Boston-based nonprofits are Pushing City Youth to Bring the Music, Poetry, and the Funk this Summer

May 5, 2008 - PRLog -- The Cloud Foundation and Opera Boston are partnering this summer to create an opera workshop for teens based on music from the opera Carmen.  A group of teen writers and poets were recruited from the Cloud's Teen Spoken Word Curatorial Program to create new dialogue based on some of the themes from Carmen.  With the aid of an adult coach, the teens will create approximately 20 minutes of dialogue to be interspersed between the opera's vocal works, creating a new story.

Boston based award winning Slam poet and vocalist on Shout Factory’s new album In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2, Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo was selected as the Writing Coach for the Cloud Foundation's "Opera Factory" project to develop text to be performed as part of the mini-opera. (http://www.iyeoka.com)

The Cloud Foundation believes in the transformative power of art to enrich the lives of urban youth. They support innovative programs that build confidence, ambition, and hope in Boston's young people through artistic creation and cross-cultural communication.

Opera Boston is dedicated to creating this dynamic synergy between opera audiences, composers, and performing artists by presenting dramatic performances that draw the audience into a deeper appreciation of great operatic music.
Opera Boston presents new productions of innovative opera, operetta, musical theatre repertoire and rarely heard works, along with groundbreaking opera education and outreach programs. Opera Boston’s annual season at the Cutler Majestic Theatre has earned it “Best of Boston” honors from The Boston Globe for eight consecutive years. The company also recently received the prestigious Opera America Success Award, given annually to an American opera company that demonstrated exceptional innovation and excellence in audience development.

Website: www.iyeoka.com