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Act Too Studio Opera Workshop

Teen-powered opera

You are here: Home / Blog / Student Stories: Brandon

May 3, 2017 by Melinda Beasi

Student Stories: Brandon

Just 2 hours left, and we’re heading into the last Golden Ticket hour in this year’s Valley Gives! Here’s another student statement, from Brandon, who was one of the founding members of the workshop, and will be playing a major role in this summer’s opera before heading off to college!

“Hi I’m Brandon and I’m a current senior at Amherst Regional High-School. Act Too Studio Opera Workshop has meant the world to me. Three summers ago we had the first performance of scenes from the second act of The Marriage of Figaro. I signed up not fully knowing what I was getting myself into but ended up having an amazing time! I had done musical theater for years, but never opera and I had no idea that opera could be just as hilarious, thought provoking, and engaging as musical theater. I learned to love and respect an entirely different style of music that I have continued to learn and love over the past several years.

Melinda and Act Too Studio Opera Workshop provide something that is incredibly unique and necessary for The Pioneer Valley. There are plenty of opportunities for teen performers to participate in musicals, plays, or choirs where classical music is sometimes performed, but there is almost no other opportunity for teens to participate and get engaged in the world of Opera with a group of likeminded peers. While next year in college I will ultimately be studying Musical Theater, I will do so in a music centered program that still allows for me to sing and train classically as well as audition for operas. I would have not chosen or let alone been accepted to that program if it weren’t for Act Too Studio and The Opera Workshop, so truly this organization means the world to me. Please consider donating, it makes such a difference for an ever-growing amount of teenage singers in our community!”

Please consider Brandon and all our teens during these final hours of Valley Gives! DONATE NOW!

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Filed Under: Blog, Valley Gives 2017

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