[This is a guest post by Katherine Semcesen, who is currently travelling with the Xstrata Ensemble Studio school tour along with school tour manager and composer Dean Burry. Katherine Semcesen is the COC associate director, education and outreach.]

First day of workshops. A cold and rainy day in Sudbury didn't dampen our excitement about our first sessions. We parted ways to hit three schools in the Sudbury Catholic School Board. Dean went to St. Theresa's and I was assigned to St. Andrew's. Louise Franklin, principal of St. Theresa's, was extremely welcoming (with a bottomless cup of coffee for Dean... opera jitters).

First up a really fun group of kindergarten to Grade 3 students. The music teacher had done her research and prepared them for Dean's visit. After discussing what opera is and the story of the characters in Isis and the Seven Scorpions, Dean lead them in a song-writing activity of re-writing the lyrics to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in tribute to Halloween:

Trick-or-trick-or-trick-or-treat
Give me something good to eat
I'm a zombie what are you?
I'm a ghost who'll scare you – boo!
Trick-or-trick-or-trick-or-treat
Give me something good to eat

Try it... it's catchy.

An engaged group of Grade 4 to 6 students followed, who were very open to exploring opera (helps when the teacher is enthusiastic). They seemed fascinated by the Egyptian theme and asked lots of questions about how operas are created. I enjoyed a morning delivering a workshop at St. Andrew's Catholic School for a very well behaved group of Grade 2 to Grade 6 students. Highlight of the workshop: getting the students to make a scorpion with a group of peers using only their bodies (How would you create a scorpion tail with your body?). A 30-minute drive to my next workshop meant that I could take in the beautiful scenery while on the road.

Second workshop was as good as the first with a smaller group of Grade 5 to 6 students at St. Charles Catholic School in Chelmsford. Many of the students had not experienced opera before and were not afraid to jump into creative activities outside of their traditional classroom work. They were brave, fearless, and willing to try something new!

Looking forward to day three and meeting four more school communities!

Photo: Dean Burry leads a workshop. © Canadian Opera Company 2011