A Night at the Opera

On Friday, May 1st, 2009, Pro Voce Studios, a vocal-training and performing company in Toronto, presented an abridged version of Mozart’s comic masterpiece “The Marriage of Figaro” to the students of the English Language Program. It was performed with English dialogue and the arias were sung in Italian.

There was a cast of talented teens and young, professional singers in the leading roles, and a supporting cast and chorus of all ages.

The response of the ELP students to this event was “overwhelming”, according to Tina Torlone, lead teacher with Pro Voce. She said, “They were actually our most responsive audience – they not only seemed to understand the humour in the dialogue, but they also seemed to appreciate the text of the music. The singers were inspired by the response.”

Almost 140 students and teachers enjoyed the performance, and many shared photos, video clips and stories of the experience with their friends.

Najla, and Academic English (level 30) student, expressed her experience this way: “Before, I don’t like opera, now I like!”. Basim, from Academic English (level 60) asked to see it on  YouTube, or to get a video of the performance! It was an amazing opportunity for the students to see a live opera performance, and for the singers, it was really motivating to perform to a full house. Ms. Torlone ended with the message, “Thank you so much for your efforts to make this such a success on all sides. The idea was a winner!”

Thank you to all of the teachers who helped promote the show, and of course to our students who saw something new and excited! Many have expressed how happy they were to have gone.

It was a successful production for both the studio and for our school. Bravi!

Watch the following video of Alex’s performance as Barbarina, from “The Marriage of Figaro”:

Check out the following pictures from “The Marriage of Figaro”.