OHIO’s Opera Outreach Program combats bullying and brings opera to life for young audiences

After a successful first season, OHIO’s Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts Opera Theater is taking on a two-fold mission for the second year in a row: to share an anti-bullying message while educating elementary school children about the medium of opera.

The Opera Outreach Program was developed by Daniel Stein, an assistant professor of classical and musical theater voice and the director of the Opera Theater, in collaboration with School of Music graduate students in vocal performance.

Each year, the company assembles a different 30–45-minute opera with variations on existing operatic melodies, based on a fairy tale and designed to communicate a message to an audience of elementary school students. The inaugural show was a variation of “Three Billy Goats Gruff,” with this year's show focusing on the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” a few generations after the original story reached its happily ever after.

“Basically, it’s a continuation of that story with a little anti-bullying twist,” said Sophia Longo, a first-year graduate student studying vocal performance. “I play Jackie and Jackie is getting bullied by the giants. We learn about their family and why they ended up becoming bullies and then of course…teach some strategies for them (the students) to defend against bullies in their real life.”

Another cast member is Sarah Julien, a second-year graduate student studying vocal performance and pedagogy.

“The first year…we were just doing local elementary schools and this year we’ve actually partnered with Opera Columbus so we’ve been doing performances in Columbus as well which is really exciting,” Julien said.

This expansion is owed in part to Char Kopchick, the executive director of K-12 Outreach Education and Programming for the College of Fine Arts. Kopchick handles the logistics of the program, communicating with elementary school faculty to schedule and coordinate program visits. Stein described Kopchick’s contributions to the program over the past year as “instrumental” and “a huge relief.”

“One thing I had to do initially was establish my credibility and once that was established…Dr. Stein provided me with an outline of what the program was going to be, and so then I could take it out to the schools, talk to the principals or the music teachers about the program and assure them that it is quality and that it was worth the time their students would be spending in the program itself,” Kopchick said. 

According to Kopchick, participating schools from the first year vouched for the program and allowed it to reach twice the number of local schools in its second year; one of these schools is Morrison-Gordon Elementary School.

Michele Karoub-Holzschu is the music specialist for Morrison-Gordon, and she prepared her students for the performance through YouTube videos, preparation materials from Dr. Stein and informative talks about the medium.

“I explained to them that this is really special and not every school in the world gets an opera in their very own gymnasium,” Karoub-Holzschu said.

The unique experience of presenting an opera to a group of young people has given the performers a rare chance to introduce their art to fresh minds.

“My favorite part is bringing an art form that has a reputation for being a bit uppity or elitist, and definitely has a reputation for being more for older folks and paring that down and making something kids want to watch,” Julien said.

In both years of the program, audiences of children across Athens and Columbus have been riveted by the performances. The excitement from the children is palpable to the performers during the opera and to the faculty interacting with the children after the program has ended. Not only does the program provide important exposure to opera, but it also opens a door to share an important message.

“Pursuing music is hard and you deal with bullying throughout that, so I think it’s important for them to see someone doing what they love and encouraging them to do what they love and not let other people get in the way of that, and for me it’s fulfilling to deliver that message too,” Longo said. 

The program has been rich with valuable lessons for the singers as well, which is part of the reason Stein believes most operatic performers get their start in similar programs.

“For the singers, my goal is to give them the experience of being in a performance environment with the many distractions that are out there in these kinds of performances, making sure they can maintain and stay in character and not let distractions take them away from being in the moment in their show,” Stein said. 

The program also gives young students a chance to practice not causing distractions while sitting in an audience.

“Some kids don’t really know how to be in an audience, so we taught them a little bit about how we listen quietly with our eyes and our ears and our hearts, we’re open to hearing different things,” Karoub-Holzschu added. 

The Opera Outreach Program is still in the early stages but has been met with resounding support and growth so far. Looking to the future, Stein and the company hope for continued expansion and opportunities.

“My goal is that we will have five shows that we will keep in our kind of circulation so that ideally no child will see the same show while they’re in school,” Stein said. “I would love to expand our reach further within both the Athens and the Columbus areas so that we are getting as many kids interested in and exposed to opera as possible.”