Opera Louisiane using young artists for Mozartiana program

• By ROBIN MILLER
• Arts writer
• Published: Apr 13, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Tiffany Bostic.

And Jennifer Crippen. And Kathryn Drake.

And Jennifer Juilfs, Susan Ruggeiro, Johnnie Bankens, Terrance Brown, Brandon Hendrickson and Adam Holcomb.

They are the performers in Opera Louisiane’s Young Artists program. They also will combine for the main attraction at Opera Louisiane’s Mozartiana.

The program will be at 8 p.m. Friday, April 18, at First Baptist Church of Baton Rouge. It could be called a concert or even a series of mini operas.

Robert Grayson calls it an introduction. Simple as that.

“It’s our way of introducing these young artists to the community,” he said.

It’s also Opera Louisiane’s way of previewing things to come.

Grayson is founder and executive director of Opera Louisiane, which will stage W.A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute Sept. 18-19 in the Baton Rouge River Center Theatre. These will be morning performances for school children.

“And we’ll be doing an afternoon performance for the general public on that Saturday,” Grayson said.

Keep in mind that The Magic Flute runs at least four hours when performed in its entirety. School children’s attention spans wouldn’t last through such a performance, even with Opera Louisiane performing it in English.

“So we’ve compressed it for time, and we will be performing it in English,” Grayson said.

Just as some of the selections for Mozartiana will be performed in English. Again, this program is just as much about the performers as it is the music.