A One-of-a-Kind Experience in the Arts: Virginia Opera Performs for HRA’s Lower School

On the morning of Wednesday, January 14, Hampton Roads Academy’s Lower Schoolers were treated to a special performance, the likes of which many had never experienced before. Though the students were seated in the familiar Svein J. Lassen Auditorium, the actors and musicians on stage were not the fellow students they were used to seeing there. Rather, they were professional performers from Virginia Opera, the official opera company of the Commonwealth.

In operation for over 50 years and partnering with HRA for the past decade, Virginia Opera is nationally recognized for its musically and dramatically exceptional performances and its commitment to education and outreach. This winter’s performance at the Academy was a production of Dragon’s Breath, an interactive, hour-long feature of the company’s Opera in the Classroom program by composer Evan Mack and Librettist Joshua McGuire. This new production represents the latest and most distinguished work in children’s opera. Written specifically for students of our Lower Schoolers’ age, Dragon’s Breath won the American Prize in Composition for the opera/theater/film/dance music professional division in 2024.

Virginia Opera’s visit, according to Director of Lower School Susanne Swain ’78, is part of “a long tradition we have in the Lower School of bringing in performers or programs from the outside that we feel really do enhance what we’re doing here.” Dragon’s Breath was an especially welcome opera, she explained, as it tells a story centering on “character values that align with our core values here at school.”

Crucial Themes for Young Students

Ahead of the performance, Virginia Opera provided the Lower School team with a study guide, including a plot synopsis for Dragon’s Breath, information on opera as an art form, classroom lesson guides, and activity sheets to help enhance the students’ understanding of the production and enrich their learning. Then, on the day of their visit, the performers brought the story to life with outstanding vocals, engaging choreography, colorful backdrops, a live piano accompaniment, and dazzling costumes and props.

With empathy and self-love at its thematic core, the opera follows a boy named Alan (mezzo-soprano Melanie Dubil), who battles his anger, personified by the titular dragon (tenor Daniel Esteban Lugo), as he journeys into the magical realm of Clearplane after an emotional argument with his parents. Guided by Somi (soprano Maggie Kinabrew) and Dewitt (baritone Adam Partridge), mirrors of his mother and father in his imagination, Alan learns important lessons about self-expression, emotional regulation, and how to interact positively with others—an invaluable example of character and healthy interpersonal relationships for pre-kindergarteners through fourth graders during the Year of Connections.

As the story unfolded, the cast invited student volunteers to come up to the stage to participate in the action and invited the entire audience to join the main character as he learned and practiced breathing and physical centering exercises to help cope with overwhelming emotions. Packaged in an interactive artistic experience, such activities provided stimulating reinforcement for important lessons about character and conduct that often go unspoken in the classroom.

An Unmatched Learning Opportunity

Beyond these themes, Swain stressed, the opera also acquainted students with a rich artistic tradition that children rarely encounter today, in school or otherwise. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to introduce students to a different genre of music,” she said. “We feel it is important here at HRA to expose children to all different kinds of performing arts opportunities.”

The arts curriculum at HRA allows students to learn skills hands-on. Lower Schoolers participate in their own age-appropriate theatrical productions and musical presentations on stage, whether at concerts, on Grandparents and Special Friends Day, or during monthly Leadership Assemblies. They and their families also have the opportunity to attend musical and dramatic performances by their Middle and Upper School peers. The one genre they do not typically encounter on campus, though, is opera.

As the producers of Dragon’s Breath remarked, “opera ‘has it all.’ Students recognize this instantly. There are so many aspects to an opera that are fascinating to young people: music, acting, singing, storytelling, costumes, sets, makeup, etc.”

During Virginia Opera’s visit, the Lower Schoolers learned about the many facets of this artform not only by observing and engaging with the performers in character, but also by asking them about their work as artists. In a question-and-answer session following the performance, students had the chance to learn more about the technical details of an operatic production, including costume design and quick changes, and how the professionals on stage trained for their careers.

Crucially, Swain noted, such interactions help students “understand that choosing a life in the performing arts is an option—that it’s a creative, wonderful venue for a lot of different talents.”

“I love providing that opportunity for them,” she said.

Exceptional Is the Norm

Virginia Opera is just one of many outside performing groups with which the Lower School has partnered over the years. Last year, for example, storyteller and musician Charlotte Blake Alston came to HRA as part of a teaching artist tour sponsored by the Virginia Commission for the Arts, with which the school regularly collaborates. The Lower School has also hosted numerous performances by the Virginia Stage Company, the premier professional theatrical organization in southeastern Virginia.

“It’s a longstanding tradition to make sure we are supplementing what we do here at school with these wonderful opportunities that are unique to the HRA experience for our little ones,” Swain said.

Unfortunately, due to recent budget limitations throughout the Commonwealth and across the country, arts organizations have been forced to scale back their offerings for schools and for the community. Virginia Opera, for example, has in the past been able to stage two productions per year for its Opera in the Classroom program, but the company is only able to offer Dragon’s Breath during the current season.

Despite these constraints, HRA remains committed to hosting and supporting musicians, actors, and other artists throughout the region and extending the lessons only they can teach to students of all ages. Engagement with the arts at the highest level is a defining element of what makes HRA a one-of-a-kind place to learn, and without community partners like Virginia Opera, these unique educational opportunities would not be possible.