On Tour Performances

On Tour now officially in its third year, has made it possible for more than 3,000 students to experience meaningful encounters with a vocal work, whether art song, oratorio or opera. 

In addition, On Tour will offer pre-performance workshops that introduce students to themes and the relevance of the work.

In 2006-2007, our production of J.S. Bach’s lighthearted Coffee Cantata delighted many elementary school audiences and toured in coffeehouses throughout Cambridge.

In 2007-2008, the challenging I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Songs of the Terezin Concentration Camp encouraged many middle and high school students to think about humanity’s tragic history of genocide and art’s power to transcend cruelty. This piece was offered as an outreach component of Cantata Singers’ commission Slavery Documents 3, And the Trains Kept Coming . . . by Lior Navok.  Click here for information on Slavery Documents Commissions. 

This presentation was designed to follow the curriculum of Facing History and Ourselves, an international educational and professional development organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. I Never Saw Another Butterfly made real connections to history, literature and social relevance through music, helping students make the essential connections between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives. 

This production and the companion workshops toured 20 middle schools and high schools and will appear again in a special encore performance at Vilna Shul, May 17, 2009. This special presentation will also feature a performance of new songs written and performed by the students of Boston Arts Academy. 

More information about I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Program information
Program notes
Artist biographies
Program, texts and translations