#HOTSpeaks: Teacher and GenHOT Member Introduces Youth to Opera

Lauren Williams’ involvement with opera came full circle last month when she brought her class of high school choir students to the Opera For Everyone dress rehearsal of Puccini’s La Bohème.
Williams’ first experience singing opera was in the children’s chorus of a Hawaii Opera Theatre production of La Bohème when she was 9 years old. Now 33, Williams continues to sing with the HOT volunteer chorus as an adult.
Her parents introduced her to opera, she said, but it was great teachers and mentors that helped her stick with it.
“I think when you have a teacher or mentor who can bridge the gap between being an authority figure and being a friend, that can really change students’ hearts and can shape the direction that they choose in life,” Williams said.
Along with teaching choir, Williams also teaches hula at her hālau, co-owns a local small business, and sits on the advisory board of GenHOT. The GenHOT Advisory Board is a group of young professionals dedicated to increasing the attendance of those less than 40 years old at HOT performances, furthering corporate giving and fundraising, and developing the next generation of HOT Board members.
Accomplishing those goals can sometimes be an uphill battle, Williams said.
She has experienced young people being put off by the word “opera” since she first began singing in the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus.
“My peers would kind of look at me like, ‘Opera? What? That’s for old people!’” Williams said.
But what made her fall in love with the art form in the first place was being a part of an actual opera production, Williams said. She thinks that many other young people would also enjoy opera if they could have the behind-the-scenes experience, she said.
“I feel like the operas can turn people off sometimes because they are actually over-polished,” Williams said. “People these days want to hear the ‘unplugged’ or the ‘cut tracks.’ I wish people could see the singers mess up and people could know that opera singers catch colds sometimes. The reality of it is where the drama really is.”
Other opera companies have tried many tactics to entice young audiences, including shortening productions, choosing more modern operas, or pairing opera with beer or food trucks.
HOT has increased HOT ticket sales among young buyers in recent years by introducing GenHOT and the student subscription, along with events like HOT Tuesday and open dress rehearsals.
But perhaps some of the most important efforts to attract the next generation of opera lovers happen outside of HOT and within the families and classrooms of young people in the community.
Before watching the OFE rehearsal of La Bohème, Williams had her high school choir class act out scenes from the opera around the lily pond on the school’s grounds. She also taught them the music to a few arias so that they would be more familiar with the production.
Williams hopes that she might have the same impact on her students as her mentors had on her when she was young.
“After the students and I left Opera for Everyone, I said, ‘Hey, what did you guys think of the opera?’ And they said, ‘Please tell us we can go to another one!’” She said.