Opera Goes to School at Lawton Elementary

This week the Young Artists headed to Lawton Elementary School in Seattle for the first week of Opera Goes to School. The students performing in Siegfried and the Ring of Fire spent a few days with teaching artists Vanessa Miller and RJ Tancioco—Miller directs the production and Tancioco plays the role of Father Rhine and leads the student orchestra—before the Young Artists arrived. The cast then spent the next day of rehearsal working together to put the finishing touches on their production before performing for students, teachers, and their families on Thursday afternoon.



Opera Goes to School had been to Lawton two years ago with Theft of the Gold, an adaptation of Das Rheingold. "Many of the 5th grade students remembered seeing Theft," said Justina Schwartz, Education Events Manager. "It was nice that they were now able to see the continuation of the story."

At a post-performance Q&A session yesterday, the children in the audience were full of questions. They were curious if Siegfried’s sword and Wotan’s spear were real (that must have been some excellent sword fighting by our Siegfried and Wotan, Michael Krzankowski and Erik Anstine!), expressed some concern about scary Wotan, and wanted to know if Siegfried and Brünnhilde actually kissed. The kissing, and the whole concept of "love" got a huge reaction from the audience, said Schwartz. Some were cheering and giving thumbs-ups, several kids were chatting, and there were many "eeewww!" reactions, as well.

"The week was great," Schwartz said "And it was a great way to start our five-week program."

Next week, Opera Goes to School heads up to Cottonwood Elementary School in Yakima for another fun-filled session.