Want a program that can involve all of the A & H disciplines in one powerful package? Try opera, with connections for music, theater, literature, and visual art!

About the program

Opera is an art form uniquely suited to teaching the arts and humanities on a broad scale, involving music, visual art, drama, literature, and history. Featuring our trio of performers, this program teaches students about the elements of music, operatic form, and vocal music production.

In addition, NPA brings Polly Patchwork to Kentucky, an original opera created in 2000 specifically for schools here in the state. A project that involves students building sets, creating their own backdrops, learning music to be the opera chorus, as well as opportunities for several students (and teachers!) to perform in the opera itself, Polly Patchwork generates tremendous enthusiasm K-12, with opportunities for participatory, multi-disciplinary learning, portfolio writing, and the exploration of social themes that impact children today. This project requires multi-school participation, eight-week student preparation, and follow-up – all things that make an arts enrichment project really effective! Please call us for details and further information to assist you in planning for that project level in your schools.

Availability:	March 2009
Costs for programming:	$960 / 4 assembly programs*
Program format:	Assembly/workshop
Audience limit:	200/elementary 200/MS & HS
* Prices above reflect significant subsidy from New Performing Arts' fundraising with arts education supporters statewide and nationally.

About the artists

Baritone Michael Mentzel was recently a semi-finalist at the Hugo Wolf Academy Art Song Competition in Stuttgart, Germany. Since then he has been a finalist for an IIE Fulbright music grant and a finalist in the Discovery Series Vocal Arts Society Competition in Washington D.C. Michael received a Bachelor and Master of Music in Vocal Performance at Indiana University in Bloomington, a student of Dr. James McDonald. He also studied the German Lied for three years with the late master collaborative pianist Leonard Hokanson.

Michael has participated in national and international music festivals and programs including the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, the Middlebury German for Singers Program, and Songfest in Malibu, CA. He has participated in numerous master classes with world famous artists such as Håkan Hagegård, Rudolf Jansen, Martin Katz, and Roger Vignoles.

A fluent German speaker, Michael specializes in the performance of the German Lied, from standard repertoire to rarely performed composers, most notably Hanns Eisler. A new member of the International Hanns Eisler Society, he is currently researching the songs of this often overlooked composer and aspires to one day record the complete vocal works.

Equally comfortable on the opera stage, he has performed roles such as Schaunard in La Boheme, John Brooke in Little Women, Maximillian in Candide, among others. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Maryland. Michael is a passionate teacher of voice and plans to teach at the university level upon completion of his doctoral studies. He currently studies with Martha Randall.

Joy Reeder has studied piano since she was three years old. First instructed by her mother, Fumiko Reeder, she won First Prize in the 1996 Indiana Young Hoosier Piano Competition and performed at former Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon's 1997 inauguration. At age 13 Joy began studying with Emilio del Rosario at the Music Institute of Chicago. Ms. Reeder also received First Prizes from the Illinois State Teachers Association (2000), the Musicians Club of Women of Chicago (2001), Society of American Musicians (2002), Union League Club of Chicago (2003) and American Opera Society (2003). She also received an honorable mention award from the National Arts Recognition Program (2003). Ms. Reeder's most recent accomplishments include First Prize in the 2005 Indiana MTNA Young Artists Piano Competition and Second Prize in the 2005 Regional MTNA Competition. Joy has performed with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Chicago Athletic Association Rising Star Series and the Steinway Young Artist Series. She has received instruction from pianists Kum-Sing Lee, Alvin Chow, Alan Chow, Jerome Lowenthal, Sarah Davis Buchner, Tamas Ungar, Christopher Elton, Frederic Chiu, Claude Frank, Yoheved Kaplinsky and composer George Crumb. Ms. Reeder has also participated in international festivals such as the Las Vegas Music Institute (2003), Gold Country Piano Institute (where she was awarded the title of Most Promising American Pianist), Warsaw Piano Workshop and the TCU/Cliburn Young Artist Piano Institute. Ms. Reeder is currently in her senior year of a Bachelor of Music degree at Indiana University majoring in piano performance with distinguished Professor Menahem Pressler, founder of the Beaux Art Trio.