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Classical Music Conversations

Gaga for Opera

Hawaiʻi Public Radio | By Craig DeSilva

Published April 24, 2025 at 2:43 PM HST

Students from Waiʻalae Elementary Public Charter School — Students from Waiʻalae Elementary Public Charter School at a viewing of the Met HD Live at Regal Dole Cannery Theater.

How do you get children interested in opera?

Dian Hermes of Waiʻalae Elementary Public Charter School seems to have the musical touch. As the Hawaiʻi representative for the Met Opera’s HD Live in Schools program, Hermes immerses her students in opera to make it more accessible. Students create skits, discuss the story, and take a field trip to watch the Saturday Live in HD broadcast at Regal Dole Cannery Theater.

Hermes spoke to Evening Concert host Craig DeSilva about how she combines her love of opera, musical theater, and Hawaiian music in the classroom to enrich student learning in the performing arts.

Listen to the Met Opera’s Saturday matinee of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro April 26 at 1 p.m. on HPR-2. The Live in HD broadcast will be shown at Regal Dole Cannery.

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Classical Music Conversations Evening Concert

Craig DeSilva

Craig DeSilva is glad to be playing recorded music on the air instead of playing for a live audience on stage as did when he studied piano. He began piano lessons when he was a child and continued piano studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (where he majored in broadcast journalism and minored in music) under the late Peter Coraggio.

See stories by Craig DeSilva

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