{"id":7291,"date":"2006-10-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-31T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yfiledev.uit.yorku.ca\/2006\/10\/31\/a-new-opera-for-children-contains-a-special-anti-bullying-message\/"},"modified":"2025-04-01T12:01:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T16:01:43","slug":"a-new-opera-for-children-contains-a-special-anti-bullying-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/yfile\/2006\/10\/31\/a-new-opera-for-children-contains-a-special-anti-bullying-message\/","title":{"rendered":"A new opera for children contains a special anti-bullying message"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elijah's Kite<\/em>,\u00a0a new opera for children which premiered before Governor General Micha\u00eblle Jean at Rideau Hall yesterday,\u00a0carries a special anti-bullying message\u00a0due to the efforts of York University professor Debra Pepler. A professor of psychology in the Faculty of Health and a psychologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Pepler is also the leader of the Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network (PREVNet) which works to promote safe and healthy relationships for Canadian children and youth.<\/p>\n

The opera is set in\u00a0a playground full of kids, where\u00a0nine-year old Elijah feels all alone. He\u2019s had a lot of trouble from Big Billy Brett, the school bully. Elijah brings his favourite kite to school and dreams of flying away. Elijah meets the new girl \u2013 Miriam \u2013 who\u2019s not afraid of Billy. But her fierceness soon turns to meanness, and she becomes a bully too. By the end of the opera,\u00a0the kids all learn how to turn something negative into something good, and discover that co-operation can make Elijah's kite fly.<\/p>\n

\"\"Right: A scene from the new children's opera Elijah's Kite<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pepler worked closely with the opera\u2019s developer, Tapestry New Opera Works, to\u00a0help\u00a0produce Elijah\u2019s Kite.<\/em>\u00a0The opera, by composer James Rolfe and librettist Camyar Chai,\u00a0<\/em>had\u00a0its Canadian premiere yesterday in two special performances at Rideau Hall in Ottawa\u00a0for the governor-general and\u00a0audiences of\u00a0school students.<\/p>\n

\"This is an opera for children on bullying, which will be performed throughout Ontario,\" said Pepler. \"PREVNet, our Networks of Centres of Excellence \u2013 New Initiative, has been collaborating with Tapestry New Opera Works in this production and in an innovative form of knowledge mobilization. Members of York University\u00a0 \u2013 myself and doctoral student Katherine McKenney \u2013 have been involved over the past year in consultations on the libretto, workshopping with the cast, and preparing the teacher's guide for the opera.\"<\/p>\n

Pepler is an\u00a0expert on the antisocial behaviour of children and adolescents, particularly in the school and peer contexts.\u00a0Her research examines aggression and victimization among adolescents with a concern to the processes related to these problems over the lifespan. She is leading a major collaborative project to \"\"develop a National Bullying Strategy for the Government of Canada.<\/p>\n

Debra Pepler<\/strong><\/p>\n

PREVNet is a collaborative and interdisciplinary initiative, bringing together 23 university researchers from 17 Canadian universities and 34 national non-governmental organizations. The partners will share up-to-date scientific knowledge and research expertise, build awareness of bullying and aggression problems, plot strategies, inform public policy making, and shift attitudes on an issue that matters to Canadians.( For more on Pepler's research, see the <\/a>Nov. 5, 2004<\/span> issue of YFile<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PREVNet is headed by Pepler, who is a member of\u00a0York University\u2019s LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution, and Professor Wendy Craig of Queen\u2019s University; both are renowned international experts on bullying. The network\u2019s goal is to change society by working with governments and NGOs to reduce the use of power and aggression in relationships. (For more information on PREVNet, see the March 29, 2006<\/span><\/a> issue of YFile<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Elijah\u2019s Kite<\/em> was commissioned with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the generosity of private donors Peter and H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Hunt. The opera was developed in partnership with the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) Opera Studies Division with a partnership grant from the Canadian Opera Creation Program, administered by Opera.ca.\u00a0The world premiere of Elijah's Kite <\/em>took place at the MSM in New York on April 9, 2006.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The opera had its genesis when MSM's\u00a0director of opera studies, Gordon Ostrowski,\u00a0visited Toronto in 2004 and felt that the team of Rolfe and Chai would be\u00a0a good fit to write a children\u2019s opera for presentation at the New York City school. Rolfe is located in Toronto and Chai in Vancouver, but the creators developed the project in close collaboration. They brought selected teachers and their classes into the process to discuss bullying.<\/p>\n

Along with the consultations by Pepler and McKenney,\u00a0PREVnet\u2019s support includes a comprehensive study guide that accompanies the production, written by McKenney and arts education specialist Pat McCarthy.<\/p>\n

Elijah's Kite<\/em> is currently touring Ontario schools and community centres until Nov. 17, through the aegis of Prologue to the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n

For more information on Tapestry and the downloadable Elijah\u2019s Kite <\/em>Study Guide, visit the Tapestry New Opera<\/span><\/a> Web site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

York University Professor Debra Pepler worked closely with the creators of the children's opera Elijah's Kite<\/i> to infuse a special anti-bullying message into the production...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yfileauthor":[],"qualifier":[],"yfile-author":[],"tags-to-show":[],"workflow":[],"class_list":["post-7291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news"],"acf":{"internal_publish_date":null,"original_image":null},"yoast_head":"\nA new opera for children contains a special anti-bullying message - YFile<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/yfile\/2006\/10\/31\/a-new-opera-for-children-contains-a-special-anti-bullying-message\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A new opera for children contains a special anti-bullying message - 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