Q. What has been your favorite costume to wear in the Shreveport Opera this season? Bauer: Our season just began, so that is a tough question to answer. For one of our children’s operas, we dress up as animals, and I spend five or so minutes in a pig costume. That might be my favorite because I can’t put it on without thinking about how much fun my job is. In general, I tend to like all of my costumes because I get to just transform into a whole different person.

Q. What can audiences in Shreveport look forward to seeing you in this season? Bauer: We have a great line up this year. The first opera is one of my favorites: ‘La Traviata.’ The music is fantastic, and the story is one that people will recognize because it has been remade into movies like ‘Moulin Rouge.’ ‘Pirates of Penzance’ and ‘Cinderella’ are both light and funny, so those will be a blast, too. This will be a very entertaining season!

Q. What should the community know about the opera? Bauer: Like I said before, opera is for everyone! Opera is the coolest possible combination of acting, music and story, and the entire thing is unamplified, so the message is being brought to you by sheer strength of the singer. The stories are timeless, and there are as many different kinds of operas as there are movies in the theater at any given time, so everyone can find something that they like. If you don’t like romance, maybe you’ll like the sword fighting, or the costumes, or listening to the orchestra or the history that the story is based on. A live opera performance is a fantastic machine when you put all of the elements together, and even if you are just participating as an audience member, it is an incredibly exciting experience.