"Opera Out Of Opera" as a guest at Europark Salzburg

Mozart or Rossini instead? With an app accompanying the concert, the audience can vote en passant live on the program and find out about composers and their works. On Saturday, March 7 at 3:30 p.m., the young musicians from five countries will make a stop at Europark Salzburg. Audience development 2.0 for opera Dusty and elitist - opera away from the classical cultural scene sometimes has to contend with these prejudices, especially among younger generations. "Opera out of Opera," a transnational project of five European music institutes funded by Creative Europe, tackles precisely this issue: With an innovative concept - a mix of unusual performance venues, concert-accompanying interactive app, video wall as well as work abridgements through simplifications and medleys also in non-original language - it aims to inspire a new, young audience for opera. The first samples of the concept have already been seen at Fiumicino Airport in Rome, on the beach at Paralía Palaiou Falhrou Mpatis in Athens and in Pamplona. "The success was phenomenal, people were enthusiastic," said Mario Diaz of the University Mozarteum Salzburg. "We even managed to attract the attention of stressed travelers at the airport in Rome - not really terrain for opera at all - and make people linger and marvel. A busy airport hall was suddenly filled with great sounds, the atmosphere was unique." Accompanying voting app with background info To involve the audience in the performances and share knowledge about the composers, the works and the musicians, an "Opera out of Opera" app was specially developed for IOS and Android in German, English, Italian, Greek and Spanish. With this app, spectators can have a say in which pieces are performed via live voting. If the concert has already started, the app provides information in a live ticker about which piece of music is currently being performed. "In Rome, we first announced the project in a short speech and pointed out to also download the app and vote. It didn't take long before the spontaneous listeners were interactively in the middle of the concert action. And they stayed - listening, fascinated, spellbound, carried away from everyday life into another fantastic world full of sounding emotions, presented by young musicians for young people, but also across generations, of course, for everyone who enjoyed listening," says Mario Diaz. Project partners, musicians from five countries For the planning, coordination and implementation of "Opera out of Opera" five European music institutions have networked with each other: Under the leadership of Mario Diaz, the University Mozarteum Salzburg takes care of the overall artistic direction, the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia Rome acts as the main coordinator, the Chamber Opera Association of Navarra in Pamplona is responsible for the virtual design, live electronics and visuals, the Athens-based Art-On Petite Opera du Monde for the dramaturgy and the European Association of Conservatoires (EAC) in Brussels for marketing and communication. The musicians, students and alumni of the respective music institutes, also come from all five countries in a changing cast, while the opera singers are part of the fixed ensemble in each of the venues: Ayse Senogul (soprano) and Nutthaporn Thammathi (tenor) from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Désirée Giove (soprano), Giacomo Nanni (baritone), Chihiro Hachiya and Sang Jin Jang (bass) from the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome and from the Art-On Petite Opera du Monde in Athens Marita Paparizou (mezzo-soprano) and Antonis Koroneos (tenor). A project with a future After the end of the first project tour in Salzburg, all acquired data and reactions will be evaluated and analyzed by an external partner before the project "continues to go out into the world to inspire young people for classical music and opera through a new way and to enter unconventional spaces," says Diaz. A social contribution on an international, European level, with comrades-in-arms from all over the world, from different cultures and religions, burning for the one thing: music, a language that needs no words and that has the power to unite peoples and connect generations.