OBJECTIVES AND RELEVANCE

General Objective

The general objective of Opera InCanto is to tackle the low participation to the opera, especially between young people, by involving them to its production process. Children will participate in the creation of an international co-production of Turandot by Giacomo Puccini, where young artists will perform. The opera will be adapted and produced following the Europa InCanto methodology, which had a stunning success for the audience development between young generations and their families.

Specific objectives

Opera InCanto has the primary objective of creating a new audience, by educating the new generations to know and appreciate the performing arts better, with particular regards to the Opera. Through the co-production of an adapted opera and a close collaboration with the educational sector (particularly schools), it will stimulate audience development, by engaging children and their families with the Opera.

The project leverages on the enormous cultural potential of Opera through an educational action based on playful and stimulating learning methods, which lead children, their families and their teachers to become a conscious audience and protagonists of the show.

As a second objective, Opera InCanto will enable transnational mobility and professionalization of artists and operators. Six singers will be selected through an international call for young artists, possibly at their first experience, and they will work with the professionals of the Artistic Partners.

The third objective is the transnational circulation of an artistic work. An adapted version of Le Nozze di Figaro will be produced by the four artistic partners and it will be performed in the four countries.

Fourth aspect of Opera InCanto is the use of ICT and digital technologies to facilitate co- creation, dialogue among artists and children, and new forms of performance distribution for a more modern fruition of Opera.

As an overall long-term perspective, Opera inCanto will test and assess Europa InCanto methodology at international level, assessing it in a method that can be widely replicated in Europe and abroad.

Target Groups

 

Children and families


Children are the main target group of Opera InCanto. The main objective is to make the children falling in love with the opera and its magic, with the artistic creation and with the huge work behind it. Children will be involved directly in the preparation of the Opera, they will participate to the singing, the preparation of the costumes and they will finally play an active role in the artistic performance.
Families are also a target group of the project, strictly connected to the children. Parents and adults are not directly involved in the project activities; however they will get involved by their children who would like to share their experience with the classroom laboratories and with the teaching aids at home (the libretto and the Scuola InCanto App). And of course parents and relatives will be the most welcomed audience of the performances, which will become an occasion for them to enter – in many cases for the first time ever – in a theatre.

Young artists

Young artists often have difficulties to enter the show business. Opera InCanto supports the professionalization of an internationally selected group of artists who will receive a master training in Rome and then will stage in important European cities, thus facilitating the development of contacts with artistic directors, musicians, producers, other artists etc. Opera InCanto will therefore be an important element in their curricula and will improve their employability and their career possibilities. Next to improving the young artists’ visibility and opportunities, Opera InCanto offers to them the occasion to perform in a “soft” framework, as the debut will not be on a full and committing Opera, but with a reduced version that is more accessible also for the artists.

 

Theatres

The theatres are addressed by Opera InCanto as a target group and not just as a location for the show: their need of enlarging the audience is associated to the one of developing a differentiated offer to attract the public, in order to keep the pace with the other competing forms of entertainment. By involving and bringing to theatre a large and new audience, the project will empower the visibility of the theatre and give it a more central role in the city cultural life.

Opera InCanto is an opportunity to experiment a new model of business which will participate to the sustainability of the theatre.

Teachers and educators

Although teachers and educators normally go through a lifelong programme of training and upgrading, Opera teaching and Opera singing are rather specialized skills which are passed over.

In order to prepare the teachers to carry on the laboratories in their classroom, the project foresees a specialised training programme in the theatre, which will provide them with the specialized competences for teaching Opera, thus improving and enriching the teachers’ curricula and expertise.

Relevance


Opera InCanto is in line with the Creative Europe objectives and priorities, as it addresses directly five of them:

  1. Audience Development: the first objective of OIC is to involve and thrill thousands of children. The international Co-production of Le nozze di Figaro will see them involved in the artistic and creative part, they will be taught how to sing and how to perform. Children are the main priority of OIC, but the audience development will reach also their families: their parents will rehearse with them, help them practicing and they will go to the theatre and see the result of their work.
  2. Transnational mobility of artists and professionals and/or transnational circulation of cultural and creative works: a co-production will circulate in 4 countries, with at least 16-20 performances (depending on the capacity of the hosting theatres). This production won’t be an original work, but an adaptation (with parts translated) and will see the circulation of an international cast of 7 young singers.
  3. Capacity building in view of adapting to the digital shift and encouraging the use of digital technologies: the most powerful training tool will be the app Opera Game that children will use for the practice.
  4. Testing of new business models in the field of culture: this business model has proved successful in a national context and with a national production. OIC aims to reinforce the boundaries of its members, to produce a methodology adaptable at a local scale and foster cooperation with local public entities, educational and cultural promoters.
  5. Foster and strengthen the creation of a common European Culture: Le nozze di Figaro is an opera written by an Austrian in Italian, it circulated among the whole world and is a symbol of the opera. With this choice, members aim to strengthen the feeling of a European culture among the children.

2018 is the year of the Cultural Heritage and the main target group are the young audiences.
Opera InCanto aims to implement a methodology that fosters European culture between the youngest through an art that, for centuries, has represented the highest form of combining all the others.