Learning Objectives

• Describe how opera combines multiple art forms to tell a unified story.
• Explore ways in which works of art can be adapted to other genres and mediums.
• Analyze the ways that music can be part of telling a greater story by reflecting mood, tone, emotion, and character.

Education Standards Alignment

• Re7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.
• Re8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
• Cn11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.

Common Core Standards

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.3: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

(Social and Emotional Learning)

• Responsible Decision-Making
  • Anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one’s actions
  • Evaluating personal, interpersonal, community, and institutional impacts

A photograph of Macbeth composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901).

What to Expect

Performance

• This performance is approximately 60 minutes.
• As a “Look-In,” this event includes excerpts from a full opera production as well as information about opera and how it is made. Audiences will hear explanations of what opera is and how companies like the Washington National Opera make big shows like Macbeth in between short segments of the full opera.

Performers

• A host will guide audiences through segments about how operas are made in between seeing parts of the performance.
• The main characters in the opera and their voice types are:
• Macbeth (baritone)
• Banquo (bass)
• Lady Macbeth (soprano)
• Malcolm (tenor)
• Macduff (tenor)
• Lady-in-Waiting (soprano)
• Doctor (bass)
• The opera also features a few smaller roles and a chorus. There are also a few non-singing roles (Duncan and Fleance).
• The women in the chorus play the important role of the Witches.

Sound

• Operatic singing is very dramatic. Sometimes, the performers may sing louder to show emotions such as sadness, anger, or fear.

Visuals

• English translations of the text that characters are singing will appear as supertitles on a screen above the stage. Macbeth is sung in Italian.

Lighting

• Lighting effects are used throughout the show on stage to help set the mood of the scene.

Audience Interaction

• If you like what you see and hear, you can clap or even say, “Bravo!”

What to Bring

• Please bring any tools that will help make the experience comfortable for you! Some suggestions are: noise-canceling headphones, sunglasses or visors, fidgets, and communication devices. If you need to borrow a pair of headphones or a visor, a limited number will be available for use in the Opera House Lobby.

Resources

• Visit the Kennedy Center Opera House webpage to learn more about the theater where you’ll see the performance. You can also check out a 360-degree view and seating chart of the space!

Look and Listen for

Before you watch the performance, check out this list of important moments and ideas. Look and listen for:

• All the people on and off the stage. How many people are working together to make this opera happen? As a Look-in, this program goes behind the scenes of what it takes to produce an opera performance with a host highlighting details along the way. How many people work together to make this opera happen?
• The singers’ unique voices. Opera singers spend years learning how to sing in a way that can be heard over a big orchestra in a huge concert hall—and they do it all without microphones! In addition, opera singers learn to sing in many languages. It takes a lot of work and dedication to be an opera singer, but they get to sing beautiful music and tell epic stories. Opera singers have different voice types, too: singers who usually sing high are called sopranos and tenors; singers who sing low are called mezzo-sopranos, baritones, and basses.
• The way that the music helps to tell the story. Even if we don’t understand the words, the music can give clues about how the characters feel. See if you can notice how the music helps show when the characters are worried, happy, or frightened. You might even notice times when the music helps show that a character is planning something treacherous or dealing with overwhelming guilt.

Think About

Opera: The Ultimate Collaboration

Opera uses so many things to tell a story: words, music, sets, costumes, lighting, and more. Because of this, many people need to work together, or collaborate, to make it happen! Some of the people who collaborate to make operas include composers (who write the music), librettists (who write the words), singers, orchestral musicians, conductors, costume designers, set designers, lighting designers, stage managers, stagehands, technicians, hair and makeup artists, costume shop workers, and more—not to mention all the people who advertise the show, sell tickets, help audience members, and more.

Which of these roles do you think would be the most fun for you? What would be the hardest? What challenges do you think they might face? What do you think opera company members need to do to be able to work well together? What things do you do when you need to work with others to make something big and exciting happen?

Operatic Shakespeare

Verdi’s Macbeth, which premiered in 1847, is just one of many operas based on Shakespeare’s plays. In fact, Verdi wrote two more operas—Otello (premiered in 1887) and Falstaff (premiered in 1893), which are also based on Shakespeare’s works. The English bard’s many plays have served as inspiration for operas for hundreds of years. Consider Charles Gounod, Jules Barbier, and Michel Carré’s French opera, Romeo and Juliet, which premiered in 1867, and in this video. A hundred years later, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears premiered their version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and this play was once again reimagined as an opera in 2011 by Michael Ching, this time in an all–a cappella version. from Britten’s version in this video, and to in this video. In addition to opera, Shakespeare’s plays have inspired classical music, ballet, and more, such as which you can hear in this video. Look for other musical works inspired by Shakespeare’s plays. Why do you think these works continue to inspire artists?

Arias and Monologues

In opera, music is often divided into recitative, which is dialogue to move the plot forward, and arias, solo moments where time stops and a character explores their emotions. In this way, arias can be like Shakespeare’s monologues, or solo speeches by actors in a play, that are sometimes performed when no one else is on stage. In a monologue, the actor is speaking alone, and they can make decisions with the director about how they will do this. What words will they emphasize? When will they slow down or speed up, or get louder or softer? When will they take pauses? In an aria, singers must perform music that’s already been written. The composer will make choices about things like pacing and volume, which words will be sung on very high or low notes, and which notes will be held for a longer time than others. Explore the ways in which Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave, and Andrea Maffei (the composer and librettists of the opera) created an aria version of Shakespeare’s famous monologue for the character of Macbeth, “Is this a dagger?” In Act II, Scene 1, Macbeth recites this monologue just before he commits his first murder, attacking the sleeping king, Duncan. , and in this video. Then, , which you can see in this video. Of course, the biggest difference is that the aria is in Italian! Other than that, what do you notice? What ideas from Shakespeare’s original text do the librettists keep and what do they leave out? How does Verdi’s music communicate an interpretation of what emotions Macbeth is feeling?

Stage Magic

Take a look at the Kennedy Center’s What I Do series to learn about the people who help design sets, lighting, and more to bring shows to life.

The Weird & Wonderful World of Opera

Explore what opera is, its history, and all the people who make it happen in this series of four short, fun videos.

Musical Witches

One of the most exciting parts of Macbeth is , which you can see in this video. The subject of witches has long been a source of creative inspiration in music and other arts. What witches can you think of in music, musicals, plays, movies, and television? How are they portrayed? Try creating a playlist of your favorite witch-themed music. Then, compare some of your selections to the witches in Macbeth. What do you think Shakespeare and Verdi thought witches were like? Are they portrayed differently in other pieces? Why do you think people imagine witches in a variety of ways?

A Villain’s Tale

Macbeth tells the story of a couple who choose to become villains executing a murderous coup out of a desire for power. While Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are the main characters, they are not the heroes of the story. How would the opera be different if it were told from the perspective of a different character, such as Malcom or Macduff? Imagine how a different character in the story would experience the events of the play. Then, try to write a short story from their perspective. How does your main character feel about each major event? How do they make decisions about what to do? How would your version portray Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?

Kennedy Center Education

Generous support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Bank of America; Capital One; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Ednah Root Foundation; Harman Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The Kiplinger Foundation; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; The Markow Totevy Foundation; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives;

Prince Charitable Trusts; Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Volkswagen Group of America; Jackie Washington; GRoW @ Annenberg and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family; Wells Fargo; and generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts..

The content of these programs may have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education but does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the federal government.