About
About YOUR CHILD’S MUSICAL WISH 501c3 and OPERA IS AWESOME, LLC
Your Child’s Musical Wish, a non-profit organization, through Opera Is Awesome, LLC, seeks to enrich the lives of all children though the arts of music, drama and dance. Utilizing melodious song, engaging drama and expressive dance, our program promises to nurture young minds to develop an appreciation for the performing arts.
Our operas, cast with mostly elementary through middle school-aged children, have been produced with sweeping success throughout the country and are now being offered in your area.
Three operas are available for your organization to produce, utilizing a cast of mostly children: Opera Is Awesome, It Ain’t Over ‘Til the Scientist Sings, and our most recent, What is This Thing That is Called Love?
All operas are available at Stageplays.com by clicking the links above.
These short operas are boisterous, fun and engaging, and are written exclusively for children to perform.
As the children so aptly put, “Opera doesn’t have to be boring, all you have to is communicate with the audience and you’ll have them eating right out of your hand.”
Details are below:
WHAT IS THIS THING THAT IS CALLED LOVE? (NEW!)
What is this Thing that is called Love?, our newest children’s opera, speaks to the many forms of love in all of our lives.
As the opera opens, a group of alien beings arrive at the school’s performance. No one seems to notice them because everyone nearby is in costume and make-up.
The aliens approach the narrator of the play and explain that they are on a mission of the utmost importance; they are to find out why this thing that is called love is so important to humans.
The alien leader explains that their people need something to fill a void that their technological advancements cannot. The narrator invites them to stay and listen to the children’s opera. The narrator is convinced that all their questions will be answered.
The opera utilizes the music of Gounod, Mozart, Bizet and others to illustrate how the art of love is realized in many forms. This opera beautifully applies the style of recitative in Italian, which is the art of sung/spoken speech. The libretto and fresh new lyrics, suitable for children, are coupled with great pieces from opera and are humorous for all ages to enjoy.
IT AIN’T OVER ‘TIL THE SCIENTIST SINGS
It Ain’t Over ‘Til The Scientist Sings is a children’s opera focused on how the arts and sciences complement one another. Utilizing the beautiful music of opera and musical theater, this opera centers around the original idea of celebrating the arts through the eyes and hearts of the great minds of scientific discovery.
Dialogue in English with a sprinkling of Italian breathes life into what can be achieved by listening to both sides of the brain. This lively presentation takes us from Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA and Gilbert and Sullivan’s THE GONDOLIERS to Mozart’s DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE and Rossini’s THE BARBER OF SEVILLE. The Opera runs for approximately 40 minutes.
OPERA IS AWESOME (the opera)
Opera is Awesome is a “learning opera” for children and audience alike. Utilizing the beautiful music of opera and musical theater, the opera centers around the original idea of teaching the audience about the singer’s vocal apparatus.
The vocal apparatus is divided into four parts (the vocal cords, diaphragm, resonators, and articulator), which come to life in order to best exemplify their individual functions. The lyrics of each piece have been changed to augment the storyline. Dialogue in English with a sprinkling of Italian brings all of the ideas into focus and makes learning about a potentially complicated subject interesting and fun.
During the opera, the audience is introduced to such characters as Donahue Diaphragm and his ever-present barbells; Vic and Vinnie Vocal Cords, two lovable gangsters, Martha Mouth and her cheerleading sub-parts and Arturo Articulator, a diction aficionado, just to name a few. This romp takes us from DIE FLEDERMAUS and CARMEN all the way to Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE and Verdi’s RIGOLETTO.
Please contact us if you are interested in bringing any or all of these unique and amazing operas to your school for your children to perform, with free workshops offered by none other than the writer who penned them, Ms. Linda Suda, CEO.
Contact Ms. Suda at 704-305-2108, or email lsudaoperaisawesome@gmail.com or Penny Sowards,
CMO, at 704-507-2086 or psoperaisawesome@gmail.com
LINDA SUDA
Past Instructor UNC at Charlotte | Past Visiting Artist at Davidson | Past Music Faculty at Covenant Classical School.
Linda Suda has performed a variety of operatic and music theatre roles with companies on the east coast as well as in the west. A native of Pennsylvania, Ms. Suda graduated from Seton Hill College and pursued graduate studies at the University of Missouri and Peabody Conservatory.
While a student at Peabody, Ms. Suda was chosen, through process of audition, as an Artist Diploma candidate. She was a national winner in the American Opera Awards, a Metropolitan Opera Regional Finalist and a finalist with the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York City. Ms. Suda has received critical acclaim for her oratorio roles including the Angel in LAUD TO THE NATIVITY, and soprano soloist in the ELIJAH, BACH CANTATA #51, and the Rutter REQUIEM. She has performed as a soloist with the Four Corners Opera of Colorado, Light Opera of Manhattan, Baltimore Opera Company, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis among others. Ms. Suda's appearances with other organizations include soloist with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Seattle, Wa., Tacoma Opera,Wa, and the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle, Wa. One of her most memorable appearances was as a soprano soloist with the Earshot Jazz Duke Ellington Sacred Concerts, Seattle, Wa.
Linda was co-founder and general director of Oklahoma Civic Opera in Oklahoma City and as an Oklahoma State Arts Council Artist in Residence Linda directed and performed the role of the Queen of the Night in that company’s first production of THE MAGIC FLUTE. Linda is a past Artist in Residence in New York, Oklahoma, and was a rostered artist with the Washington State Arts Commission and the Educational School District in Mt. Vernon, Wa. She is a former instructor of music and drama at Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett (formerly Holy Cross High School) and served as director and choreographer for their musical theatre productions. Linda held the position of Arts Director at Cannon School and most recently served as a music studies lecturer and adjunct professor at UNC Charlotte. She was chosen again to direct the opera scenes at Davidson College for the Department of Music.
She was a voice faculty member at the Gaston School of the Arts and maintained an active private voice studio in Concord, North Carolina. She has recently retired as the Director of Music at the Covenant Classical School in Concord, North Carolina in order to concentrate on her children’s opera company, OPERAISAWESOME, LLC. She is represented by Stageplays.com for publication.
Ms. Randi Wilson
is excited to team up with Opera Is Awesome, and is available for narration and/or vocalist for the more difficult pieces in the Opera Is Awesome repertoire.
Ms. Wilson is an accomplished vocalist, actress and performer with an impressive resume that lists extensive work in the theatrical and musical fields. She has held title to numerous awards, including is a NATS Regional Winner and Entertainer of the Year and Vocalist of the Year at NACMAI.
Ms. Wilson, former student of Ms. Suda, is a musical theatre graduate of Lees-McRae University and has traveled extensively being cast as lead and primary roles in plays such as Showboat, Into the Woods, Beauty and the Beast, Carousel, Baby, Ash Girl, and many others. In addition to performing, Ms. Wilson has devoted recent years of her career to teaching music, dance, and acting locally in the Charlotte area.
Production of the Magic Flute Tacoma Opera, Wa
Production of the Magic Flute Tacoma Opera, Wa
Linda Suda, CEO
Penny Sowards, CMO
Operaisawesome, LLC
Your Child’s Musical Wish 501-c3
Members of the Board
Ann Benfield, ex-officio
CEO Cabarrus County Partnership for Children
Maria Seavey
Bachelor of Arts
University of New Hampshire
Debin McGee
Bachelor of Science in History
Guilford College, Greensboro, NC
Yvonne Spencer
Sounds of Artistry Piano Studio
Suzanne Knight
Clinical Supervisor
Cabarrus Health Alliance (Ret)