OPERA ON THE GO! from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

Rather than wring our hands we decided to convert our rehearsal space into a film studio and we filmed the Pirates of Penzance and we had extra elements to offer because we could be fully costumed, in full wig and makeup, full regalia and have a video design that was very high tech, very impressive, and very current. We put this package together and we offered pandemic pricing; free for all educators and schools.

Welcome to St. Louis In Tune, where we size up current and historic events involving people, places, and things in areas such as the arts, crime, education, employment, faith, finance, food history, housing, humor, justice, and sports. Our weekly podcast gives you the edge to live a more informed life. We discuss more than just St. Louis as we connect the Gateway City to our country's current cultural fabric and lives. I remember that song we used to sing when we were kids.

No

Hail, hail the gang's all here.

Tickling the ivories there.

Yeah.

Wow.

That was from the Pirates "aargh" of Penzance.

I didn't know the aargh was in there.

Allison Felter, who is the director of Education and Community Engagement for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is here in studio. Welcome, Allison.

Thank you for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.

We appreciate you coming across town to do that; from Webster Groves to North Webster.

Yes. Yes. I'm still recovering.

Give us a little bit about your background as Director of Education and Community Engagement for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

I'm happy to; I've been with the company for 26 years, so I've seen a few decades come and go and certainly anticipating another one. I am a part of the administration at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and responsible for education K through a hundred I would say. Kindergarten through age a hundred.

That's pretty high graduate school.

It is expensive too,

But the forgiveness loans are out there, so we're good.

She should be on the show all the time. Okay.

But it's a great thing. We have such an extraordinary company here in St. Louis and we get to share our assets with individuals students, teachers, community members. We were of course, dark last spring, and we are coming back full force May 22nd. May 22nd is when we open and we're shifting from being an indoor experience to an outdoor experience, to accommodate our current environment and keep everyone safe. So much to look forward to; some people say, what were you doing for the last year? We were doing a lot of things digitally, and I know we're here to talk about some of those programs.

For those people who may not know, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis was founded in 1976 with a budget of $135,000 and presented 11 performances back then. They had the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as their orchestra, and now have grown over these past 45 years. They've always had high quality productions and they've always been sung in English. The symphony is still part of them. They have these wonderful artists, even emerging artists, but they have become a world-class opera festival. They champion new works, which is, I think, one of their strengths. And matter of fact, the new works: they've done 28 world premiers, 27 American premiers, which may be the highest percentage of any American opera company. They've had visitors from 48 States, 17 countries, international press coverage.

Oh my, wow!

As Allison was stating, they went to this digital format and had 30,000 views...

Get out of here.

...for their stuff.

Wow.

Yeah.

Who would have thunk?

I know.

Whoda thunk it! That's fantastic. Way to be!

As the Director of Education and Community Engagement, you've always done a lot with schools. Matter of fact, I remember OPERA ON THE GO!, came to the school district where I used to work and there was a performance there. I don't remember the performance. Talk about OPERA ON THE GO! and then this particular performance and the online viewing, et cetera.

Absolutely. This is a longstanding program; it's been in our collection, if you will, for, gosh, I think more than 15 years. It's a great introduction to opera for young people. We essentially bring young artists together and do an abridged performance of a great work. We have a number of rotating works that we bring into schools like, The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, The Pirates of Penzance and so forth. Along with that performance, we have workshops that compliment the different aspects of opera. So we might have a workshop in movement, in stage makeup, in singing. So these in-person experiences are oftentimes the first time young people have been introduced to the classical voice and to this kind of repertoire and it's a great discovery process. This is a program that's very popular. Of course we couldn't do that last fall. Typically we hit the road in the fall for a couple of weeks. Rather than wring our hands we decided to convert our rehearsal space into a film studio and we filmed the Pirates of Penzance and we had extra elements to offer because we could be fully costumed, in full wig and makeup, full regalia and have a video design that was very high tech, very impressive, and very current. We put this package together and we offered pandemic pricing; free for all educators and schools.

Say that again!

It is free for educators in schools. We really didn't know what to expect. We recognize teachers were under a lot of pressure to, create curriculum and lessons in the moment and having, a challenge in just this virtual teaching environment. We really wanted to help and maybe give them a break by offering this one plus hour experience along with lots of materials and also the opportunity to visit with one of the cast members live on zoom. So we've been doing zoom visits all over the country. I think you could say this program almost went viral among the education community. We are in 49 States. We are in, I think, 11 foreign countries. You can say we're active from California to Kazakhstan quite literally. Shanghai came in the other day. If you would have said, how do you think this will do I thought we would have a very modest, Oh, if we hit 10,000 kids. Wow. We're probably going to crack a hundred thousand before the school year. So St. Louis is on the map with a lot of other places around the world. There are so many great assets in St. Louis, and this is certainly one of them. We're just so proud and pleased that it's been embraced to this degree. So we're just ecstatic.

Let's listen to a little of the pirates song. Now I have a question.

Aargh.

Yeah. The workshops you mentioned are those for kids, are those for teachers or both?

They're primarily for kids, and teachers use them in the classroom and they're interactive. We have a workshop in dance, a workshop in lighting effects. You take your cell phone out and you can do all kinds of cool stuff that really are legit and translate into techniques you might use in the theater. There's a singing workshop and then there's a great workshop on patter song. And of course, one of the great beloved characters in this opera is the major general and he has this great patter song, I am a modern major general. Don't ask me to say it because I'm perfectly awful at it. But Alex Rosen, who is our brilliant major general, does it perfectly and it's just great fun. In a time of all this ambiguousness and craziness and uncertainty is certainly a word often used. Here's a little levity and here's some great sort of medicine in the classroom to have fun and make some discoveries and enjoy just the world of opera and how it interacts with our lives and how you can enjoy it and get to know it and maybe even participate in it. We had a spring break camp just last week, a great success. You all would have fit in perfectly with your aarghs and all that.

We passed the audition.

Yeah. You passed the audition and we will offer another camp for kids the week of June 14th;, it will be a virtual camp. So anyone from anywhere can join us central time.

So it's just for kids. It's not for like seniors?

No, but maybe if there's enough demand, we could make some arrangements.

Is this mainly for music teachers or is it for K through 100 teachers or?

I love that.

Opera and music just innately connect with all kinds of content areas. So really any classroom teacher, any science teacher, any math teacher, any history teacher, language arts, you name it? There is application and there are intersections with the content. Opera is actually a great vehicle for teaching history and language arts and all kinds of subject areas. It's something that just comes with the package. We just would love for people to make those discoveries through whichever door they choose to walk through.

You have a study guide here, which talks about the team, the composers, talks about Pirates of Penzance.

Right.

Talks about opera in terms and things like that and you also have a listening guide, which I think is very beneficial for kids and or adults who may not understand or have been exposed to opera a great deal. What do you, obviously, people can't see what I'm looking at right now. What is in that study guide that are listening guide that people would find beneficial?

Sometimes people are intimidated by opera and honestly, more than you realize. This listening guide, it's a roadmap to help you further understand and enjoy what you are hearing. It gives you some insider tips and some insider directions for listening for particular things. You can really take advantage and enjoy the work. It's great, and simple, very accessible. You don't have to have a background in music to understand and enjoy this, but I think you'll be surprised at some of the inside jokes that, the composer pens and the more you know, the more you have fun with it.

Composers have had a niche for doing some things like that. A little tongue in cheek kind of thing.

Yeah, absolutely. All the time. In fact, more than probably many of us know but parody is certainly a great theme in this work and there's nothing not to like, it's just flat out fun.

So how do people find this? How are they going to be able to get on board with this and experience, all the things that you've been talking about?

As far as this particular program, you can go to our website experienceopera.org and click on the education programs. It's really easy to find this particular program and if you're an educator, you will be invited to register your class and we'll send you a link to all the materials. It's very simple. Again we also have the opportunity to visit live with some of the cast members and we will hook up, Angel Riley who happens to live nearby with a class in Georgia or a class in Washington. Or one of our singers might be on the East coast, doing a gig; gigs are starting to open up again. We would absolutely make that connection for the teachers and the classroom. It's great to be able to make those personal connections and, they see the singer in regular streetwear whereas of course they got to know them in the program, in the opera, in full costume. To take down that barrier and connect somebody who was on film and connect them in person, is pretty powerful and can really make an impact. Planting seeds and hopefully sparking kids' imaginations and desires for what they want to do and what they want to be and how to create. It's really a great discovery process that happens along the way.

There's a lot involved besides just singing. You don't have to be a musician to appreciate opera. You've got set design, you've got costume design, you've got makeup and all the other kinds of workshops.

Yeah, absolutely. Somebody has to stage direct. Somebody has to make all the schedules. We have a stage manager who kept everyone safe during this period of filming. We had to create a bubble with the singers and the crew and thankfully it all worked out perfectly. But there are a lot of jobs. You can be an accountant and be in opera. We are a nonprofit organization and St. Louis is very generous to us. We're really blessed and very grateful.

Now I'm going to mention that website again, experienceopera.org. If you go to the menu page, you look for education and youth and hit that; you're going to see several things. One of which is OPERA ON THE GO! is spelled in capital letters with an exclamation mark at the end.

Can't miss it.

No, can't miss it; there's also summer camps and then you have the artists and training program, trailblazers in opera, which are some other things we probably talk about at another time, because we don't want to monopolize your time. Before we let you leave, tell us a little bit about what Opera Theatre Saint Louis has on the plans coming up.

Exactly. Electricity is in the air. We can tell the season is really happening and starting, and so we're doing it very differently. I think very brilliantly given the conditions. We're moving everything outdoors. We're building a stage outdoors and we're seating people outdoors. We will have actual seats. We are performing on our parking lot and it will be brilliant.

As long as it doesn't rain.

We have plans for that as well. We have rain dates built into the schedule, but we are offering four different operas. It will be a shorter night. So for those of you who think opera is too long, this is the season for you. It will probably be about 60 to 70 minutes tops.

No intermission.

No intermissions, because we want to keep people from mingling. We're going to do our part. Everybody else is going to have to do their part, but there will be picnics beforehand. We have a beautiful garden setting out side of the theater so you can still plan to picnic. Everything can be reserved through the box office, but the selections we're doing are Gianni Schicchi by Puccini.

I wanted you to say that one.

Okay. Yeah. Gianni Schicchi.

Gianni Schicchi?

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah it's great.

Say it fast three times. Okay.

That's a comedy and

Just the name is a comedy.

It'll be a delightful evening. Great tunes; one tune in particular O mio babbino caro" is the hit tune from that opera. Even if you don't recognize that title, trust me you will recognize the melody and no, I will not sing it. We're doing a work by William Grant Still called Highway 1, USA. We are rightfully making new discoveries and old discoveries of African-American composers who composed in the last couple of centuries and William Grant Still is considered the Dean of African-American composers. Fabulous composer and his work is long overdue here at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and so we are presenting Highway 1, USA, which is one of his more performed operas. It's a family drama and it's about 60 or 70 minutes. So it's short. Then we're featuring a work by Poulenc, it's called La Voix Humaine, The Human Voice. It's a one-woman show stopper and the person singing it is Patricia Racette and she is a world-class singer. She also happens to be on our staff. She is the artistic director of Young Artists Programs. She is shepherding these up and coming singers with all of her wealth of experience.

Can you imagine singing for 70 minutes?

Actually that work might be, I think it's a little shorter, quite a bit shorter. So don't freak out. That's right. It's not a Wagnerian proportion. It's definitely a sing as we say, so it'll be great. Again, it's a one-woman show and it's about a relationship. She's singing, speaking to somebody on the phone, on the telephone. Remember those? The audience hears her dialogue or monologue. Finally we're doing three very short works under the umbrella name of New Works, Bold Voices. We've commissioned these and originally we were going to film them, but we couldn't get people together safely at the time we were hoping to film. So we pivoted again and we decided we'll do it live; during our season. So these are three works that don't necessarily go together, but they are this season. Different composers, different short works, and absolutely delightful. Everything is in English, the great St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will be joining us. If it starts to sprinkle, we have a plan because a $100,000 violins do not tolerate sprinkles or anything other than perfect conditions.

Yeah the humidity has got to be bad.

Those three operas: On the Edge, Moon Tea, and The Tongue and the Lash.

So intriguing.

Very intriguing.

You also have a Juneteenth celebration.

We do. This is our inaugural Juneteenth concert. We anticipate doing these annually. It's actually being held on June 15th at the Missouri History Museum and it is going to be free and an outdoor concert. It will feature great singing by our young artists and the program is being curated by Nicole Cabell and Will Liverman, both of whom are African-American opera singers of renown. We are so fortunate to have them and their brilliant stamp on this program. You do have to make reservations because we're maintaining it's a one nighter it's still free and you would call all our box office (314) 961-0644 to make a reservation. Lots to look forward to.

That's in partnership with the Missouri Historical Society.

That is correct. Yes.

So great stuff going on. Thank you, Allison, for coming in. We appreciate it. If you want to get more information, folks, go to experienceopera.org, experienceopera.org. Mark. Have you been to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis?

No. No.

You're overdue.

I am way overdue.

Let's see if we can leverage her for a couple of free tickets or something? I think so. We'll give her a free plug on the radio.

There are actually free tickets. Oh yeah. Every show 30 free tickets are made available to the public and they're called Phyllis' seats.

Like the muni.

Exactly. So we, we hope that people who may not be able to afford a ticket will take advantage of this. There are no requirements. You simply call the box office two days before the show.

Excellent. We hear a little background of the pirates there. Thanks again, Allison, we greatly appreciate you coming in. We appreciate your listening to this episode of St. Louis In Tune. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider letting us know. The best way to do this is by rating us on Apple podcast. You could even write a review. St. Louis In Tune is produced in cooperation with KWRH 92.9 FM and Motif Media Group. For St. Louis In Tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.