RRPS hits the high notes with new opera club

RIO RANCHO – The world-renowned Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is teaming up with Rio Rancho Public Schools to introduce middle-schoolers to the wonders of opera with the Santa Fe Opera Active Learning Through Opera (ALTO) club.

ALTO Club is free, and snacks are provided at all rehearsals. Absolutely zero experience is required, according to a release from RRPS.

The district and the SFO, “will be sponsoring weekly student-produced opera sessions where students will work with teaching artists from the Santa Fe Opera to develop the storyline, write the words and compose the music for their own mini-operas,” said Dr. Kurt Schmidt, RRPS executive director of fine arts, in an email.

Each student will produce a 10-minute mini-opera. After the creative process is complete, the operas will be presented to friends, family and the opera-loving community at a performance at the Rio Rancho High School Performing Arts Center at 6 p.m. Dec. 11 at 6 p.m.

ALTO is an initiative from SFO, which was started in 2010 with a focus on the Santa Fe School District. It has since spread to the Albuquerque Public School system and now to RRPS.

ALTO uses a process known as Arts Integration, which is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding of concepts through various artforms.

“Opera includes elements of all art forms, so ALTO teaching artists give students creative tools in dance, theater, music, poetry, visual arts or media arts while students engage in a creative process to make original art that expresses their understanding of something else they’re learning in school,” says the Santa Fe Opera website. “Students engage in a creative process, which connects an artform and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.”

In the case of RRPS, the artform will be opera, and the students will create pieces around various subjects in math, English language studies and social studies.

Sessions have already begun, but it’s never too late to get involved. For more information, visit santafeopera.org.

Sessions begin:

Lincoln Middle School: Aug. 19

Eagle Ridge Middle School: Aug. 27

Rio Rancho Middle School: Aug. 22

Mountain View Middle School: Aug. 22