NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Actors in rehearsal walked into place as a woman played a melody on the piano. The music was from an opera named Tosca. It was first performed in Rome in 1900. Nashville Opera is opening their season with a classic. With that comes a special chance for a group to join.
15 kids, ages nine to 13, are part of this production of Tosca. One of them was 13-year-old Louisa Griffith.
"I've been singing since I was born!" she said.
Louisa's done a lot of musical theater shows. Being part of an opera for the first time has been eye-opening.
"Once they started singing, I was like, 'wow!'" Louisa said. "Their voices are just so powerful. I can't really hear myself, it's so loud! My ears are accustomed to it now."
Louisa and the other kids are with Nashville Choral Institute. That program's executive director Tyler Merideth said a collaboration with Nashville Opera was not something they'd miss.
"My word, I was thrilled because I know these kids had never done something like this before," Merideth nodded. "To expose these kids to world class musicianship, it's just amazing."
The Nashville Opera's Tosca is being performed at TPAC on October 8 and 10.
For the team behind the show, there's something pretty great about taking a 126-year-old work of art and introducing that to a new generation.
"I'm sure there's going to be one or two in this group that may have a career in this," Merideth said.
"It's so cool to be around people who have been singing their entire lives," Louisa said. "It's so cool to hear my voice with their voices! In the moment, you're like, 'this is where I'm supposed to be!'"
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
September 11, 2001 is a day most associate with terror and tragedy. Austin Pollack shares a story from that day about hope and persistence: the effort to save a little girl’s life – with an organ donation. The problem? The young patient was in Houston, and her life-saving liver here in Nashville. With the grounding of all civilian aircraft, how could it be done? “Nobody ever said this isn’t possible.”
- Rhori Johnston
