Auditions for the summer program are open to all children who wish to explore this demanding discipline, but almost all of this year's 19 participants were already members of the chorus and thus experienced musicians. Some have spent years studying opera. Mia Evaimolo, a senior at Kamehameha Schools, began singing with the youth chorus in the fourth grade. She has the feature role of the o'o bird Leo, who guides and protects the menehune Auli'i. At Kamehameha she is able to explore many styles of music, from traditional Hawaiian to band, but it is opera that intrigues her.
Opera is very special.
I love being around people who sing in that technique. Leo, while not the title role, is the most demanding in the opera, and Evaimolo's voice is heard throughout. Auli'i is played as a child by seventh-grader Tonia Ko and as an adult by Mark Ah Yo, an alumnus of the chorus who is now in college. Another alum, Joanna Takagi, now a senior at Pomona College, is back as choral director. The story sweeps through 200 years of Hawaiian history, seen through the innocent eyes of Auli'i, who is left behind when all the other menehune flee through a time portal to escape the approaching times of violence.