Opera domani

From 1996, for a young audience between 6 and 14 years old.

For the 2021/22 Season, Opera Education AsLiCo proposes a double edition for the project:

together with its co-producing partners Théâtre des Champs Elysées and Opéra de Rouen, they present the Rossinian opera La Cenerentola as XXVI Opera domani edition.

What’s more, in co-production with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma is the new commission signed by celloist and composer Giovanni Sollima and by writer and librettist Giancarlo De Cataldo, entitled Acquaprofonda. This special edition declares a strong civic component, and will stage the urgent issue of water pollution and bad waste disposal.

Discover more on the project format below, or find a preview of the two stagings following the linked Titles here:

Format

The Opera domani Format

The main mission of Opera domani is to involve and enthuse young people of primary and secondary school age in opera, effectively acting through the school channel. In fact, the project runs throughout the whole academic year.

It is aimed primarily at Institutes and teachers, in a preliminary phase dedicated to updating on musical training, continues with them in the classroom for the training of students and ends in the theatre with active participation in the opera performance.

Since 2003, our stages have been open to Opera Family, to promote family inclusion from the bottom up: a sharing between different generations in which passionate children help their mothers, fathers and even grandparents rediscover or discover the beauty of opera!

STRUCTURE

The educational course for teachers is structured around three gatherings, continuing with the training of students in the classroom and ending with the attendance to the show.

The three meetings are conducted by trainers specialised in the relevant areas: the educational basis of opera, the preparation of choirs for performances, in-depth on dramaturgical aspects. During all the meetings, tools and methods are proposed for transmitting the most important or delicate notions to children of different ages in a simple but effective way, and on how to propose the learning of songs during classroom training, pointing out additional material available on the online teaching section of the website, indicated for the interactive whiteboard in classrooms.

In order for the training to develop a reflection over the course of the year, each teacher receives a didactic handout with in-depth content on the themes inherent in the opera and on the most topical links that can be drawn from it to help children and young people both to approach opera and to use it as an effective tool for understanding the world and for individual growth.

At the same time, students receive the opera booklet, an interactive poetic libretto, enriched with musical scores and educational and recreational activities. Each year, an audiobook is also recorded, for the young spectators to familiarise them with the plot in different ways, and a CD with audio recordings of the songs that the pupils will prepare as opera chorus. It is possible to ask for an opera singer to visit the classroom shortly before the date of the performance, to make sure everyone is ready to experience the live play. Finally, during the performance, the audience is invited to take an active part in the show, interacting and singing along with the performers in a real opera production with director and orchestra, singers and workers in an atmosphere that only theatre can create.

THE PERFORMANCE

Lasting about 70 minutes, it includes a short introduction by the orchestra conductor.

Musical education

THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

The methodology of Opera domani, which has been promoting a passion for opera for over 25 years, is based on the professionalism and experience of an interdisciplinary team that draws its principles from the lessons of Carlo Delfrati, a music teacher and innovator inside and outside the school.

If the beating heart of Opera domani lies in didactics and in preparing the public to understand opera in its splendid complexity, it is clear that the role of teachers and educators is the key to the success of this ambitious mission.

In the months preceding the performance, the project trainers meet teachers participating from all over Italy in an interdisciplinary didactic course aimed at providing them with the tools for their work in the classroom, ahead of their participation in the opera in the theatre.

The educational program articulates in three gatherings:

educazione musicale docenti

Module 1 – Musical didactics:

presentation of the project’s teaching materials (libretto, handout, cd); introduction to the year’s opera and plot; presentation of the characters; analysis of the poetic libretto; listening to passages useful for understanding the opera; project teaching proposals (activities, construction and use of props); additional teaching proposals (interdisciplinary links, multimedia, videos, arias, games and other methodological ideas for preparatory activities in class); reference to online sources and teaching materials.

 

lezione musicale docenti
Module 2 – Participatory moments:

presentation of the choral arias to be sung (number of arias, level of complexity…); technical-vocal and musical analysis of the arias; teaching of basic vocal techniques; rhythmic and vocal reading of scores; listening to pieces and singing on the basis of the CD; proposals for didactic learning of the choral arias to be proposed in class; additional didactic-play proposals and other methodological ideas for preparatory activities in class.

Module 3* – Dramatisation, theatre and cultural expression:

overview of the opera (useful hints for the spectator); insights into the work of the actor (drama, conflict, intentions); dramaturgy of the plot and characters; presentation of the transversal themes of the opera and playful-creative proposals for links with the students’ everyday life; exercises preparatory to the management of group theatre games on listening, emotions, empathy, conflict; additional interdisciplinary proposals (interdisciplinary links, multimedia, videos, arias, games and other methodological ideas for preparatory activities in class); reference to online sources and teaching materials on institutional websites.
*Only programmed in a few cities of the tournée.

AsLiCo is recognised for the training of school staff – Art. 66 of the current C.C.N.L. and Art. 2 and 3 of Directive N. 170/2016.

The Opera Domani training course is accredited by the Italian Ministry of Education. In order to receive a nominal certificate of participation in the refresher course, it will be necessary to complete the tutoring and evaluation questionnaire at the end of the Season. The questionnaire, which also includes questions on the contents of the training course, will be sent to the email contact indicated at the time of registration.

DIDACTIC MATERIALS

The courses are supported by physical teaching materials:

  • Teaching handout;
  • Cd with songs, piano bases and suggested listening;
  • Student booklet (differentiated for primary and secondary schools*);
  • Online didactics

Opera domani PLUS: differentiated teaching materials and interaction proposals for Primary and Secondary schools + many more scores to play with the class orchestra. Our division is purely indicative: you, the teacher, know better than anyone the classes you work with, and you can choose the most suitable activities for them, using the tools according to your experience.

Watch the trailer: