KIDS ONSTAGE:
SEVENTEEN children from five different Wexford schools are performing together as a youth chorus for the opera L’Oracolo while six year old local boy Cilliam McCamley from Rosslare has a principal non-speaking part in the same production.
Opening opera L’Oracolo which is set in the opium dens of Chinatown, features a children’s chorus comprised of the following young Wexford singers who are required to sing in Italian: Hazel Brezina, Esme McKiernan Becker, Iseult McKiernan Becker, Grace Buckley, Rebecca Cloney, Aoife Goodison, Molly Kearney, Aoibhin Kelly, Rachel Kirwan, Stephanie Lam, Olivia McCamley, Malachi Moore Asgharian, Hannah O’Brien, Orna Power, Alexander Saunders, Grace Saunders and Zara Simmons.
The youngsters ranging in age from eight to 14 years come from Scoil Mhuire NS, Rosslare; Our Lady’s Island NS; St. Iberius primary school; Loreto secondary school and Presentation secondary school where children’s chorus director Elizabeth Drwal who specialises in educational outreach, held initial workshops last May.
‘I workshopped in the schools and handed out information. It was based on those who could commit and whose parents could commit. It all shook down to these 17 children,’ said Elizabeth who has been working with the Festival for the past five years, having been a visitor to the event for many years more.
Nine of the 17 children also have a singing and dancing role in Mala Vita, the second opera on the double bill with L’Oracolo.
Elizabeth discovered Cillian McCamley with his mother, the singer Aileen Donohoe, as he waited outside the Opera House for his sister Olivia who is in the children’s chorus. His dad is the classically trained actor Pete McCamley, who is also a musician.
Cillian and Olivia attended Music Makers with Ruth Gallagher at the Wexford School of Music and Olivia studies piano with Patrick Molitor there.
‘It was one of those showbiz stories that you hear about,’ said Aileen. ‘We were waiting at the door for Olivia and Elizabeth came out and said to Cillian ‘who are you’. She said they were looking for a little boy and she
took a photograph of him and later he got to meet the director.’
Cillian, a pupil of Scoil Mhuire has taken to the starring role like a natural and is enjoying every moment of the experience, according to his mother who runs the Irish College of Music Theatre in the National Opera House with Deirdre Masterson and Pete McCamley.
He plays the prominent non-speaking, non-singing part of Hu Ci, a young child who is kidnapped amid the high drama of L’Oracolo, a fast-paced tale of violence, greed and revenge which also involves two murders, one with an axe to
the head.
‘It’s very physical. He is loving it. He comes home in the evenings after rehearsals and acts it all out for us,’ said Aileen who teaches two days a week at the American College in Dublin.
‘I think what he loves about it is that there are all these grown men who are playing on the stage. From his point of view, it’s just a big game. He thinks everyone is playing with him.’
‘But when he gets direction, he really focuses and listens to what he is asked to do.’
Cillian and Olivia’s grandmother Pat McCamley is flying over from the Isle of Wight to attend the dress rehearsal on Tuesday, October 16 with Aileen and Pete and they will be joined by Aileen’s parents Mary and Jimmy Donohoe from Rosslare.
The children’s chorus who have an important role in the
opera and are required to be strong singers and actors were taught singing lessons by vocal coach and choral facilitator Elizabeth Drwal who is delighted at the progress they all made in a short space of time.
‘Only three of them had been getting singing lessons for some time. The others never had a singing lesson in their lives. We were taking a bit of a chance and we sweated a little but it does your heart good to see some of them go from being shy and unused to the stage to blossoming into little soloists,’ said Elizabeth who has recruited children from other Wexford schools for previous opera festival productions.
The children had 10 singing lessons with Elizabeth before starting to work with the director Rodula Gaitanou in mid-September, during which
they learned to sing in Italian, and they went through five stage rehearsals before singing with the full orchestra last Thursday night. ‘They are so delighted,’ said Elizabeth who
has a Masters degree in how children learn to sing and is a passionate advocate of vocal training for children to enable them to find their singing voices.
ONLY THREE OF THEM HAD BEEN GETTING SINGING LESSONS FOR SOME TIME. THE OTHERS NEVER HAD A SINGING LESSON IN THEIR LIVES. WE WERE TAKING A BIT OF A CHANCE