Portland Opera To Go Educational Outreach

As of March 17, 2011, Portland Opera To Go has toured across the state of Oregon with a new 50-minute English Language version of Donizetti's comic opera Elixir of Love. Four professional opera singers, a piano accompanist and Portland Opera's manager of education and outreach have touched the lives of more than 15,000 young people in inner-city and rural schools.  Most  children we visit have little access to in-school arts programing, and more than half are on reduced lunch programs or attend Title I designated schools.

In a new partnership with McMenamins, Portland Opera To Go also performed eight family-friendly concerts in their hotels and brew-pubs in Oregon and SW Washington.  These performances were free to the public and included the Elixir of Love performances as well as a 45-minute concert of great hits from the world of opera and Broadway. These performances were all standing-room only and we will continue this partnership next season.  

Here is an example of a message we received on our website about one of our public performances: "On a whim, my daughter and I went to see Opera To Go at the Grand Lodge on Sunday. We'd never been to an opera, so weren't sure what to expect. Needless to say, we were delighted...If your goal was to dispel the myth that opera is stuffy and unapproachable, then you certainly achieved it for what was a standing-room-only crowd."

In addition to individual support, Portland Opera wishes to thank the following corporations and foundations for their leadership support: KeyBank, U.S. Bancorp Foundation, PGE Foundation, Oregon Cultural Trust, Bank of America Foundation, Robert D. & Marcia H. Randall Charitable Trust and the Herbert A. Templeton Foundation.

Links:

• Article in The Daily Astorian
• Portland Opera To Go in Rainier
• Portland Opera To Go at McMenamins