| OPERADELAWARE 824 North Market St. Suite 200, Wilmington, DE 19801-3024 Julie W. Van Blarcom, Executive Director Leland P. Kimball III, General Director Telephone: (302) 658-8063 Fax: (302) 658-4991 Box Office: The Grand Opera House, 1-800-37-GRAND www.operadel.org For Immediate Release - December 21, 2001 Contact: Cindy Frankey or Amy Watson OPERADELAWARE Announces: OPERADELAWARE TO HOST FIRST ANNUAL CHILDREN'S OPERA FESTIVAL Wilmington, DE: Magicians, clowns, jugglers, and opera? The circus isn't coming to town. OperaDelaware's First Annual Children's Opera Festival is. OperaDelaware will host this first-of-its-kind, two-day event at The Grand Opera House, 818 N. Market Street in Wilmington, DE on Saturday, March 2nd and Sunday, March 3rd, 2002. The festival's highlight will be the world premiere of the children's opera From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by Evelyn Swensson, performed by the OperaDelaware Family Opera Theater, beginning at 3:00 p.m. both days. Guest performances by Baltimore Opera, Harrisburg Opera, Virginia Opera, and the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater will take place throughout the weekend at The Baby Grand. Other activities include Family Fun Days, which will include various hands-on games, roving performers and activities for children. Tickets to From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler are $9 for children and $17 for adults. The price includes free admission to all Children's Opera Festival Activities on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets can be purchased online at www.operadel.org or by calling The Grand Box Office at 1-800-37-GRAND. There will also be a 7:00 p.m. performance of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler on Wednesday, March 6 at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts (previously the Capitol Theater) in Dover, DE. To purchase tickets to this performance, call 302-678-3583. The opera is based on the Newbery award-winning children's book by E.L. Konigsburg, with music and libretto by Evelyn Swensson. This delightful production will be conducted by Ms. Swensson and directed by OperaDelaware General Director Leland Kimball, the team that presented last season's smash hit, A Cricket in Times Square. Megan Beale, of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, will play Claudia Kincaid; Marios Falaris, of Elkton, Maryland, will play Jamie Kincaid; and Carol Denenberg, of Wilmington, Delaware will play Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Other cast members include: Heidi Bretz of Wallingford, Pennsylvania; Lee Fisher and Alan Wagner of West Chester, Pennsylvania; Rob Hull and Ray Murphy of Media, Pennsylvania; and J.J. Del Rosario, Robert Grenfell, Ed Emmi, Nathaniel Rosenthalis and Rachel Schiavone of Wilmington, Delaware. Family Fun Days Activities for children will include mask-making, costumed photographs, coloring contests, games, and a mini-art museum — all based on From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Clowns, magicians, jugglers, and strolling musicians will also be on hand to entertain everyone. Childrenšs Opera Festival events will begin at 11:30 a.m. on both days, and conclude with the start of the 3:00 p.m. performance of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Schedule of Events Saturday, March 2, 2002: 12:00 p.m. Family Fun Day activities begin (Baby Grand) 12:15 p.m. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Baltimore Opera (Baby Grand) 1:30 p.m. Oh Freedom, Virginia Opera (Baby Grand) 3:00 p.m. Performance of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, (Grand Opera House) Sunday, March 3, 2002 12:00 p.m. Family Fun Day activities begin (Baby Grand) 12:15 p.m. The Araboolies of Liberty Street,Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater (Baby Grand) 1:30 p.m. The Little Sweep, Harrisburg Opera (Baby Grand) 3:00 p.m. Performance of From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, (Grand Opera House) Summary — From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is the humorous and touching story of two Greenwich, Connecticut children named Claudia and Jamie Kincaid, who decide to run away from home and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The siblings stash their clothes in their music cases, bathe in the museum's fountain to collect coins for spending money, and sleep in the Museum's elaborate bedroom displays. Claudia and Jamie stumble upon the mystery of "Angel," a Renaissance statue, a mystery that leads them to discover the answer in the files of the statue's eclectic patron, Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. The Touring Companies Virginia Opera, which has one of the most highly developed educational touring programs in the nation, will present a new work for children, Oh Freedom, a musical journey through the Civil Rights Movement. It includes Zairean folk music, spirituals, Duke Ellington arrangements, and civil rights songs. The music is all pre-existing and put together through dialogue that connects the pieces. Baltimore Opera will present The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, commissioned by Cleveland Opera and based on Washington Irving's well-known folk tale of Ichabod Crane and the headless horseman, with music by David Gooding, and libretto by David Gooding and David Lee. Harrisburg Opera will present Benjamin Britten's charming The Little Sweep, a Dickensian tale of cruelty, ingenuity, and hope. Britten's 45-minute gem, composed in 1949, is the tale of a nine-year-old boy"owned" by two brutal chimney sweeps that arrive at a Victorian country house to clean the chimneys for the holidays. Sam, the Little Sweep, gets stuck in a chimney, but is rescued from his ordeal by the clever children of the house, who plot to win his freedom. The Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater will present a new work for children by the award-winning composer Ron Perera, The Araboolies of Liberty Street, which tells the story of a fictional neighborhood terrorized by General Pinch and how the Araboolies move in and turn everything upside down. The Children's Opera Festival is made possible by OperaDelaware's partnership with Opera For Youth, Inc., a national organization devoted to encouraging the creation and performance of operas in theatres, opera companies and schools. Opera For Youth Convention The Festival will run concurrently with Opera For Youth's national convention in Wilmington. For information on the convention, call 205-744-9297, or email at OFYTREA@aol.com. OperaDelaware Website The OperaDelaware website, at www.operadel.org, contains synopses of this season's productions, OperaDelaware's season brochure in download format, and more information on OperaDelaware's education and outreach programs. OperaDelaware's mission is to enrich the cultural life of people in the Delaware Valley by producing opera, educational and outreach programs. The company presents new and traditional operas performed in an innovative way, using a unique blend of nationally known stars and rising talent. OperaDelaware programs are supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mellon Foundation, Meet The Composer, Inc., and the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency committed to enhancing and supporting the arts in Delaware. Funding for lead singers is generously provided by First USA. ### |