Student Rehearsals
Let your students experience the power, beauty and thrill of live opera by bringing them to a Student Dress Rehearsal. We invite you and your students (grades 6-12) to attend a Student Dress Rehearsal. Every production is fully staged with soloists, chorus, and orchestra, and takes place at the Ordway Music Theater.
In an effort to remove financial barriers to schools, Minnesota Opera will be offering entrance to the Student Matinee Dress Rehearsal at NO COST.
Registration is required.
Student groups must be larger than 10 people.
Registration closes 1 week prior to the event.
Upcoming Student Rehearsals
Pagliacci
When: Thursday, May 7, 2026, at 11am
Language: Sung in Italian with English captions projected above the stage.
Run time: 1 hour and 45 minutes with one intermission
Audience Note: Please be advised that this production includes a depiction of gun violence during the final Act.
REGISTRATION FORM
Optional Pre-Show Lecture
Thursday, May 7, 2026, at 10am
In this short lecture, we will take a deeper dive into the story of Pagliacci and ask how the themes, stereotypes, and debates within this narrative impact today’s world. Premiering in 1892 in Milan, Italian composer, Leoncavallo through his narrator, Tonio, asks whether there is a difference between ‘theater’ and the ‘real world’. A central text in verismo opera, or opera focused on portraying the trials and tribulations of “real people” rather than those of gods or other supernatural beings, Pagliacci asked audiences at the turn of the 20th century where the line was between art and life. Today, in an era where it is increasingly more difficult for audiences to distinguish between “fake” and real images, MNOP’s Pagliacci asks audiences almost 150 years after its original premier, how do the narratives and stereotypes embedded in our art construct today’s relationships, institutions, and policies and what role do audiences play in these constructions?
Location:
Ordway Music Theater
345 Washington St,
St Paul, MN 55102
If you have any questions, or if further information is needed, please contact Darius Gillard at [email protected]
STUDENT GROUPS
If a Student Dress Rehearsal doesn’t fit into your schedule, attend a regular performance using the student group rate of $20 per student. This offer, for Student Groups of 10 or more (one teacher/ten students), is subject to availability. This is a great way to secure your seats to performances that will definitely sell out.
For more information or to purchase Student Group tickets, call the Ticket Office at 612-333-6669.
MN Opera celebrates and thanks the Twin Cities Opera Guild as long-time sponsors of Student Dress Rehearsals, bringing thousands of students, like yourselves, into the Ordway to experience the joy, power, and excitement of opera.