“Cinderella in Spain” comes to ECISD

ECISD elementary students will experience the joy of professional opera when Houston Opera to Go presents “Cinderella in Spain” (“Cinderella en España”) at Bonham Junior High Monday, Feb.15, and Tuesday, Feb. 16. The general public is invited to a free performance at 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 13, at Memorial Christian Church, 1001 Andrews Highway, Midland.

Houston Opera to Go recently received a grant from Texas Commission of the Arts to perform for both MISD and ECISD students. Midland Opera Theater had long been hoping to bring the group to both school systems, and the grant helped to make this possible.    The singers will alternate between English and Spanish, adding a bilingual dimension to the program.

“Students will have an opportunity to become acquainted with the genre, to hear accomplished, mature voices,” said Shawn Bell, executive director for fine arts for ECISD.   Bell is especially excited about the opera coming to Odessa because he is acquainted with one of the cast members.

“One of my former high school students in San Antonio is actually part of the cast,” Bell said. “Brian Shircliffe called me to see if I would be around, not knowing that I was involved in the production. It’s kind of neat that we made that connection.”

In addition to Shircliffe, a baritone, the cast consists of Hannah Celeste Lu, soprano; Alejandro Magallon, tenor; Cecilia Duarte, mezzo-soprano; and Dennis Arrowsmith, bass. Rebecca Combs is the pianist.

“All of our cast members also sing in the Houston Grand Opera chorus, appearing on the main stage with international opera stars, world-class artists, and they use that experience to inform their performances out in schools,” said Kade Smith,  Houston Opera to Go coordinator. “In the question-and-answer sessions with the students, they’re able to talk about the life of an opera singer.”

The opera has a wide range of vocal parts, which is part of the educational aspect of the performance. “We want them all to know what a soprano sounds like, what a tenor sounds like,” Smith said. “The terms are included in the vocabulary as part of a study guide that we send to teachers.”

“Cinderella in Spain” is written so that whatever is sung in one language is repeated in another. “In music, there is a lot of repetition,” Smith said. “People will be able to understand the story no matter whether they speak primarily English or primarily Spanish.”

This is Midland Opera Theater’s 30th Anniversary. For more information, visit the Midland Opera Theater website at www.midlandoperatheater.org.