After the wolf blows down the homes of two of the three little pigs, the third pig decides to visit the library to research how to build a wolf-resistant house. She finds an answer, and the pigs are saved.

The Children’s Outreach Program of the Natchez Festival of Music presented “The Three Little Pigs Opera” to children at Franklin County Lower Elementary and Franklin County Upper Elementary, at North Pike Elementary in Summit, at Brookhaven Elementary, Brookhaven Academy and the Mississippi School of Arts in Brookhaven, at Jefferson County Elementary School in Fayette and at Vidalia Lower and Vidalia Upper schools in Concordia Parish April 16-20. This week, local students at Adams County Christian School, Cathedral Elementary, Ferriday Lower, Ferriday Upper, Frazier Primary, McLaurin Elementary, Morgantown Elementary, Trinity Episcopal Day School, Wilkinson County Christian Academy and West Primary will visit Braden Auditorium to see the show.

The education outreach program through the Festival of Music reaches out to all communities of children. The music features two numbers from “Don Giovanni” by Mozart, which will be presented at 8 p.m. May 27 at the Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center.

Approached by a PTA group, John Davies, librettist for the opera, “The Three Little Pigs Opera,” created the words for the opera while using arias from famous operas. It encourages students to use the library to discover information. It is performed all across the country.

The artists for the presentation are professional musicians auditioned by Dr. Jay Dean, Natchez Festival of Music artistic director, in New York City.

They are Hart Gilula, Emily Lockhart, Hilerie Klein Rensi and Will Earl Spanheimer. The accompanist for the program is Jonathan Levin.

Public and private schools in Adams County share performances together. Many of the children from all strata of society experience a medium of music that they have never experienced.

Children in kindergarten through sixth-grade are targeted. There is no charge for the performance. Twenty-three performances will be presented in the two weeks to more than 7,000 students in attendance.

The public is invited to attend any of the performances at Braden. The performances will be at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. through Friday.

The halls will be ringing with music and laughter.

 

Bobbye Wynn is a retired music teacher from the Natchez-Adams School District and serves as chairman of the Children’s Outreach Program for the Natchez Festival of Music.