Maybe you saw dozens of buses encircling the Wortham Theater Center on your way into work? Maybe you were on one of the buses?Over the past week, thousands of area students visited HGO to delight in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love at a Student Matinee or High School Night show. For many of us at the opera, they're our favorite performances of the year. If you attended, leave us a comment with your thoughts!
Loud cheering, long lines for autographs, and a majority of students who are experiencing opera for the first time - definitely the ingredients for a night many won't soon forget. We must extend our deepest appreciation to the teachers who put in extra effort to organize tickets, buses and chaperones, all to give their students a taste of the best that HGO has to offer.
The students that come to our weekday performances get a special treat not many adults ever see. At intermission, we change the scenery without a curtain, so everyone sees how we make magic happen onstage! While the students are watching the scene change from Act I to Act II, our Education Coordinator Kade Smith interviews some of the folks who are usually behind the scenes. This year, he spoke with stage manager Kristen Burke (think air traffic controller) and Octavio Moreno, who performed the role of Belcore.
We're also fortunate to partner with Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and a group of their opera enthusiasts called Camerata. For the past three seasons, Camerata has conducted interviews of students before, during and after our High School Night performances. They'll soon post a video compilation of these interviews. Once it's up, we'll link to it from our Facebook page.
Some more photos:
