Watch CBS News

25 Students Attend Baltimore's Annual Opera Camp

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Summer means summer camps for many kids, but not quite like this camp.

Alex DeMetrick reports on Baltimore's annual opera camp.

Arts & crafts is part of most summer camps, but it usually does not include high art. Opera camp at the Modell Lyric Performing Arts Center takes high school students into a four-week crash course of the art form.

"We teach them drama, voice, dramatics, adlibs, all sorts of things," said Jim Harp, camp artistic director.

"It's tough, but once you start to really enjoy it and do it, it's not that hard," said Marcus Andrews, opera camp student.

Campers are performing at City Hall three weeks into the camp session, but the ultimate goal for the students is their future.

"We want to grow young people to be performers of the next generation, so we take young people with vocal aptitude," Harp said.

"Opera is a full body thing. You need to obviously use your voice and throat, but also your breathing and your stance and everything that goes into that," said Claire Iverson, opera camp student.

The summer ends with the students putting on their own opera, which involves writing and producing.

"I think it's about the amount of passion and the amount of work and the amount of heart you put into the actual piece itself, so I feel like we really did that," said Lauren Redditt, opera camp student.

The 25 students who attend opera camp don't pay a penny. Both The Rotary Club of Baltimore and the Kenneth Battye Foundation underwrite the cost of the program.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.