Dear Teacher:
          You have received a booklet for our current opera “Go Green With Jo Green.” Our opera this year is about helping to take care of our planet by recycling. In an effort to do our part, Sierra Chamber Opera has chosen to print a smaller number of booklets this year and to offer the booklet information on our Web site, www.sierrachamberopera.org. This effort will save many trees and create less waste. We encourage you to go onto our site and print out the booklet pages that are appropriate for your students. The activities are fun and educational, so we hope that you will take advantage of them. The booklet information and activities can be used both before and after the performance.
          Please encourage your students to take the booklet pages home and share them with their parents and other family members. This continues our work and reflects favorably upon your school’s effort to provide enriching experiences for your students.
          In your classroom, we think it would be excellent to have the students discuss their reactions to the opera and to the booklet activities. You may also refer to our Web site where you will find even more interesting and child-appropriate Internet links.
          Please emphasize the importance of not talking during the live performance of the show. Quietly sitting and listening is good audience behavior. By all means, laugh when something is funny. It is intended for your enjoyment. And please encourage your students to laugh, clap, or even yell “Bravo” at the end of the opera.

Interesting Background Information
          The music for ”Go Green with Jo Green” is taken from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), an Italian Romantic composer who was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century. When translated into English, his name is Joe Green! Verdi wrote 28 operas and many of them, especially the ones written after 1851, are a staple of standard operatic repertoire. With the possible exception of Giacomo Puccini, no composer of Italian opera has managed to match Verdi’s popularity. Well aware that dramatic expression was his forte, he was very careful to select plots that contained scenes rich in drama and characters brimming with passion. Many of his musical themes are easily recognized and familiar around the world. Verdi used musical theater to contrast noble ideals with the corrosive effects of power, love of country with the inevitable call for sacrifice and death, and the lure of passion with the need for social order.
          Verdi knew tragedy during his lifetime: early in his career he was devastated by the untimely deaths of his wife and two children. He and his second wife, a famous soprano named Giuseppina, had no children. Verdi was probably the only important composer who was also a successful farmer! Using the latest techniques, he grew vegetables, raised livestock, and planted a tree every time he finished another opera. He loved animals, poetry (especially Shakespeare), and history. He was also a
senator, where his main concern was to put free musical education in the schools. Verdi cared little what critics thought of his music, but he did want to please the public: “The public will stand for anything except boredom.” The public was far from bored and he died a much beloved figure in Italy.

Selections by Verdi used in the show:
(This music and more can be found on our Web site, www.sierrachamberopera.org)

Answers:

Page 3 – Primary Word games: Go Green; Primary Vocabulary: 1-c, 2-j, 3-a, 4-h, 5-f, 6-l, 7-k, 8-m, 9-d, 10-b, 11-g, 12-i, 13-e;

Page 4 – After The Show Questions: 1-c, 2-c, 3-b, 4-b, 5-c;

Page 5 – Activities For Upper Grades: Blue Bin – soda cans, milk cartons, glass bottles, newspapers, magazines, cardboard boxes, plastic bags; Green Bin – leaves, branches, grass clippings, weeds, Christmas tree; Grey or Brown Bin – melon rind, coffee grounds, egg shells, diapers, apple core, chicken bones; Compost Pile – leaves, grass clippings, weeds, melon rind, egg shells, apple core;

Page 6 – Vocabulary for Upper Grades: 1-f, 2-l, 3-n, 4-s, 5-c, 6-v, 7-g, 8-r, 9-o, 10-b, 11-m, 12-y, 13-p, 14-j, 15-x, 16-k, 17-t, 18-d, 19-z, 20-w, 21-e, 22-i, 23-a, 24-q, 25-u, 26-h.

Acknowledgments:

Kathy Barba, Carol Blore, Tracy Jones, Carl Nuss, Alan Rea, Barbara Vlymen, booklet text and layout • Rebecca Sarkisian, SCO scrapbook • Rebecca Sarkisian, newsletter editor • Doris Hall, page design • Alan Rea, Barbara Vlymen, booklet distribution • Marcella Oneida, seamstress • St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, rehearsal space • Mary Ann Stites, CPA, computer bookkeeper • Kathy Barba, Tracy Jones, Carl Nuss, Rebecca Sarkisian, Kelly Scott, Barbara Vlymen, hospitality • David Sarkisian, Robert Ware, videotaping • Michael Webb, sound equipment consultation • Rebecca Sarkisian, Genta Sebastian, publicity • Genta Sebastian, Web site design • Michael Barba, Kathy Barba, Facebook page • City of Fresno Solid Waste Division for the use of three recycling bins