Opera Parallele Announces New Children's Opera 'Xochitl and the Flowers', Today

As part of its unique annual Hands-on-Opera education and youth performance program, Opera Parallèle (OP) will present the world premiere of Xochitl and the Flowers, by OP composer-in-residence Christopher Pratorius. Based on the children's book of the same name by Jorge Argueta and with a libretto by Opera Parallèle's Roma Olvera, three free performances will be presented November 17 and 19 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco. The fully staged and costumed production will be developed during an innovative eight-week residency with third grade students of the Alvarado Elementary School Spanish Immersion Program in San Francisco, assisted by the Opera Parallèle creative team and professional singers. Performances will be given Thursday, November 17, at 6 pm and Saturday, November 19, at 11 am and 1 pm at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission Street in San Francisco. Admission is free, but past Hands-on-Opera performances have filled up quickly, so audience members are encouraged to arrive early. For more information, visitwww.operaparallele.org .

Each year as part of its growing outreach program, Opera Parallèle presents a work with young performers expressly designed for families and children. "For our Hands-on-Opera, we treat our young participants as collaborators and develop works that are relevant to our times and sophisticated," says Artistic Director Nicole Paiement. "These productions are extensions of our vision to engage, our youth in the making of opera, rather than being observers of the art form. It is an active way to immerse our young generation into the operatic culture." Opera Parallèle Educational Programs Director Roma Olvera adds, "We try to choose themes for our Hands-on-Opera productions that revolve around children's journeys of awareness and self-discovery. This year we address the immigrant experience and a sense of belonging. When the children in the program identify with the characters in the operas, this self-affirmation through artistic engagement can be an amazing experience for the cast and audiences alike. Rehearsals and performances are filled with wide-eyed curiosity and the confident and original perspectives of the students." Last year, Hands-on-Opera produced Pratorius' Amazing Grace, preceded in 2014 by My Head is Full of Colors and in 2013, Peter Maxwell Davies' The Spiders' Revenge, in which all parts were performed by 4th-grade students and guest soloists.

Hands-on-Opera is funded by the Kimball Foundation, Aroha Philanthropies, and the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation.

ABOUT XOCHITL AND THE FLOWERS

Created in partnership with Alvarado Elementary School's 3rd grade Spanish immersion program, Xochitl and the Flowers (pronounced 'so-tchee') is part of Opera Parallèle's acclaimed annual Hands-on-Opera program, which features children center-stage as full project participants and performers. Xochitl and the Flowers is composer Christopher Pratorius' third commissioned work for Opera Parallèle. It is based on the book of the same name by Jorge Argueta with libretto by Roma Olvera. Derived from real-life events in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood, this quintessentially American immigration story tells the poignant tale of a family's determination to put down roots in a new country, while still preserving the heritage of their homeland.

The production team includes Roma Olvera, Educational Programs Director; Luçik Aprahämian, Conductor; Brendan Hartnett, Stage Director; and Rachael Heiman, Production Designer/ Costumer. In addition to the Alvarado Elementary third graders, the cast features soprano Sabrina Romero-Wilson as Xochitl, soprano Yemonja Stanley as Mami, tenor Andres Ramirez as Papi and baritone Bradley Kynard as Abuelo/ Don Roberto.

About Christopher Pratorius

Chris Pratorius Gómez is a composer and pianist based in Santa Cruz, California. He has written pieces for solo voice, choir, chamber ensembles, orchestra, and electronic media that have been performed in San Francisco, Istanbul, New York, Guatemala, and other spots around the world.

A recent highlight is Claroscuro en Flor, a concerto for harp commissioned by the American Harp Society and San José Chamber Orchestra which saw its premiere in 2013. Other projects include the chamber concerto Untogether, not Apart, commissioned and premiered by New Music Works, a fresh setting of Pablo Neruda's Poema XX, commissioned by Nicole Paiement for the BluePrint project; Contraponientes, a choral song-cycle based on poetry by Federico García Lorca commissioned by Ariose Singers; and Being of One's Hour, commissioned by Robert Kelley for Santa Cruz Ballet Theater.

As composer-in-residence for Opera Parallèle, he has written three children's operas of children's operas for their Hands-on-Opera educational program. The first opera, My Head is Full of Colors, premiered in 2014, and the second, Amazing Grace, premiered in 2015.

He teaches theory, history, composition, and piano at the University of California, Santa Cruz and at Cal State Monterey Bay.

About Roma Olvera

Educational Programs Director Roma Olvera oversees the three-tiered outreach program for Opera Parallèle. In addition to creating the fully staged Hands-on-Opera production for elementary-age students, she develops interactive workshops for high schools and universities in the Bay Area. The workshops are unique to the main-stage performances OP produces each year. Roma is a lyric soprano with extensive experience teaching in the classroom. She specializes in integrating opera and the arts into general education. Roma also wrote the libretto for Pratorius' Amazing Grace.

About Luçik Aprahämian

Luçik Aprahämian is on the faculty of the San Francisco Girls Chorus as Assistant Conductor and Level III Director, and as Music Director at First Lutheran Church of Palo Alto. She is also thrilled to begin her tenure as Music Director of the vocal group, Resound Ensemble. An avid exponent of new music, Aprahämian has commissioned and premiered works for a variety of performing forces. Aprahämian's has a great passion for opera, and she can be seen on the podium as well as backstage working with sets, props, lighting, and directing. This summer she was the chorus-master of the San Francisco Girls Chorus for the San Francisco Opera production of Carmen. She received her bachelor's degree in fortepiano performance practice and master's degree in conducting from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and her doctorate in choral and orchestral conducting from the University of Arizona. She has studied conducting with Nicole Paiement, Bruce Chamberlain, Elizabeth Schauer, Thomas Cockrell, and Charles Bontrager, and voice and theatre production with Brian Staufenbiel.

About Brendan Hartnett

Brendan Hartnett is a director of opera and lyric theater. Previously, he has worked with many Bay Area ensembles including, Opera Parallèle, West Edge Opera, Festival Opera, and Pocket Opera. He holds an MFA in Directing from UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television. While at UCLA he directed works by Anton Chekhov, Eugene Ionesco, Kurt Weill, and Peter Brook, and taught courses in vocal technique, acting, and directing for theater. Brendan holds a Bachelor's of Music degree in vocal performance from UC Santa Cruz.

About Hands-On-Opera

Opera Parallèle's innovative program gives students from various age groups the opportunity to participate in producing and performing an opera. The students will be immersed in the complete operatic experience by:

• Learning and preparing the music, accompanied by orchestral instruments.
• Developing a character with singing and movement.
• Telling a story in two languages.
• Designing costumes and make-up.
• Working with a conductor, stage director, and professional singers.
• Performing on stage in front of a live audience.

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