Growing up in Buhler – a town of about 1,300 near Hutchinson – David Lara didn’t have much exposure to opera.

“The most you’d hear was Saturday mornings with Bugs Bunny, if he did a spoof,” he says.

Now a graduate student at Kansas University, Lara is pursuing a career in operatic singing, and he’s part of a performance of “Falstaff” that begins tonight at KU.

The 26-year-old is an exception to the rule when it comes to his generation – he’s young, and he loves opera. According to the most recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts, only 13 percent of opera attendees were under the age of 30, with the proportion over 60 increasing annually.

That has opera companies across the country attempting to spark interest among younger people – both audiences and performers.

“If you go to a show, you see mostly older generations,” says Andrew Fuchs, a KU junior and vocal major. “It’s scary to think the audiences might not be there.”

From left, Akiko Imakawa, Sharon Campbell, Marci Ziegler and Meaghan Deiter rehearse for Falstaff. The KU Opera production opens today at the Robert Baustian Theatre in Murphy Hall. Although some people are concerned about aging opera audiences, area programs are keeping young people interested in the art.

But opera companies are on the offensive to combat the age gap.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City, for example, has started a group for opera lovers ages 21 to 40 called the Bohemians. The organization, which started in 2001, draws 50 to 100 members for its events.

Nikki Browning, a 1996 KU graduate who leads the group, says the goal is to get young people through the door.

“We hope they’ll get hooked,” says Browning, a resident of Kansas City, Mo. “We understand it’s a love-or-hate thing. Not everybody’s going to love the opera.”

• Selection from the KU Opera performance of “The Face on the Barroom Floor”
• Selection from the KU Opera performance of “Strawberry Fields”

The Bohemians often gather for pre- or post-opera soirees with food and drink. They also have a big kick-off event at the beginning of the season, and they sometimes have talks with opera experts to learn about a particular performance.

Often, Browning says, young people have preconceived notions about the opera, that it is just fat women in horned hats and pointy bras. Or they don’t realize the subtitles are projected above the stage to overcome the language barriers.

Virginia Long, director of marketing and public relations for the opera, says the group is making a difference.

She also credits reduced-price student tickets, available an hour before the show, for helping lower the average age of the audiences. Between 100 and 150 of those tickets are sold for each performance.

Stan Felix, right, portrays Sir John Falstaff during a rehearsal for the upcoming Kansas University production of Falstaff.

“They’re all dressed to the nines, and they’re holding hands and kissing in the corners,” Long says. “It’s the place to be. If I had a daughter and her boyfriend took her to the opera, I’d say, ‘Keep that man.'”

The KC Lyric Opera also promotes its shows through letters to teachers and has an education outreach that sends performers to schools.

‘Fresh faces’

Getting young people on the operatic stage is another challenge.

KU has about 60 vocal performance majors, some of whom are interested in careers in opera, says John Stephens, who directs the university’s opera program. There are about five master’s students majoring specifically in opera performance.

“There’s a wonderful spark in terms of the voice and opera program here,” Stephens says. “It isn’t, by any means, a dying art. Sometimes I worry about symphonies and things like that. But I think opera is doing great.”

Stephens says drawing younger audiences and performers may be as simple as convincing them opera is a different version of musical theater, with a plot and drama.

And operas often update sets and costumes to be more modern, which appeals to some audiences.

“We want them to view opera as anything but a museum piece,” Stephens says. “We’re not wearing cellophane costumes and walking on the moon or anything, but we do try to update the shows.”

Lara, the KU graduate student, hopes there is enough new interest to keep opera going for generations to come. He’s banking his career on it.

“It’s mostly the older generation, but there definitely is hope,” he says. “You see a lot of new, fresh faces in the crowd.”