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Utah Opera Presents Fourteenth Annual Children’s Opera Showcase

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Utah Opera will give local elementary school students a chance to take the spotlight to perform original operas in a professional theatre. The 14th annual Children’s Opera Showcase will take place Tuesday, April 14, 2015, at 6:30 PM in the Jeanné Wagner Theatre located in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.

Participating classes will present an original opera created, produced and performed by students and their teachers with the assistance of a local composer provided by Utah Opera. Teachers attended a summer training program with Utah Opera to help guide them in the development of these year-long class projects. Now, the children will become the stars of the show, singing their own operas with their own sets and costumes.

The evening of April 14 will include three pint-sized operas:  first, Patricia Miller’s and Kristin Adams’ 1st grade classes from Salt Lake City School District’s Ensign Elementary will perform their opera titled “The Gingerbread Village.” Local composer Jeff Pedersen helped the children create their own melodies to express the emotions of the text they wrote for their opera libretto.

The Showcase’s second opera, which will begin at approximately 7:00 PM, comes from a third grade class of Salt Lake City School District’s Highland Park Elementary School. Their project, an opera titled “The Queen’s Highway,” developed under the direction of teacher Angela Mecham, with mentor composer help from Jennifer Purdy.

The final opera of the evening, beginning at approximately 7:30 PM, will star sixth grade classes from Granite School District’s Westbrook Elementary, under the leadership of teacher Stacy Snider and with musical mentorship from composer Margot Murdoch. The title of their opera is “Way to be: Bully Free.” The students are excited to have written “music with a message.”

Admission to this event is free, but seating is limited. The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is located at 138 West 300 South in Salt Lake City.

About Utah Symphony | Utah Opera Education Department

The Education Department of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera creates and oversees opportunities in music for audiences of all ages, with special emphasis on musical experiences for K-12 students and teachers. As the largest performing arts organization in Utah, USUO promotes a broad public knowledge and appreciation of music through more than 30 state-assisted community outreach programs, amounting to more than 600 performances annually. USUO Education serves more than 7,000 teachers and 155,000 students each year throughout Utah by bringing both symphony and opera programs, free of charge, to every school district in Utah over a three- to five-year rotation. For more information, visit www.usuoeducation.org or call 801.869.9091.

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