Press Releases Opera Company, Art Sanctuary and New Freedom Theatre Present Hip H'Opera: A Pilot Literacy and Music-Based After School Program 01-30-2007 For Immediate Release:January 30, 2007 Contact: Tracy C. Galligher215-893-3600, ext. 204galligher@operaphilly.com Opera Company of Philadelphia, Art Sanctuary and New Freedom Theatre Present A Pilot Literacy and Music-Based After School Program Philadelphia, PA: The Opera Company of Philadelphia joins with partners Art Sanctuary and New Freedom Theatre to announce the creation of a new literacy and music-based after school program: Hip H’Opera. Co-conceived by Opera Company Managing Director David B. Devan and Art Sanctuary Founder and Executive Director Lorene Cary, Hip H’Opera highlights the talents of young artists from Art Sanctuary’s North Stars after-school program; the New Freedom Theatre’s Performing Arts Training Program; and singers from the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s production of Porgy and Bess, for an innovative experience that celebrates the urban experience within a classical music setting. The new program fuses the hip-hop poems of the North Stars with the music of classically-trained area composers Jay Fluellen, Diane Monroe, Rolando Morales-Matos, and Monnette Sudler. Ten North Stars students wrote hip-hop style poems for this project on themes ranging from family and friends, to experiences in their neighborhoods. The composers met for a private reading, choosing poems to set based upon this inspiration. The poems were then scored for voice, piano, string quartet, and percussion. The songs will be performed by the gifted young artists of New Freedom Theatre’s Performing Arts Training Program, and by Porgy and Bess cast members soprano Julie-Ann Whitely, tenor Don LeRoy Morales, mezzo-soprano Allison Sanders, and bass-baritone DeAndre Simmons. Also included in the line-up of soloists is soprano Evelyn Santiago-Schultz. “The Opera Company of Philadelphia is honored to work with our partners at Art Sanctuary and New Freedom Theatre in developing this unique yet vital community program,” shared OCP Managing Director David B. Devan. “The opportunity to develop meaningful synergies between opera, hip-hop and cultural literacy activities, and to develop them in a way that speaks to students in our community, is ultimately at the heart of the project.” Art Sanctuary Founder and celebrated author Lorene Cary said, “What hip hop and opera have in common is the primacy of the voice, a delight in pushing to human limits the possibilities of the voice and the breath; that and a delight in the inherent musical qualities of language. They’re made for each other.” New Freedom Theatre Producing Artistic Director Walter Dallas – who is currently making his operatic directorial debut with Porgy and Bess – agreed, sharing, “Hip H’Opera is an exciting and special project, and I am so pleased that Freedom students and staff are involved. I hope to see future collaborations arise from this genesis.” The inaugural run of Hip H’Opera culminates on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at Art Sanctuary’s home the Church of the Advocate, 18th and Diamond Streets in Philadelphia. Performances include a free student matinee at 10:00 AM and an evening performance at 7:30 PM which is open to the public. Tickets to the evening performance are $5.00 and can be purchased by calling the Art Sanctuary at 215-232-4485. Hip H’Opera received generous lead funding from The Comcast Foundation, with important additional funding from St. Christopher’s Hospital Foundation. The Opera Company also thanks media partner WHYY, Inc. For more information, visit www.operaphilly.com/education. Additional Information: Opera Company of PhiladelphiaThe Opera Company of Philadelphia was established in 1975 and is Philadelphia’s only producer of grand opera, performing at the Academy of Music. The Opera Company’s award-winning Sounds of Learning™ education program is a six-week, intensive, cross-curricular, literacy-based program which is taught in Philadelphia area classrooms. The Sounds of Learning™ has brought over 120,000 students, from 5th through 12th grade, to the Academy of Music for Opera during its 15 years of work in the community. Art SanctuaryEstablished in 2000, Art Sanctuary’s North Stars is a unique literacy and arts after-school program for teens 13-18 years old, which seeks to validate the urban experience in a curriculum-based program using the full spectrum of the performing arts. North Stars use social history as a text to provide content for the expressive arts, teaching activism and self-worth. The North Stars study with a brilliant team of teaching artists: lead artist and poet Trapeta Mayson, jazz guitarist Monnette Sudler, African masquerade artist and drummer Ira Bond, the Twin Poets of Def Poetry Jam, videographer Brother El Sawyer, and Administrator & Youth Mentor Jeffrey Hart help students establish their own distinct voice through the hip-hop curriculum designed by Decoteau Irby. New Freedom TheatreNew Freedom Theatre's Performing Arts Training Program provides training and empowers students to become artists, arts advocates and productive members of society. Since its inception over 30 years ago, New Freedom has trained over 10,000 students with a safe, challenging environment in which to learn acting, dance and vocal arts. Guided by the talents of vocal music instructor Renee Robinson-Way, singers are instructed in vocal technique to help develop their talents and give them tools for complete self expression through song. -##-
Press Releases
For Immediate Release:January 30, 2007
Contact: Tracy C. Galligher215-893-3600, ext. 204galligher@operaphilly.com
Opera Company of Philadelphia, Art Sanctuary and New Freedom Theatre Present
A Pilot Literacy and Music-Based After School Program
Philadelphia, PA: The Opera Company of Philadelphia joins with partners Art Sanctuary and New Freedom Theatre to announce the creation of a new literacy and music-based after school program: Hip H’Opera. Co-conceived by Opera Company Managing Director David B. Devan and Art Sanctuary Founder and Executive Director Lorene Cary, Hip H’Opera highlights the talents of young artists from Art Sanctuary’s North Stars after-school program; the New Freedom Theatre’s Performing Arts Training Program; and singers from the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s production of Porgy and Bess, for an innovative experience that celebrates the urban experience within a classical music setting.
The new program fuses the hip-hop poems of the North Stars with the music of classically-trained area composers Jay Fluellen, Diane Monroe, Rolando Morales-Matos, and Monnette Sudler. Ten North Stars students wrote hip-hop style poems for this project on themes ranging from family and friends, to experiences in their neighborhoods. The composers met for a private reading, choosing poems to set based upon this inspiration. The poems were then scored for voice, piano, string quartet, and percussion.
The songs will be performed by the gifted young artists of New Freedom Theatre’s Performing Arts Training Program, and by Porgy and Bess cast members soprano Julie-Ann Whitely, tenor Don LeRoy Morales, mezzo-soprano Allison Sanders, and bass-baritone DeAndre Simmons. Also included in the line-up of soloists is soprano Evelyn Santiago-Schultz.
“The Opera Company of Philadelphia is honored to work with our partners at Art Sanctuary and New Freedom Theatre in developing this unique yet vital community program,” shared OCP Managing Director David B. Devan. “The opportunity to develop meaningful synergies between opera, hip-hop and cultural literacy activities, and to develop them in a way that speaks to students in our community, is ultimately at the heart of the project.”
Art Sanctuary Founder and celebrated author Lorene Cary said, “What hip hop and opera have in common is the primacy of the voice, a delight in pushing to human limits the possibilities of the voice and the breath; that and a delight in the inherent musical qualities of language. They’re made for each other.”
New Freedom Theatre Producing Artistic Director Walter Dallas – who is currently making his operatic directorial debut with Porgy and Bess – agreed, sharing, “Hip H’Opera is an exciting and special project, and I am so pleased that Freedom students and staff are involved. I hope to see future collaborations arise from this genesis.”
The inaugural run of Hip H’Opera culminates on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at Art Sanctuary’s home the Church of the Advocate, 18th and Diamond Streets in Philadelphia. Performances include a free student matinee at 10:00 AM and an evening performance at 7:30 PM which is open to the public. Tickets to the evening performance are $5.00 and can be purchased by calling the Art Sanctuary at 215-232-4485.
Hip H’Opera received generous lead funding from The Comcast Foundation, with important additional funding from St. Christopher’s Hospital Foundation. The Opera Company also thanks media partner WHYY, Inc. For more information, visit www.operaphilly.com/education.
Additional Information:
Opera Company of PhiladelphiaThe Opera Company of Philadelphia was established in 1975 and is Philadelphia’s only producer of grand opera, performing at the Academy of Music. The Opera Company’s award-winning Sounds of Learning™ education program is a six-week, intensive, cross-curricular, literacy-based program which is taught in Philadelphia area classrooms. The Sounds of Learning™ has brought over 120,000 students, from 5th through 12th grade, to the Academy of Music for Opera during its 15 years of work in the community.
Art SanctuaryEstablished in 2000, Art Sanctuary’s North Stars is a unique literacy and arts after-school program for teens 13-18 years old, which seeks to validate the urban experience in a curriculum-based program using the full spectrum of the performing arts. North Stars use social history as a text to provide content for the expressive arts, teaching activism and self-worth. The North Stars study with a brilliant team of teaching artists: lead artist and poet Trapeta Mayson, jazz guitarist Monnette Sudler, African masquerade artist and drummer Ira Bond, the Twin Poets of Def Poetry Jam, videographer Brother El Sawyer, and Administrator & Youth Mentor Jeffrey Hart help students establish their own distinct voice through the hip-hop curriculum designed by Decoteau Irby.
New Freedom TheatreNew Freedom Theatre's Performing Arts Training Program provides training and empowers students to become artists, arts advocates and productive members of society. Since its inception over 30 years ago, New Freedom has trained over 10,000 students with a safe, challenging environment in which to learn acting, dance and vocal arts. Guided by the talents of vocal music instructor Renee Robinson-Way, singers are instructed in vocal technique to help develop their talents and give them tools for complete self expression through song.
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