Established in 1970, Opera for the Young (OFY) has evolved from its founders' "labor of love" to its present status as a fully professional opera company. OFY is not affiliated with any other organization and exists solely to provide educational programming.

Opera for the Young brings live, professional opera to elementary school audiences with annual Fall and Spring tours. Students appear onstage in chorus and cameo roles, performing for their peers right alongside OFY's professional artists. All productions are fully staged, sung in English and adapted especially for kids.

Optional artist-in-residence packages -- Class Chats or Opera by Design -- supplement basic OFY programming. Experience confirms that residencies greatly enhance our product. Residency artists reach children on a far more personal basis; they have the luxury of time to make personal connections with the entire student body. Because residency programs are incorporated into the students' own classrooms, they make a lasting, profound impression. Residency schools develop a vastly increased sense of ownership in the OFY experience.

On the day of the performance, the cast arrives at the school. That morning, cast members travel to individual classrooms where they lead discussions about opera and prepare students for their upcoming roles as chorus and audience members. In the afternoon, our cast of four professional singers and one pianist, along with 16 students in chorus and cameo speaking roles, presents the opera for the entire school, in the school gym. A question-and-answer period with the cast follows each performance.

Each year, OFY reaches over 90,000 elementary school children throughout the Midwest to ignite an enthusiasm for opera.

OFY also holds an annual set and costume design contest wherein students submit drawings for pre-selected elements of the upcoming production's sets and costumes. Winners are awarded a certificate of achievement and public recognition on the day of the performance.

Our process is involved and successful. Months in advance of our program, each school receives a set of teaching materials: a full libretto; a student preparation handbook; a teachers' guide; a tutorial compact disc; and, evaluation forms. The music teacher uses these materials to prepare the student chorus. The teacher also prepares the rest of the student body so that each child is a well-informed audience member able (and encouraged!) to sing along from his/her seat during the performance.

OFY audiences become acquainted with the original scores of master composers, set in contexts more relevant to kids' 21st-century lives. Our Barber of Seville is updated to the 1950s; The Magic Flute is set in space. The Elixir of Love takes place in the Old West. OFY's repertoire also includes Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, Dvorak's Rusalka, and a work based on the masterpieces of Gluck, Offenbach and Monteverdi, entitled, Orpheus Returns, The Case of the Underworld Zoo. Every opera features four professional singers and one pianist. (All professional roles are triple or quadruple cast.)

Recent cast members include a Grammy award winner, Metropolitan Opera national and regional audition winners, choristers and featured artists from the Lyric Opera of Chicago, university faculty members and members of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. All are conservatory graduates and active recitalists.

Several times OFY has been honored with project support from the National Endowment for the Arts. These prestigious endorsements reflect OFY's growing reputation as a national leader in arts education.


Last Updated: APRIL 8, 2008