I was the emcee tonight for a most enjoyable event – a gala concert celebrating the fifth anniversary of a local group called Opera A La Carte, which gives young people of all ages (grade school through high school) the opportunity to perform in opera. This group is the brainchild of a local singer and voice teacher named Kathryn Peperkorn and it has been a smashing success. From its modest beginnings five years ago (six singers performing for an audience of seventy people) it has grown to a full-blown organization that does several productions per year and involving ever more young performers. Tonight’s concert was a celebration of all that has happened thus far and all that is ahead- and for the occasion, Kathryn brought together some of the singers who have participated before with some rather high-powered friends of hers who were special guest artists. And I was the emcee entrusted with keeping things moving and providing some transitions and introductory remarks that I hope were helpful. I was also one of the guest artists, singing an aria from Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale.” I was so glad I could do this- especially because Kathryn has asked me on several occasions to be a part of Opera A La Carte, and I have never been able to participate because of one conflict or another. But this time around i was free and wild horses could not have kept me away from this particular celebration. . . because anything that gets people excited about Opera is okay by me.
The guest artists included a woman who graduated from Luther College six years before I did. She was Karen Gesme there but is now Karen Brunnsen, a voice teacher at Northwestern University and a marvelous mezzo soprano. (She happens to be Kathryn’s voice teacher, which is why she came to be a part of this.) I still vividly remember the first time I heard her sing when she came back to do a guest recital. (I was a freshman or sophomore.) I had never heard a bigger voice in my life – nor ever heard such a big voice move with such agility. I feel like my jaw must have been on the floor all night, so awesome was her singing. What’s great is that even though she has gone on to do a lot of important singing in some major places, she remains as warm and down- to – earth as ever. . . and I saw that tonight as she warmly complimented some of the other singers who were on the program and otherwise was sincerely interested in and excited about all that was happening tonight. (She offered an aria, “Cruda sorte” from Rossini’s “L’Italiana in Algeri” and brought down the house with it.
There were lots of other things to enjoy tonight as well- including some first-rate ballet dancing courtesy of some guests from the Milwaukee Ballet (it is so neat to watch great ballerinas up close) . . . but I think a lot of people most enjoyed the final chorus from “Hansel and Gretel” featuring some incredibly darling little children who sang their little hearts out. The little kids were also out on the stage for an excerpt from an operatic version of “The Three Little Pigs” featuring the music of Mozart, and seeing these darling little girls wearing fake pig noses was all I needed to be glad I came.
But mostly it was just neat to be part of a celebration of something that has really made a difference in the lives of the young people who have been part of it – and in this day and age when so much in the arts is shriveling or withering, it is so exciting and gratifying to see something flourishing. And my hat goes off to Kathryn Peperkorn for making it happen. As her teacher Karen Brunnsen told me backstage, a lot of people get good ideas and will go so far as to talk about them. . . but it is quite another matter to bring an idea to fruition and then to sustain it through those first couple of challenging years. She has done that, and thanks to her there are some young people in Southeastern Wisconsin now who are not about to wrinkle up their noses at the word OPERA – – – but who instead can hardly wait for their next chance to be part of one.
pictured above: Kathryn Peperkorn, the creator of Opera A La Carte- with her voice teacher, Karen Brunnsen.