Opera Santa Barbara (OperaSB) will present a free performance of its final 25th Anniversary season offering of The Crucible, 10 a.m. Monday, April 29, at the Lobero Theatre.

Underwritten in part by Montecito Bank and Trust and the Musician’s Union Fund, 570 students from around the Santa Barbara and Ventura area will see Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera.

The extra performance seeks to enrich the language arts curriculum for participating schools: The Anacapa School, La Cuesta High School, Carpinteria High School, Adolfo Camarillo High School, Rancho Campana High School, Channel Islands High School, Oxnard High School and Santa Paula High.

“We believe that it is critical to introduce area youth to the arts and to develop new audiences who may have had very limited contact with the rich medium of opera,” said Lex Benes, education and outreach manager.

Opera Santa Barbara’s outreach programming includes Opera Lab for elementary- to middle-school students to create their own operas, learn story-building techniques, and experience opera first hand.

Later this summer, the company will be extending components of its Youth Opera Program into a stand-alone, in-depth exploration of opera production for students ages 6-18.

The two-week intensive opera camp is designed to offer young singers of all skill levels exposure to the workings of a professional opera company.

The camp concludes with all participants appearing in a production of Odyssey, an opera for young singers based on Homer’s tale about Odysseus’ return to Athens after the Trojan War.

“Opera is a living, breathing art form, especially in the United States,” said Kostis Protopapas, artistic and general director. “American composers currently far surpass the Europeans in creating new works and bringing opera into the contemporary experience.

“Robert Ward’s The Crucible is a founding work of American opera, as much as Miller’s play is emblematic of American theater. It is a story born from the American experience, now as urgent as ever.”

The Crucible’s ominous story of the Salem Witch Trials, based on Arthur Miller’s allegorical play of the McCarthy era continues to awe audiences in the age of modern-day witch hunts, shifting truths, and crowd-sourced information.

For more about Opera Santa Barbara, visit www.operasb.org. Opera Santa Barbara is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization. 

— Joyce Familara for Opera Santa Barbara.