Opera revival: Youngsters' performance keeps musical form alive

The bespectacled 13-year-old struts around the stage wearing an embroidered vest over a robe and swings a sword at a green dragon with red feet.

In addition to the drama, Jared Ruiz belts out an aria which left the few parents watching the rehearsal of Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" with their mouths open.

Jared plays the lead role, Papageno, in the allegory about love and the struggle to find wisdom and virtue. He was one of 30 cast members of the Young Opera Company of New England who recently performed at the Collins Center in Andover.

The troupe, made up of youngsters ages 8 to 15, are part of a growing trend of young people performing operas on local, national and international stages.

According to the National Endowment for the Arts, only 0.7 percent of people ages 18 to 24 participate in opera, compared with 1.1 percent in ballet. Choir is still the most popular art form for this group at 4.9 percent. But the arts group also found that attendance at the opera by this age group rose by 18 percent between 1982 and 1992.

Today, groups like the Young Opera Company of New England and Light Opera Company of Topsfield are seeing the uptick in interest in youngsters and are keeping the music alive by teaching them opera.

Experts like Susanna Bucchiere, choral director at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill and music teacher at Indian Hill Music Center in Littleton, said youngsters are attracted to opera because it's flamboyant with elaborate costumes, sets and a mixture of melodious music and drama.

All of that captivated Katie Sullivan, 17, of North Andover, who joined the Young Opera Company of New England.

"I've always loved performing and singing, and having the two together in opera is the perfect combination," she said.

Since joining the company, Sullivan has decided to major in vocal performance with the hope of becoming an opera singer.

"Ten years ago, I knew I loved music, but I didn't know it was going to be such an important part of my life," said Sullivan.

Rose Antoinette Bellino, 14, has been singing since age 7, and first learned about opera from her grandfather, Vincenzo, who sang throughout the day.

"There was something about it that appealed to me," said Rose, of Woburn, who has been in seven operas. "Especially the crystal spiral in the voice. It sounded so pretty, I wanted to do that."

Rose, who also plays the violin, said she sings all day, including when she does her math homework.

"If I didn't have opera, I could probably fill the same void with music, but there would be something missing," said Rose, showing her braces as she smiled.

For Jared, he's suffered a bit for his art. The 13-year-old Woburn resident said he was suspended from school after getting into a brawl with several students who teased him about this opera singing.

"It hurt so much, I just got so angry," said Jared, a seventh-grader. The incident has not changed his mind about singing opera. "This is my life and a passion I've had for a long time."

Marie Stultz of the Young Opera Company of New England has been training children ages 8 to 18 in opera performance and choral music for more than 30 years. The company was founded in 2005 and has staged operas, including "Amahl and the Night Visitors," "Dido and Aeneas" "The Marriage of Figaro" and "The Mikado."

She has seen the fruit of her labor in Marcus DeLoach, 34, formerly of Andover, now a member of the New York City Opera, and Jonathan Bennett, 22, of Methuen, one of only 50 students from across the country selected to attend an opera festival in Italy last year.

Bennett, a 2004 graduate of Methuen High School, took classes, vocal training and performed in an opera with a full orchestra in an open courtyard at the festival.

"Music is something we can't live without," Bennett said. "For people looking for a deeper understanding of music, opera is the only way to express that."

Bennett, who is enrolled in the emergency medical technician's program at Northern Essex Community College, has been singing since he was young.

"It's awesome that more kids are into it. They can have a broader appreciation and knowledge of music through opera."

Music runs in DeLoach's family. His great-grandfather, Vincenzo, was a labor leader in the mills, had a robust operatic voice and sang at the Italian-American Club and his great-grandmother was an amateur singer.

"You bring your unique perspective on life and whatever opera you're in, you react to it according to the place you're in in your life," he said.

DeLoach studied at New England Conservatory of Music for one year before going to Juilliard in New York.

DeLoach, a baritone, is principal artist with the New York City Opera and teaches at Ramapo University in New Jersey.

In addition to the stage, he provided the voice of the pizza chef in the animated film "Pizza-Cato."

Today, the United States has more opera companies — 125 in 44 states — than Germany, and twice as many in Italy. Sixty percent of those were opened since 1970.

Rossini's "William Tell" was featured in the movie "Toy Story 2." Looney Tunes characters sung the overture of "Barber of Seville" in "Space Jam" with basketball star Michael Jordan.

Elton John and Tim Rice created a musical based on "Aida." Carly Simon penned an opera for children and singer Michael Bolton shared his interest in opera with the world with his CD "My Secret Passion: The Arias." The young audience of MTV also got a taste of opera with "Carmen: A Hip Hopera," an updated version of "Carmen" with singing and rapping.

Opera also has gained more recognition with the general public after excerpts from famous works have been used on television commercials, including "La Boheme" for Sony Walkman, "Rigoletto" for Cingular, "Carmen" for both Kentucky Fried Chicken and Epson Printer, and "Lakme" for British Airways.

Another exciting development is the adaptation of classic novels into operas, including "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, "Bonfire of the Vanities" by Tom Wolfe, and "Nixon in China" by John Adam.

"I love it," said Bucchiere. "Their involvement shows opera is alive and well and won't die anytime soon."

"This is giving them the chance to explore music outside of what the mass media is showing them," she said.

Bucchiere said some voice teachers believe children should not take lessons until they reach their teenage years, but she disagrees.

"If they are interested and willing to learn, teach them as much as they want because in five years their voices will be different," she said.

Bucchiere said before hitting puberty, boys have the same voice range as lyric sopranos and can play any arias written for that voice.

Most of the operas are still performed in Italian, French or German, but have English subtitles either above the stage or on the back of the theater seats. Other productions are done entirely in English.

"English is the language that the audience speaks and if they don't understand, I lose them," he said. "I respect the foreign languages, but I think it unconsciously creates a barrier."

Even Boston, which did not have a reputation for being an opera town, is making its mark with two opera companies, Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Boston, both which offer programs for youngsters.

Boston Lyric Opera hosts fully staged operas in English for children 6 to 12. It also has a family day benefit luncheon with children's activities focusing on the production they will see. The Opera Shop is a program by Opera Boston which brings live performances to cities where children do not normally have a chance to see it. The program is geared to students in fourth grade and older.

"The opera companies are making a concerted effort to attract young people," said Mark Morgan, artistic director of New England Light Opera in Topsfield.

The musical theater started in 2001 and performs operettas and early musicals in English. Members perform works by Gilbert and Sullivan, Cole Porter and Jerome Kern.

Opera traces its roots to Greece where they wrote plays mixing songs, spoken word, strings or wind instruments.

Italy was the first country where opera became popular, followed by France and Germany.

Opera had the largest growth in all performing arts when attendance rose by 35 percent between 1982 and 1992.

Wealthy, highly educated Americans who live in the suburbs frequent opera performances. Only 6.1 percent were Hispanics, 3.8 percent African-Americans and 3.6 percent were Asian-American and Native Americans.

Technology has brought opera to the masses with 37.5 million adults watching opera on television, video or listening to it on the radio, audio recording or Internet.

Roger Waters of the rock band Pink Floyd wrote an opera titled, "Ca Ira" which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Classical chart.

Lucy Lawless of "Xena: The Warrior Princess" and Charlotte Ross, former "NYPD Blues" actress, both studied opera.

Actress Sandra Bullock and singer Mariah Carey's mothers were both opera singers, as well Mel Gibson's grandmother.

Libretto, an Italian word meaning "little book," contains the complete text of the opera.

Overture is an instrumental or orchestral piece that opens an opera or other theater work.

Photos

Samantha Ferello, 14, holds open the curtain so Aurora Carberry, 9, can peek on stage as the Young Opera Company of New England rehearses an adaptation of "The Magic Flute" at Andover High School Wednesday afternoon. Staff photo

Katie Headley, 16, of Middleton, left, Jessica Pavlik, center, of North Andover and Charlotte Garcia,14, of Georgetown fight for the love of Jared Ruiz, lying in front. They were rehersing the Young Opera Company of New England's adaptation of The Magic Flute at Andover High School. Staff photo

Performers playing the part of the dragon dance on to the stage as the Young Opera Company of New England rehearses an adaptation of The Magic Flute at Andover High School. Staff photo