By Erin Letson
Gingerbread and candy canes were part of the latest Operantics! session at the National Gallery of Canada, but there were no signs of a stereotypically stuffy audience or a fat woman singing.
Opera Lyra Ottawa’s program for young children, ages three and up, was created seven years ago as an interactive introduction to the world of opera. It takes place three times a year during one of the National Gallery’s “family fun days.”
The program aims to remove the stereotype that opera is only meant for older people to enjoy, says Judith Ginsburg, Opera Lyra’s education and music manager.
“The idea is to make opera accessible to young people and build that interest gradually,” says Ginsburg, who is also the company’s principle accompanist. “They’re going to find something in the music they can relate to.”
Operantics! is one of four programs Opera Lyra runs for young people. The other three programs are aimed at older children, including discounted evening and matinee opera tickets for youth, and opera study guides for school-teachers.
Elizabeth Howarth, general director of Opera Lyra, says programs like Operantics! are important for gaining future audiences at the company’s performances.
“If you start young, they’ll see [opera] is not just something for the rich and famous,” says Howarth. She adds the program can also give parents an opportunity to experience opera for the first time.
The last Operantics! session of 2006 was based around Grimm’s fable of Hansel and Gretel. The craft activity was building and decorating miniature gingerbread houses after the story’s infamous house.
During the sessions, children are not restricted to one activity or staying in one place for the whole time.
Craft tables are arranged in a circle for children and parents to chat with one another, and a row of floor mats gives program participants the chance to sit up close during a live performance by singers from Opera Lyra’s Young Artist’s Training Program.
Howarth says these performances are based on stories that children can easily understand and enjoy, making the opera more accessible to them. They also do not have to stay sitting the whole time.
“The program exposes children to opera and puts it at their level,” Howarth says, pointing at the brightly coloured floor mats as an example. “When you draw them in and they don’t feel restrained, they’re not afraid to experience it.”
Salome Shin regularly attends Operantics! with her five-year-old daughter, Mary. She says she wants to give her daughter an appreciation of opera at an early age.
“Music is an excellent learning tool,” says Shin. “It’s great for [creative] development.”
Mitch Wensley brought his two young daughters to Operantics! for the first time and says going to the gallery with his kids on a Sunday is a great feature of living in the capital city.
“It’s a nice opportunity in Ottawa to give them exposure to new things like this,” he says.
The next Operantics! session takes place in January 2007, and will be themed around the story of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Since one of the principal characters of the play, Tamino, is a bird catcher, the craft activity will be to create a bird mobile menagerie.
As she helps put the finishing touches on her daughter’s gingerbread house,
Shin points out that Opera Lyra’s Operantics! is a great way to give kids a view that opera is fun, not snobby. “It takes away the negative concept of what opera is,” she says.