Students & Teachers:Opera for All
HIGHLIGHTS
| 2008 | 2007 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
2009
Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) and Chicago Opera Theater: Take an in depth look at Opera for All in the Chicago Public Schools. The Teaching Artists, COT Education Team, and CAPE have come together to create an informational website for teachers, students, and donors. CAPE’s mission is to advance the arts as a vital strategy for improving teaching and learning by increasing students’ capacity for academic success, critical thinking and creativity. The website documents the student’s journey of learning about opera as well as working on their own production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito with COT’s Teaching Artists during their 25-week residency. Each schools website gives the school’s context, asks and answers inquiry questions, tells stories, and reviews the state standards.Click to view the CAPE website or go directly to the schools page:McKinley Park Elementary School, DeWitt Clinton School, Frank W. Reilly Elementary School, Alexander Von Humbolt School.
Spring Production: Chicago Opera Theater for Teens & After School Matters
Students performed Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods April 1st and 4th, 2009 to full houses at Storefront Theater, in Gallery 37. The production was part of Chicago Opera Theater for Teens and After School Matters 2009 spring production. This semester’s 25 apprentices performed Into the Woods Jr. under the direction of AJ Wester and accompanied by Marta Johnson. The students worked since January to help with all aspects of the production including parts of the set and costume creation.
Winter Concert: Chicago Opera Theater for Teens
A full house packed the Claudia Cassidy Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center to attend this year’s Chicago Opera Theater for Teens 2008 winter concert. This semester’s 25 apprentices performed musical sections from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, The Magic Flute, Bizet’s Carmen, Lehar’s Merry Widow, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, and a rousing preview of scenes from Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods which will be the Chicago Opera Theater for Teens and After School Matters spring production. The students were joined on stage by seasoned singers, mezzo-soprano Julia Elise Hardin, a former COT Young Artist, and baritone Bill McMurray. Read about the evening in General Director Brian Dickie’s blog, and view clips on YouTube including their encore in honor of Mrs. Maggie Daley, Chair of ASM.
Winter Concert: Opera Theater Workshop for Teens
Chicago Opera Theater's Opera Theater Workshop for Teens through After School Matters presented their winter concert on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple. The twenty-three apprentices performed excerpts from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Italian art songs, arias and duets, and provided a preview of their spring production of the Gilbert & Sullivan favorite Pirates of Penzance. The second half of the evening was a condensed, presentation of Handel's Messiah. Joining these talented high school apprentices were solos from three members of COT's prestigious Young Artist Program, giving the high school apprentices a firsthand view at what their future might hold. We hope you caught the footage of this performance on Chicago's Channel 7 news.
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Pirates of Penzance: Opera Theater Workshop for Teens
Opera Theater Workshop for Teens performed Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta Pirates of Penzance on April 15 & 16, 2008 at the Storefront Theater, Gallery 37 to a full house. View photos from the productions, and watch the student remix of the “Modern Major General” performed as an encore.
Over the course of the year students participated in an auditions panel with university faculty, attended a college fair, attended concerts and opera productions including COT’s production of A Flowering Tree, performed gigs around the city, and had a master class with internationally renowned mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung. This year twelve students graduated from OTWT and will be attending colleges across the country, several of whom received music scholarships. COT wishes them the best of luck!
Opera for All: A Flowering Tree
The Opera for All program culminated in student performances of A Flowering Tree at Clinton, South Loop, Reilly, Von Humboldt, and McKinley Elementary Schools. Throughout the year, students learned about opera and how it connects to their everyday lives, applying this knowledge to stage (and help write!) their own versions of John Adams’ A Flowering Tree. The performances were well attended by family, friends, and classmates. View event summaries from performances at Clinton elementary and McKinley Park.
Students spent the year learning about the culture of India in addition to learning about opera, and even took classes in yoga. Some of the movement they learned was incorporated into their performances. Students also received instruction in vocal technique, music fundamentals, acting, and the production of opera. This knowledge allowed them to create the fabulous productions of A Flowering Tree that were presented during the months of April and May!
Pizza and Monteverdi: Italian Night for Teens
On Friday, March 30, Chicago Opera Theater hosted 19 high school students at a pre-opera dinner with special guest speaker Jerry Fuller. The students and their instructors, Teaching Artists A.J. Wester and Francesco Milioto, attended The Return of Ulysses as part of COT’s Opera Theater Workshop for Teens at After School Matters.
Mr. Fuller is an early music specialist who plays the bass viol in the Ulysses orchestra. He spoke to the students about Monteverdi and period instruments over a Giordano’s pizza dinner around COT’s conference room table.
Following dinner we walked to the Harris and were treated to another talk, this one by Director Diane Paulus and Associate Director Andrew Eggert, who spoke about COT’s production of the opera. The students peeked into the orchestra pit to view theorbos and harpsichords before taking their seats. All reports from the students point to a successful evening – they loved the opera and can’t wait to come back to Chicago Opera Theater!
COT Goes to the Dogs
On March 19, 20, and 21, COT Young Artist Anne Grazyk Druce read a special book to grade-school children at 3 Chicago Public Schools. This new partnership between COT and Sit Stay Read! creates unique learning opportunities for students learning to read with the stimulus of a dog in the classroom. Following the canine-in-class sessions a professional comes in to visit and reads a book that involves a dog and his/her career. The Dog Who Sang At The Opera is based on a true story and was the delight of all students hearing Anne sing and then read to them.
Alice in Wonderland - Opera Theater Workshop for Teens
In 2006-07 COT began a new partnership with After School Matters at Gallery 37. The workshop included 21 students from high schools across the city. In a fall and spring workshop of ten weeks each, the students studied singing, acting, and staging. They painted sets and memorized their roles in classic opera scenes. The spring finale was a production of Robert Schauls’ Alice in Wonderland performed at the Studio Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center. The students played to a packed house and to roars of applause for their excellent performances.
The scope of our outreach program has ranged from first-rate school productions to operatic extravaganzas in which students work and perform alongside professional opera singers and crewmembers.
The following are highlights from previous collaborations between Chicago Opera Theater's stellar cast & crew and our partner schools in the Chicago community.
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In 2006-07 COT began a new partnership with After School Matters at Gallery 37. The workshop included 21 students from high schools across the city. In a fall and spring workshop of ten weeks each, the students studied singing, acting, and staging. They painted sets and memorized their roles in classic opera scenes. The spring finale was a production of Robert Schauls’ Alice in Wonderland performed at the Studio Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center. The students played to a packed house and to roars of applause for their excellent performances.
2005
Finding Yolanda
by Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
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| Tiffany Hill and Danotra Harris
play supporting roles. |
Our Production. This production was adapted to be set in an urban private school, and starred our Young Artists in addition to a CPS student chorus and student performed supporting roles.
2004
The Impresario
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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| Brian Herriott sings the role of The Impresario |
About the Opera. This one-act comedy tells the hilarious tale of a theater director struggling to deal with show troubles of fighting actors and the like.
Our Production. In March of 2004, Opera for All hit the road and traveled to 10 Chicago area schools with an edgier and revised production of The Impresario. Inspired by daytime talk show television, the production featured a flamboyant Impresario host and two dueling sopranos as guests. Students in the audience were asked to make decisions regarding lighting, costuming, and set design—making for an all around fun & educationally stimulating operatic experience!
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| From left: Adam Benkendorf
(Pepicek), Jan Heyn-Cubacub (Mother) and Olivia Doig (Aninku) in
COT'sproduction of Hans Krasa's Brundibár. |
Our Production. Opera for All is proud to have collaborated with some of America's foremost theater practitioners. Our production of Brundibár was based on a new English translation by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, and featured set designs and costumes by the children's illustrator Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are). COT resident conductor Alexander Platt led a public school student cast.
2002
She Never Lost a Passenger
by Susan Kander
About
the Opera. She Never Lost A Passenger is a one-act opera about the life of the Underground Railroad champion Harriet Tubman.
Our Production. Six performances of She Never Lost a Passenger were held in February of 2002 at the Field Museum's James Simpson Theater. Nearly 70 students from our partner schools contributed to this production. In less than two weeks, Chicago Opera Theater sold more than 3,000 tickets and maintained a waiting list of more than 1,500 for this student performance. Nearly 400 tickets were donated to partner school children and families. The performance was broadcast on WFMT Fine Arts Radio, bringing the story of Harriet Tubman and this phenomenal performance to an even larger audience.
2001
Noah's Flood
by Benjamin Britten
About the Opera. A one-act 45-minute opera based on the Judeo-Christian story of Noah and the Great Flood.
Our Production. Two hundred and forty-four students contributed to the creation and production of this opera. Students worked alongside professional singers, orchestra members, directors, and designers to create a truly participatory, hands-on learning experience.
