NORMAN WELLS - Across two territories, the North got a rare - and much appreciated - taste of solid Canadian opera this month.

Members of the Calgary Opera's Emerging Artists Program performed, instructed and engaged around the North in recent weeks, performing and running workshops.

Calgary Opera Emerging Artists program students Stephen Bell and Michelle Keobke sing during a performance at Calvary Community Church in Yellowknife. The show was the second of three stops on the group's pan-territorial - Adam Johnson/NNSL photo

The troupe, which consists of eight young vocalists at the dawn of their careers, enthralled audiences wherever they went. Their performance mixed popular opera pieces with excerpts from Frobisher, the acclaimed new Canadian opera from composers John Estacio and John Murrell.

The journey began in Iqaluit, moved on to Yellowknife and concluded in the Sahtu, as the Emerging Artists held a well-attended public performance at the Royal Canadian Legion Feb. 11, followed by a show at Mackenzie Mountain School.

"The performers were great," said principal Shannon Barnett-Aikman. "They were really personable with the kids."

She said there were around 145 students in attendance during the performance, and most were in awe of the singers.

"They loved it," she said. "It was so different than anything they've ever experienced before."

The group started off in Iqaluit, performing for hundreds of Iqalummiut in a series of public performances.

"It was awesome," said Aqsarniit school principal Darlene Nuqingaq, who also helped co-ordinate the event.

"We had students singing opera the rest of the day," she said.

"It was the toughest audience you could ever have, middle school students."

She estimated the school performance at Aqsarniit was for 320 students, while nearly 300 attended the public show.

Nuqingaq said a highlight was the level of audience participation the performers used, bringing young students onstage to act out parts of songs.

"I wish they could come back again," Nuqingaq said.

After the Yellowknife performance, baritone James Levesque was pleased with what the group had accomplished to that point.

He said he was most proud to introduce students to art and opportunities they might not have otherwise seen.

"If only two or three kids - or if only one kid - is inspired by it, then it was worth it."