My Time with Sarasota Opera: An Intern's Retrospective

MY TIME WITH SARASOTA YOUTH OPERA:  An Intern's retrospective on his time with Sarasota Youth Opera. 

Tyler Leppek served as a teaching assistant and administrative intern for SYO during the months of May and June. He is currently entering his Sophomore year at FSU, double majoring in instrumental music education and creative writing.  We asked Tyler to sum up his experience working with the Youth Opera program and we thought you would enjoy reading what he had to say. 

Sarasota Youth Opera Intern Tyler Leppek

Coming away from interning with the Sarasota Youth Opera has left me not only with a numerous number of new skills as a College student, in school trying to garner as much from his experiences as possible, but also with an immeasurable amount of affection directed towards the staff, students, and direction of the Sarasota Opera as a whole. I know of no better example of an institution that caters more to the needs of its diverse students background while still harvesting such amazing product as an outcome.

It was during the rehearsals and over the span of Summer camp that I saw many students grow and blossom in the short time I spent with the company. Nestled in this organization is a passion for excellence and through the directors orchestration it was easy to see the impact that we were making on today’s youth in a place that mattered.




Tyler with two Youth Opera Summer Campers


The SYO fuels not only the arts, but academics as well as their curriculum incorporated elements of Linguistic Skills, Language Arts, History Lessons, paired with Social Techniques, all pieces that will later make for a more convincing and well rounded performer and student. I can say quite candidly as I worked in the rehearsals for the upcoming production of Little Nemo in Slumberland, I will be making the five hour drive from Florida State University to Sarasota to see this production, having witnessed so much of the stunning preparation already as they incorporate even local young performers from outside their organization, creating more ties and connections through the arts as they work with anyone who shares the common denominator of a love for music.

It was this shared similarity that made my experience so gratifying, and such a valuable facet of my education.