Serving as a lead-up to the Company’s MainStage presentation of Robert Xavier Rodríguez’s  Frida, which Opera Orlando will present at Steinmetz Hall in January 2024, the tour of Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World visited eight schools in Osceola County, and also presented three additional community performances in Mt. Dora and downtown Orlando that were free and open to the public. Sung in “Spanglish” to make the story more accessible to an ever-growing bilingual population in Osceola County, the in-school performances specifically targeted second and third graders with the students reading and studying the book prior to seeing the performance and also creating their own Frida Kahlo-inspired artwork. “I’m so grateful that all our second and third graders got to experience an opera performance,” stated Elyse Larkins from Ventura Elementary School. “It was their first opera, and for me, it was my first opera in Spanish.”

“This tour is a vital part of our education program,” states Opera Orlando education director Sarah Purser. “It is a great way to engage with the schools, but also allows us to showcase the Opera Orlando Studio Artists, who all had lead roles in the piece, with many of them doubling as puppeteers to bring Frida’s favorite pets to life. To see the expressions of joy, curiosity, wonder in the faces of our young audience members, not to mention to hear their voices as they proudly sang along with the puppets, drives home the whole purpose for the performing arts: sharing humanity, sharing culture, sharing love.”