Projects

la mia opera – The Children’s Opera

A fully-fledged opera, by kids only? That may sound odd, yet the kids of “la mia opera” have done exactly that. They devised, wrote, composed, and texted their very own opera. They designed and made stage settings and costumes, and after developping and rehearsing for months, they staged a three-act one-hour opera.

Entitled “Friendship Will Win“, the opera was played and acclaimed by audiences at Augustusburg near Chemnitz, Leipzig, Schwarzenberg, and Dresden.

Third and fourth graders that had little to no previous knowledge about opera got to know the artistic process involved in creating a musical work, to the extent of producing an opera good enough for stage. Artists and teachers from all areas, such as writing, composition, stage and design, assisted them in implementing their ideas. Within this, Aristides Strongylis was responsible for all questions related to composing, writing scores, and putting musical ideas on paper.

Learn more on the project’s website (German only).

Composing with children

In art classes children can realize their creativity by producing works of art. In music lessons they usually listen to and maybe play music themselves. But what about composing music? Is that not only for professionals who went to conservatory and learned how to compose? Music composition workshops for children prove that children indeed can compose music.

In these courses, kids learn how to express their creativity by translating it into music. Basics of musical theory and artistic play are the fundamental parts of the course. Each child is given the opportunity to create and develop musical ideas according to his or her own personality. The aim of the course is to enable the children to play with music, to create, to trigger their imagination and to show them how to express themselves through music as a language of its own.

At the end of the course, the students will present their work in a public concert. Currently courses are being held in Leipzig at the Clara Schumann elementary school and at the Thomasschule.