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Boys Develop Arias through Partnership with the Metropolitan Opera

Saint David's unique yearlong partnership with the Metropolitan Opera is enabling our fifth graders to collaborate on their own mini operatic production, while also learning some important lessons about the collaborative process and respect.

The boys have been working in four groups with artist and educator Michael Littig to brainstorm story ideas for the four arias they will perform during their production. Their show will draw inspiration from La Boheme, which the boys saw last month at the Met.

Mr. Littig prepared the boys for brainstorming sessions through an engaging discussion of the power of storytelling and the hero's journey, with the boys learning that every one of us has a story and that it is very powerful when one's story is told by another person. Brainstorming resulted in the selection of the gods of Ancient Greece as the setting for the boys' production.

Today's group worked on the story behind a duet, which will be about two gods at war who parallel two brothers who are fighting.

Throughout the session, the boys were animated, eager to propose their ideas about the behavior and motivations of gods and mortals--and they were also, as important, good listeners. Mr. Littig commended them on how they offered positive feedback to each other, without rejecting classmates' ideas.

Respect in the learning process is about being open minded to different opinions and listening without judgement. In January, the four groups will reconvene to share their arias and see how they fit together. They will then work with a Met composer to write the arias.

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