The Barber pays a call

The students in grades 3 to 5 at Meadowvale Village Public School got an enchanting introduction to grand opera recently as five stars of the Canadian Opera Company brought an adapted version of The Barber of Seville to the school gym.

The Company’s Xstrata Ensemble Studio School Tour program plays to more than 15,000 students each year, carefully fashioning its performances with young audiences in mind: not more than an hour in length, sung in English, and with the visual appeal of creative costumes and props.

Rossini’s ever-popular nineteenth century classic, one of the Ensemble’s two staple productions, is an inspired choice for young initiates because of its fast pace, physical and situational comedy, and timeless romantic intrigue.

Music teachers Barb Cogan and Laura Mehta set about preparing the students weeks in advance, using a comprehensive study guide and musical excerpts on CD.

The study guide furnishes information about opera as an art form in general and The Barber of Seville in particular, including its “roots” in commedia dell’arte, an improvisational style of theatre in sixteenth century Italy. The links with history, language, music, drama and design ensure that the whole experience is curriculum friendly.

The Ensemble also provides a pre-performance outreach program to work with a select group of students who then are expected to share what they’ve learned with their classmates.

At Meadowvale Village, five children from each participating class were chosen to explore and report back on such topics as the meaning of tempo and timbre, the difference between opera buffa (comic) and opera seria (tragic), and how to tell a tenor from a baritone, a contralto from a mezzo-soprano.

Preliminaries complete, the big day arrived and the students filed in for the performance with great anticipation.  And it was worth the wait.

No proscenium arch, no sophisticated sets, and no orchestra pit: but the characters were totally winning, the fun was infectious, the voices filled the room… and the kids were spellbound.

And there won’t have been a happier onlooker than principal Linda Nicholson: the project’s most enthusiastic supporter, she is herself an opera singer of some standing, appearing for a number of years with the Voices of the Night company in the GTA and points west, most notably at Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre.

After the “final curtain”, Figaro (Jesse Clark), Rosina (Teiya Kasahara), Count Almaviva (Michael Barrett), Berta (Erin Fisher) and Dr. Bartolo (Jon-Paul Decosse) were most generous with their time in an interactive question and answer session with the students.

It was a special end to a memorable afternoon—the day grand opera came to Meadowvale Village and the Barber paid a call.