A Night at the Opera to Benefit Poway High School

Because her daughter is a student at , Ruth Lopez-Yañez knows firsthand why Student Services are important to the student body. So when services like the counseling program and the peer counseling program were in danger of being cut last year, the Palomar College music instructor created A Night at the Opera fundraiser.

The second annual A Night at the Opera will once again benefit Poway High’s Student Services and take place at the on Saturday.

Lopez-Yañez said she realized how essential counseling services are after the death of Poway High School student Chelsea King.

“Last year, it really came to light how much people need that program. There were so many students affected, and they were always needing counseling,” she said. “Students need to have people that they can talk to in times like that, and they need to have programs to help them stay off drugs and to help them stay off alcohol and all those things.”

Last year, the fundraiser raised more than $30,000, Lopez-Yañez said. She hopes the benefit concert is just as successful this time.

“My daughter is one of the peer counselors, so I know how valuable the program is,” she said. “That’s why I took on the challenge of doing the fundraiser.”

Her daughter, Emilia Lopez-Yañez, will perform in one of the opera scenes. Other students from the peer counseling program will explain the program, give introductions and provide translations, she said.

Poway High School Principal Scott Fisher will also take part in an opera scene about chef Julia Child called Bon Appétit.

Many other opera scenes, duets and solos come from well-known stories like Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella.

Performers include soprano Mary Jaeb, tenor Jose Medina and baritone Gregorio Gonzales, as well as Palomar College Chamber Singers and accompanying ensembles Hornsmoke Brass Ensemble and the San Diego Jewish Men's Choir.  

“It’s for a really good cause,” Lopez-Yañez said. “It would be really sad to lose a program like that.”

The benefit concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $20-$50 for adults and $10 for students.

“I think that the program is going to be really fun,” Lopez-Yañez said. “If people have never seen an opera before, this is a good first exposure because they’re stories that people already know.”

The Poway Center for the Performing Arts is located at 15498 Espola Road.

There are multiple other school events taking place at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts this week.

On Wednesday and Friday, Poway High School Dance will perform this season’s dance routines, which include a variety of dance styles.

Both performances begin at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $10.

On Thursday, Bernardo Heights Middle School and Twin Peaks Middle School orchestras will perform along with their guest orchestra Palomar Symphony Orchestra.

The concert, which begins at 7 p.m., is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted at the door.

At Poway’s other theater, , the play Pardon Me, Prime Minister continues this week.

The British farce, which is about top government officials trying to eliminate sin in the British Empire through a series of new taxes, will run through May 22 at Poway’s Community Theatre.

Performances of the play take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $13 for students, seniors and active military.

PowPAC is located at 13250 Poway Road.

PowPAC will also present the comedy This Day and Age for one night only this Sunday.

The comedy is about what happens to an “empty nester” when children move back home.

The staged reading will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $10.

In other news, the will offer a new class this week. The "alla prima adult oil painting" class, which explores oil painting, will begin May 5.

Taught by Janelly Herrera, the course is designed for beginners, intermediate and advanced painters.

The class will meet every Thursday from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

For more information about this class and more, contact Bonnie Stromer, the center’s founder and director, at bonnie@xpressivearts.com or 858-679-2787.

Xpressive Arts Center is located at 12257-B Old Pomerado Road.