A Place To Call Home, opera by composer Edward Barnes for young and family audiences, children's opera, opera education, opera for youth, which follows the journeys of four teenage refugees as they make their way building new lives in the US. Uses a cast of adult and young performers (teens)

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A Place to Call Home

SYNOPSIS: The journeys of 4 different teenage refugees/immigrants, their escape, arrival and assimilation in the U.S.. Based on interviews conducted by the composer-librettist with teenage refugees from El Salvador, Iran, Cambodia and Angola, the opera is propelled forward by the choices and decisions each teenager has to make re: cultural identity, conformity, new language, new systems, new friends, and their struggles to rebuild lives in a complex new world.

THEMES: Respect and understanding of different cultures; Adjusting to a new place.

CAST: 4 adults and chorus (teenage or adult chorus)

ADULTS: Woman 1 (soprano); Woman 2 (mezzo-soprano); Man 1 (Tenor); Man 2 (Baritone);

TEENS OR ADULTS: Other immigrants, refugees, high school students, high school teachers, street gang, barrio kids (chorus)

DURATION: 60 minutes

ACCOMPANIMENT: Piano; or, 2 Electric Keyboards (2 players) and Percussion (1 player)

COMMISSIONED BY: The Los Angeles Opera

PRODUCTIONS: The Los Angeles Oper a, University of Texas El Paso

see below for audio-video clips of the opera

iPad & iPhone users click here

A Place To Call Home, Scene 1 from FAMILY AUDIENCE OPERA on Vimeo.

A Place To Call Home, Scene 2 from FAMILY AUDIENCE OPERA on Vimeo.

Read what the press is saying about A Place to Call Home:

L.A. Times
"HOMEBOY OPERA" Click here to read article.

San Diego Union Tribune
"NEW OPERA BASED ON EXPERIENCES OF IMMIGRANTS OPERA IN L.A." Click here to read article.

El Paso Herald-Post
"COMPOSER WRITES OPERA FOR THE REST OF US" Click here to read article.

San Francisco Chronicle
"L.A. OPERA COURTING A YOUNGER CROWD" Click here to read article.

L.A. Times
"A HIGH ENERGY 'HOME'" Click here to read article.

Family Audience Opera | Email Us
May 22, 2013