Nevada Focus: Opera group hits the road to share love of the arts

Thursday, March 26, 1998 | 4:28 a.m.

What seemed like chaos was just another day on the road for the Nevada Opera Studio.

There were 11 different quick studies the day before. Tomorrow, there will be 11 new faces.

On center stage, Donna Olson and John Ames instruct 10-year-old Devan McKitrick when to pause, speak, and be handy with the smelling salts. Stage right, Shawn Bartels gets his regiment of 11- and 12-year old soldiers dressed in plumed hats, gold-buttoned jackets and armed with props, (Be careful with those swords!). Off to the left, Suzette Thoeni shows four, 10-year-olds who will play the roles of 19th century party guests how and when to bow and curtsy.

It's not exactly opening night at the Met or Carnegie Hall. On this day, the stage is the historic setting of the 1880 Eureka Opera House, 240 miles east of Reno in remote central Nevada. On other days it's a slice of gymnasium or classroom floor.

No matter that three-fourths of this cast and a majority of the audience have had little if any exposure to opera.

That is the point - and the challenge - of the Nevada Opera Studio, an outreach and education arm of the Reno-based Nevada Opera Company. Now in its fourth year, the studio takes a condensed version of an opera on the road to introduce schoolchildren across northern Nevada to the performing arts. For many in the young audiences, it is their first exposure to opera.

"Every show that we do we use kids," said music and education director Bonnie Koestner.

Last year, more than 20,000 youngsters attended performances during an eight-week tour.

This year's program is a 45-minute rendition of Donizetti's, "The Daughter of the Regiment." Set during the Napoleonic Wars, it is a comedy about a young girl, Marie, who was abandoned as a baby on a battle field and adopted and reared by soldiers of the 21st Regiment.

Study guides sent to teachers in advance are used to teach students about the composer, the setting and story of the opera, musical terms, stage design and history.

"Seeing kids develop obvious enjoyment for what we bring is what I like best about the studio program," Ms. Koestner said. "It's something that is otherwise unavailable to these kids."

The two-month program costs about $88,000. Schools pay $250 for one performance, or $350 for two. Donations and grants cover the majority of the costs.

For the professional singers, the studio tour allows them to share their love of opera with the uninitiated, and perhaps seed a life-long appreciation of the art.

"There is a lot about this that is very rewarding," said Bartels, a tenor who plays Marie's beau, Tonio. "One of our goals is to build an audience for opera in general."

Bartels has sung with Sarasota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera in New York and the Broomhill Opera in Britain. He will make his Carnegie Hall debut in May.

Ms. Olson, who plays the wealthy but humorously eccentric Marquise of Berkenfeld, is a Portland, Ore., voice teacher and has sung with the Opera Idaho, Portland Opera, the Portland Chamber Orchestra and Vancouver Symphony.

The part of Marie is played by Ms. Thoeni, of Carson City. A graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, Ms. Thoeni has sung with Nevada Opera for several years and has performed with the Tahoe Music Festival.

Ames, of Reno, portrays Sgt. Sulpice. He has performed with the Nevada, Kentucky and Indianapolis operas, as well as the Intermountain Opera in Montana. He will sing with the San Francisco Opera this summer.

While the tour audiences may be less refined and more squirmish than those at big-city opera houses, the performance is no less energized.

At this performance, 130 children, in grades 1-6, sing along to the chorus and giggle at the plot's twists and turns.

Afterward, the singers fielded questions from their inquisitive critics.

"How long did you practice?" one child asked.

Answer: "About a week, though we learned our parts separately first."

"How do you hold a note so long?"

Answer: "Deep breaths and a lot of practice."

For today at least, some of these impressionable minds leave the Eureka Opera House with thoughts of becoming an actor or singer.

"I just like acting. It's fun," said McKitrick, the 10-year-old recruited to play Hortensius, servant to the Marquise.

"I liked it," said 4th-grader Clint Tognotti.

"I think it was great," 10-year-old Corrinne Balliette said, adding it made her want to be a singer.

Simple accolades. But for the cast and organizers of Nevada Opera Studio, such reviews are a resounding "Bravo."