New Online Offerings From San Francisco Opera's Department Of Diversity, Equity And Community

San Francisco Opera's Department of Diversity, Equity and Community (DEC) offers new online programming for families, adults and educators at sfopera.com.

Previously only available to Bay Area educators and just in time for summer vacation, six Opera in an Hour Movies are now available for the general public to stream at no charge during the month of July. Also this month, Opera Aficionado, a drop-in weekly lecture series, invites people who are passionate about opera to interact with music experts about the powerful emotions in opera. After a sold-out session in May, DEC's live, virtual First Act Workshop on Mozart's The Magic Flute will return for an encore presentation on July 17, along with a First Act Workshop featuring Rossini's Cinderella on July 24. Family Fun Fridays, lyric videos of original, student-created operas, are available on the DEC YouTube Channel.

San Francisco Opera's Opera in an Hour Movies-abridged versions of six family friendly San Francisco Opera mainstage performances previously only available to educators-are available for free online streaming to the public through the end of July. The six movies available for on-demand streaming are Bizet's Carmen, Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, Mozart's The Magic Flute, Puccini's Girl of the Golden West and Rossini's Cinderella and Barber of Seville. Except for Cinderella and The Girl of the Golden West, which are sung in Italian with English subtitles, all performances are sung in English and feature English subtitles. To enhance the experience, lesson plans and educator materials are also available for download. For more information, including age recommendations for each opera, visit sfopera.com/operainanhour.

The weekly Opera Aficionado lecture series for knowledgeable opera fans continues on Sunday, July 12 at 1 p.m. (PDT). The 75-minute, live, interactive conversations are hosted by San Francisco Opera's pre-opera talk speakers, including Robert Hartwell, Dr. Clifford (Kip) Cranna and Michael Bragg. The wide range of emotions in opera are explored during the month of July:

• July 12: Opera for Laughs: Great Comic Moments in the World of Opera with San Francisco Opera Dramaturg Emeritus Kip Cranna
• July 19: Passion, Paris and Puccini with Robert Hartwell
• July 26: Aspects of Love: Defining Romantic, Unrequited and Familial Love in Opera with San Francisco Opera Librarian Michael Bragg

Learn and dialogue with fellow opera lovers and experts around the world. Each lecture is $20 and holds a maximum capacity of 20 attendees. For more information and to sign up, visit sfopera.com/aficionado.

Back by popular demand, on Friday, July 17 at 2 p.m. (PDT), the Department of Diversity, Equity and Community hosts an encore presentation of the virtual First Act Workshop on Mozart's The Magic Flute. In addition, First Act Workshop on Rossini's Cinderella will be offered on Friday, July 24 at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The live, interactive workshops will feature storytelling, singing, dancing and creative activities with the guidance of the San Francisco Opera Teaching Artists. Due to the personalized, interactive nature of the workshops, attendance is limited to 20 households. These one-hour workshops are for families with children in grades K-3. Ticket price per household for each workshop is $17.50. For tickets and more information, visit sfopera.com/magic-flute and sfopera.com/cinderella. A limited number of discounted tickets are available for families in need. Contact Clara Choi at cchoi@sfopera.com or (415) 565-3274 for questions.

Family Fun Fridays, lyric videos of original student-created operas, are available on the SF Opera DEC YouTube channel. Developed as part of DEC's Opera ARIA (Arts Resources in Action) Program, these videos showcase original songs and compositions by student creators. Frequently based on a specific text, the subject matter covers a broad range of socially and historically relevant themes, ranging from immigration to environment and figures throughout history. These videos prompt critical thinking and are accompanied by curated discussion questions. Updated periodically, lyric videos are available to the public on SF Opera's DEC YouTube Channel: youtube.com/user/sfoeducation.

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