operas
Operas for Children features 7 new and original children’s operas by award-winning composer Edward Barnes. The list below shows essential information; click “More information” for details, videos, and more about each opera
a muskrat lullaby
Miles and his friends, Bird, Spider and Toad, love to sing, but no one wants to hear them practice. “Take that music to the swamp” the townspeople tell them. But down by the swamp where the alligators live, the singing quartet gets a different reception.
opera essentials
5 ROLES
ENSEMBLE
1 ACT
30 MINUTES
the old man who loved cheese
Wallace P. Flynn has a passion – he just loves the taste of stinky, smelly, malodorous, noxious CHEESE! His family abandons him, his neighbors call the police. Even the skunks have to move. What will it take to make Wallace stop eating the food he loves most?
opera essentials
6 ROLES
ENSEMBLE
1 ACT
35 MINUTES
the vagabond queen
A clever queen must rescue her husband, the King, from the prison of a mysterious foreign ruler. Disguising herself as a vagabond minstrel, she charms her way into the foreign ruler’s heart and manages to get the King released. But little does her husband know the true identity of his rescuer.
opera essentials
5 ROLES
1 SINGER
1 ACT
20 MINUTES
papagayo
The parrot, Papagayo, has a really loud voice. So loud that his raucous cries disturb the sleeping night creatures of the jungle. But when a hungry monster starts eating up the moon, bite by bite, the terrified night creatures summon Papagayo and his voice to the rescue.
opera essentials
4 ROLES
ENSEMBLE
1 ACT
30 MINUTES
the hiding tree
Two sisters are the only people who remain on an island in the middle of the sea after a people-eating monster devours the island’s entire population. One sisster is caught by the monser, while the other escapes to a tree. How each sister comes to the aid of the other makes for a magical story of love and survival.
opera essentials
3 ROLES
ENSEMBLE
1 ACT
30 MINUTES
mystery on the docks
Two mean looking rats slink into Ralph’s diner. And before the night is over, they’ve kidnapped Ralph and the world-famous opera star, Edwina Bombastina. But Ralph and Edwina are determined to be rescued, and they have at least one trick up their sleeve!
opera essentials
3 ROLES
ENSEMBLE
3 ACTS
30 MINUTES
a place to call home
The story of four different teenage refugees and their journeys of escape, arrival and assimilation in the U.S. The opera follows the choices the refugees make as each struggles with cultural identity, conformity, new language and friends as they rebuild their lives in a complex new world.
opera essentials
4 ROLES
ENSEMBLE
1 ACT
60 MINUTES
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Copyright 2022 – Operas for Children – Edward Barnes, Composer
7 New and Original Children’s Operas