Education Testimonials

Praise for INside Opera:

“The INside Opera programme successfully eliminates a naive social belief that children and young people cannot mix with opera. I myself had no experience with opera until I went through one of Tapestry’s other unbelievable programmes, the Composer-Librettist Lab (Lib Lab). That the coming together of text and music can be so moving, and more importantly empowering, to so many people of a variety of ages, continues to amaze me, and I commend both Tapestry and this programme for making such opportunities readily possible.”

…Dave Deveau-Librettist INside Opera

“Our Summer Corps program allowed the KNX youth program to meet new youth from St. James Town. One of those youth was a young woman named Crystal. Crystal, 13, was invited along by her friend Tiffany to join the arts program and Crystal instantly fell in love with it.

Crystal enjoys all different types of activities but she particularly took to singing. Tapestry New Opera Works held a three week opera workshop where our youth wrote and performed a production. Crystal stood out as one of the best singers in the group. Crystal is currently attending a school for the performing arts. “

…From Signs of Hope, City Hope’s Newsletter Autumn 2007

“As a musician and music educator I see great value in introducing opera and new music to another generation. For many of the children that I work with, they do not have many opportunities to be exposed to this type of music… Your program ensures that many young people have such an opportunity. There were many skills and concepts that were introduced to our children in this workshop. They learned to share concepts, work collaboratively and see a task through to its completion. I was delighted that this program introduced many skills and concepts to our group, but also managed to be educational in a way that still allowed kids to be kids. I hope that this program will be able to run in the future, not just for our group, but for many other groups as well.”

…Emilie LeBel, Co-Director, RPSM Summer Day Camp 2008

Praise for the Opera in the Classroom Project:

“On my first day supervising the students during the opera workshop I had many reservations about the program; in regards to student participation as well as inappropriate behaviour. But as I monitored the progression of the program I observed dedicated program facilitators in addition to the enthusiasm the students demonstrated during the entire workshop. The program facilitators were incredibly professional and amazingly talented. They were able to control student behaviour during practice and showed a genuine concern over the students musical learning experience. The results of the program were evident in the final performance. Students were confident and comfortable in their roles, and put on a great show. I hope this program not only returns to Firgrove PS but can be implemented in our family of school.”

…Scott Ross Talbot, Teacher, Firgrove PS

“Opera offers our students a rare exposure to an art form that has an extensive history in Western Culture as a higher aesthetic expression. With live opera, students are able to experience a very different emotional response to the combination of excellent singing, powerful orchestrations, visual feasts of sets and costumes, and an appreciation for a story being communicated in new ways not common to today’s child. Opera can often be a reflection of social and political conditions as well as human nature.”

…Dale Taylor, Arts Consultant (Ottawa Carleton District School Board