Press Releases
Contact:
Colleen Flanigan
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
312-704-8420 ext. 25
cflanigan@chicagooperatheater.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chicago Opera Theater Mourns the Loss
of Partner School, Suder Elementary
(Chicago, Ill.) When schools close, a variety of people and organizations are affected; among them are students, teachers, parents, community members, local businesses, and most recently Chicago Opera Theater.
With the close of Suder Elementary School on the city’s near west side, a four-year partnership between the school and COT was lost to the City of Chicago’s Renaissance 2010 initiative, a plan that outlines the closure of 50 to 60 schools and the creation of 100 more over the next six years. Suder Elementary School was one of ten closed at the end of the 2004 school year. The city attributed the closures to low attendance and low performance within the schools. Suder served approximately 300 students of African American descent, 99.7% of which were from low-income families. Many lived nearby in the Chicago Housing Authority's Henry Horner Homes.
“Our outreach program offered students at Suder something they would never otherwise have the opportunity or the resources to experience,” says Deborah Oberschelp, Director of Operations and Education at COT.
The partnership between Chicago Opera Theater and Suder Elementary School began in 2000 with an opera outreach program that was active for four years and included recorder and choir classes taught by COT teaching fellows. Students at the school also had the opportunity to participate and perform in COT’s yearly outreach opera.
“A strong relationship between students, teachers, and COT staff resulted from our partnership,” says Oberschelp, “With students and faculty being transferred across the city, that relationship will be difficult to sustain.”
Plans for the 2005 partnership had included an incorporation of COT’s outreach opera, Finding Yolanda, into Suder’s curriculum, preparing Suder students for their participation in the production. Also planned was a pilot string program and after school music program.
COT will continue its commitment to providing education and outreach programs to underserved schools in the 2005 season by maintaining its partnerships with Roosevelt and Curie High Schools and forming new partnerships with People’s School of Music and Von Humboldt Elementary School. A number of Suder’s students have been transferred to Von Humboldt and will continue to benefit from COT’s outreach program there. COT will also offer a course for teachers who are interested in incorporating opera into their curriculum and participating in COT’s outreach production of Finding Yolanda. Continuing education credits will be offered with the course.
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For Immediate Release
COT Mourns Loss of Suder School
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Chicago Opera Theater’s Opera For All Program was established in September 2000 in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools. As part of this program, COT teaching fellows are charged with developing close working relationships with the principal, teachers, and parents of COT’s partner schools to build awareness of music and opera in the school community.
Founded in 1974, Chicago Opera Theater has carved a significant place for itself in the operatic life of Chicago. Under the leadership of General Director Brian Dickie, COT has become the company to watch with its wide range of operatic repertoire that includes the greatest works of the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries. The 2005 season will be no exception, featuring the operas La Resurrezione, Le nozze di Figaro, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
COT opened the 2004 season in its new home, the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park. This modern, state-of-the-art theater is conveniently located at 205 E. Randolph. For more information, call (312) 704-8420 x10 or visit our website at www.chicagooperatheater.org.
