An Opera Is A Story
Preschoolers learn holistically, using all of their senses. The art form of opera combines story, drama, singing and moving to music, and the visual elements of scenery and props. Could classical operas, with the brilliant music of Mozart, Rossini, Bizet or Gilbert & Sullivan be adapted in an age-appropriate way to engage young children while helping them develop skills needed for Kindergarten?
Each year, Toledo Opera offers to schools in northwest Ohio a preschool arts residency program called An Opera Is a Story led by master teaching artist Christina Farrell. Over two weeks, she leads a series of four sequential workshops in up to 8 local preschool classrooms where students learn to sing the ‘An Opera Is a Story” refrain, warm up vocally, and embody an opera's story through engaging musical, dramatic play and movement experiences. Each year, Ms. Farrell leads students through different operas which she has shortened and adapted the story to be age-appropriate for preschoolers. Contact Luke Serrano (lserrano@toledoopera.org) for more information.
Workshop Leader and An Opera Is a Story Creator
Christina Farrell
Christina Farrell received a BFA in Vocal Performance from Carnegie Mellon University and an MA in Educational Theatre from New York University. She is a Master Teaching Artist with Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts. She has facilitated for the Institute arts integration workshops and residencies for educators throughout the United States and internationally in Singapore, South Korea, and India. Ms. Farrell is the founding director of Opera Ignite, which has provided educational consultation and programming for organizations including Toledo Opera, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Iowa Arts Council. In 2020, she also founded Thoughline Arts to foster teaching artist partnerships in her home state of Iowa. Among her honors Ms. Farrell is the recipient of a 2011 Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Sponsors for An Opera Is a Story:
An Opera Is A Story Video:
Reflections from TPS Head Start teachers after An Opera Is a Story: Hansel and Gretel
“I just love their [students’] little imaginations…… I think that’s why they love the opera, they got to imagine it and be a part of it. They really wanted to be a part of it.”
“Children were singing the songs when we were walking, transitioning, at recess, and in the hallway going to the gym.”
“Music really does work with them – it’s a different way of talking to them in their everyday lives.”
“Loved how they could remember it and they had to sing and do the movements at the same time.”