This weekend, we are holding auditions for the children’s chorus that will appear in this summer’s Tosca. We are looking to cast eight children aged 12 and younger. The children’s chorus is featured in the first act of the opera, which takes place in a church in Rome. The children are part of the church chorus that will be singing to celebrate the supposed defeat of Napolean. The Sacristan (to be sung by Robert Kerr) tries to keep them in line and get them ready to sing, but it’s an uphill battle until Scarpia arrives and everybody falls silent. The children then sing the Te Deum to end the first act, in what is one of my favorite act-closing numbers in opera.

Tracy Allen, a longtime member of the Glimmerglass Opera Chorus, has been helping us a lot by setting up a place to audition the children this Friday afternoon and Saturday and by spreading the word to music educators in all of the local counties.

The auditions will be held at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Richfield Springs from 5-7 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.  We are asking that auditioners bring a folk song, NYSSMA solo or something that they have been working on in chorus.  We will probably ask the children to match pitch, clap back rhythms, or speak back some Italian.    

I’m really looking forward to meeting all the talented young singers who audition this weekend.

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