On Tuesday August 6, LOSA members Pam Williams, Ken Donovan and Ken Nichols along with accompanist Reid Taylor visited the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boys and Girls Club in Garfield Park. The very attentive and enthusiastic audience consisted of about forty young people ranging in age from 5 – 16. After watching short clips form a popular cartoon and movie that contained operatic music, we sang several arias from Carmen, Le Nozze di Figaro and Rigoletto as well as some classical musical theater selections and shared pictures of costumes and fun wigs from various Lyric Opera productions. The students asked such insightful questions such as “What inspired you to go into opera?”, “How do you hold those notes so long; do you breathe a lot more than when you talk?” , “Do you ever make mistakes on stage?” and “Is it hard to sing in Russian?” (Quick answer…Yes!) Clearly these young people were excited about opera and wanted to learn even more!
We look forward to returning in the future and visiting other schools and after school programs!
Upcoming Outreach performance: November 12 at 7:00pm- Gilda’s Club Benefit Concert at University Club in Chicago.