In the News

Music will live on

The world lost two musicians this week who have made a long term impact, Bill Withers and Ellis Marsalis. Mr. Marsalis for his jazz and Mr. Withers for his poetry and music.

Branford, Ellis and Wynton Marsalis in 1992 at a party in New York celebrating the release of the elder Mr. Marsalis’s album “Heart of Gold.”

Mr. Marsalis was an incredible jazz pianist, jazz pianist, educator and father of two amazing musicians. He passed away from complications of the corona virus. Father of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Ellis has contributed to the world of music in New Orleans and beyond. In 2011 Mr. Marsalis and his sons were recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts. READ MORE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES. 

Mr. Withers was a three-time Grammy Award winner and 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and died from heart complications at age 81, on Monday in Los Angeles. His death comes as the public has drawn inspiration from his music during the coronavirus pandemic, with healthcare workers, choirs, artists and more posting their own renditions on “Lean on Me” to help get through the difficult times.READ MORE IN USA TODAY. 

Met Opera Streams

Live in Schools

Screen shot from the Met Opera website

For over a decade, the Met Opera’s landmark HD Live in Schools initiative has brought live opera broadcasts to students across the United States. To supplement these broadcasts, the Met crafts a series of educational materials that encourage and empower students, teachers, and community members to engage with and enjoy this art form. All of these materials are available online, free of charge. Taken individually or together, they offer an excellent supplement to online teaching and arts curricula, as well as an entertaining way to learn more about both specific operas and opera in general. Please feel free to share them with your community and colleagues, as well as with any other arts or education administrators who may be interested in these resources.

• HD Live in Schools Educator Guides: Our flagship product. Find in-depth guides to more than 50 operas by clicking here. This “archive” has all the guides we’ve produced since 2008, including the six guides for the 2019-20 season. Guides offer an interdisciplinary introduction to opera, with historical background on the opera and its source, a timeline of the composer’s life, synopses for young readers, fun facts, and four classroom-ready student activities.
• Educator Guides en Español: 26 educator guides in Spanish translation. These translations include all sections that may be distributed as student handouts, including synopses, timelines, “who’s who” charts, sidebar articles, essential musical terms, and reproducibles.
• Illustrated Synopses: An HD Live in Schools favorite. These original illustrations tell the stories of 14 different operas in the style of a graphic novel, making them a fun and accessible introduction to the art form.
• Opera Arrangements: Opera’s greatest hits, arranged for middle-school and high-school band and orchestra
• Educational Videos: Short videos that take you backstage at the Met, introduce you to Met singers and designers, and offer insights into some of the inspiring ways our HD Live in Schools partners are bringing opera into the classroom
• PBS LearningMedia resources: Met Education has partnered with PBS to curate two educational opera collections. The first collection focuses on operatic adaptations of Shakespeare and includes Verdi’s Macbeth, Verdi’s Otello, and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. The second collection considers how opera composers have interpreted real-life historical events and features John Adams’s Doctor Atomic, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West. Each of these six operas can be streamed in its entirety from the PBS website and comes equipped with a ready-to-use educational activity.

We also recommend you tune into the Nightly Met Opera Streams, available each evening from 7:30 PM ET at https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/.

 

For more information, please contact the Met’s education manager Dan Marshall (dmarshall@metopera.org), or educational content manager Kamala Schelling (kschelling@metopera.org).