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Just 2 hours left, and we’re heading into the last Golden Ticket hour in this year’s Valley Gives! Here’s another student statement, from Brandon, who was one of the founding members of the workshop, and will be playing a major role in this summer’s opera before heading off to college!

“Hi I’m Brandon and I’m a current senior at Amherst Regional High-School. Act Too Studio Opera Workshop has meant the world to me. Three summers ago we had the first performance of scenes from the second act of The Marriage of Figaro. I signed up not fully knowing what I was getting myself into but ended up having an amazing time! I had done musical theater for years, but never opera and I had no idea that opera could be just as hilarious, thought provoking, and engaging as musical theater. I learned to love and respect an entirely different style of music that I have continued to learn and love over the past several years.

Melinda and Act Too Studio Opera Workshop provide something that is incredibly unique and necessary for The Pioneer Valley. There are plenty of opportunities for teen performers to participate in musicals, plays, or choirs where classical music is sometimes performed, but there is almost no other opportunity for teens to participate and get engaged in the world of Opera with a group of likeminded peers. While next year in college I will ultimately be studying Musical Theater, I will do so in a music centered program that still allows for me to sing and train classically as well as audition for operas. I would have not chosen or let alone been accepted to that program if it weren’t for Act Too Studio and The Opera Workshop, so truly this organization means the world to me. Please consider donating, it makes such a difference for an ever-growing amount of teenage singers in our community!”

Please consider Brandon and all our teens during these final hours of Valley Gives! DONATE NOW!

2.5 hours left and it’s time for another student story! This one comes from Liam, a relative newcomer to the workshop who has come around to classical singing in a big way!

“My name is Liam, I am 19 years old, and I have been a member of the Opera Workshop for a little over a year. When I first started studying with Melinda, I didn’t realize how much of an impact our weekly lessons would have on me. Within a few months, I was hooked. I am now determined to pursue a career in classical singing. Opera is one of the most challenging, exciting and most beautiful art forms to study. When I first started taking lessons, it never occurred to me that being an opera singer meant not only knowing how to sing, but also acting and knowing multiple languages. It was both exhilarating and overwhelming.

Thanks to Melinda and my peers, at Opera Workshop, I came to be comfortable with the various aspects of opera singing. Please support us today, so we can continue learning our craft, and by doing so, continue to inspire other teens.”

Please consider Liam and all our teens as Valley Gives winds down this evening! There is still time to DONATE NOW!

3 hours left, folks! Here’s another student story, this time from Julia, who is in her second year with the workshop, and will be making her production debut in this summer’s opera. Melinda teared up a bit on this one, too.

Please consider Julia and all our teens as we push towards the end of this year’s #ValleyGives! DONATE NOW!

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We’ve got 4.5 hours left of this fundraiser, and we just received this student statement from Syl. We’re just going to let it speak for itself, because honestly it made us tear up when we read it.

“Hi I’m Sylvia!

And I’m here to say that Act Too Studio’s Teen Opera Workshop is the best thing I’ve ever been a part of.

It’s given me confidence. It’s made me feel a kind of joy I’ve never felt before. And it gives me hope that more people like me: young, black and queer, will get to have a place in the world of opera. Be it listening or performing.

So please consider donating to Act Too Studios Opera Workshop this Valley Gives! You’ll be giving us so much more than just money.”

Please consider Sylvia and all our teens as we push towards the end of this year’s Valley Gives. DONATE NOW!

Melinda is about to go into her afternoon lessons, but here’s another quick student story, now that we’re back in Golden Ticket hours! From Craig, a new member of the workshop this year!

“Back in May of last year, I saw Melinda posted an inquiry on Facebook for an assistant stage manager for the Opera Workshop’s summer production, Il Sogno d’Ariana-to which I messaged her and got it! This was some of my first real exposure to classical music. After the first rehearsal my idea of what opera and classical music was shattered. Instead of being this thing where people sing crazy high notes with a Viking helmet on, it morphed into a real art form. It’s incredible to me how all of us originally have these preconceived notions about what opera is, and how we view it, yet when submerged in all of its glory you feel and relate to this music written hundreds of years ago. The human connection and human experience of opera is a beautiful thing that I’m glad I’m a part of.

What made me most proud of being a part of Il Sogno d’Ariana was during the final week of rehearsal, when we ran the show fully and completely. I’ll never forget getting chills up my arms and tears on my face, all because of teenagers singing. It is truly incredible and I’m so, so glad I have the opportunity to not only be a part of this coming summer’s opera production, but sing alongside those who made me fall in love with classical music.”

Please consider Craig and all our teens during #ValleyGives today! DONATE NOW!

We’re partway into another Golden Ticket hour (the next will be at 3:00), though our posts may slow down a bit as our teaching schedule ramps up this afternoon. So to get us through those hours, we rely on outgoing senior Callie, whose video “Why classical voice is important” was our entry into the Valley Gives video contest this year. She also wrote up this wonderful statement of support earlier today:

“Whenever I talk about Act Too Studio Opera Workshop, I never know what to say because there is so much I feel. I started out as one of the first members of the workshop when I was 14 years old. I am now about to be 18 and I am about to be off to college to study classical voice. None of that would even be close to possible if it wasn’t for this workshop. Over the years, I have learned so much about myself as a performer and a person.

When I first started I had no idea that opera would be something I could even do, nevermind fall in love with. And because of all the experience I’ve had from being able to be a part of the workshop for this long, colleges took notice. I had a couple professors I took trial lessons with tell me I would be very well off in their program because of all the experience I have that most kids don’t get. The workshop has helped me feel confident in so many ways. It has helped me take on challenges that I never knew I could face, and it has helped me find the confidence to follow my dreams. I could never thank everyone involved in this program enough for all they have given me. It has truly been another home to me and it has made my summers of long rehearsals for our operas something I crave. That is actually how I realized how much I love what I do. I was in a long rehearsal for The Medium a couple years ago and I looked up at the clock and realized it was over and I had felt like I had just gotten there.

Opera has allowed me to discover myself and I would have never even been introduced to it without this program. Opera workshop has made me push myself more than I knew I could and I wish that I could give it everything it deserves. Please, donate to this program. I promise you, you will not regret it.”

Please consider Callie and all our teens today during Valley Gives! DONATE NOW!