Washington National Opera provides special opportunities to get an inside look at opera. O-Zone Lectures and Artist Q&As are regularly scheduled lectures and events for each opera.
O-Zone Lectures
These educational and entertaining free pre-performance lectures in the Kennedy Center Opera House are the perfect beginning to an evening of opera, providing additional perspective into the composer's mind and the inspiration behind your favorite operas. For the novice, these lectures are a great opportunity to learn more about what you will see during the opera performance; and for the expert they offer new insight into the work and the composer's creative process.
These lectures are free, but patrons must present a ticket or stub from any performance of the production that is being discussed in the lecture.
2009-10 O-Zone Schedule
| The Barber of Seville | Thursday, September 17, 2009 |
| Falstaff* | Friday, October 30, 2009* |
| Ariadne auf Naxos | Thursday, November 5, 2009 |
| Porgy and Bess | Thursday, March 25, 2010 |
| The Marriage of Figaro | Thursday, April 29, 2010 |
| Hamlet | Thursday, May 27, 2010 |
| *Note: Series H Performance | |
Artist Q&As
Get the inside scoop on Washington National Opera's productions with our Q&A sessions. Following the Sunday matinee performance of each opera, join WNO's Director of Artistic Operations Christina Scheppelmann and opera performers for a unique opportunity to ask questions about our productions. Sessions will begin shortly after each performance in the Opera House.
Reservations are not required, but you must have a ticket to the matinee performance in order to attend the post-performance Q&A session.
2009-10 Artist Q&As
| The Barber of Seville | Sunday, September 13, 2009 Sunday, September 20, 2009 |
| Falstaff | Sunday, October 25, 2008 |
| Ariadne auf Naxos | Sunday, November 8, 2009 |
| Porgy and Bess | Sunday, March 21, 2010 Sunday, March 28, 2010 |
| The Marriage of Figaro | Sunday, May 2, 2010 |
| Hamlet | Sunday, May 30, 2010 |

