4. The Shreveport Opera to Arrive in Alexandria this Monday; Some Enchanted Evening Thursday
This Monday, Alexandria welcomes five talented young performers from the Shreveport Opera for a week-long residency which will include not only eight performances at local schools, but also an evening performance open to the general public. This busy week of activities has been made possible by the Arts Council of Central Louisiana and the Central Louisiana Community Foundation with generous support from McDonald’s of Alexandria.
As a music scholar and representative of the Arts Council, I will be accompanying the troupe as they bring their music to eight local schools, including Acadian Elementary, Cherokee Elementary, Holy Savior Menard, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Peabody Magnet, Peabody Montessori, Rosenthal Montessori, and St. James Episcopal. To younger audiences, this Shreveport Opera Xpress (SOX), as they call themselves, offers two world-premiere operas—one which seeks to teach children important lessons about leading a healthy lifestyle and another meant to counteract bullying. To its older audiences, SOX will present a show called Operatizers which will give many of these students their first exposure to opera and Broadway.
On Thursday, October 3, these same performers will present a show entitled Some Enchanted Evening—a title which references the famous song from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. South Pacific is only one of the shows featured in this evening’s concert, as the performers will also present famous arias and show tunes from La bohème, Carmen, Les Misérables, My Fair Lady, The Phantom of the Opera, Porgy and Bess, and West Side Story among others. Learn more about Thursday's repertoire in my informative program notes.
Thursday evening's concert will make a wonderful conclusion to a great week full of fun and singing for all age groups. Hope to see you at Some Enchanted Evening!
JSH 13.09.26
About Jackson. Jackson Harmeyer is a recent graduate of the Louisiana Scholars’ College—Louisiana’s designated honors college located on the campus of Northwestern State University. There, he studied music history, completing an undergraduate thesis entitled “Learning from the Past: The Influence of Johann Sebastian Bach upon the Soviet Composers.” Now living in Alexandria, he is one of the founding members of TicketCentral and will also be writing this season’s program notes for the Rapides Symphony Orchestra.
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