My Country 'Tis of Thee

That's what all the cute kiddos had to sing for our Opera Columbus Youth Chorus auditions this past weekend. Now, let me say, as a young calf, I would have rocked the house with this little ditty. But, I digress.

We had an amazing turnout for our auditions on Saturday. All in all we had 46 kids, from all over Central Ohio, tryout for the chorus. They ranged in age from sassy 7-year-olds to sophisticated 17-year-olds.

From those 46 talented youths our lovely chorus mistress, Susie, and resident youth choral music expert, Jayne, had to narrow the field down to 20 children. Here I am giving them advice on how to select the best singers for the job: While the young opera-stars-to-be waited for their time to audition, I had the chance to hang out with a few. We chatted about everything from favorite school subjects (recess was a popular pick) to past stage roles to the OSU game (oy vey, what a game).

Here I am with a clan of Buckeye and opera loving Columbusites:

Miss S. and I strike a pose before I help her get measured for her costume:
Susie and Jane had a tough job. Thanks to everyone that tried out. Make sure you come see our production of Turandot in February to see 20 of the most talented kids in Columbus.

Sum-summer-summertime

I heart summer! I adore laying by the pool with a cool umbrella drink, I love going to the Ohio State Fair (there are usually some fine looking bulls there) and I fancy walking around Goodale Park on a warm summer evening. But, what I love most about summer is Opera Columbus' summer camp!

And, Opera Columbus has one fine summer camp, if I do say so myself! This year's camp was held in July on the campus of The Ohio State University (the alma mater of one amazing cow, *ahem* moi). Even though I no longer make the age break to be a camper, I love helping out and watching the performances. (I'm also in the process of encouraging Eric, our Director of Education & Outreach, to include a cow as the lead in next year's summer camp performance, but that's a post for a different day.)

Let me tell fill you in with some of the details of about our fun summer program. To make sure everyone gets the best experience we break the camp into two sections.

First, there is the Opera Columbus Summer Camp for ages 8 - 13. This section introduces participants to the world of opera focusing on music, drama, movement, stage craft and visual art. Their portion of the camp concluded with a performance with Opera professionals in an abridged version of Hansel and Gretel. Here's a clip of two of our professionals singing "Evening Prayer" as part of the final performance:


The second part of our summer camp is called the Opera Columbus Academy. The Academy is designed for ages 14 -18 as a pre-professional training program that provides vocal students in-depth training and helps them prepare for college auditions, etc. Their portion of the camp concluded with selections from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. Those young singers were amazing and I had a blast hanging out with all of them. Here I am warming up with some of the girls before the show:

So if you know any kids or calves that want to give life on the stage a try, it's not too early to start thinking about camp for next year. Shoot my buddy, Eric, an e-mail. (E-mails supporting a cow as the lead in next year's summer camp performance should also go to Eric.)