…gives students the opportunity to experience live opera in their schools to expose them to the magic of live performance and prove that opera is for everyone!

We love engaging with our community, especially our students and young audiences who will become our next generation of singers, musicians and audience members. The development and support of emerging young artists is critical to this mission and furthering our goals of exposing new audiences, including those underserved to the ultimate power of music and opera.

Since launching this initiative, we’ve held seven concerts in local public and private schools where we bring professional opera singers and musicians to perform live and interact with students through a live Q&A session after the show. Our programming includes pieces performed in Italian (with projected English titles) from various operas, introduced with context by the school’s music teacher, to allow the audience to experience multiple styles and composers within the genre.

“These concerts are some of the most rewarding experiences for the performers as the energy and excitement displayed by the students is really impossible to describe.”

— Matthew Woorman, MDLO General Director as quoted by MyMCM. Read More

Students from our concerts during the 2022-2023 season also received complimentary tickets to attend one of our four productions at the Music Center at Strathmore. At the show, we also offer a backstage tour where they have the chance to see how operas are produced in real life and meet some of the artists and MDLO production team. Some of the participants become applicants and winners of our Draw The Opera contest whereby we give the students the opportunity to express their views of opera through visual art for prizes in support of their artistic growth and development.

We are so excited to continue expanding this program in 2023 to involve more local students and their families in the arts!