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Our Mission: We provide children and adults the experience of telling stories through song, by performing original, entirely-sung operas and oratorios, with lyrics and music accessible and appealing to audiences of all ages.

Welcome

Welcome to our 2012-2013 Season!

2013 Science Festival Chorus - Thank You

Thanks to our chorus and audience for a fabulous festival!

 

Two FREE Concerts:
Sunday, April 14, 5:00pm
Cahners Theater, Museum of Science
Sunday, April 21, 2:00pm
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

A concert of entertaining and enlightening songs about water,
sung by an intergenerational chorus,
with an accompanying slideshow of artwork and lyrics.

Peruse our program booklet (PDF, 5MB) for the performances
 
Learn more about this year's composers and music

Read about and hear our 2007 performance of Lifetime: Songs of Life and Evolution (also performed in 2012)
Read about and hear our 2011 program, Many Voices: The Science of Communication

2013 Family Opera - Thank You

Thanks to our cast, crew, and audience for a terrific production!

  

Antiphony

Music by Graham Preskett
Book and Lyrics by John Kane

an.tiph.o.ny 
I.P.A. for prononication of antiphony 
n : responsive alternation between two groups especially of singers

DIRECTED BY: David Bass and David Cash
CHOREOGRAPHY BY: Rachel Zimmerman

 

All performances were at:
The Peabody School  (Directions, map, parking)
70 Rindge Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140

Saturdays, March 16 and 23, 3:00pm and 7:00pm
Sundays, March 17 and 24, 1:00pm and 5:00pm

SEE WHEN YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS PERFORMED!

Our 2013 family opera was Antiphony, which was performed previously by NCFO in 2002 and 2006 (click for a synopsis with audio and video clips respectively). Music by Graham Preskett, book and lyrics by John Kane. This is the same team that wrote our 2012 family opera, Flying High.

Antiphony is an uplifting, inspirational, and funny show for the whole family featuring some industrious ants, a scheming fly, and a fiddling grasshopper who all have a lot to learn about what makes life worth living. The opera is full of catchy tunes written in a variety of accessible musical styles. It was commissioned by the W11 Opera for Young People and performed by them in December 1994 and December 2005.

Commission Competition

Thanks to the many (over 60!) composers and librettists who submitted works for consideration in our family opera commission competition. The deadline for this competition was October 15, 2012, and we are no longer accepting new proposals. Because of the large volume of submissions, it will take a while to complete the first round of the evaluation process, at which time all composers and librettists will be notified.

Although we are not accepting ideas for commission at this time, we are always interested in hearing about existing operas or entirely-sung musicals which might be suitable for our group (our licensing fee is currently $3000 per production). Please click here for more details of what we are looking for in the way of a "family opera."