Tagged with 'children's opera'

Anthony Davis's chamber opera Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote is a binational commission exploring the migrant experience at the U.S.-Mexico border. Based on Duncan Tonatiuh’s award-winning children's book, the opera uses a bilingual animal fable to make themes of hope, exploitation, and family unity musically tangible. The production blends jazz, classical, and Mexican folklore into a contemporary "Animal Farm".

Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox premieres at Opera Omaha – a musical adventure for the whole family.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the cleverest of them all? Based on the story by the Brothers Grimm, Carl Orff's fairytale opera Die Kluge (The Wise Girl) will be performed at the Salzburg Festival on 20 August 2024 under the musical direction of Anna Handler. 

A girl has to be good and sweet? Not at all. The princess in the children's opera The Princess and the Pea by Ernst Toch has a mind of her own. The cheeky piece will be performed from 2 February 2024 in the BlackBox of the Landestheater Linz. The production is directed by Martin Philipp and the Bruckner Orchestra is conducted by Ingmar Beck.

In their Christmas concerts these days, the Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen under the direction of Ekkehard Klemm and the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under the direction of Hermes Helfricht will be performing the suite to the opera Tuttifäntchen by Paul Hindemith.

Does my hair color make me a worse person? This is the question Friederike has to ask herself in the children's opera Die feuerrote Friederike (“Fiery Frederica”). The play, based on the children's book of the same name by Christine Nöstlinger, can now be seen in Switzerland for the first time. The new production will open at Theater St. Gallen on 16 November 2023, directed by Annika Nitsch and conducted by Stéphane Fromageot.

How does one find one's way back into life after a bad experience? Anno Schreier shows this path in his children's opera Mina. First performed in Bonn in 2022, the piece was recently seen at the Opera Factory in Freiburg and a new production will open on October 25, 2023 at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, directed by Ulduz Ashraf Gandomi. The musical side is provided by baritone David Pichlmaier and flutist Olga Koring.

On 18 December 2022, a new production of Ludger Vollmer's "Road Opera" Tschick will celebrate its opening at the Vienna State Opera whilst simultaneously marking the Austrian premiere.

On 8 March, Cologne Opera will perform Johannes Hanke’s children’s opera, The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs. Written between 2011 and 2012 on commission from Staatsoper Hannover, Hanke’s opera has since been performed in Dresden Basel and Munich. This most recent production will be conducted by Rainer Mühlbach.

Dorothea Hartmann’s libretto for The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs is a modern retelling Grimm’s fairy tale by the same name. The whole opera lasts around an hour and supports the libretto with a mix of musical styles.

Stefan Johannes Hanke – The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs: making the impossible possible

The plot follows the Child of Fortune who, through self-confidence and courage, liberates a distant kingdom from an oppressive force against seemingly impossible odds. Along the way, the Child’s adventure involves a scary encounter with three robbers in a forest and a journey into hell to retrieve the Devil’s golden hairs.

[Hanke’s] new children’s opera contains many funny moments with great theatrical effects. The contemporary music is characterized by the natural treatment of musical styles (from aria cadences in a major key, going through dissonant steps to allusions to folk music), but above all, he highlights the libretto in a sensitive and effective way. – Jutta Rinas (Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung)

There will be multiple opportunities to see The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs at Cologne Opera, where the production runs until 18 April.

• Stefan Johannes Hanke – Profile


• The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs – Details and score preview


• Cologne Opera

 

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A new production of Nino Rota’s Aladino e la lampada magica ("Aladdin and the Magic Lamp") directed by Julien Ostini will open in Saint-Etienne in France on 16 October, performed by the Orchestre Symphonique Saint-Etienne Loire and conducted by Laurent Touche. The fairytale opera will be performed in a French translation.



Rota, sometimes called the “Italian Mozart”, composed his first children’s opera Il principe porcaro (1925-26) at the age of 13. A sense of childlike wonder has infused Rota’s music throughout his career, evident particularly in his film scores composed for director Federico Fellini, which remain among his best-known works today. For Rota, fairytales were never trivial; although they provided fantastical entertainment, they stemmed from deeper moral motivations and life lessons. Such is Rota’s understanding of Aladdin, which was first recounted to him as a child by his Grandmother.

Aladino e la lampada magica by Nino Rota – an opera for everyone

Aladino e la lampada magica (1968) comes from one of the most popular tales of the well-known collection of stories “One Thousand and One Nights,” commonly known as “Arabian Nights”. The narrative follows Aladdin, an impoverished young boy, who dreams of wealth. After a sorcerer gains Aladdin’s trust, intending to use him only as a tool to obtain a mysterious oil lamp from a magical cave, an exciting and dangerous adventure begins.

The enchanted world of Rota’s Aladino e la lampada magica gives great scope for appealing staging, with colourful bazaars and extravagant costumes, presenting an ideal first opera experience for young children.  The work is further full of refreshingly tonal musical language, employing the traditions of operatic composition yet in a modern and distinctive fashion. Despite being termed a children’s opera, it will nonetheless appeal to audience members of all ages.

When I’m creating at the piano, I tend to feel happy; but, the eternal dilemma arises - how can we be happy amid the unhappiness of others? I'd do anything I could to give everyone a moment of happiness. That's what's at the heart of my music. – Nino Rota

The Leipzig Opera will perform a reduced orchestration version of Aladino e la lampada magica, as arranged by Rainer Schottstädt, on 28 and 31 October.

 

• Nino Rota - profile


• Aladino e la lampada magica - workdetails


• Reduced version by Rainer Schottstädt - details


• Grand Théâtre Massenet