ROCK lands new director in Langeliers
By JACI WEBB Of The Gazette Staff The Billings
Gazette | Posted: Friday, August 26, 2011
Angie Nelson Langeliers is
the new director of the Rimrock Opera Chorus for
Kids. She takes over for Amy Logan, who had led the
program since its inception.
Angie Nelson
Langeliers remembers the seductive thrill of
performing as a youngster in Billings.
Two
big moments for her were auditioning for Girls Honor
Choir with Diane Martin and getting to sing a solo
in a Billings Studio Theatre summer camp.
“Singing was a way for me to be loud and let it all
out there,” said Langeliers, a 1998 West High
graduate.
Now she’s back in Billings and
ready to take the reins of the Rimrock Opera Chorus
for Kids, replacing founding director Amy Logan, who
left some rather large shoes to fill.
Like
Langeliers’ own experiences of finding her voice and
honing her talent starting in grade school, ROCK
embraces youthful enthusiasm and prepares youngsters
as young as 6 for performing on stage.
Not
all of the nearly 150 students involved in ROCK last
year will go on to become vocal performance majors
and sing in professional adult operas like
Langeliers has done, but her hope is that they gain
an appreciation for music, learn how to read music
and have fun.
“I’m pretty high energy and a
fun teacher,” she said. “Once I get to know the
kids, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the kids
excited.”
When she taught at an academy in
Colorado, Langeliers organized a rock band because
students were interested in rock. She said the fun
part of her tenure there was that she taught
students at every level from elementary through high
school. ROCK offers that same opportunity. Students
between age 6 and 18 are eligible to join the group.
Auditions are Sept. 10 from 9 a.m. to noon at the
Rimrock Opera Company’s rehearsal space at 1780
Shiloh Road. To try out, contact Langeliers at
salangeliers@hotmail.com.
Cindy Butler, a
longtime supporter of Rimrock Opera Company, said
the organization was lucky to find someone like
Langeliers, who performed in the 2003 ROC production
of “The Magic Flute” before moving on.
“Angie
loves teaching music, is incredibly talented and
enthusiastic and we look forward to working with
her,” Butler said.
Logan, a Skyview music
teacher, started ROCK in 2004 after organizing a
group of students to sing in a production of “Hansel
and Gretel.” Doug Nagel, artistic director of ROC,
was so impressed with the quality of the students’
performance, he and Logan opted to make the chorus
permanent.
Over the years, the group has
handled some big performances, including guest
appearances with Mannheim Steamroller, the Billings
Symphony and singer Rita Coolidge. And anyone who
has seen “Nutcracker” performed in Billings has
heard the group’s bright chorus during the snow
scene.
Plans are to begin working with Nagel
in the next few years on a children’s opera written
by a woman who was living in a concentration camp.
It’s a rare opportunity for Billings-area youths.
It takes courage for Nagel and Langeliers to put
kids on stage to sing with professional vocalists
during an adult opera, but to take on their own
professionally staged youth opera raises courage to
a new level.
“The goal is really just to get
them excited about singing, not just popular songs
but showing them the other aspects of performance,”
Langeliers said. “It will be great.”
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