Rio Rancho students to debut original operatic works
May 13—Ask kids about opera and many will mention a fat lady wearing a Viking helmet.
About 60 children from the Rio Rancho student-produced opera festival want to show you otherwise.
With support from the Santa Fe Opera, students from the ages of 5 to 10 will debut their original productions on Wednesday, May 15, at the Rio Rancho High School Performing Arts Center.
"We tell them that opera is telling a story with music," said teacher/coordinator Wendy Scott. "Each school is creating their own opera using the hero's journey as a storytelling model."
Kids from five Rio Rancho elementary schools — Colinas del Norte, Enchanted Hills, Maggie Cordova, Martin Luther King Jr. and Vista Grande — have meet with teachers 14 times to create five productions.
The students at Maggie Cordova created a boy named Harry suffering from school detention.
"His imagination helps him get through the day," Scott said. "Their shadow character is the teacher, Mr. Meanie, who's in charge.
"We find that the younger students have the most imagination," she added. "The older students help with the writing."
At Vista Grande, half of the students are bilingual, so some of the libretto will be in Spanish.
"Their main character is a fairy in a forest in Mexico who doesn't have control of their fairy powers just yet" Scott said. "They turn their friend into a chipmunk. They go to the Wise Old Squirrel. He's kind of like a Yoda."
The young librettists will often have melodic ideas, she added. Teachers work with them with games, instruments and prompts.
"Is this music asking a question?" Scott said. "Does it go up and down?
"They can feel the rhythm and the rhyme within the text."
The children make their own costumes at minimal cost by finding items from home or discount stores.
They decide who will sing what role toward the end of the program.
"We ask them to do a quick audition," Scott said. "If they can sing by themselves, we know they can do it solo."
Anyone who feels uncomfortable in the spotlight can join the chorus.
"We really try to respect their comfort zone," Scott said. "We don't want anyone to have performance trauma."
At the end of the performance, students from all the schools join together in song.
