Pittsburgh Opera began rehearsing for their opening performance three weeks ago. But what of the children?
The opera season commences with Puccini’s “Tosca” on Saturday, a tragic tale of passion, betrayal and violent death. The score calls for young voices to bolster the adult chorus’ ranks during the opening act, and 14 members of Pittsburgh Youth Chorus have stepped up.
What: Pittsburgh Opera Tosca
When: Oct. 7 at 8 p.m.; Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.; Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 15 at 2 p.m.
Where: Benedum Center, Downtown
Tickets: $12-$160; opera.culturaldistrict.org
They’re all between the ages of 10 and 13, and they’ve been rehearsing since August.
“In one of our early meetings, one of the kids raised their hands and said, I already read the whole opera and I know she commits suicide at the end.’ We approach the subject matter delicately, but the kids all handle it really well,” said Shawn Funk, artistic director of the PYC.
Mr. Funk has been involved with the chorus for 25 years in various capacities. He took over as director in 2015. He leads initial rehearsals with the children before they begin rehearsing with the opera.
“Working with the opera means learning music that’s slightly more difficult than our standard rep, depending on the language,” he said. (”Tosca’s” libretto is in Italian.) “We start early to make sure the kids are ready when full rehearsals start.”
Pittsburgh Youth Chorus, formerly the Children’s Festival Chorus, was founded in 1983 and has partnered with organizations including the Pittsburgh Opera, the Mendelssohn Choir, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Ballet and others since the 1980s. The organization serves roughly 170 kids a year.
It’s the go-to youth choir for Pittsburgh’s professional ensembles.
“It’s not infrequent for someone to come up to me when I’m travelling and visiting other opera companies or festivals and say, ‘you don’t remember me, but I was in the children’s chorus of the opera once,” said Christopher Hahn, general director of Pittsburgh Opera.
Mr. Hahn said that it is common for opera singers to first get their feet wet singing in a youth chorus.
“It’s a very important first taste of music for many students, and when they’re around world-class voices like here at the opera, sometimes something just clicks,” he said.
During Pittsburgh Opera’s previous season, Alexandra Loutsion, a former PYC member, headlined the opera’s production of Puccini’s “Turandot,” and she’s far from the only youth chorus alumni to pursue a professional career in music on graduating.
“The kids are so inspired when they collaborate with the professionals, and sometimes you see the parents continuing to go to the opera even after their kid have aged out of the youth chorus,” said Mr. Funk. “The Opera staff is great about connecting to the kids’ parents, which speaks highly of their intent to reach out to the community and get people involved.”
Mr. Funk said that the children will appear in two scenes. They’ll be dressed as choir boys and perform alongside the adult chorus.
The opera is selective in taking kids to perform onstage. They look for children of certain height, gender and age. Additionally, the kids need to be physically capable of singing with the volume to complement the adult chorus—not an easy feat.
“It’s kind of a competition to see who can sing the loudest,” said Silas Balbach, 13, of Moon. “Every part of singing with the adult chorus is really cool.”
The opera pays PYC a stipend to cover the cost of initial rehearsals for the conductor’s services. Other recent PYC appearances with the opera have included “Turandot,” “The Summer King,” “Carmen” and more.
“We’ve come to a real understanding with the youth chorus as to what we’re looking for,” said Mr. Hahn. “We need a partnership with a group that’s really flexible and understands the needs of a stage, and the youth chorus does that very well.”
Leah Crocetto stars as Floria Tosca in this production. Mark Delavan performs as the villain Scarpia and Thiago Arancam sings as Mario Cavaradossi.
Jeremy Reynolds: jreynolds@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1634; twitter: @Reynolds_PG.
First Published: October 1, 2017, 11:48 p.m.