Xavier students are involved in many extracurricular activities, but freshman Lucas Lowder was involved in a very unique activity this January. Lowder took part in the Cedar Rapids Opera Theater’s production of Puccini’s Turandot at the Paramount Theater, which ran January 19-21. Turandot follows the story of a Chinese princess and her suitors, who must solve three riddles in order to marry her. This production was a new experience for Lowder, who has been acting and singing in various shows since fourth grade.

“This was my first opera, and I was part of the chorus and played a soldier,” Lowder said.

The principle characters in the opera originated from all around the United States. The actors perform with various opera theaters as their full time jobs. The rest of the cast consisted of local singers. The opera was sung in Italian, with subtitles playing on screens throughout the theater, so the audience could understand what was happening on stage. There is very little dancing in operas as opposed to traditional musicals, and there is often no spoken dialogue. Actors sing what they want to say, and the chorus usually sings off stage when they are not on stage during the show.

Typical rehearsals for the opera involved warm ups and running the show without stopping. Leads took frequent breaks to rest their voices, allowing the understudies to rehearse. During the actual shows, the cast arrived early beforehand for warm ups and to change into costumes.

“It was a lot of time commitment. It was about five or six days of practice a week. During the weekdays it was about four to five hours and on the weekend it was about eight hours,” Lowder said.

The Cedar Rapids Opera Theater presents two to three operas a year, with both professional opera singers and local singers performing. They have a Young Artists program for college students to get involved with opera, and further their musical education.

Nicole Hassenstab

A&E Writer