THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509130189
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: K3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEAN GEDDES
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Opera is for everyone. That's the message opera fans are trying to promote.
``Most people feel opera is beyond their reach, that it's for somebody else. They envision men in tux and women in formal evening gowns,'' said Sharon Zucker, chairperson for the Virginia Opera Docents.
She had a lot more to say about opera misconceptions and what the docents are doing about it.
``We're working hard to dispel the mystique of opera by reaching out to the community and the schools with our educational programs,'' she said.
One successful program was the course ``Why Opera?'' offered by docents Eleanor Bader, Ros Bieber and Zucker in cooperation with the Adult Learning Center in Virginia Beach.
It was well received and these docents along with others will be presenting new courses related to opera beginning Sept. 27 at the center.
Included in the lecture series, which is usually given in two, two-hour sessions, is information about opera, composers, the era in which a specific opera was written and the country it came from.
``The next session will also include a backstage tour of the Harrison Opera House and hopefully we'll be able to see some of the scenery and some costumes,'' said Bader who lives in Virginia Beach and has been a docent since 1987.
According to Bader, an exciting time for area opera fans last year was the premiere of ``Simon Bolivar.''
``Not only because the composer, Thea Musgrave, and her husband who is also general director and maestro Peter Mark, are from the area but the fact that it was such an exciting production to mount,'' she said. ``There were over 300 costumes for the opera.''
Sharing their knowledge as well as interesting anecdotes with those who attend the courses, or take tours of the Harrison Opera House, is one of the things docents enjoy.
Bader said also that the opera has a studio the size of an airplane hangar in Chesapeake where sets are made and then rented out to other companies.
It also employs its own wigmaster who makes the wigs from real hair.
The docents say all of these added notes help make opera seem more real and exciting to both adults and children.
This fall the volunteers will be starting a new program called ``adopt a school.''
They will select a fifth-grade class from a local school and teach the children about opera, offering information about geography, history and literature pertaining to opera.
At the end of the course the docents will pay for the students' tickets to see ``The Barber of Seville.''
A story Zucker likes to tell is of Gioacchino Rossini, a composer in the early part of the 19th century in Italy.
``He was very prolific, some regarded him as a genius but he was also very lazy at times and one time was when the overture he had composed to `The Barber of Seville' was lost. Instead of composing a new one, he simply used an overture he had used for two previous operas.''
She also said that he retired at an early age, for although he loved composing, he disliked the bureaucracy involved in getting his operas produced.
So, he retired and lived to a ripe old age.
Tours of the opera house are popular and when people see the stage sometimes they get carried away, Zucker said.
Once, a group of women were taking the tour and one was known to have a nice singing voice.
Her friends encouraged her to go on stage and sing.
She did and they loved it.
From that time on, when docents conduct the tour, they tell anyone who is inclined to sing, to go ahead so they can tell their friends they once sang at the Harrison Opera House.
Also helping to do away with the ``opera mystique'' is Lisa Jardanhazy, director of marketing for Virginia Opera, who encourages all to attend the opera productions and not feel that they are strictly very formal events.
``We want people to come and enjoy the experience of seeing an opera. After all, opera is for everyone.'' by CNB