St. Patrick's Day Opera
Produced by students, this opera entertains
By Sara Weikel, Cottonwood/Holladay Journal, (April, 2007)

Students at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School accomplished a monumental feat: an opera written and performed by first- and eighth-graders. The students worked with Utah Symphony and Opera composer-in-resi-dence Jolene Clarke to create an original opera for St. Patrick’s Day. The kids wrote the words of the Irish-themed opera themselves. Clarke wrote music based on traditional Irish rhythms and melodies and helped the students organize their ideas.

By the time Clarke and the kids performed their finished work together in the school’s gym on March 15, they had created a wonderful piece of art. “I’m just a helper, because [the kids] know what they want to do,” said Jeannie Pence, one of the first-grade teachers supervising the opera, “ . . . they’re so empowered.”

Pence learned how to teach kids about opera when she attended “Music. Words. Opera.,” a program for educators taught by Utah Symphony and Opera Education Director Paula Fowler. Pence worked alongside Sharon Rasmussen, the other first-grade teacher, and Kathy O’Melia, eighth-grade teacher, to help the St. Vincent’s opera become reality.

The St. Vincent’s opera is a compilation of Irish history, traditions and symbols tied together by St. Vincent’s itself, and the school’s connections with Ireland. The opera begins with the first-graders coming back to school after winter break. They see the green roof of the school’s pavilion – represented by a paper copy on stage – and it reminds them of Ireland. So they ask fictional Irish teacher “Mr. O’Connor,” who is played by an eighth-grader, to tell them about Ireland. His story leads into the arrival of the Irish nuns who founded St. Vincent’s.

The opera goes on to include harp performances, a “fire and ice” dance, an explanation of the colors of Ireland’s flag, and a monologue given by “St. Patrick.” It wraps up by telling about the hedge schools, secret places where Irish storytellers would teach the children histories and traditions forbidden by their English rulers. The hedge school transitions into the opera’s final scene, a retelling of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde’s “The Selfish Giant.” The green paper pavilion roof is removed to reveal the giant’s castle underneath.

The opera was certainly a monumental accomplishment. But one thing that made the going smoother, Pence said, was the one-on-one mentoring program the first- and eighth-graders do together all year. Not only were the first-graders already accustomed to accepting help and taking cues from their eighth-grade buddies, having the eighth-graders close by gave them enough confidence to perform in front of a packed house. Also, the eighth-graders learned a great deal of responsibility while looking out for the first-graders, O’Melia said. They have these little ones looking up to them, and they don’t want to let them down.

In a writing assignment done the day after the performance, the first-graders told how they felt about the opera. Statements repeated by more than one kid were not just “It was fun” and “I learned about Ireland.” They also wrote that being in the opera had made them feel special or proud of themselves, not to mention, “I want to do it again.”

“You never know,” said principal Mark Longe, “what one experience in elementary school will do for a child.” Funding for the St. Vincent’s opera was provided by the Utah Symphony and Opera and the Hibernian Society.

Photo Credit: Valley Journals