"We're talking about the Opera House here in the Dekker Centre very intentionally, because we know what we're doing is completely and totally capable of being completely complimentary and not competitive with what is in place."
Those were the words of Dean Bauche, consultant to the Battleford Historic Opera House Gallery Inc. project at a fundraiser held Saturday in North Battleford at the new performing arts centre there.
Chair of the Opera House steering committee, Chris Odishaw, also referred to the Opera House as one aspect of the community's cultural assets.
"We have great facilities in our community," said Odishaw, who spearheaded the Opera House project during his tenure as mayor of Battleford. "The Dekker Centre is an amazing asset to our community and I think the Opera House will fit into the assets of our community, too."
Odishaw talked about the beginnings of the project during his years as mayor of Battleford, from 2006 until 2012. The restoration of the second storey of Battleford Town Hall, which had accommodated school plays, graduations, dances, live theatre, musical talent nights, Christmas concerts and more from 1912 to 1965 when it was closed after a fire, was high on his list of priorities.
"It was a lot bigger project than I ever thought it would be and it's going to take a lot more time and energy to complete," he said. "Once my mayor's job was done it was the one piece of the puzzle I wanted to stay involved in."
He thanked all the project's supporters and Battleford town council for continuing to "live the dream and look at the big picture."
Bauche said the Chris Odishaws of the world cannot do all the things that need to be done themselves.
"I just want to use this opportunity to tell you we're going to be needing you," said Bauche. "We're going to be coming out to our community to do that."
Bauche went on to say, "By next fall you'll be hearing where we're at and where we're going to move to in a substantial way. For the last year we've been putting together all the building blocks we need to move forward and, in fact, we've had such success that people from the outside are looking in and saying, 'Man! You guys are doing this the way it should be done.' We're delighted with that, but we want to be able to come to you and say we're ready now to move forward, not only with the capital and fundraising, but programming as well."
The fundraising evening was based around a performance by Saskatoon Opera, the third such fundraiser to feature what Odishaw calls "opera light."
Telling the story of how the annual fundraiser came to be, Odishaw said Opera Saskatoon had come to the Battlefords while he was still mayor with a program to get opera into the schools, he said.
"As a new father and as a person behind this thing called the Opera House, it seemed natural to get involved in opera."
The opera company put so much energy into the school program, why not give the general public a taste, he thought, and began arranging performances for adult audiences as fundraisers for the opera house. The first two were held at Third Avenue United Church, with a move to the Dekker Centre this year, and a view to having Saskatoon Opera involved with the Battleford Historic Opera House Gallery when it begins operations.
Saturday evening also offered up local entertainment by vocalist Falynn Prystupa accompanied by Ashraf Ogram on guitar and by Nick Ahuja accompanying himself on the djembe drum.
Later in the week, this year's production based on Mozart's The Magic Flute, was to be presented at École Monseigneur Blaise Morand in North Battleford and St. Vital School in Battleford.
Saskatoon Opera in Schools presents The Magic Flute, a 50-minute version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's playful yet profound opera, sung in English with added dialogue. The cast of six singers and piano accompanist also give a short question and answer after the show. Since 2001, Saskatoon Opera in Schools has performed for thousands of elementary and high school students in Saskatoon and communities in central Saskatchewan.
