Rumpelstiltskin
A classroom guide for teachers
Dear Teachers!
Welcome to San Diego Opera’s Operation: Opera 2008-2009 Ensemble Tour. We are delighted to bring world-class opera to your school and give your students the chance to meet the opera stars of the future — today!
Rumpelstiltskin helps students understand that live opera is simply another method of storytelling using music and words in a powerful and enjoyable way. To achieve this goal, we have selected a favorite story and composed an original opera that made its world premiere last year, right here in San Diego, and then at your own school! You and your students will be among the first audiences to experience this brand-new opera written with San Diego students in mind.
Rumpelstiltskin is based on the well-known fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm. It is the story of a loving father who tells a lie to a King in order to advance his station in life and the consequences that occur due to that lie. Promising the King that his daughter can spin straw into gold, his daughter despairs and asks the help of Rumpelstiltskin, whose powers seem to point the way to success…but not without terrible problems that she must somehow solve!
Our goal is to prepare students for what to look and listen for when they attend the performance. Each lesson is based upon the California Visual and Performing Arts Standards. Please integrate vocabulary words into your word wall and explore these activities so you and your students will be prepared for a great experience when they attend Rumpelstiltskin. The StudyGuide includes links to biographies of our artists and production team, a story synopsis, vocabulary and a unit of study with four Teacher Lesson Plans and accompanying Student Worksheet. This year we have created a new resource for you and your students: a 20-minute video with the composer/director discussing his compositional process in simple terms. Click Here to view the video on YouTube.
We hope that you will use and copy any of these materials, but please provide credit to San Diego Opera. If you have any questions about this study guide or Rumpelstiltskin, please call us in the Education Department, (619) 232-7636.
Cynthia Stokes
Associate Director of School and Community Programs
Four things to know before attending Rumpelstiltskin
Opera is a story that is sung. As you watch and listen to the opera think about how the words and music mix together to develop character relationships, conflict, and an overall artistic effect. Opera also composers use different singer voice types to also create a dramatic or comedic effect. How do the singers’ voices impact the audience experiencing the opera?
Opera singers sound very different from pop or rock and roll singers because they are not using microphones. Instead, they use their bodies as amplifiers. Opera singers have the rare gift of being able to make their voices soar over an orchestra and a chorus with- out any electronic support.
Opera is often in another language. It was the most popular art form in Europe before movies, so operas were written in the language of the people who first attended them. Read the synopsis and listen to the musical excerpts before coming to the performance. When you attend a performance at The Civic theatre there are supertitles above the stage for audience members to read along as the story is performed.
The opera you are going to attend is a live performance. The singers are as aware of you as you are of them. Make sure that any distractions (mobile phones, pagers or food) are turned off and put away so you can give the performance your full attention. You are going to have an amazing time!
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SAN DIEGO OPERA
Ian D. Campbell
Artistic and General Director
Nicolas M. Reveles
Geisel Director of Education and Outreach
Angela Montague Kanish
Associate Director of Education, Operations
Brian Pedersen
Education Tour Manager
Cynthia Stokes
Associate Director of Education,
School and Community Programs
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18th Floor, Civic Center Plaza
1200 Third Ave.
San Diego, CA 92101-4112
Tel: (619) 232-7636
Fax: (619) 231-6915
E-mail: educate@sdopera.com
Website: www.sdopera.com
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The 2008 - 2009 San Diego Opera Ensemble Tour is made
possible by a generous gift from The Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation.
Corporate Supporters of OPERATION: OPERA!
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