Students Dress Rehearsal
Grades 7-12
The Student Dress Rehearsal Program introduces middle and high school students to opera by giving them the opportunity to attend the final dress rehearsals of Washington National Opera's main stage productions. Held in the grand Kennedy Center Opera House, the dress rehearsal is a full-length performance of the opera, with occasional pauses for technical or musical corrections. Students experience opera in a performance setting, and receive materials to help them understand and better appreciate the many dimensions of the art form.
Prior to the performance, classes receive Cuesheets, student study guides, designed to help classes prepare for the opera by providing information on the composer and the story, and posing questions of what to look and listen for at the opera.
In the 2012-2013 season, WNO invites students and their teachers to experience Mozart's Don Giovanni, Puccini's Manon Lescaut, and Jerome Kern's and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat.
Don Giovanni by Mozart
Sung in Italian with English supertitlesWidely regarded as one of the greatest operas ever composed, Mozart weaves the tale of the legendary rake Don Juan into a comically light-hearted (yet deadly serious) musical masterpiece. When Don Giovanni's antics turn fatal and unrepentant, the women he has discarded seek revenge. This performance of Don Giovanni will be sung by the WNO Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists along with the WNO Orchestra.
- Date:
- Thursday, October 11, 2012, 7:00 PM
- Fee:
- $15 per student, teacher, and/or chaperone
- Registration:
- The Kennedy Center School Brochure or call 202-416-8835
Manon Lescaut by Puccini
Sung in Italian with English supertitlesIntensely romantic and beguiling, Manon Lescaut is the story of a willful young woman torn between true love and a life of luxury. Sentenced by her parents to life in the convent, Manon escapes to Paris with her young lover, the student Chevalier des Grieux, but is then lured away by the glamorous life offered by an elderly patron. When Manon's true feelings for her first love are rekindled but she refuses to abandon her jewels, her wealthy benefactor plots a revenge that sends foolish, frivolous Manon to despair in a distant land.
- Date:
- Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 7:00 PM
- Fee:
- $15 per student, teacher, and/or chaperone
- Registration:
- The Kennedy Center School Brochure or call 202-416-8835
Show Boat by Kern and Hammerstein II
Sung in English with English supertitlesThis spectacular new production of Show Boat, Broadway's original masterpiece, brings unforgettable songs, dazzling choreography, and an epic story together to make great entertainment and great art. Based upon a novel by Edna Ferber, one of America's most celebrated writers, Show Boat is a compelling American story of social and political importance. Moving from 1890s Mississippi to Chicago to "Roaring Twenties" Broadway, Show Boat follows the lives of company theater folk, their triumphs and sorrows, while illuminating the racial and social changes that were shaping the country. The legendary songs of Show Boat – like "Ol' Man River," "You Are Love," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Bill," and many more – will be performed the way the composer intended.
- Date:
- Wednesday, May 1, 2013, 7 PM
- Fee:
- $15 per student, teacher, and/or chaperone
- Registration:
- The Kennedy Center School Brochure or call 202-416-8835
David and Alice Rubenstein are the Presenting Underwriters of WNO.
Performances for Young Audiences is made possible by
The Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program is made possible through the generous support of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.
Support for Washington National Opera education programs is provided by Prince Charitable Trusts, The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, The Morningstar Foundation, The Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Foundation, and National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.
Additional support for Performances for Young Audiences is provided in part by The Clark Charitable Foundation; Mr. James V. Kimsey; The Macy*s Foundation; The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; the Park Foundation, Inc.; the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; an endowment from the Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation; the U.S. Department of Education; the Verizon Foundation; Washington Gas; and by generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund, and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.
The contents of this webpage do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
