A message from the Director:
A recent trek up the tallest mountain in the contiguous U.S. reminded me of the sheer power and awesome beauty of nature. Impossible to ignore, everyone on the mountain's trail bonded in an impromptu community of respect for the wilderness surrounding them. The grandeur of nature, it seems, has a knack for bringing people together. Afterwards, upon returning to the concrete and glass of our city, it's easy to get lost in the practicalities of an urban jungle; it takes special effort to maintain a feeling of mutual connection to one another and to our planet.

As we all endeavor to move toward more environmentally sustainable means of living, artists and audiences alike should regularly ask themselves: how does what we do impact the environment? City Opera strives to employ the latest eco-friendly and carbon footprint reducing technologies via maintaining a nearly paperless office, by minimizing travel and fuel costs through our focus on homegrown talent, by an outreach program that goes to schools rather than bringing (bussing) schools to us, and by our use of time-sharing vehicles (like Zipcar) for production related transport.

The real contribution our company makes, however, isn't only by jumping on the bandwagon of acknowledging the world's fragility. We also educate audiences in how to best address the globe's increasing smallness, by showing how other citizens of the planet get the job done . Our enthusiasm for "going green" may be relatively new to our contemporary American way of life, but many cultures abroad have lived close to the soil for thousands of years. Some of the customs which have honored Mother Earth since time immemorial are still very much alive beyond our shores.

This season, many of City Opera's artists hail from places where music and dance still highlight special relationships between us and the Earth we inhabit. Our new outreach program is bringing the joyful and exotic energy of these ceremonies right to your neighborhoods and to your schools. Not only does it make for fantastic entertainment, but for a richer, deeper, and grander celebration of the big, blue spinning ball we all call home.

City Opera opens for Mayor Villagairosa at the Los Angeles Convention Center

CITY OPERA's Brasil Brazil with Mayor Villaraigosa (standing center)

RECENT COMMUNITY OUTREACH

City Opera Takes You and Your Kids on an Unforgettable Trip Around the World

Tuesday, June 12, 2008
Melrose Elementary
L.A. Unified School District

An unprecedented and highly interactive day of total cultural immersion greeted the students of Melrose Elementary as they joined the illustrious Dr. Romulus Delacroix on an unforgettable and eye-opening journey to the four corners of the globe. This special event transformed their campus into a real world adventure. With the guidance of some of LA's most notable musicians, parents and students—passports in hand—were transported to strange, new lands. The school's teachers, costumed in authentic native garb, officiated some of humanity's most exotic rites and rituals.

World-Famous Matador Trainer Coleman Cooney & Mojacar Flamenco

Destinations included a stopover in Europe to visit a Spanish Toreo de Salon (bullfighting academy) where a genuine matador taught students the death-defying ballet of challenging horns with a capote while still others participated in the hot-blooded and assertive gestures of flamenco dance; their travel to China included an elegant and authentic tea ceremony and the graceful and rhapsodic music of a gu zheng virtuoso; a short visit to a tipi on the Great Plains of North America brought them next to a crackling fire and the velvety tone of a wooden flute, where they learned about the evocative environmental ceremonies of the Lakota Sioux; the day ended in a small village in West Africa's Cameroon where the invigorating and energizing rhythm of tribal drumming and communal dancing had everyone celebrating our tiny world.

City OperaTeams Up with The Da Camera Society to Wow Kids and Teachers

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Germain Street Elementary
L.A. Unified School District

City Opera teamed up with The Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary's College to present The Syrinx, the company's first original production. The Syrinx redefines the musical outreach experience for young people with an immensely engaging and incredibly kinetic concert presentation that enchants kids and teachers alike. Based in part on the work of Joseph Campbell and fully choreographed by Mecca Andrews of Hysterica Dance Company (with additional movement consultation provided by the avante garde Osseus Labyrint's Hannah Sim), The Syrinx is a contemporary and living fable of a young girl who steps outside the drudgery of her daily routine and into a dream world of warring woodwind and string instrument tribes. With the help of some of LA's very finest musicians, the story's heroine will engage and inspire your imagination as she discovers how to reconcile the orchestra through her (and your!) latent talents of dance.

"I have been an educator for 32 years and I have never seen a presentation of such high caliber. The musicians lit up the space with their dazzling melodies as they played their instruments and moved throughout the audience telling a story without words. The children were mesmerized and I was so pleased that they were able to understand and explicate the underlying themes."—Sonia Ugarte, Principal, Germain Elementary School.

City Opera's three-year residency on the campus of Germain Elementary enabled students to begin an instrumental music program during the school day as part of their regular curriculum.  Working with the generous help of the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation and the school's administration, City Opera enabled students to receive both string instruments, and qualified instruction.  

Brasil Brazil returns to La Crescenta for dynamic Samba, Candomblé, and Capoeira expo.

November 19, 2007
Rosemont Middle School
Glendale Unified School District

City Opera presented Brasil Brazil and Capoeira Brasil, an electrifying pairing of one of the most exciting bands in Latin music today with expert ritual movement and dance from their colorful South American homeland. Demonstrating the origin of breakdancing while amping up the high-octane samba rhythms of the music was the explosive martial arts footwork and spinning headstands of master capoeiristas.

City Opera wows kids in Southgate, an All American City

Monday, June 5, 2007
Liberty Elementary
L.A. Unified School District

U.S. Fiddling champ Alex Depue (courtesy of Six Palms Presents) with Robert Anderson and friends from String Project LA, as well as Chinese gu zheng (zither) virtuoso Bei Bei He and harpist Andrea Puente presented a full day of music at Liberty Elementary. Check out this vid of Mr. Depue playing "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes, and "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson!