Lion King Rehearsal with Vox and Opera Laurier students (K. Barber, October 2024)

We’ve always had students at Laurier who loved music theatre first. This love was, once upon a time, tolerated (barely), but never nurtured. The times, as they say, are a’changin’. This past month, we have been collaborating with Vox (our CCM choral ensemble, led by Amanda Kind) on two of our 7 opera/MT excerpts in a wild crossover between grand opera (Carmen) and contemporary music theatre (Elton John and Tim Rice’s The Lion King).

Lest one question my personal bona fides: I myself would have identified much more as a lover of music theatre, rock and pop than an opera aficionado in the years before I started studying music at the University level. But once I arrived on that scene, I was a quick study in drinking the Kool-Aid of opera/classical music supremacy. Back in those days, we were told that if you sang any of those genres other than classical, it was not “responsible” singing. The only “true technique” was a classical, bel canto one, and all other styles were dangerous to our vocal health. We engaged in them at our peril (and if we did so at all, most certainly without the knowledge or certainly the approval of our teachers).

Fast forward to the current point in time, and here we are, exercising the idea of crossover in a rather daring way. We’re melding the worlds of opera and commercial music, and working on our ability to practice both classical and CCM technique authentically. We’re approaching this work with a sense of humour and humility, and the ground rules of respect: for one another’s style, knowledge, understanding and experience. It’s been a challenge on lots of levels, but also immensely rewarding. Seeing the joy on the faces of the students as they feel a full-bodied connection through their music (we’ve also been collaborating with master drummer and dancer, visiting scholar from Ghana, Dr. Sylvanus Kwashie Kuwor, who’s put the students through their movement paces!) has been just one of the many thrills. Another is to hear the sound of those 75-ish voices together–50 from Vox and 24 from Opera–in our recital hall, singing their hearts out.

Tomorrow, for the first time, we will put together the Carmen scene on stage, and some of the Vox students will sing opera for the first time. For many of the students, this “crossing over” into an unfamiliar genre is daunting, regardless of which side of the musical house they feel at home in. But it feels to me like a new day dawning where we realize we are closer to one another than we think. That we can learn from and admire one another’s expertise. That we have more in common than what makes us different. And that these differences can be celebrated and also bridged by learning one another’s ways. It feels like a tonic in these polarized times.