Earlier this month, Tappan Zee High School Concert Choir and Chorale members and students enrolled in the Interactive Music and Singing Actor courses attended a performance of a brand-new opera at the Metropolitan Opera.
TZHS Choral Director Russell Wagoner, DMA organized the trip for students to attend the final dress rehearsal of Kevin Puts’ “The Hours” prior to the official opening on November 22. “This is a wonderful opportunity each year for our students to attend an opera, especially as many students have never seen a fully staged opera before, and to see what happens inside the Metropolitan Opera. The students were able to see the final steps where the technical aspects are fine-tuned and how the opera is brought together into a polished performance,” explained Wagoner. “In addition, this experience enables them to see how opera is different from musical theatre and to learn how the audience etiquette differs.”
“The Hours” is based on the novel by Michael Cunningham and 2002 movie, starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman. The plot focuses on three women of different generations whose lives are interconnected by the 1925 novel “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf. “The students thoroughly enjoyed the opera and found it powerful both musically and dramatically with many anxious to attend another next year or sooner,” Wagoner said.
