Join the Arizona Opera Education Department for Storytime with a musical twist!
Step into a world where music brings every story to life. From grand ballrooms to enchanted forests, each tale comes to life through live narration, piano accompaniment, and operatic flair. These charming storytimes are thoughtfully designed to captivate young listeners and spark a lifelong love of music and imagination.
Click Here to Explore Our Digital Storytime Library to enjoy the magic from anywhere! Every story is brought to life in both English and Spanish!
Want to Experience Musical Storytime LIVE?
We’d love to visit your school or library! Our live Musical Storytime presentations feature professional singers and musicians who guide students through each story with music, laughter, and a touch of opera magic. Please submit a request using the form below.
Our Story Collection
Hansel and gretel
By James Marshall
Performed By: Diana Olivares, Education Teaching Artist and Chia-Chun Ko, Pianist.
Behind the Scenes: Tiezheng Shen, Recording Engineer (piano)
Join Hansel and Gretel as they embark on a journey to find their way back home, but it is not without a few obstacles along the way. After being sent into the woods with only a loaf of bread they devise a plan of how to get back home. It is not long before they stumble on the most delicious house they have ever seen – but it’s not as good as it looks.
cincerella
Retold by Barbara Karlin | Illustrated by James Marshall
Performed By: Diana Olivares, Education Teaching Artist and Chia-Chun Ko, Pianist
Behind the Scenes: Tiezheng Shen, Recording Engineer (piano)
Poor Cinderella! Her life is just fine - until her father marries a nasty woman with two even nastier daughters. When the girls are invited to a ball given in honor of the prince, they plan to leave Cinderella behind to do the house work. But Cinderella's fairy godmother has other ideas... Filled with grinning rats, glass slippers, and a whole coach-full of laughs.
pet of the met
By Lydia and Don Freeman
Performed By: Diana Olivares, Education Teaching Artist and Chia-Chun Ko, Pianist
Behind the Scenes: Tiezheng Shen, Recording Engineer (piano)
Maestro Petrini is very lucky. He is the only mouse who works at the Metropolitan Opera House. The only danger is Mefisto, the Opera House cat, who hates music - and mice! Then one day, the Petrini family attends a performance of The Magic Flute, and something happens to Mefisto that proves just how magical opera can be.
Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo
By John Lithgow
Performed By: Diana Olivares, Education Teaching Artist and Chia-Chun Ko, Pianist
Behind the Scenes: Tiezheng Shen, Recording Engineer (piano)
This zany picture book follows a boy who attends a concert next to the zoo. Bored with the performance, he begins dozing off. Suddenly the concert gets out of hand when the zoo animals storm the stage and play the instruments themselves! Arizona Opera is reading this book with permission from Simon & Schuster.