Opera is no place for the effete.
Aiden Brooks learned a lot about himself and the tough world of making a living in the fine arts in the Atlanta Opera’s High School Institute.
The sophomore had considered a career in singing, but the eight-month program stripped away the romance of life on the stage.
“I keep on thinking I should [go into opera], but there is so much unreliability in the profession,” he said.
Rosie Hughes, another of the 16 students who sang her way into the program through an audition, is off to college next fall. She is not attending a music conservatory, but will leave the door open to a musical career, she said.
The students said what they learned in the program should put them in good stead with any career they chose, in opera or elsewhere. They learned about personal presentation, hard work, production, auditioning and had that rare experience for high-schoolers — being treated as peers among professionals. They took voice lessons, heard advice from doctors on caring for their voices and attended dress rehearsals for the Atlanta Opera’s performances.
“I wouldn’t think I would describe the opera program as fun, but I really did enjoy every day,” Hughes said.
The four-year-old program has exposed more than 50 high school students from across metro Atlanta — and their parents — to a world teenagers rarely experience.
“You really get to get an understanding of what it’s like to be a professional singer,” Brooks said.
The brainchild of Emmalee Hackshaw, the opera’s director of community engagement, and developed with Chorus Master Walter Huff, the High School Institute gives students high-level training uncommon for teenagers.
“This is something they are not going to get in their schools,” Hackshaw said.
The program was designed to give a boost to high school students who hope to continue their study on the collegiate level. It’s also a way for the opera to give to the community; it raises all the money for the program and its staff gives time to it. And hopefully, it helps prepare the next generation of great singers, Hackshaw said.
The institute began with 11 students and has added larger groups every year as the word has gotten around to high school choruses and band programs. More students are applying every year.
“It’s gotten more competitive,” Hackshaw said.
Students who finish the program perform in a concert. This year’s selections will include pieces by Mozart, Bizet, Menotti and others.
The free performance takes place 4 p.m. on Sun., June 9, at Morningside Presbyterian Church (1411 N. Morningside Drive in Atlanta).
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