opera by definition is passionate about the educational aspects of opera. Opera touches on many areas of the National Curriculum. As a performance art it draws on language, music, art, design and the technology needed to put it in a modern theatre. As a publicly funded service that is often the subject of media debate, understanding and being able to access opera and the other arts is crucial to citizenship. As a cultural product opera is embedded in four hundred years of European thought, history and politics. A local opera company is a valuable resource for schools delivering the National Curriculum. And our workshops are great fun!

opera by definition education is a resource to the schools and colleges in West Kent/East Sussex. The company has worked with over twelve schools in the past providing workshops and a schools matinee performance of the fully staged opera productions. We work with the schools devising relevant workshops out of the themes of the opera being staged. The workshops take place in the schools after which the students attend the schools matinee performance. This is then followed up by a post performance workshop.

We tailor the programme to the needs and values of the schools. Each workshop will be one and a half hours long and will provide an opportunity to learn about opera, and all its components, as an art form.

COSI FAN TUTTE education programme

Schools matinee performance: Wednesday February 6th at 2pm -tickets £7.50
In-school workshops: cost per student £7.50

The in-school workshops are interactive and are a maximum of 2 hours with animateur, singers & pianist exploring the themes of the story and the music with arias and recitative performed by our singers.

Dates:

Friday 25th January morning and afternoon session available
Monday 28th January morning and afternoon session available
Tuesday 29th January morning and afternoon session available

Click here to download more information for schools (word document)
Click here to download the schools booking form(word document)

PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS

For Eugene Onegin in spring 2006 opera by definition ran an in-school workshop session exploring some of the themes of the opera, including personal relationships and coping with conflict.

The workshops were interactive and combined musical and dramatic exercises with raising awareness about relationship issues.

To complement the school's matinee performance of The Magic Flute in 2002, opera by definition ran workshops in five local primary and secondary schools. During the workshops students were engaged in musical and dramatic exercises which explored the themes of astrology and initiation ceremonies, before designing their own ceremonies based on their star signs.

Twenty to thirty students took part in each workshop before attending the performance and a further 100 students attended the performance only.

Iwona Januszajtis at the Magic Flute workshop

For more information about our workshops, contact us.