Creating opera's youngest fans: all our companies have a serious interest in showing kids how much fun opera can be.

"I just had to e-mail you about something exciting, truly beautiful and inspirational happening here," wrote baritone John Fanning. The "something exciting" was Opera de Quebec's Draw Me An Opera millennium competition for children in the Quebec City region. Students were asked to submit set, costume and prop designs for a June 2000 production of Mozart's Die Zauberflote. All winners' names were listed in the production program, and every design was displayed in the theatre during the run of the show.

Fanning, who played the role of the Speaker, was enthusiastic about the children's participation. "With the capability of kids in these situations," he said, "and the kind of impression it makes, well, they had it all in spades. It really had the feeling of excitement, honesty and commitment. It was a great pleasure and honor to be part of it."

The Opera de Quebec competition is just one example of the way in which Canadian opera companies are making the effort to educate children about opera. Although the approaches taken by individual companies are as varied as our country's geography, the goal remains the same--to promote an enduring love of opera and its related art forms.

There are a number of educational strategies common to most companies: young artists programs, which allow children the chance to hear promising beginners; dress rehearsals and matinees that students can attend; and special rates for younger audiences. Sponsorships sometimes allow children who normally couldn't afford to attend productions to see an opera. But in addition, each company has its own inventive ideas to lure children into the magical world of opera.

L'Opera de Montreal, for instance, treats its youngest fans to abridged afternoon matinees. Last May, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, complete with sets, costumes and piano accompaniment, was presented to young audiences in one hour. OdeM also gives teachers enticing study guides containing cartoons, material about the current opera and information on the latest CDs, videos and Websites. According to Elise Cote, OdeM's director of development, the education program has been enhanced over the past 10 years as a result of feedback from both teachers and students. "L'Opera de Montreal has made a firm commitment to pursue this important activity," says Cote, "for the benefit of the younger generation who will be our audience in the future."

Like L'Opera de Quebec, Opera Lyra Ottawa has a program called Draw Me An Opera. In Opera Lyra's case, the company launched a partnership with the National Gallery of Canada that has proved so successful, there are plans for further collaborations. The first venture worked like this: to prepare for an abridged English version of La Cenerentola, families could go on a 45-minute tour of the National Gallery, during which staff answered questions about art and, in particular, architecture. The children were shown paintings of different types of buildings and were asked what types of people might have lived in them, when the buildings were built and how they might have been paid for. The families then returned to the gallery's rotunda where they were asked to help Cinderella and her evil stepsisters build three-dimensional castles--whereupon Cinderella and her stepsisters suddenly appeared and mingled with the families, did some role-playing and even sang.

The children's castles were displayed at the National Gallery for two months, and were moved to the lobby of the University of Ottawa theatre in time for the abridged performance. "We had children as young as four years old coming to our Cinderella and being enthralled by it," says Mark Douglas Trask, Opera Lyra's director of marketing and development. "It's important to start the opera experience as early as possible."

The Canadian Opera Company in Toronto has two distinct opera programs for children: the Esso after-school program and the Altamira summer opera camp. The Esso program encourages kids to write their own opera so they can, according to the COC's education co-ordinator Bramwell Pemberton, "break in on the misconceptions of opera. By enabling students to write their own works, we give them the tools to understand the different layers of opera." The Altamira summer camp, too, encourages creativity. Participating children spend one week moving through music, drama and design activities, with additional workshops in mime, stage make-up, creative movement and stage combat. The children also tour the COC's facilities, get to hear the professional singers rehearse and even perform themselves, both in the opera they work on during the week and at the Altamira Harbourfront concert.

Opera Ontario, based in Hamilton, recently launched its Strathcona Community Opera Project in Hamilton's north end, the oldest part of the city and one that contains a rich diversity of cultures and incomes. Children who had never attended operas worked with Opera Ontario staff, a professional composer and a dramatist to create an opera about the history of their neighborhood. What started out as a group of disinterested young people was transformed into a troupe that researched and diligently practised its unique take on Canadian history. Eventually, they took their show on the road, performing for elementary students, and also attended dress rehearsals of Opera Ontario's Aida, Tosca and Faust. "Now I know opera is anything but boring," says an enthusiastic 10-year-old.

In Alberta, Calgary Opera's Let's Create An Opera program also allows kids to create their own operas by partnering a school with professional artists, technical personnel, writers and composers. Schools consistently report a wave of creativity, an increase in teamwork and a positive attitude that spills over into other curriculum areas. "I really enjoyed being in the opera," wrote one student. "My parents thought it was worth Three Million Dollars."

Edmonton Opera increased last year's attendance at dress rehearsals by an impressive 25 percent by adding the bonus of a post-rehearsal discussion with the company's artistic director and/or general manager. Children were particularly fascinated by the added attraction of the curtain being left up for all scene changes. These interactive performances, plus informative study guides, entice students to come from as far away as Cold Lake and Fort McMurray.

On the west coast, Vancouver Opera has a 28-year record for its Opera in the Schools program--not a surprise, considering what the company offers. School children of all ages are treated to what the company calls "fast-paced, quick-change productions" featuring rising young Canadian singers and scores played on electronic keyboards, with study guides and cassettes also provided. Productions have ranged from L'Elisir d'Amore to The Pirates of Penzance to this year's Die Zauberflote. In addition, schools can subscribe to Opera Encore, an additional 45 minutes of mainstage opera repertoire sung in the original language. The results are magical: every year, VO receives hundreds of letters and art offerings from enthusiastic students. No wonder communications manager Doug Tuck tells adults and children that opera is "the best music you'll ever see."

Ultimately, the depth of children's involvement in these programs depends on the enthusiasm, creativity and knowledge of the education workers, who also have to be able to get much-needed grants and find teachers willing to embrace the world of opera. "Perception is so important in our business," says Michael Cavanagh, Edmonton Opera's artistic director, "and the fact remains that people, including educators, often perceive opera as stuffy and boring."

As well, opera professionals frequently help to spread the word about the joys of opera. Canadian baritone Allan Monk, for instance, uses his spare time to visit schools in the cities where he is performing. "Music is a part of everyone's life," says Monk. "Why can we not excite youth to appreciate and enjoy it as much as we interest them in sport? It is teamwork, coeducational, free--if you can breathe and speak, you can sing--exhilarating, challenging, rewarding, confidence-building and a lifetime activity." Monk's presentations involve the students in vocal and breathing exercises, and he primes them on what should be expressed in and listened for in music. He even brings along actual performance wigs and moustaches, which usually end up on a student or, even better, a teacher. "This," said one student after Monk's one-man show, "has been one of the best days of my life."

Then there is director Brian Deedrick, who, even after a late-night dress rehearsal, got up for a breakfast with a group of primary children in Ottawa's National Arts Centre cafeteria. But learning can be a two-way street. "As you all know," Deedrick wrote after seeing a group of primary students performing Aida, "opera can be the most infuriating and crazy job in the world! And just when it feels like it's too much, along comes an astonishing experience like your performance and I'm in love with opera again."

Music critic Hugh Fraser summed it up when he wrote, "Kids aren't at their best when forced to sit and listen or watch other people do stuff. Give them the perfect toy that does it all for them and they'll play with the box it came in. Same with opera. Have them do an opera themselves and away they go, holding it up to the light, letting their imaginations run wild, singing, dancing, making it their own. Then they'll watch that opera and then you watch out. They'll be more informed, more critical and better equipped to watch it than the people in the expensive seats wearing the fur, diamonds, and tuxedos."