Three-act opera by Scott Joplin (d. 1917), with orchestrations by T. J. Anderson - School performances:Tuesday February 28 - Friday March 3, 2017 Thomas Jefferson School, Arlington VA; Public performance: Saturday March 4, 2017

Jose Sacin, conductor

​Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha tells a story about Reconstruction-Era African-American experience written by a man who  lived through it. It has been orchestrated by at least three composers in the later 20th century, based on the original piano-vocal score left unperformed after Joplin's death.

WHAT'S ALL THE SHOUTING ABOUT TREEMONISHA? Children from the ages of 4 to 18 years of age will love it. Although there are jaunty ragtime songs and lots of dances in Treemonisha this is more than a ragtime opera or a folk opera. As Joplin intended, Treemonisha is a serious American grand opera, with an extensive overture, instrumental preludes to each act, formal arias with beguilding vocal writing, recitatives and elaborate ensembles.

The story is set in 1884 on an abandoned plantation in Arkansas. Treemonisha, an 18-year-old woman, who has been educated is a source of enlightenment to her community. Will they follow her?

Opera NOVA was founded in 1992 as a volunteer-based, non-profit charitable organization to bring the joy of opera to residents in the Northern Virginia community. Opera NOVA was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is a 501(c)(3) entity. A part of its mission is to educate adults and children, alike, in its local community by producing 3 to 4 operatic productions each year.