What a lovely first day of spring we are having here in the San Francisco Bay Area!

Did you miss me?! Like most other bears, I've been busy hibrrrrnating these past few winter months. When not asleep, I've been thinking about all the fun we had during our fall season of storytelling at San Francisco Opera. I got to see so many of you at Opera in the Park, Flower Piano, The Monkey King, and so many fun workshops at our local libraries. Thank you for making Opera Cubs such a fun club to be a part of.

And we have so much more fun planned for us all in the months to come! I hope beary much to see you all soon!

Your friend,

-🐾

Bearitone the Opera Bear

J'Nai Bridges is an opera singer who travels the world to sing stories to all those who love her. She comes to sing for us in San Francisco quite often. Just this last fall, J'Nai sang in the opera "Rigoletto". While she was in town, she hung out with Bearitone and answered lots of questions about becoming an opera singer. We found out some pretty cool things about J.Nai...

🐾 J'Nai started singing as a young girl in her church. She later sang in her school choir and realized she'd found her passion.

🐾 J'Nai almost became a basketball player! She loved playing basketball, but was having a hard time finding time for practice, games, AND singing. One day, her coach told her she had to choose singing or basketball. I bet you can guess which one she chose! How lucky we are to have her singing stories for us.

🐾 The character she loves to play the most is Carmen. In fact, just seven years ago (before some of you were born!) she came to San Francisco Opera to perform Carmen. We can't wait till J'Nai comes back to San Francisco. How exciting that we'll all grow up watching her sing Carmen and learn new characters to perform.

Maestro Carolyn Kuan was with us at San Francisco Opera this fall for the world premiere of the new opera called The Monkey King. (Did you see The Monkey King? It was so wonderful! So magical! So fun and powerful!)

🐾 Maestro Kuan was born in China. She moved to the United States of America to study music when she was 14. She is just one of many people who come to our country to share all the wonderful things they can do and help make our home a better place.

🐾 When Carolyn was a little girl, she wanted to be a ballerina. That's sort of like an opera singer, except instead of singing to tell their stories, a ballerina dances to tell their stories.

🐾 Once she was an adult, she almost became a banker! We're so glad she conducts opera instead of counting money! Isn't it interesting how people want to do different things at different times in their lives? What do YOU want to be when you are a big person?

CLICK HERE for more info. Bearitone can't wait to see you all at one of the shows!

Get ready to stroll a magical town square, eat yummy snacks in an indoor orange grove, visit with a silly barber named Figaro, play games and do craft activities–and best of all–enjoy our singers performing music from the opera The Barber of Seville.

This event will be free and fun for all. A special invitation will be coming your way in just a few weeks. Oh what a grand time we will have together!

What's a Diva, you ask? A diva is a very important and strong woman who appears in operas. When they're not on the stage, chances are good that you'll find them hanging out with Bearitone back in Opera Land. We're so lucky to have so many powerful divas visiting us at San Francisco Opera each year.

Print this page to add a world of color to Bearitone as he strolls the grand halls of the War Memorial Opera House.

Bearitone LOVES to see all the fabulous artwork created by his Opera Cubs! We invite you to share your masterpiece! You can email artwork, photos, and special messages to Bearitone anytime. Just email him at operacubs@sfopera.com

OPERA CUBS is the official fan club of Bearitone the Opera Bear @ SAN FRANCISCO OPERA

Membership is FREE and includes the following:

🐾 The quarterly edition of OPERA CUBS NEWS

🐾 Invitations to special family-friendly events

🐾 An annual birthday message from Bearitone

🐾 Discounted tickets to productions at SF OPERA