Lyric Opera 2021-2022 Issue 4 Florencia en el Amazonas

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 39 Hoss Brock (Witch) in Lyric’s Opera in the Neighborhoods production of Hansel and Gretel in the Par k. class. The first Explore Opera series will be available for elementary school students in grades one through five, and the hope is to create more modules in the future to expand the program for middle- and high-school students. Elementary Opera Residencies involve a teaching artist working with students over a 12-week period. Students take a story or topic they’re currently studying in class and adapt it into a performance piece through the art of opera and creative storytelling. Based on their chosen themes, they incorporate existing melodies, including music from well-known operas, with lyrics the students create themselves. The entire adaptation is presented in the students’ own words. High School Choir Residencies operate through school choruses and provide support for developing Chicago Public School high-school choir programs. Lyric teaching artists assist in the classroom once a week for the entire school year by sharing their expertise in vocal technique with choir directors and doing everything possible to support existing learning goals. Despite the pandemic, LU - LC&E programs enjoyed a terrific response last year. “We engaged just over 30,000 students and teachers throughout the Chicago area,” notes Smith, “including just over 15,000 participants and 200 schools in Chicago Public Lyric chorus master Michael Black works with Senn High School students. Robert Kusel School alone, accounting for half of our 30,000 participants during the year. Because everything was digital, we were actually able to reach many more individual schools!” This season, Lyric Unlimited hopes to connect with even more schools through its portfolio of activities. If you’re a teacher, principal, or interested parent, find out more about these programs at lyricopera.org/learn-engage . Kyle Flubacker