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Yates Arts In Education Magnet
School
Opera comes to
Yates
Group
performs "Little Red's Most Unusual Day" as birthday present to
Mr. Richard Roe
 On Friday,
March 9, students
in grades 3-5 at Yates were treated to a performance of "Little
Red's Most Unusual Day" - an operatic version of the Little Red
Riding Hood tale with a twist - by the traveling Lake George
Opera-to-Go program.
Students
clapped, cheered and laughed during the nearly hour-long
performance as Little Red Riding Hood and her mother, Granny,
the Forest Ranger and of course, the Big Bad Wolf brought the
world of opera to the Yates auditorium.
Opera-to-Go is
an educational outreach program offered by the Lake George
Opera, which is actually based in Saratoga Springs. The four
performers were selected out of nearly 800 actors and singers
during auditions in New York City a few months ago. Two weeks
ago they began their tour, which will extends through April, of
58 school districts in eastern New York and Vermont.
However, the
performance at Yates had a special meaning to it. Due to budget
constraints, the group's visit was almost cut from the school's
list of outside arts programs for the 2006-07 school year.
However, as a birthday present to 20-year veteran teacher
Richard Roe, Natalie Sillery, the owner of Saratoga Trunk in
Saratoga Springs, is sponsoring the program at Yates for this
year and next.
Roe came to the
performance in a tuxedo in order the impress upon the students
how important and special going to the opera can be. He also
brought flowers for each of the performers, which is customary
in the theater world.
However, Roe
and his friend Natalie were also recognized by the performers,
who gave both of them their own bouquet of flowers, and even
sang "Happy Birthday" to Roe.
 "He
loves you and wanted to share his love of music with you all,"
Lake George Opera Director of Education Deborah Rocco said of
Roe to the students as
the performance
came to an end.
Students also
had the opportunity to ask the performers questions after the
show. They learned that each of the four singers started singing
when they were in elementary school, and since then have had the
opportunity to travel the country and, in some cases, the world
to perform. The also learned that the singers love their jobs.
"It's not every
day that you get to make your day job being a cartoon character
on stage," Thomas Irwin, who played the Big Bad Wolf, said.
The performers
included:
- Nicole
Sikora (Soprano) as "Little Red"
- Donald
Groves (Tenor) as the "Forest Ranger"
- Thomas
Irwin (Baritone) as the "Big Bad Wolf"
- Eliza
Healy (Mezzo-Soprano) as "Granny" and Little Red's Mother
- Lisa
Laskowich as the Music Director
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