Opera Excursion

We were surprised to learn today, from an email received after the girls had already gone to school, that Sage's 6th grade class had gone on an excursion to the opera during the middle part of the day. They were taken by bus to Kyoto's main performance hall where they saw a matinee production of Bizet's Carmen:

The opera was being put on by the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, founded by the former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra to bring classical music to new audiences:

In this case, free opera tickets had been offered to any 6th grader in Kyoto, so the concert hall was full of 11 and 12-year-olds. Seiji Ozawa was not conducting this performance, but he was spotted in the audience, apparently wearing a Red Sox jacket! Photography was not allowed in the hall, but Sage's teacher did sneak this photo of the eight members of their 6th grade class: