Opera for the Teenaged Brain at Ellington HS

Students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Burleith have access to a resource very few high school students in the country have: a year-long opera workshop.

This year a select group of 23 students have learned about the history of the genre, listened to and watched operas and learned about the stagecraft behind the production of an opera.

“Since most of our students have limited experience with the full range of classical music, opera may seem intimidating,” Dr. Mary Jane Ayers, a 25-year veteran teacher and chair of the Vocal Music Department at Ellington, said in a press release.

“But they quickly grasp that this can be the ultimate performing experience for a singer, and they become very enthusiastic about the opportunity…that vibrant energy finds its way onto the stage in our year-end productions.”

The elective class culminates in May when the entire class performs a fully-costumed, staged production.

Ayers selects scenes from a variety of operas to match the voices and skills of each year's class.

"Opera Workshop is structured to challenge students’ perceptions of what they may think it takes to be a professional singer by showing them the hard work involved,” she said in a press release.

One student took those lessons to heart. Juan Amaya, a senior at Ellington, has spent more than two years working on score for his original work, Cinde'ella.

Amaya's work will be among those performed at this May's class production A Night at the Opera: The Many Faces of Cinderella.

The production runs Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25 at the school's Ellington Theater. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased on-line at www.ellingtonschool.org (click on BuyTickets Now) or at the door for $10.