Dear Educator, With our 2019/2020 season on the horizon, Pacific Opera Victoria is excited to be offering what will likely be our most adventurous and ambitious selection of shows yet. Our upcoming season sees the largest production in our history, plus a Canadian première, a world première, and one of the most popular operas of all time – in all a whirlwind experience of everything opera can be. Our student preview programs have made opera accessible, affordable, and enjoyable, while introducing youth to the performing arts and related learning opportunities. Students from elementary, middle, secondary and post-secondary institutions, as well as home learners, have the opportunity to attend the dress rehearsal for each main stage opera. Groups can enjoy the opera for the low price of $15 for students, teachers, supervisors, or chaperones. Book all three operas by September 30, 2019 and receive free teacher and chaperone tickets, and priority seating! In addition to the full theatre experience, we continue to offer our free Living Opera workshops in the classroom. These workshops are an engaging introduction to opera for elementary school students, bringing singing storytellers into the classroom for relatable, fun, and music- based learning. Our workshops include a selection of participatory activities that allow students the opportunity to creatively explore their own expressive vocabulary. Teachers may book Living Opera workshops for their classrooms and order student dress rehearsal tickets by contacting our box office in September. Our vibrant season also includes the opportunity to bring a complete opera production into schools all across Vancouver Island. THE FLIGHT OF THE HUMMINGBIRD – a new chamber opera for young people and families, is being co-commissioned by Pacific Opera and Vancouver Opera, and will see a BC school tour in 2020. The opera is a touching exploration of moral courage through environmental issues, and an extraordinary example of art and culture at its most diverse. Our strong commitment to education and community is one of the primary components of our artistic mission. Our goal is for everyone to experience the thrill and excitement of a live opera performance. We look forward to sharing this experience with you and your students in the coming season. Sincerely, Amy Culliford Box Office Manager 250.382.1641 | 925 BALMORAL ROAD, VICTORIA BC V8T 1A7 | PACIFICOPERA.CA Il trittico (The Triptych) Music by Giacomo Puccini Words by Giuseppe Adami and Gioachino Forzano Student Preview Tuesday, October 15, 2019, at 7 pm Three short operas in one evening! Each of these three one-act operas tells a separate story. For each one, the great composer Giacomo Puccini wrote music with a distinct sound and mood. The evening starts with a suspenseful thriller, which is followed first by a lyrical tragedy and finally by a zany comedy. The time is 1918, just after the end of World War I. 1. Il tabarro (The Cloak) – A dangerous love triangle Michele and his wife Giorgetta live on a barge on the river Seine near Paris. They used to be happy together. At night Michele would tenderly hold his wife and baby and shelter them in his cloak. But a year ago, their child died. The couple have now grown apart, and Michele suspects that Giorgetta may be unfaithful to him. The music of this opera is ominous and vividly atmospheric. It uses hypnotic rhythms to suggest the flowing waters of the river, and it sometimes imitates the sounds of a tugboat whistle, car horns, and a hurdy-gurdy. 2. Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica) – a heartbreaking tragedy of loss, suicide, and forgiveness Seven years ago, the unmarried Angelica was forced to give up her baby. She was then sent to a convent to devote her life to prayer and repentance, but her only desire is to see her child again. One day, her aunt, the Princess, turns up unexpectedly, and Angelica’s heart is filled with wild hope. With a cast entirely of women, this opera has a gorgeous, heavenly sound, made even lovelier when the orchestra imitates the delicate notes of church bells and birdsong. 3. Gianni Schicchi – a wicked black comedy Buoso Donati has just died, and his relatives are very upset. They have found his will and are horrified to discover Buoso has left all his money – and his prize mule – to a monastery. Things look hopeless until the family members ask for help from a clever rogue named Gianni Schicchi. There are big questions in this opera: Will Buoso’s greedy relatives get their hands on his fortune? Will Gianni Schicchi’s daughter be allowed to marry the man she loves? And who will inherit the mule? The music of Gianni Schicchi is riotously theatrical and often downright wacky – but it also includes one of the most famous and beautiful arias in all of opera – “O mio babbino caro.” In Italian with English surtitles Students $15 / Chaperones $15 250.382.1641 | 925 BALMORAL ROAD, VICTORIA BC V8T 1A7 | PACIFICOPERA.CA Living Opera - Complimentary In-classroom Workshops Offered from September 30th to October 18th, 2019 (Recommended for grades 3 to 8) An engaging introduction to opera for elementary school students, bringing singing storytellers into the classroom for 40 fun minutes of music-based learning. Collaboration in Opera What happens if everyone works together? In this session of Living Opera, students will explore the power of team work that is key to mounting Il trittico by Puccini. This opera is actually three one-act operas in one evening! Teaching artists Geoff Malcolm and Anna Shill will be telling stories, singing, and playing theatre games in this lively program that embraces emotional intelligence in music and celebrates the collaborative spirit that brings opera into our community. Curriculum Connections Arts Education K-7 • Explore relationships between identity, place, culture, society, and belonging through the arts • Create artistic works collaboratively and as an individual using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play • Express feelings, ideas, and experiences through the arts • Examine relationships between the arts and the wider world • Reflect on works of art and creative processes to understand artists’ intentions • Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of personal, social, cultural, historical, and environmental contexts in relation to the arts • Observe, listen, describe, inquire, and predict how artists (dancers, actors, musicians, and visual artists) use processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools, and techniques Language Arts K-7 • Make connections between ideas from a variety of sources and prior knowledge to build understanding • Recognize how different texts reflect different purposes. • Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers, as appropriate, to develop understanding of self, identity, and community To book your complimentary in-class Living Opera workshop, please contact Amy at Pacific Opera Victoria, 250-385-0222 or [email protected] 250.382.1641 | 925 BALMORAL ROAD, VICTORIA BC V8T 1A7 | PACIFICOPERA.CA Student Previews for the 2019/20 Season Live opera performances for only $15 each for students, teachers, and chaperones Il trittico Flight Carmen Il trittico by Giacomo Puccini Tuesday, October 15, 2019, at 7 pm Three short operas in one evening! Puccini’s Il trittico (The Triptych) tells three very different stories in three distinct settings. • Il tabarro (The Cloak) is a dark, moody thriller that takes place on a barge on the river Seine in Paris, where a fateful love triangle leads to murder. • Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica) is a heartbreaking tragedy of loss, suicide, and forgiveness as a nun with a devastating secret is torn by love, grief, and guilt. • Gianni Schicchi is a wicked black comedy. A group of greedy relatives scheme to secure the inheritance of their dead uncle – but they are out-maneuvered by a clever rogue named Gianni Schicchi. In Italian with English surtitles Flight by Jonathan Dove Tuesday, February 18, 2020, at 7 pm Inspired by the true story of an Iranian refugee who lived at Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years, Flight is set in an airport where a group of travellers are grounded overnight by a storm and find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Although it explores serious issues of exile and statelessness, Flight is also surprisingly funny and in fact is one of the most popular comic operas of our time. The plight of refugees is frequently in the news today – making this opera as relevant as when it was written two decades ago. In English with English surtitles Carmen by Georges Bizet Tuesday, April 14, 2020, at 7 pm Carmen is the story of a fiercely independent woman who is determined to write her own destiny, whatever the consequences. When Carmen fixes on Don José as her next (but certainly not her last) lover, the naïve young soldier cannot deal with his own jealousy and possessiveness. With an unforgettable heroine and irresistible music that has become part of popular culture, it is no wonder that Carmen has become one of the most famous operas of all time. In French with English surtitles To book Student Preview tickets, please contact Amy Culliford, Box Office Manager [email protected] or 250-385-0222 250.382.1641 | 925 BALMORAL ROAD, VICTORIA BC V8T 1A7 | PACIFICOPERA.CA Need transportation to the opera? Wilson’s Transportation will offer a 15% discount to any schools booking bus transportation to the opera! Please call them at 250-475-3235 to make a booking! 250.382.1641 | 925 BALMORAL ROAD, VICTORIA BC V8T 1A7 | PACIFICOPERA.CA Permission Form Dear Parent or Guardian, Your child is invited to attend the Student Dress Rehearsal for Pacific Opera Victoria’s production of Puccini’s Il Trittico on October 15th at 7pm. Please read the information at the top of this form, then sign and return the permission slip at the bottom of this form to _______________________________ by ________________________________.