What is Opera Express?
Opera Express, Opera Carolina's educational touring company, engages children and families throughout the Carolinas with professional performances of opera for young people. These delightful productions help students understand and appreciate opera as an art form that integrates all of the fine arts and humanities. Performances are tailored to K-5 age groups with study guide activities that address NCSCOS standards in English Language Arts and Music.
Since 1971, Opera Express has served more than one million children with such favorites as The Billy Goats Gruff, An Aesop Odyssey, Pinocchio, How Nanita Learned to Make Flan, and more.
For more information or to request a preview DVD, please contact Teresa Robertson at 704.332.7177, ext. 202.
2009/2010 Touring Season
Jack and the Beanstalk
Adaptation by John Davies; An operatic version of the story of Jack & the Beanstalk based on scenes from the operettas of Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Living in poverty with his mother, Jack sells the family cow to a mysterious dustman for a handful of beans. When he returns home and shows his mom the scrawny seeds, she throws them out a window in despair. The beans, of course, take root, and in the moonlight a magical stalk grows to the sky.
Discovering the beanstalk and climbing it, as any boy hero would, Jack finds himself in the castle of a very large oaf and his kindly, but haggard, wife. Learning that this giant has taken his father’s golden hen, Jack, with the help of the Giant’s wife, stealthily takes it back.
The Giant, in pursuit of Jack, receives a bump on the head after falling from the beanstalk, causing him to forget he’s supposed to be “bad.” Realizing all the trouble he’s caused, the Giant resolves to behave well, agreeing that consideration for others requires people large and small to treat others, as they would want to be treated.
Download The Jack and the Bean Stalk Study Guide for the synopsis, lessons, activities and other information. (PDF download, 1.4mb)
Touring Schedule
Opera Express will be touring in the fall and spring. Please contact Teresa Robertson at 704.332.7177, ext. 202 for specific availability.
Teacher and Student Participation
Student participation
The artists provide an introduction and guided Q&A session after the performance.
Teacher Participation
Each performance site receives a Study Guide that provides a synopsis, vocabulary, and other information about the production, as well as a variety of Music and English Language Arts activities. Teachers are strongly encouraged to use the Study Guide before and after the performance.
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