There is no Phantom in this opera, only lively animation and soulful songs.

Animated Arias, a musical mashup of classic opera music and six animated shorts, is a creative collaboration of the Pittsburgh Opera House and the Cinema Arts Department of Point Park’s Conservatory of Performing Arts. Its debut appearance at the PNC Theater on October 14 at 7:30 PM will feature live performances by artists from the Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artists Program. The event is free but requires a reservation to attend, which can be done online. Proof of vaccination is required for entry.

Rebekah Diaz, Director of I.D.E.A. Initiatives and Community Engagement at the Pittsburgh Opera House, had the initial idea for this concept of this collaboration. She also worked to help identify the musical selections, edit them, collaborated with the animator teams/professors, will MC the event, and will conduct the interview section.

“Animation is a remarkable art form in its ability to make magic come to life, and opera shares that as well,” Diaz said. “Both are fantastical art forms that suspend disbelief and together they create something very memorable,” It’s a lot of fun and I love the creative element of this – it’s so important to blend different art forms because it’s the best way to ensure that we can meet people where they are on their musical and creative journeys!”

The showy sonnets will feature well-known opera pieces by the likes of Mozart, Verdi, Dvořák, and many more from operas such as Carmen, The Marriage of Figaro, and Rusalka.

During the event, the students will speak about their work as well as discuss their creative process. The concert is a part of the student’s 2021 spring Digi 350 Community Animation Project, where students work with nonprofit organizations.

The project offers students a chance to see what it’s like to work in a studio-client relationship. This is the second year the animation department has worked with the opera for this project.

Professor Jonathan Trueblood taught the class this semester and although it’s a strenuous task, the students must complete their projects in a semester. There is a lot of time and effort that goes into the animation process.

“In animation, you have to make everything,” Trueblood stated, “You can’t point a camera and start filming. If it’s on-screen the students had to make it.”

Trueblood describes the process as follows.

“The students selected which song they wanted to animate to,” Trueblood explained. “They did design boards and presented those to the clients. The design parts showed what the animation would look like. After the look is selected, the students storyboard the entire project. The storyboards synced to the music are called an animatic. After that, they just did the whole

animation. They worked on sections at a time and divided the workload amongst the team. We had client check-ins throughout the process for feedback and comments.”

Melvin Mikolon, one of the featured animators, worked an entire semester on his work. He found the concept for the aria that he chose, “Non So Piu Cosa Son” from The Marriage of Figaro, to be funny and he thought of an idea on how to portray the narrative.

Juniors in the animation program are all involved in a community project.

“Our class was lucky enough to be one who was able to work with the Pittsburgh Opera House. We were all given a pick of six different songs from varying operas, and I chose Non So Piu.”

Mikolon has quite the extensive process behind his work:

“I ran with the themes of Non So Piu Cosa Son, deciding a very ironic way of retelling the song’s lyrics would be to focus on an insect which spends most of its time as a larva, and only two days as an adult. Mayflies,”said Mikolon.

Mikolon decided to focus on the growth process of the insect, following the mayfly through its life cycle.

“The animation follows a specific mayfly larva on its journey to adulthood, finding love, and eventually joining its swarm in glorious flight,” Mikolon said. “Of course, mayflies have incredibly short adulthoods, so he winds up floating belly-up down the river with his kin. It ends on a hopeful note, though. The next generation is rung in, as the circle of life continues on.”

A lot of effort went into completing his section of the aria. Mikolon spent at least 7-8 hours a week working on backgrounds, set-pieces, character drawings, and putting together scenes.

“I listened to it extensively while working on the project, and not just because the animation was tied to the beat of the music,” Mikolon said. “The vast majority of even my personal artwork is inspired by music, so listening to it over and over just helped keep the atmosphere I wanted to portray consistently.”

All of that hard work and time resulted in a duet between two art forms that most wouldn’t think blend together.

“Opera and animation go so well together,” said Trueblood. “All you have to do is look at old Bugs Bunny cartoons and you’ll find opera! Even Fantasia, from Disney, shows how well music and animation work together. I love the process of animation. I love seeing what the students come up with and how they take their ideas all the way to execution.”