Lock Springs girl debuts at Kansas City Lyrical Opera

Emilee Minnick, 11, a sixth grader, Lock Springs will have her lyric debut in a 10 member children’s chorus of the Kansas City Lyric Opera season opener of Giacomo Puccini’s powerhouse, the romantic tragedy La boheme on September 25, 27 and 29, 2002. Emilee will appear in Act I as an urchin and will be singing with the children’s opera chorus in all of Act II.

One of the most popular operas in history, and inspiration for the Broadway musical “Rent,” La boheme is the classic story of young bohemians in Paris. La boheme will be performed in Italian with electronic translations above the stage.

Emilee attended the two week Lyric Opera Summer Camp where the activities centered upon the time period and action in “La boheme” as they studied the opera in-depth and learned a large portion of the Italian language and the music. Daily schedule included singing, music reading, Italian, choral rehearsal with high quality music and emphasis on correct vocal technique, as well as theater workshops, and field trips. They visited Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art which included an art class, and also attended the New Theatre to see the Broadway musical “Scarlet Pimpernel.” The Camp had visits from the Lyric’s Maestro, opera designers, and professional opera singers.

Campers prepared a full choral recital and a 40 minute opera to conclude the camp. Opera rehearsals began on August 12th.

Emilee is the daughter of Ron and Pam Minnick. She is a voice student of Sharon Gray, Director of Vocal Studies, MO Western State College, and piano student of Jerry Anderson, Director of Keyboard Studies, MO Western. Emilee attended MO Western’s spring 2002 opera class and appeared as Casey in their opera, “Different Fields” in April. She was soloist with the St. Joseph Combined Church Good Friday Services where they performed Rutter’s “Requiem” in Latin. She is a member of the Young MAIster Singers in Independence who perform with the Kansas City Symphony. She attended the American Choral Directors Assoc. Honors Choir in March, 2002, in Houston, TX. Emilee has appeared as Tootie in “Meet Me in St. Louis” with the CHS High School, and as Marta in “Sound of Music” with St. Joseph’s Roubidoux Resident Theatre. She was a member of the Children’s Chorus in “Casper: The Musical” at Starlight Theatre in 2001. Emilee studies harp and violin, attending Suzuki Violin Institute each summer in Kansas. She is also a company dancer at Ballet Arts Dance Studio.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City is one of the nation’s premier regional opera companies, and is now in its 45th season with 89 different productions (27 of which are American operas) to its credit.

When the Lyric Opera began in 1958 it had a very modest budget of $34,000. Today, the Company has a budget of $3,347,000, owns the Lyric Theatre, and has a scene shop in which it builds one or two productions each season. The Company embarked on a major endowment campaign in September 1999 with a goal of ten million dollars.