Seattle Youth Arts Spotlight - Seattle Opera’s TVS and YOP Programs

Image Credit: Sara Litchfield

I walked onto the stage with a green wig and a plunger, ready to sing an aria about a popcorn kernel in a toilet. While not my first production, Rutabaga Country was definitely the strangest opera I have been in. 

Opera has been criticized for worshipping the past and not embracing the future theater landscape; yet, Seattle Opera is creating space for a new generation of opera singers and actors in its youth programming. Rutabaga Country was a part of their program for younger kids, the Youth Opera Project (YOP), which has been suspended for budgeting purposes. 

I interviewed Sara Litchfield, Director of Youth Programming, and she had some very interesting things to say. I opened the interview by asking her what the Teen Vocal Studio (TVS) and YOP programs are, and what they can give to the youth who participate. 

“Well, both programs, Youth Opera Project, and Teen Vocal Studio, I think, are really unique in that they provide youth, like, real-world performance opportunities,” she says. She emphasizes that the programs stimulate the entire process of creating an opera, from learning the music to rehearsing, staging, and eventually, performing.

YOP (which has been suspended for budgeting purposes) is a program for kids from seven to eighteen years old where they learn and perform an opera by themselves, while TVS is for high schoolers who are thinking of pursuing performing arts. TVS participants, along with performing an opera, get an education in vocal technique from professionals, an experience to chat with admissions officers at top-level performing arts colleges, and more experiences that you would receive in an undergraduate music program. “A lot of the classes and experiences that we plan are things that you might get in undergraduate vocal performance programs, from acting workshops to diction training to things like learning, training to things like learning, learning an art song and performing a recital,” Sarah told me. “I'm constantly thinking, what do I wish I would have known before I went to college, before I started auditioning, you know, when I was thinking about picking a voice teacher?”

Sarah emphasizes how inclusive YOP is, “You don't have to have any performance experience to join [Youth Opera Project]. What I really love about our ensemble is that there's kind of a place for everyone.” Every year, the creative team picks a piece that allows everyone to shine in their own way. TVS participants can take a lead role and share their strengths, while those in YOP are able to play leads or, more typically, be in the ensemble and get many opportunities to shine.

The program is now approaching its ten-year anniversary. Sarah told me, “It started off as Teen Opera Players, and I believe that was the early 2010s. 2015, 2016 is when the Teen Vocal Studio program became a thing. And then youth opera projects, same idea.” The first large production was Robin Hood in 2018 (which I was able to be in the second time they did it in 2022). With the 2026 production of Odyssey, their second large production, the program will be coming full circle. 

Since TVS is a program that focuses on preparing teens for college and giving them performance opportunities, I asked Sarah if she had a “success story” of someone who is an alumnus of this program, or knows of someone who has gone on to use what they have learned at the program in the world. Sarah shared: “Someone who comes to mind right away is Hallie Schmidt. She was a part of one of the earlier classes of Teen Opera Players, and since we hired her on to sing in two school opera tour productions as a professional singer at Seattle Opera.” Since that opportunity, Hallie has gone on to be a resident artist at Opera Colorado. Being a professional singer is amazing, yet it is not the only picture of what a successful TVS alum is. Many have gone into the workforce as behind-the-scenes professionals, indispensable educators, and many more amazing things.

Being an artist in today's age with limited government funding and an ever-changing cultural landscape is scary. Yet there is always a place for art in this world, and Sarah agrees, commenting, “There is no one path to success in the arts. It looks like many things…My path was I knew that opera was something I was so passionate about, and I loved just the musical storytelling of opera and musical theater… I really hope that when walking away from this program, the teens and their parents know about all of the opportunities in the arts sector because we want our sector to continue to thrive.”

Sometimes a career can lead to professional performance, but the main thing the TVS and YOP programs advocate for is to develop youth who are responsible, hardworking, and not afraid to pursue their dreams. “It is valid to pursue a career in the arts, and there are opportunities for them to make their own path… [If they don’t want to] then they don't have to, and that's okay too.”

Teen Vocal Studio, the Youth Opera Project, and all of Seattle Opera have given me something indispensable – opportunities to express myself and learn skills, in music and in personal responsibility, that otherwise I could not have learned. When I began doing programs with Seattle Opera, I knew nothing about opera other than the stereotypes of standoffish divas and that opera was only enjoyed by the elite. Yet, after meeting and working with those in opera, I found that they are really the kindest, most welcoming, and most passionate people in the arts. In conclusion, don’t let opera scare you.