Catholic Schools Week: Choir school students cast in Utah Opera productions

Courtesy photo/Melanie Malinka

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By participating with the Utah SymphonylUtah Opera, Madeleine Choir School students develop a variety of skills they could never learn in the classroom.

SALT LAKE CITY — Music is an integral part of the education of students at The Madeleine Choir School. All students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade have music classes. Students in the third and fourth grades can participate in the St. Dunstan Choir, and in fifth grade they can join one or more of the school’s formal choirs. They sing at Masses, special celebrations and concerts at the Cathedral of the Madeleine and occasionally at other venues and festivals. During the biennial international tour, the school’s choirs have sung at the Vatican; in alternate years they tour the United States.

But it’s not just sacred and choral music that the students are exposed to. For nearly two decades The Madeleine Choir School has partnered with Utah Symphony l Utah Opera to provide children’s choruses and soloists in many of its productions. This year, MCS students have been part of “La Boheme” and “Wozzeck,” and 25 of them are participating in “The Little Prince,” which runs through Jan.  28 at the JQ Lawson Capitol Theater. The lead role is being played by MCS seventh-grader Miles Keeton, 12. Another MCS seventh grader, Meg Nuvan, 12, is the understudy for the role.

Although performing in the opera during the school year can be a grueling schedule, the students love it, said the school’s choir director, Melanie Malinka, who grew up singing in a children’s choir at a large opera house in Germany.

For roles in the local productions, Malinka selects students based on their maturity level, performance and vocal ability, she said. Utah Opera’s staff then choose from a list of soloists, whom she prepares for the audition process.

Miles and Meg have been working with Malinka for about a year to prepare for their roles in “The Little Prince.” In October, members of the children’s chorus began learning the music for their parts, and had three days of staging rehearsals in early December. Since Jan.  2, they have had staging rehearsals six days a week.

Being part of the opera company’s productions is worth the time sacrifices, students say.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I did not want to pass up, and it is nice being part of something that gives so many people joy,” said Lucy, an eighth-grade student.

Being part of the opera cast “is a tremendous learning opportunity for our students,” Malinka said. “They get to experience the art form of opera in a completely different way than they would just in a classroom. They’re part of the process of putting an opera on stage from beginning to end, essentially. I think they, the students, walk away with a deep appreciation for opera, and just for the arts in general.”

Participating in the opera “is just such a unique opportunity,” she added. “So many skills are being learned by the students through being a musician or being an actor, and students in particular gain confidence, collaboration skills, time management skills or just simply stamina.”

Along with honing their own skills, MCS student participation in the operas is just one way they support the school’s mission of giving to the greater community, she said.