Students in Mr. Neil DeAtley's Music Culture class at West Union High School recently traveled to the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati to participate in a multi-genre opera event.
Students in Mr. Neil DeAtley’s Music Culture class at West Union High School recently traveled to the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati to participate in a multi-genre opera event.

By Jamie Puckett –

Students in Mr. Neil DeAtley’s Music Culture class at West Union High School recently traveled to the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati to participate in a multi-genre opera event.
The students were given a once in a lifetime chance to visit the downtown Cincinnati metropolis and watched a shortened version of “The Barber of Seville” by Giacomo Rossini performed by the Cincinnati Opera.
Cincinnati Opera’s website provides a brief description of the play saying, “Count Almaviva wants to win the heart of the charming Rosina, and to do so he enlists the help of the town’s clever barber, Figaro. A great introduction to the operatic art form, The Barber of Seville will delight with characters in disguise, love triangles, rapid fire singing and familiar hits like ‘Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!’ from ‘Largo al factum’ and ‘Una voce poco fa.'”
The students also learned about different operatic voice types, the historical time period of the production, and general information about the opera.
Mr. DeAtley also heavily supplemented this information both before and after the field trip.  The field trip provided a wonderful cultural experience for our West Union students and they were able to meet students from various other schools.