When Seagle Festival presented Bizet’s “Carmen” for the first time in roughly thirty years last summer, its cast was supplemented by a chorus of ten local school children, members of the Seagle’s inaugural youth opera workshop.
The workshop was led by Josh Cook, Seagle Festival’s Company Manager, and Michael Tracy, the music teacher at Schroon Lake Central School, with funding awarded by Adirondack Community Foundation’s Generous Acts program.
This year, the Youth Opera Workshop will span fifteen weeks and include sessions that meet twice a week in preparation for performances in two shows rather than one: the contemporary opera Dead Man Walking and the musical The Sound of Music
“While cast requirements for these shows differ, the Youth Opera Workshop serves as the common thread, training students to meet the high standards of the Seagle Festival mainstage,” a Seagle Festival press release stated.
The second year the Youth Opera Workshop is funded by Adirondack Community Foundation through a Generous Acts Grant/Allison Family Fund grant, bolstered by new support from the Cloudsplitter Foundation
Cook and Tracy launched the workshop in May, 2025 at Schroon Lake Central School. The group met in classrooms through the end of the school year, after which it moved to the Seagle campus, rehearsing and preparing for the performances later that summer.
According to Josh Cook, “the program utilizes music and theater games to integrate Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into every rehearsal. This creates a rare and vital hub for Adirondack children who are passionate about the arts—a community where they can find their peers, build resilience, and develop a professional sense of belonging.”
A press release from the Youth Opera Workshop notes, “the workshop is often the first time their children have found a group that truly shares their interests.”
Obviously, Cook and Tracy are not interested only, or merely, in introducing kids to opera, which may well be one reason why the Adirondack Community Foundation and the Cloudsplitter Foundation are so enthusiastic about the project.
“For kids, the performing arts are about telling a story with your friends and learning what it means,” said Cook. “Music and drama are social, emotional. They’re about the group dynamic, having fun, learning together.”
In addition to learning to sing the chorus parts and participating in the experience of staging a live performances, the kids “enjoy a healthy snack at each after-school meeting,” according to a press release.
That part of the workshop was not as incidental as it may sound. The healthy snacks ensure that students’ physical and mental stamina are sustained and fueled for the work at hand.
Moreover, as Josh Cook states, “Rural communities deal with food scarcity, and although we can’t solve the problem, we thought, perhaps we can help.”
Cook said he was aided and inspired by his brother, a registered dietician in Ohio, who, he explained, “has done a lot of work in rural communities, developing food programs, finding healthier options than what is normally available.”
As a press release emphasizes, the workshop “prioritizes the holistic well-being of the performer.”
“This program is about giving our North Country kids tools they need to thrive. By investing in them today, we aren’t just putting on a show—we’re making sure that the next generation of musicians, actors, and art-lovers has a home right here in our own backyard,” Cook stated.
