Article Contributed on: 10/30/2009 3:10:46 PM
When Traciann Heisler told her fifth- and sixth-grade students at Bear Creek K-8 in Lakewood they would be studying opera this semester, the response wasn't exactly a standing ovation.
"They were freaking out," said Heisler, who has taught music for four years in Jeffco and 12 in Aurora Public Schools.
Bear Creek is one of 18 schools in 13 states participating in The Met: HD Live in the Schools.
The educational program brings live opera to students across the country and is an effort of the Metropolitan Opera Guild and the New York Education Department to build future opera audiences.
Students from Bear Creek will go to the Colorado Mills Mall in Golden on Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. and see a live opera broadcast in high definition on the theater screen. The students are studying the opera Turandot by Puccini in preparation for the trip.
Heisler said she doesn't present the music until the students have studied the story. In this case it's about an icy princess who deters offers of marriage by posing impossible riddles to her suitors. If they can't answer the riddles, she has them killed - your basic tale of revenge, moral twists, mysteries, dilemmas and love.
After a period of reading and talking about the story, Heisler introduced the music.
"Now the students don't want to quit. They keep asking to read it," said Heisler.
Met Opera publicist Charlie Siedenburg said, "The hope with this program is to build future opera audiences."
Heisler said, "This venue allows it to be more attainable. A lot of our kids can't afford to go downtown, or take transportation or go at night. The really interesting thing when you go to the theater is that there will be busloads of people from retirement homes. It's like getting the older generation and the younger generation to connect with one thing," said Heisler.