20 April: The Children’s Opera Orchestra gives its first concert at FESTTAGE 2019 under the musical direction of Daniel Barenboim and Max Renne – with Rolando Villazón and Serena Sáenz as soloists.
On 20 April at 11 a.m. the Children’s Opera Orchestra will make its debut at the FESTTAGE in the Great Hall of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. In addition to Sergej Prokofiev’s PETER UND DER WOLF, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, the overture to APOLLO ET HYACINTHUS by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, two duets from DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE and excerpts from Engelbert Humperdinck’s HÄNSEL UND GRETEL, will be performed under the musical direction of Max Renne, who has artistically supervised and rehearsed the Opernkinderorchester over the past months. The soloists will be Rolando Villazón, who will also take on the role of narrator and moderate the concert, and Serena Sáenz from the Opera Studio of the State Opera. In addition, the children’s choir of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden sings, rehearsed by Vinzenz Weissenburger.
Director Matthias Schulz: “You can’t gain orchestra experience early enough! This motivates me immensely – it’s like jogging: in a group you suddenly run faster and further than you might have dared to do on your own before. With this idea in mind, we founded the Opera Children’s Orchestra at the beginning of the 2018/19 season in cooperation with Berlin music schools. There will be 90 children aged between 7 and 13 who will be mentored by members of the Staatskapelle Berlin and music school teachers. Without the music schools this project would not have been possible and the networking has worked very well. With projects like this, we would like to complement the work of the music schools in a meaningful way, not replace them. For example, through an international platform like the FESTTAGE, we would like to draw attention to the importance of music education and especially the work of the music schools. I am very much looking forward to the very first appearance of our opera children’s orchestra. With “Peter und der Wolf” as well as “Hänsel und Gretel” we have pieces on the programme that often appear at children’s concerts, but are always played by adults. Now, after a long rehearsal, the children can. show how far they have come
“Daniel Barenboim: “Music is more and more pushed into an ivory tower, it is less and less part of our normal, everyday life. This is not good: neither for the musicians nor for the audience. If we don’t promote musical education, there will be no musical life in 50 years. That’s why the Opera Children’s Orchestra, which we realize in cooperation with the Berlin music schools, is so important! We can’t start bringing children into contact with music early enough. For this reason I founded the Berliner Musikkindergarten in 2005. Making music together in the orchestra is a wonderful motivation for the children.”
The Opera Children’s Orchestra was founded in February 2018 and consists of about 90 children between the ages of 7 and 13. In close cooperation with the district music schools of the State of Berlin, the Staatsoper and Staatskapelle Berlin enable children to participate in the professional opera business and thus support them in their individual development. Twice a month the children take part in rehearsals with music teachers, musicians of the Staatskapelle Berlin and with Max Renne in the orchestra. The Opera Children’s Orchestra is supported by the Heinz und Heide Dürr Foundation and the Karl Schlecht Foundation.
The programme of the debut concert brings together three composers who will play a special role in the current state opera season: Sergei Prokofiev will be the focus of a special programme, which will include both the FESTTAGE premiere of DIE VERLOBUNG IM KLOSTER and the concert programme. Works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are part of the permanent repertoire of the Staatsoper – his ZAUBERFLÖTE will be performed in two productions in the 2018/19 season. Yuval Sharon’s production premiered in February 2019, August Everding’s 1994 directorial work will resume on April 26, 2019. Both productions can be seen again in the coming season. Engelbert Humperdinck’s HÄNSEL UND GRETEL was performed in December 2018 and January 2019. SCHNEEWITTCHEN by Wolfgang Mitterer after Engelbert Humperdinck celebrated its premiere in March 2019 in the Old Orchestra Rehearsal Hall. The successful children’s opera production will be performed again in the coming season in November and December 2019. The concert of the children’s opera orchestra produces correspondences to all these performances.
With the same programme, the Opera Children’s Orchestra under the musical direction of Max Renne will be giving further concerts at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden on 5, 6 and 19 May 2019 – the last date will take place as part of the Music School Congress of the Association of German Music Schools.
In the 2019/20 season, the Children’s Opera Orchestra, conducted by Max Renne, will once again perform at the FESTTAGE – with excerpts from IDOMENEO, COSÌ FAN TUTTE, CARMEN and SAMSON ET DALILA (12 April 2020 and 21 and 26 April 2020) – three of these works will be newly staged at the Staatsoper in the coming season.