Tag Archives: Opera for Everyone

HOT Opera For Everyone

Carmen OFE Reaches 1,300 Students!

A big mahalo to all students and chaperones who came out for last night’s Opera For Everyone, the last dress rehearsal of Carmen! More than 1,300 students saw the production through HOT Education.

Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services shared this photo of their group at the event:

HOT Opera For Everyone

And HOT asked a few students during intermission what they liked about the show:

Established 1991, HOT’s Opera for Everyone program offers students from elementary through high school and college classes (age 24 and under) the opportunity to enjoy the live opera experience for just $7!  Teachers and others working with Hawaii’s youth may reserve seating for the Wednesday before each opera opening. This is the final full orchestra dress rehearsal and designated Opera For Everyone night reserved exclusively for this purpose during the regular school year.

In addition to the opera production, HOT’s Opera For Everyone program provides expanded opportunities for schools to incorporate the performing arts into regular curricula. Many teachers intrigued by opera tie-ins to literature, culture, language, geography, science and math, integrate the Opera For Everyone program into their classroom activities.

Honolulu Magazine: Behind-the-Scenes of Madam Butterfly

Go behind-the-scenes of HOT’s production of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly with these amazing photos of last week’s VIP Night and Opera for Everyone by Ross Hamamura/SONY for Honolulu Magazine online now!

Photographer: Ross D. Hamamura - RDHphoto.net

Soprano Lina Tetriani getting into character with the magic of HOT’s Wig & Makeup Designer Sue Sittko Schaefer

Photographer: Ross D. Hamamura - RDHphoto.net

Getting pumped for HOT Education’s Opera for Everyone!

Photographer: Ross D. Hamamura - RDHphoto.net

Maestro getting the HOT Orchestra in the zone!

Photographer: Ross D. Hamamura - RDHphoto.net

More smiling faces!

Photographer: Ross D. Hamamura - RDHphoto.net

Hawaii’s Jamie Offenbach returns as The Bonze!Photographer: Ross D. Hamamura - RDHphoto.netWithout these three, this production would not be possible! In 2009, Dean Shibuya (Set Designer) and Anne Namba (Costume Designer) joined HOT’s Artistic Director Henry Akina (Stage Director) in Finland to bring some Aloha to the Savonlinna Opera Festival! This production has wowed international audiences since and has finally made it to Honolulu for a homecoming!

Check out the full gallery online at Honolulu Magazine’s website!

 

Hawaii Opera Theatre’s ‘Opera for Everyone’ program

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For Immediate Release

Media Contact:  Jason M.A. Walter | 808-596-7372 ext. 211 | j_walter@hawaiiopera.org

Hawaii Opera Theatre’s ‘Opera for Everyone’ program

Honolulu, HI – The Hawaii Opera Theatre (HOT) Education Program will once more bring Opera for Everyone to the Blaisdell.  Since 1991, HOT’s Opera for Everyone Program offers students from elementary through high school and college classes (age 24 and under) the opportunity to enjoy the live opera experience for $7 at the Final Dress Rehearsal of each production. Teachers and others working with Hawaii’s youth may reserve seating for the final full orchestra dress rehearsal.  The last day to sign up for tickets is October 7, 2013.

The first Opera for Everyone of the 2013-2014 Opera season features Turandot and will be held on Wednesday, October 9, starting at 7pm. Turandot was composed by Giacomo Puccini, who died before its completion.  It was first performed in 1926 after Franco Alfano used Puccini’s own notes and outlines to complete the opera. Famously on its opening night, Maestro Arturo Toscanini did not perform Alfano’s ending. During the performance, the conductor laid down his baton right after Liù’s final scene and addressed the audience, saying, “Here the Maestro died.”

Turandot is based upon Gozzi’s dramatic fairy-tale about a barbarian prince who journeys to an unknown city. There, he is reunited with his father and a faithful servant. He also encounters a cold but beautiful woman, the Princess Turandot, and decides to undertake his greatest challenge—winning her love… Should he fail, the price is death! This story also focuses on the questions of family loyalty, faithfulness to duty, openness to emotion, and honesty with oneself.

HOT’s Education team will also be conducting backstage tours on the morning of the final day of production October 15 (tours at 900a, 1000a, 1100a) for students of its School Residency Program.  The HOT Residency program is available for elementary, middle and high schools. During the Residency Program, the HOT Education team leads students and teachers through the process of producing and performing an opera.  Schools participating this year include Waikele Elementary, Pearl Highlands Elementary, and Blanche Pope Elementary.

Sung in Italian, with English language translations projected above the stage, HOT’s production of Turandot will be performed by an award-winning cast including Soprano Susan Foster, whose renowned performances as the title character in productions around the world, include stops at San Francisco Opera & Opera Australia.  Grammy Award winning Tenor Jay Hunter Morris, whose vaunted performance as a late-addition to Wagner’s Ring Cycle on 8 days notice made him a rising star, returns to HOT, where he last performed in La boheme (2003).  Mr. Morris will be making his debut as the courageous Calàf, who despite the odds against him, aspires to win the heart of his beloved Turandot.

To learn more about HOT’s Education Program, please contact Erik D. Haines, Director of Education, at e_haines@hawaiiopera.org.  For tickets to Opera For Everyone, please contact Blythe Kelsey, Education Coordinator, at b_kelsey@hawaiiopera.org.

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