Tag Archives: Opera

OPERA KIDS – the movie

Posted on April 1, 2021 by dannyashkenasi

“Opera Kids” is a documentary about the Creating Original Opera program that I had taught and also helped develop with my colleagues at the Metropolitan Opera Guild Education Department since 1990. It was directed by Max Sturm, who participated in … Continue reading →

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NYSIFF FILM PANELS

Posted on October 18, 2020 by dannyashkenasi

The New York State International Film Festival held three different film panels over the course of its festival dates. I participated in all three. NYSIFF has posted all three panels on YouTube, so I can now share them here. If … Continue reading →

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CLASS 1-3’s FIRST GRADE OPERA – involving a magic carpet and a family transformed into chameleons

Posted on April 29, 2020 by dannyashkenasi

    NYC’s schools closed due to the COVID 19 pandemic the week the three first grade classes at the Brooklyn Children’s School were scheduled to perform their operas, which the children had written and composed themselves.  I still held … Continue reading →

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CLASS 1-2’s FIRST GRADE OPERA – of the moon and the earth and a celestial smash up

Posted on April 29, 2020 by dannyashkenasi

  NYC’s schools closed due to the COVID 19 pandemic the week the three first grade classes at the Brooklyn Children’s School were scheduled to perform their operas, which the children had written and composed themselves.  I still held out … Continue reading →

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CLASS 1-1’s FIRST GRADE OPERA – in which a dragon and a tiger meet in a dungeon

Posted on April 29, 2020 by dannyashkenasi

  NYC’s schools closed due to the COVID 19 pandemic the week the three first grade classes at the Brooklyn Children’s School were scheduled to perform their operas, which the children had written and composed themselves.  I still held out … Continue reading →

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The TELL-TALE VEGAS / NYC / MOSCOW TRIFECTA that was – and then wasn’t

Posted on March 28, 2020 by dannyashkenasi

  Thanks for Nothing, COVID 19   I was supposed to watch “The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre” in a Moscow movie theater today, in fact precisely while I’m typing this, “sheltering in place” this Saturday morning New York time, … Continue reading →

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No First Grade Operas – for now

Posted on March 16, 2020 by dannyashkenasi

  Thanks for nothing, COVID19   On Friday I received the following email from one of the first grade teachers at the Brooklyn Children’s School:   Dear Danny, The first grade operas have to be postponed. The DOE and our … Continue reading →

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The Knight Marries the Prince

Posted on May 26, 2019 by dannyashkenasi

  A Kindergarten Original Blesses a Quaker Wedding   Friday morning I heard a wedding song I realized I would have to sing that night at an actual wedding.  Class K-1 at the Brooklyn Children’s School was the third kindergarten … Continue reading →

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THE DAY I MURDERED MY HUSBAND – Tell-Tale Shoot Diary #3

Posted on April 22, 2019 by dannyashkenasi

  Welcome back to the “Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre” film shoot diary, and the day I murdered my husband.  Repeatedly.  Take after take after take.     Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” centers on a “very very dreadfully … Continue reading →

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FIRST GRADE ALIENS RIDE PEOPLE’S HEADS!

Posted on April 10, 2019 by dannyashkenasi

  Another Year, Another Silly First Grade Opera! Actually, another three first grade operas at the Brooklyn Children’s School, created, written, composed and performed by first graders themselves, under the direction of their teachers and their teaching artist Mister Danny. … Continue reading →

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TELL-TALE REVEAL!

Posted on November 18, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

  So what is the big new deal with “The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre“?     OK!  Aright!  I know you’ve been on tenterhooks!   The suspense has been killing you!     But only figuratively.   Not literally, … Continue reading →

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TROLL AFFECTION!

Posted on October 29, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

  How a genre and boundary bursting Swedish movie brought back to mind a certain LGBTQ friendly First Grade Opera Tune I just saw the movie “Border”, Sweden’s entry for this year’s Foreign Film Oscar, and let me say, right … Continue reading →

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Sensual Statues in the Streets of Paris

Posted on September 19, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

Nude statues are all over Paris. I don’t know if statistically there are more nude statues there than in other European cultural capitals, or if the nude statues of Paris are particularly more sensual than elsewhere, or if it is … Continue reading →

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TELL-TALE SIGN…

Posted on September 8, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

  Something’s coming…   Something murderous, mad, musical…   A pale blue eye…   Cellos signing;  moaning;  screaming…   His hideous heart…   It’s all returning…   But not the way it was…   It will take on a whole … Continue reading →

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Another Year, Another Trio of First Grade Operas.

Posted on March 29, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

Three first grade operas have performed in their classrooms in front of an audience of parents, grandparents and loved ones.  In three consecutive days 1-3’s “Diamond Kids”, 1-2’s “The Alicorns” and 1-1’s “Imagine” regaled audiences with stories, dialog, lyrics and … Continue reading →

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Notes on Myself

Posted on January 17, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

Sometimes I am asked, in applications for grants or music competitions for example, to write about myself.  It is a certain special torture to have to act as your own greatest champion in writing (or in person), but that is … Continue reading →

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