Fort Worth ISD and the City of Fort Worth have designated Fort Worth Opera’s “Project: Opera” program official curriculum at I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM and VPA, North Side High School and Benbrook High School for the 2026-2027 school year.

This marks the first time the program counts as classwork rather than an extracurricular activity.

“Project: Opera” is Fort Worth Opera’s high school residency and performance program, pairing students with professional singers from the company’s Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artist program. Throughout the school year, students will spend 30 hours working on a production of Verdi’s “Macbeth,” with a final performance set for April 2027 during which casts from all three schools join Texas Christian University opera students at the Van Cliburn Concert Hall.

The program meets Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards in English language arts, fine arts, and career preparation. Among students who participated in last year’s program, 88 percent said they felt more comfortable supporting their peers by the end of the school year, and 96 percent described the program in positive terms.

“Opera has always turned a story into something you feel, not just something you watch or hear. Making this program part of the school day, instead of something to add on, is exactly where that kind of understanding belongs,” Angela Turner Wilson, General and Artistic Director of Fort Worth Opera, said, per an official press release.