Opera Praktikos

New York City’s First Disability-Affirmative
Opera Company

Image description:  An urban garden with an open air wood stage. Performers line the stage in the final moments of the production Orlando: Hero of Love. Photo by Kyabell Glass.

Making Opera Accessible

Opera Praktikos - our name, like opera itself, takes inspiration from ancient Greek society. We embrace what we believe the  Greeks envisioned as an art form that speaks to the drama inherent in every human story. This breaks down barriers and creates community. At Opera Prakitkos, we believe in music’s power to touch hearts and minds making possible a new shared experience. 

Making opera accessible is our aim, giving the public opportunities to overcome challenges that include class, economic status, and physical impediments. 

We approach opera from an interabled perspective on stage, with/for our audience and in our administration. Our work reflects diverse backgrounds and abilities. Through purposeful reimaginings of the classics as well as new commissioned works, we intend that everyone see themselves in the operas we produce. In doing this, we offer public access to this amazing art form that enriches lives.

There Will Be

Cake!

A sweet, site-specific musical drama pairing two mono-operas about memory and food, featuring words of wisdom from Julia Child herself! One short opera bakes us a chocolate cake, the other spreads joy! Mixed together, these mono-operas make for one hour of a delicious and joy-filled community event…and yes, there WILL be cake!

Opera Praktikos, Inc received operating support from OPERA America’s NYC Opera Grant: Supporting Small-Business Organizations, supported by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Orlando:

Hero of Love

Our first production, in collaboration and partnership with Opera Essentia is a 75-minute, one act distillation of Handel's Baroque masterpiece. Orlando: Hero of Love asks eternal questions: What is Love? Who is a Hero? Where do our journeys lead?

Photo credit: Kyabell Glass

Asian woman and black woman in an urban garden space embracing as Asian woman sings.

Opera Praktikos is a 501c3 registered tax-exempt nonprofit organization.

Federal Tax ID: #88-3044485