Opéra national de Paris
OpérApprentis
The Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris is launching a new arts education project in partnership with the Île-de-France Region. The project is aimed at Centres de Formation d’Apprentis (Apprentice Training Centers) and will enable the Opéra to reach out to young adults and increase its regional recognition.
Young people taking part in work-study programmes in various sectors of activity will discover the performing arts through artistic practice workshops held within their institutions and integrated into their study programmes.
An original project in collaboration with the Académie team and educators, designed by artists, that will enable young people to gain knowledge that will be useful to them in their future professions, such as vocal pitch, body awareness and listening skills. An experience that will serve the young apprentices throughout their careers.
In addition to the programme and artistic practice, classes are hosted at the Palais Garnier and at the Opéra Bastille throughout the year for visits, shows and meetings with professionals close to their activity.
Photo © Kurt Van der Elst / OnP
Horses
Young audience production
16 – 19 November 2018
Paris, France
The Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris will present the dance performance Horses from 16 to 19 November 2018 as part of its young audience programming.
Conveyed by poetic duets between five children and five adults, Horses is a plea for solidarity and freedom. The Flemish company kabinet k leads the spectator into a world where adults and children form a harmonious group in a symbiosis that questions our notions of power, vulnerability and encountering others, ultimately leading to a sense of detachment. Like a horse with unbridled energy, dance expresses the thirst for life, recreation, passion but also tenderness. The guitar and saxophone take the reins of a world in which carefree childhood reminds adults that dreams and doubts are still allowed.
More information here
Ruben Zahra
KIRANA
Young audience opera
14 – 26 October 2018
Netherlands
The KIRANA children’s opera project by Ruben Zahra will be touring The Netherlands from 14 to 26 October 2018. Children from Leeuwarden and Sneek will collaborate with professional artists through a series of workshops leading to a full blown interdisciplinary performance. KIRANAintroduces children to a wide range of innovative artistic experiences from contemporary music and dance to digital animation, shadow puppetry and light painting. KIRANAwill be staged at De Harmonie in Leeuwarden on 19 of October and at Theatre Sneek on the 25 October. The KIRANA tour in The Netherlands is supported by Valletta 2018 and Leeuwarden 2018 – European Capitals of Culture. The strong outreach dimension of this project has contributed to its international success and presentation in 10 different countries over the past 2 years. KIRANA will be staged at opera theatres and festivals in Italy, Estonia, Norway, Portugal and the UK throughout 2019.
Pop-Up Opera
La Tragédie de Carmen
Ages 12 and up
20 September – 23 November 2018
Pop-Up Opera have begun touring La Tragédie de Carmen, Peter Brook’s reimagining of the masterpiece by Bizet.
The intense and tragic tale of the four characters who lie at the heart of the original story plays out in a thought-provoking drama of unhinged love and jealousy. Actions are not without consequences, and the stark reality of the repercussions for Don José are laid bare as the story unfolds before you in a series of his tormented flashbacks.
This dark and thrilling piece is directed by John Wilkie. A familiar tale, but not as you’d expect it…
Details of all performances can be found here.
Den Jyske Opera
Planning of the next Danish opera festival for young audiences has started, encouraged by the many positive reactions and a national award as “Innovation of the Year” for GrowOP! 2017. The festival is presented by Den Jyske Opera in Aarhus (the second largest city in Denmark) in cooperation with local partners.
GrowOP! presents high quality professional opera/ music theatre performances for the age group 0-12 years. According to Birgitte Holt Nielson, Director of the Festival and chief curator: “We are aiming at productions that rethink audience relations, artistic formats, topics and cross artform expressions are very welcome. Combined with the shows we have a whole range of participatory and educational activities. We are mainly looking for small scale productions, but are also open to larger companies, if economy and practicalities allow it”.
This time the festival will specifically look into new ways of opening the artform for families in more experimental and inclusive ways with activities going on in open air and in untraditional places. During the festival there will also be activities for professionals (artists, producers and from education) and international guests are very welcome.
More info: bhn@jyske-opera.dk.
L’Albero
The Silent City Opera
29 November – 1 December 2018
Matera, Italy
The Silent City Opera will be staged in Matera 29, 30 November and 1 December 2019 as part of the official programme of events of Matera European Capital of Culture 2019
Upon arriving in Matera, visitors are struck by the contrast between nature and human development, between that which is inhabited and that which is abandoned, between sound and silence. In the once-bustling city of sassi, silence evoques trauma, a strong break in the lives of those who live there.
But what does silence mean to those who inhabit the city today? What does it represent, and what does it bring with it? And what can you create with silence?
The Silent City project explores the concept of silence in relation to the city. Not as emptiness, absence or privation, but as presence, capable of evoking and telling. Research is conducted together with local communities, collecting ancient stories and imagining new ones, so as to arrive at a story of a distant future. The privileged interlocutors will be children and the elderly, silent generations who, together with composers, musicians, writers, singers, actors and theater educators, will have a voice in the composition of a contemporary opera. After 2019, the Silent City Opera will dialogue with a new city to graft the history of another community.
Silent City is a project of Matera Capitale Europea della Cultura 2019 co-produced by Compagnia Teatrale l’Albero and Fondazione Matera- Basilicata 2019 in co- partnership with Opera Circus, Orchestra SenzaSpine , Il Setticlavio, MateraHub, UniversaMusica (Università degli studi della Basilicata)
Sunday, 4 Novembre 2018 in Matera, Compagnia Teatrale l’Albero will present the Silent City Dramaturgy to the city of Matera through a performance lasting the whole day.
More information: info@silentcity.eu #silentcity
Omar Sharyar
A comic opera for young people about terrorism is one of the finalists for this year’s YAMaward for Best Opera.
A Shoe Full of Stars is a collaboration between teenage students and opera makers from Opera Schmopera and Gestalt Arts, with a libretto by writer Ed Harris. The story centred on the difficulties that young people face in having honest conversations about the dangerous threat, as well as the risks they face from being manipulated by misinformation.
Mixing operatic and Urban musical styles, and fusing comedy with thought-provoking drama, the project aims to tour the UK, France and Belgium, accompanied by a website resource to help young people, teachers and parents discuss these issues.
More information here
La Monnaie / De Munt
Beethoven For Kids
Young audience production
20 October 2018
“Teach your children to be virtuous. That alone will make them happy!” Beethoven underestimated himself: more than two centuries later, his music, too, is still bringing happiness to young and old. Following the success of the first family concert, featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Alain Altinoglu presents a second, which enables children from the age of six up to learn about the mysteries of the orchestra and classical music in the company of their friends and family. This time, our Music Director will guide the La Monnaie Orchestra and his audience through works of Beethoven, symphonicus par excellence, who’s symphonies were more magnificent, complex, and emotional than any of the composer’s contemporaries had ever heard.
Spectators will be welcomed with cake and hot drinks. After the concert, conductor Alain Altinoglu will sign his book Maestro, muziek! / Maestro, à vous de jouer.
More information here
Opéra de Dijon
A New Digital Showcase For The Opéra de Dijon
The Opéra de Dijon recently launched the multimedia content platform OperaBack. The platform enables audiences to discover all the Opera’s productions as well as sound clips, videos, articles, interviews, productions in progress and behind the scenes.
All production archives since the 2008-2009 season, including programme notes, posters, arguments, notes of intent, interviews with the creative teams, sketches of sets and costumes, texts and work of researchers and academics, are also accessible.
Visit OperaBack to find out more
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
Opéra De-ci De-là Residency: open to young composers, stage directors, singers and instrumentalists under 30 years old on 1st January 2019
The Académie du Festival d’Aix proposes a new training programme Opéra de-ci de-là, a participative project questioning the strengths and the potential of change in the opera industry. This programme aims to train young artists, creators and actors in the creation of participative operas in a manner conductive to intercultural dialogue and interdisciplinary exchange. By exploring of innovative creative processes, this programme offers the opportunity to young artists to experiment the development of small forms.
Apply here by 20 October