TATIANA VASILIEVA’S work in life is bringing opera to the people. y EVELYN JACOB News Reporter “T believe it's my mission to promote opera to children. Kids should be exposed to opera at the earliest age possible,’’ says Vasilieva, who trained in Italy and sang on operatic stages in England, Germany, Switzerland and Eastern Europe. For the past eight years, the Yugoslavian-born soprano has in- troduced opera into Lower Mainiand classrooms with her well-known touring company, Opera On the Go. Hundreds of school-age children receive their first taste of opera, not only by watching and listening — but by participating in actual productions. Prior to each show students receive costumes, sheet music and a one-nour training session — all the ammunition they need to deliver a performance in English {and occasionally in French and Italian) before the entire school. Vasilieva says the procedure is so simple that even kids with no previous experience in music or drama can take part. Although most students are en- thusiastic about joining in, Vasilieva emphasizes that the shyer ones aren’t made to participate. “We don’t want ‘o force them to an inch in width —any lengt | FOR EXAMPLE: 76"x84” 76”x $1.99 = sing along. We want them to be spontaneous.”" After the show each student receives a kit which includes a synopsis of the story, a crossword puzzle based on what they have learned from the performance, and a connect the dots and color-in section featuring story characters. “We give them the kits so the teacher can see how much they understood,’’ she says. Last year Opera On the Go took the well-loved children’s opera, Hansel and Gretel to Greater Van- couver schools, and this year the North Vancouver company is br- inging to life Mozart’s Magic Flute. Former artistic director and founder of Atlantic Opera Society, Vasilieva says opera was originally intended only for the aristocracy — until Mozart began popularizing it with The Magic Flute. ‘“‘Mozart wrote the Magic Flute as a simple fairy tale so the masses could understand it. People came and ate and drank there. It wasn’t so sophisticated.”’ Opera has more recently been viewed as a dying art, but with large-scale productions such as Aida and Phantom of the Opera, Vasilieva believes it is making a dramatic come-back. ‘‘These shows are starting to make a bridge from serious opera io popu- lar opera.”’ See Opera Page 47 \ Wy, men? PAGE 46 y. oe AES ALT A RRSP SCAN AS Pate. NEWS photo Mike Wakefield Cloverdale Paint & Sale Dates: Oct. 6-22, 1989 — Cloverdale Cloverdale 03330 INTERIOR / EXTERIOR RORERTE RIOR * ARITRES « All In Stock Wallpaper AND Selecied Flat Alkyd Eggsheil Alkyd Semi-Gioss Alkyd ALL ON SALES Cloverdale Paint HOURS: Monday - Thursday: 7:30 am-5:30 pm Fri: 7.39 am-9:00 pm: Sat.: 9:06 am-5:30 om: Sundays & Holidays: 10:00 am-5:00 pm 1629 Lonsdale Avenue Across from Supervalu 985-6815 ARTISTIC DIRECTOR and principal soloist for Opera on the Go, Tatiana Vasilieva believes people should be exposed to opera at an early age.