This curriculum series is designed to provide classroom teachers, arts specialists and opera educators an easy way to introduce the multidisciplinary arts to upper elementary and middle school students.
Music! Words! Opera! places students at the center of their learning as they find new creative means of self-expression through the study of opera.
View sample lessons from
Music! Words! Opera!:
Purchase the complete Music! Words! Opera! textbooks.
Discounts are available for OPERA America member companies. E-mail
Programs@operaamerica.org for more details.
Select titles from the original
Music! Words! Opera! series are available for download here:
Program History
The original
Music! Words! Opera! program was developed in the late 1980s by OPERA America with a team of authors, including classroom and music teachers, curriculum specialists, composers, and opera professionals, as a tool to aid students and teachers in their explorations of history, language, literature and music.
Music! Words! Opera! places students at the center of their learning as they find new creative means of self-expression through the study of opera. In 2012, OPERA America commissioned a series of three revised textbooks to better connect with today’s students. Opera companies across North America continually offer teacher-training workshops dedicated to nurturing opera learning in the classroom.
About Music! Words! Opera!
Each summer, opera companies across North America offer professional development workshops based on the
Music! Words! Opera! curriculum. These workshops are an opportunity for classroom teachers and arts specialists to reinforce the development of artistic skills and learn new pedagogical techniques. Teachers participate in the process of study and creation that they will undertake with their students — both studying great operatic works and creating original opera. Workshops are led by experienced teaching artists, and they focus on providing the tools for linking opera to core standards and relating opera to other subjects.
For more information about
Music! Words! Opera! professional development opportunities, please contact Brenda Huggins, learning and leadership manager, at
Programs@operaamerica.org.