In Response to the Ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, the Met’s HD Live in Schools Series Launches 2020–21 Virtual Programming
October 02nd, 2020
The program, which uses opera to help enrich educational studies, reaches approximately 15,000 elementary, middle, and high school students
All students and teachers will receive free subscriptions to Met Opera on Demand, the Met’s extensive streaming catalogue of Live in HD presentations, classic telecasts, and radio broadcasts
New York, NY (October 1, 2020)—In response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Metropolitan Opera’s HD Live in Schools program has launched a new, all-online series for the 2020–21 school year, creating cross-disciplinary educational opportunities for students across the country.
In previous years, the Met has provided free tickets for students and teachers to attend the Met’s Live in HD cinema transmissions. For the 2020–21 school year, however, all students and teachers will receive free subscriptions to the Met Opera on Demand streaming service, with a catalogue of more than 700 Live in HD presentations, classic telecasts, and radio broadcasts. Ten operas have been selected for the 2020–21 HD Live in Schools program, and they will be presented in a series of five educational units, with two thematically paired operas per unit. The series opens with Beethoven’s Fidelio and Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment (September 28–October 16), both of which explore the intersection of music and politics. The paired operas also include Philip Glass’s Akhnaten and John Adams’s Doctor Atomic (October 19–November 13), comparing depictions of two historical figures in different eras; Lehár’s The Merry Widow and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (January 25–February 12), discussing women and relationships in 19th-century society; Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Massenet’s Werther (February 22–March 12), discovering opera as a form of literary adaptation; and Strauss’s Elektra and Berg’s Lulu (March 22–April 9), examining cultural changes in the early 20th century.
The Met will continue to offer teachers and administrators specially designed HD Live in Schools Educator Guides that include extensive background information on each opera as well as cross-curricular activities and lessons that make connections to music and the arts, humanities, and STEM subjects. The Educator Guides have been revised in order to include activities and resources for a range of ages, from age 8 to college students. In addition to the Educator Guides, teachers and administrators will receive access to Google Classroom materials that can be adapted for virtual learning lesson plans.
The Met’s annual National Educators Conference, a professional development initiative that brings together teachers and administrators from across the United States, will be hosted on a virtual platform this year. The conference will take place on five Saturdays throughout the 2020–21 school year and will help educators identify and cultivate strategies for incorporating opera into their classrooms through best practices and teaching methods. Two conferences, scheduled for October 10, 2020, and October 17, 2020, will also feature live, virtual conversations with Met artists. First, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and composer Kenyatta Hughes will discuss their ongoing artistic collaboration in a conversation hosted by actor and broadcaster Susan Blackwell. Then, director Peter Sellars will also talk with Blackwell, covering his experience as an arts educator and his work on John Adams’s Doctor Atomic, one of the featured operas in the 2020–21 lineup.
Now in its 14th year, the HD Live in Schools program reaches approximately 15,000 students across 56 school districts in 42 states. Two new school districts have joined the program this year: Detroit Public Schools Community District in Detroit, Michigan, and Topeka Public Schools USD 501 in Topeka, Kansas. A full list of partner school districts can be found below.
The 2020–21 virtual programming for HD Live in Schools builds on the exceptional success of the Met’s Free Student Streams and Global Summer Camp. Launched in April 2020 and continuing throughout the 2020–21 school year, the Free Student Streams offer a free opera stream and educational guides for students and educators each week. Since the program’s launch, more than 70,000 students and educators in more than 30 countries have viewed the streams. The eight-week Global Summer Camp, which explored an opera each week in summer 2020 with virtual programming such as arts and crafts and conversations with Met artists, included over 3,400 participants from 70 countries. The HD Live in Schools program will also expand school district partnerships internationally in the 2020–21 academic year.
More information about HD Live in Schools and Met Education programming can be found at metopera.org/education.
HD Live in Schools Partner School Districts, 2020-21
Anchorage Public Schools Anchorage, Alaska
Tuscaloosa Public Schools Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tucson Public Schools Tucson, Arizona
Oakland Unified School District Emeryville, California
San Diego Unified School District San Diego, California
Academy School District 20 Colorado Springs, Colorado
Jefferson County School District Denver, Colorado
Duval County Public Schools Jacksonville, Florida
Atlanta Public Schools Atlanta, Georgia
Hawaii Public/’Iolani School Honolulu, Hawaii
Sioux City Community Schools Sioux City, Iowa
Moscow School District Moscow, Idaho
Glenbard District 87 Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Reimagining Opera for Kids Bloomington, Indiana
Topeka Public Schools USD 501 Topeka, Kansas
Oldham County Schools Buckner, Kentucky
New Orleans Center for Creative Arts New Orleans, Louisiana
Montgomery County Public Schools Rockville, Maryland
Bangor Public Schools Bangor, Maine
Detroit Public Schools Community District Detroit, Michigan
Elk River Area Schools Elk River, Minnesota
Columbia Public Schools Columbia, Missouri
Helena Public Schools Helena, Montana
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools Charlotte, North Carolina
Fargo Public Schools Fargo, North Dakota
Lincoln Public Schools Lincoln, Nebraska
SAU 1 & 29 Keene, New Hampshire
Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools Scotch Plains, New Jersey
New Brunswick Public Schools New Brunswick, New Jersey
Albuquerque Public Schools Albuquerque, New Mexico
Clark County School District Las Vegas, Nevada
Washoe County School District Reno, Nevada
Bethpage-Sayville Schools Districts Bethpage, New York
Bethlehem Central School District Albany, New York
Buffalo Public Schools Buffalo, New York
New York City Department of Education New York, New York
Dayton Public Schools Dayton, Ohio
Tulsa Public Schools Tulsa, Oklahoma
North Clackamas Schools Milwaukie, Oregon
North Hills School District Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Erie School District Erie, Pennsylvania
Dorchester District 2 Summerville, South Carolina
West Central School District Hartford, South Dakota
Shelby County Schools Memphis, Tennessee
Fort Worth Independent School District Forth Worth, Texas
San Antonio Independent School District San Antonio, Texas
Dallas Independent School District Dallas, Texas
South Burlington Schools South Burlington, Vermont
Governor’s School for the Arts Norfolk, Virginia
Ocean Beach School District Long Beach, Washington
Northshore School District Seattle, Washington
Manitowoc School District Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Sheridan School District #2 Sheridan, Wyoming