkana before and returns for this program presented by TC’s music department at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Stilwell Humanities Music Hall.
SOX is the educational outreach arm of the opera company, and each year its team of resident artists not only perform in SOX main stage offerings but also visit schools and community venues to give an accessible opera experience to people across the Ark-La-Tex and entire state of Louisiana.
Tenor Kameron Lopreore, currently in his second year as a resident artist and a 10-year veteran of singing the classical repertoire, explains that the SOX performers (four singers and a pianist) all have at least a master’s degree. They’re among many who applied and are the lucky few tasked with the job.
“In recent years it’s been four singers. That’s going to be one of every voice type,” Lopreore said, noting they generally start their jobs as resident artist with the new school year and go from there.
As someone who wanted to be a pediatrician at first, working with children through SOX appeals to him. “I’ve always loved kids,” he says. And bringing opera to schools is one of their main jobs with SOX, even at 8:30 a.m. when getting on your body and breath may not be the most glamorous morning activity, he admits.
Seeing how the students react, though, makes it all worth it.
“They totally eat it up. They absolutely
“They (schoolchildren) totally eat it up. They absolutely love it.
It really brightens your day.”— Kameron Lopreore
love it. It really brightens your day,” Lopreore said, noting that by the end of their year they will have performed nearly 200 shows and seen thousands of youth.
With “Operatizers,” the repertoire for a performance may vary. Sometimes they’ll decide what they’re singing that week or that morning.
Typically, though, for a performance like “Operatizers” at Texarkana College they’ll have a half hour of operatic and grand music, then share a half hour of show tunes, Lopreore said. It’s good for all ages.
“We always try to end with something English,” he said. They’ll also field questions from the audience.
People enjoy their ensemble work singing together, but Lopreore says this can be a challenge to program. “We have a kind of wide range of voice types this year,” he said.
He’s been testing out an aria from Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” called “Si, ritrovarla io giuro,” which he translates as “I vow to find her.” “That’s basically the Italian Cinderella story,” said Lopreore, who was the recipient of a Italian American Scholarship Award.
The “Libiamo” aria from Verdi’s “La Traviata” may also be on tap. “That’s just classic standard opera,” the tenor said.
Then there’s one of the few art songs they perform, titled “If You Love Me Please Don’t Feed Me” by David Friedman. It’s a song he’s performed dozens upon dozens of times during his SOX spell.
“It’s got kind of a hoedown feel and lots of room for improvisation and lots of room for good old-fashioned fun,” Lopreore said.
He encourages people to dispel the stereotypical image of opera as viking horns and overweight women and give opera a listen. He’s looking forward to seeing the crowd.
“I think people would be pleasantly surprised at how much they like it if they just give it a chance,” said the tenor about opera.
Lopreore achieved his master’s degree in voice from Loyola University New Orleans. His New Orleansarea experience includes singing for the chorus and supporting roles with the New Orleans Opera, as well as solos from Handel’s “Messiah” for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. He’s performed the operatic work of Mozart, Gounod, Britten, Poulenc, Bernstein and many more, and he’s also performed sacred works by Rossini, Bach and more.
Lopreore is joined in SOX by soprano Karina Brazas, mezzo-soprano Meghan Folkerts, baritone Spencer Reichman and pianist Ah Young Kim.
(Admission: $5.)