Photo Credit: San Francisco Opera
On Friday, September 7, San Francisco’s glitterati will come out in full force to celebrate the opening night of the Opera’s 96th season. With an Argentine theme, ¡Viva La Noche!, Opera Ball 2018, promises to be a thrilling evening that delights and surprises. The opening performance is a double bill presentation of one-act operas, Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (most commonly referred to as Cav/Pag). Although Cav/Pag is traditionally set in Italy, Argentine tenor, conductor, and director José Cura sets the classic stories in Buenos Aires’ most colorful neighborhood, La Boca.
But what exactly does the ball benefit? Every year, the Opera’s educational outreach programming inspires 50,000 children in Northern California. If you’re attending this year’s ball, here is what the cost of your ticket will fund.
Photo Credit: San Francisco Opera
Sing a Story
Opera-trained teaching artists head to Kindergarten through 3rd-grade classrooms to tell various classic opera stories. Music, props, and costumes enhance the show and the children are encouraged to stand up, sing, and act alongside the teacher.
Book to Bravo
Students in 4th through 8th grade select a literary work and use this to inspire their creation of a mini-opera. Interpretive skills and original voices are required to bring their creative performance to life. The chosen work coincides with something they are learning in school be it the French language or about the American Revolution.
Photo Credit: San Francisco Opera
Voices for Social Justice
4th through 12th-grade students work collaboratively to identify newsworthy topics that may be causing them concern. Bullying, gun violence, and teen rape are some of the timely subjects that inspire the students to write an original musical narrative that they later perform.
