Local young people will have the opportunity to perform with Australia’s premier opera company this month.
Geelong Youth Choir (GYC) ensemble Cantore Choir will join Opera Australia (OA) as part of its production of Puccini’s La Bohème when the tour launches in Geelong on July 11 and 12.
The choristers, aged between 10 and 18, will be under the direction of Opera Australia’s children’s chorus master Michael Curtain, working with OA and rehearsing with the main cast ahead of the performances.
GYC previously performed with the national opera company when it brought the Barber of Seville to Geelong in 2023.
The choir’s director of music Phillipa McQuinn expressed her enthusiasm for the collaboration with OA.
“Geelong Youth Choir’s talented choristers who are members of our organisation’s Cantore Choir are so excited to have been selected by Opera Australia as the local children’s choir of choice,” Ms McQuinn said.
“This opportunity will further their musical education and ignite their passion, building on the high quality of tuition they already receive as part of our annual program.”
The production features Danita Weatherstone and Maia Andrews sharing the role of Mimi, while John Longmuir and Nick Kirkup play Rodolfo.
Director Dean Bryant said La Bohème was “a story about a group of young artists dealing with all the huge things in life for the first time”.
“Growing up in regional Australia, I had the same passion and urgency to be heard, to fall in love, to live, so it’s particularly exciting for me to be taking this production, set in Paris in the 1970s, across the country,” he said.
Visit geelongartscentre.org.au/whats-on/all-events/la-boheme for tickets and more information.
