Student Dress Rehearsal

Grades 7-12

The Student Dress Rehearsal Program introduces middle and high school students to opera by giving them the opportunity to attend the final dress rehearsals of Washington National Opera’s main stage productions. Held at the grand Kennedy Center Opera House, the dress rehearsal is a full- length performance of the opera, with occasional pauses for technical or musical corrections. Students experience opera in a performance setting, and receive materials to help them understand and better appreciate the many dimensions of the art form.

Prior to the performance, each student receives a study guide, designed to help them prepare for the opera by drawing connections through history to the present day.  Each participating class also receives an excerpt CD and an informational DVD about the opera. 

In the 2010-11 season, WNO invites students and their teachers to experience Puccini’s tragic Madama Butterfly and Donizetti’s playful Don Pasquale.

Madama Butterfly – Puccini

Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Fee: $15 each (students, teachers, and chaperones)
Registration Required

Don Pasquale – Donizetti

Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Date: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Fee: $15 each (students, teachers, and chaperones)
Registration Required

REGISTRATION:  Registration exclusively through Kennedy Center Registration Office. Please call: 202.416.8835 or visit the Kennedy Center's website. Please note that only two adult chaperones are allowed per ten students.

QUESTIONS: For questions relating to anything other than registration, please contact Washington National Opera Education and Community Programs at education@dc-opera.org or 202.448.3465.

Examples of student materials:  

Download the Peter Grimes Student Study Guide. 

Download the Siegfried Student Study Guide.  

Download the Turandot Student Study Guide.