Why Yo! Opera?
Baritone Anthony Heidweiller studied at the Utrecht Conservatory. He founded Buffo Operamakers in 1998. Together with this small, enthusiastic group of people he produced youth shows such as the successful project Hot Hands, een basketballopera [Hot Hands, a Basketball Opera] and played in many locations both in the Netherlands and Flanders. This is how he was introduced to the Tweetaktfestival of Antwerp, where for the first time he witnessed youth theatre of real diversity and quality. The festival inspired him to launch a similar initiative for youth opera, which was at the time a virgin territory. Driven by his love of opera and singing, Anthony wanted to bring a young audience into contact with the opera world.
In 1999, Henk Scholten became the managing director of the Stadsschouwburg [City Theatre] of Utrecht, which was Anthony's home town. Scholten talked to representatives of many different institutions in the city. When asked what his dream was, Anthony said: "I want to produce a youth opera festival." Henk Scholten was very enthusiastic about this plan and told Anthony that he would be very glad to support him: this was the basis for the Yo! Opera Festival. Together with festival producer Saskia van de Ree, Anthony founded an organisation – initially under the umbrella of the Utrecht Stadsschouwburg- which provided a biennial stage for national and international activities in the field of youth opera. A critical attitude towards the repertoire and the sharing of experiences with audiences and expert professionals were to stimulate quality improvement of the fresh new genre.
From the start, the most important aim of Yo! Opera was this quality improvement within youth opera. Youth opera as a genre was scarcely out of the egg; except for one original piece, the repertoire consisted mostly of arrangements of existing compositions. Mozart, Verdi and Wagner adjusted to 'a child's eye level', as it were. Another goal of the organisation right from the beginning was to develop and present new repertoire for young children and youth. Contrary to existing repertoire, these new operas should not primarily focus on clarifying or explaining 'great opera', but should function as a unique and independent genre. The ambition of Yo! Opera was that its festival would develop into the opera version of the Kinderboekenweek [Children's Book Week], Cinekid Festival or the Tweetakt Festival. All these events exist merely by the fact that we have children's book, juvenile film and youth theatre.
During the realisation of the first festival, it soon appeared that the development of repertoire required people who could produce such repertoire. Therefore, an important extra goal that was set was talent development and the education of opera makers: singers, directors and composers. This goal soon expanded into a very important spearhead of Yo! Opera's policies. The ties with Dutch vocational art education institutions were strengthened to broaden the search for adventurous people, workshops were offered for singers to prepare them for their work in front of a young audience and the organisation literally crossed borders to lend international stature to their mission. This resulted in the first Yo! Opera Festival in 2001, which had a distinctive programme, workshops and an international conference. The conference examined all sub disciplines and themes related to youth opera. It attracted both national and international speakers and guests.
In 1999, Henk Scholten became the managing director of the Stadsschouwburg [City Theatre] of Utrecht, which was Anthony's home town. Scholten talked to representatives of many different institutions in the city. When asked what his dream was, Anthony said: "I want to produce a youth opera festival." Henk Scholten was very enthusiastic about this plan and told Anthony that he would be very glad to support him: this was the basis for the Yo! Opera Festival. Together with festival producer Saskia van de Ree, Anthony founded an organisation – initially under the umbrella of the Utrecht Stadsschouwburg- which provided a biennial stage for national and international activities in the field of youth opera. A critical attitude towards the repertoire and the sharing of experiences with audiences and expert professionals were to stimulate quality improvement of the fresh new genre.
From the start, the most important aim of Yo! Opera was this quality improvement within youth opera. Youth opera as a genre was scarcely out of the egg; except for one original piece, the repertoire consisted mostly of arrangements of existing compositions. Mozart, Verdi and Wagner adjusted to 'a child's eye level', as it were. Another goal of the organisation right from the beginning was to develop and present new repertoire for young children and youth. Contrary to existing repertoire, these new operas should not primarily focus on clarifying or explaining 'great opera', but should function as a unique and independent genre. The ambition of Yo! Opera was that its festival would develop into the opera version of the Kinderboekenweek [Children's Book Week], Cinekid Festival or the Tweetakt Festival. All these events exist merely by the fact that we have children's book, juvenile film and youth theatre.
During the realisation of the first festival, it soon appeared that the development of repertoire required people who could produce such repertoire. Therefore, an important extra goal that was set was talent development and the education of opera makers: singers, directors and composers. This goal soon expanded into a very important spearhead of Yo! Opera's policies. The ties with Dutch vocational art education institutions were strengthened to broaden the search for adventurous people, workshops were offered for singers to prepare them for their work in front of a young audience and the organisation literally crossed borders to lend international stature to their mission. This resulted in the first Yo! Opera Festival in 2001, which had a distinctive programme, workshops and an international conference. The conference examined all sub disciplines and themes related to youth opera. It attracted both national and international speakers and guests.