It's Opera Week at Birney Elementary! Birney kindergarten, first- and second-grade students learned about plot and characters from members of the Seattle Opera. They also listened to and sang alongside the professionals.

The week capped off with a performance of “Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers” for the entire school. This 45-minute opera for youth audiences fuses folktales from India, China, and West Africa to tell the story of Monkey and his brainy sister, Francine. The siblings must learn to cooperate to escape a hungry crocodile and outwit the greedy Lord of the Tigers. Combining multiple styles of music from Bollywood, Ethiopian jazz, Latin, and classical, this opera shares the timeless message that we all have different strengths, but when we work together, anything is possible.

Seattle Opera Associate Director of Youth Programs, Sara Litchfield, hopes students see opera as something they can participate in and as a way to express themselves.

Bravo, Birney students, and thanks to the Seattle Opera and Birney music teacher Paula Greuling for making this possible.