By Morgan Roberts

Not all operas involve kids and youth choruses.

Opportunities for kids to sing in operas are rare because it depends on whether or not the original composer wrote parts for young singers.

Although operas sometimes use ‘supernumerary’ parts for kids, which is being onstage acting in a scene, there are not so many singing parts written for youth.

Even further, it depends on the modern day director’s artistic vision/how he sees the show happening. The director then tells the chorus master, who in this case is Beth Kirchhoff, to recruit a group of kids and prepare them to sing the particular song or songs.All of the kids prepare the song and have it all memorized before the show’s director comes in to work on it. The director fine tunes everything so it is perfect for when it gets to be onstage.

In “Carmen” we worked with many people so we could be as close as we can to perfect with blocking, breath support, tempo, and acting like little Spanish kids! However, the youth chorus in “Turandot” will be offstage so we don’t work on blocking, we focus more on the language.

The songs that “Turandot” youth choristers are singing are all spread out through the opera. Between songs Beth has told us that we will be going back stage to the green room until the stage managers call us over the intercom for places. I recently called the music we sing ‘A beautiful lullaby of a song’ and it’s very true! The songs could very well put you to sleep…in a good way! The tune repeats with different words in Italian yet it seems like many different songs.

The very last song is my favorite. It speeds up and when all of the chorus sings it resonates off the walls and fills the whole room with music.When the youth chorus is offstage at the actual shows it is crucial to always watch the conductor. Some nights the tempo might be faster than others and if one person is off, as I like to say, it sticks out like a gray hair.

Although we have a monitor offstage to see the orchestra, it lags a little bit, so we can never just trust the monitor. The conductor that will be backstage with us on the nights of the shows will be Kirschoff and all eyes must always be on her, not the monitor.The Seattle opera is like my home away from home and I can’t wait to go back there in July and also start performing in August!

Next Up… A Night of Disney Music. Lately I have been talking about the stuff that goes on onstage, but the audience is very important, too. If we didn’t have an audience the show would not be a show!

Now… to bring up the topic of the next performance I will be in.It is called a “A Night of Disney Music” and we will have about 20 youth performers singing clips from the one and only Walt Disney. There will be solo and group songs sung and monologues performed by some of Tahoma Middle, Junior High and High School’s most talented students.

We are going to have so delicious homemade cupcakes and savory cheesecake for the audience members. The cupcake and cheesecake are included in your ticket price.

Remember, we need your eyes watching us, your butts in the seats, and frankly…we need your money. This performance is a fundraiser for Tahoma schools’ drama program so that we can keep doing the musicals and plays that everyone has such a good time doing and watching.

Your money will go to a great cause and will help us a lot. Now don’t get me wrong … we love all of the performers’ parents in the audience, but we need to see some more people out there in the seats other than just our own families.

In case you are wondering, I will be singing “With a Smile” and a song from Snow White. So on Friday, June 15, head on down to The Tahoma Middle School Auditorium, 24425 S.E. 216th Way, Maple Valley.

Show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for kids and $12 for adults, cupcakes included.

I really hope to see you next Friday!