Black History Month events introduce opera to children
Harris County Public Library partnered with Houston Grand Opera to host Storybook Opera as part of its Black History Month programming.
Designed to introduce young audiences — kids in preschool through second grade — to opera, Storybook events are performed year-round.
“What sets it apart from other versions of storytelling is that it’s an oral history focus,” said Alisa Magallon, associate director of programming and engagement at Houston Grand Opera. “We’re telling the story, not reading the story.”
Two events this month were at the High Meadows Branch Library and the Spring Branch Memorial Library.
“The storybook opera program brings opera singers to our libraries …We knew it would be a wonderful program for Black history month, and all year round,” said Jennifer Schwartz, senior manager of program services for Harris County Public Library.
“We generally have up to 50 students who attend and they’re usually full,” Schwartz said of the free events at the library.
“Lula the Mighty Griot,” a story by Houston poet laureate emeritus Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, the city’s first Black poet laureate, was the Black History Month presentation. Mouton served as the city’s poet for 20172019 and created “Emerge, 11 community performance poetry videos highlighting various Houston neighborhoods” during her time, according to the city of Houston’s website.
Alisa Magallon, associate director of programming and engagement at Houston Grand Opera, said Mouton began writing stories about mythology for her daughter because there was a lack of Black characters in the genre.
“It’s special to tell a story written by a local author on a topic responding to something she felt was needed in her community,” said Magallon. “We’re thrilled to be able to help make that happen.”
There is no book for the story. It is meant to embrace oral tradition storytelling through singing melodies acapella using the African pentatonic scale.
“We partnered her with a couple of teaching artists who are also trained opera singers,” Magallon said. “They worked with her, and brought up this story from paper to a live oral tradition to tell the story.”
Children’s Museum Houston describes it as a story about Lula, the protector of her tribe, who keeps alligators from eating all the food in her village.
During the story, the students participate with a follow-theleader type of singing with constant repetition. By the end of it, they know the song on their own.
Mouton’s husband, Joshua Mouton, a graphic designer, contributed to the project by illustrating soft-cover coloring books given to the students who attend.
“It’s something tangible that I think a lot of families expect for an event like this, so we wanted to make sure we offer that as well,” Magallon said.
Storybook Opera is a program offered by Houston Grand Opera year-round, both in-person and virtually. According to its website, there are four productions currently offered to schools, libraries and organizations, including “Lula the Mighty Griot.”
The others are “The Armadillo’s Dream” about an armadillo who lives on a Houston bayou and wants to sing, “Agua, Agüita (Water, Little Water) & Fuego, Fueguito (Fire, Little Fire)” that includes poems about nature in English, Spanish and Nahuat, and “The Snowy Day,” an adaptation of the classic children’s story by Ezra Jack Keats.
Magallon described the significance of introducing elementary-aged students to opera for the first time with the storybook program.
“It’s all about the beauty and power of the human voice,” she said. “Operatic voice is naturally amplified and fills the room.”