Program
31 October - 4 November 2007
Stadsschouwburg Utrecht, Theater Kikker, Akademietheater, Delta College locatie Europalaan, Kasteel de Haar, De Operaflat, Museumwerf Vreeswijk
Het Dappere Snijdertje
Wiener Taschenoper (Austria)
8+
Composer: Wolfgang Mitterer, Librettist: Helga Utz, Director: Jewgenij Sitochin
The buzzing of flies, the snoring of a giant, creaking machinery, and beautiful voices. Together these make up the soundscape for this refreshing interpretation of Grimm's fairy tale The Brave Little Tailor. It is a moving story on a tailor who through bragging and pride, and through cunning and guile defeats the giant and becomes king.
Pierlala
De Zingende Harp
6+
Composer: Aspasia Naspoulou, Director: Elsina Jansen
In this children's puppet opera, the Singing Harp pulls out all the stops. An old song on the Grim Reaper is given a facelift by Aspasia Naspoulou, and it is complemented by children's songs, folk melodies, but also classical music by Mendelssohn and Händel. Soprano Caroline Erkelens Nois alternates her role as narrator with the character of the Grim Reaper, and is accompanied by harpist Anne Nydam-Koene.
Het meisje de jongen de rivier
Muziektheater Transparant (Belgium)
8+
Composer: Jan Van Outryve, Soundscape: Michel Vanderhaeghen, Text and Images: Paul Verrept, Director: Wouter Van Looy, in coproduction with Teatro di Piazzao d’Occasione, Prato
An older woman is telling a strange story: a stray fish disappeared into the hungry tummies of a husband and wife and their son. The son dropped off to sleep. Much later, a girl went to find her fortune. She found the son and nestled against him…
Wild Dreams
Glyndebourne Youth Opera Group (UK)
14+
Imagine making no homework, but taking refuge in playing games instead. No boring jobs for the rest of your life, but travelling around the globe. What does it feel like to be 'in pursuit' of something? Glyndebourne Youth Opera explore this theme in their new show Wild Dreams.
Alive and Kicking
Nederlands Vocaal Laboratorium (the Netherlands)
12+
Musical Director: Arnold Marinissen and Romain Bischoff, Scene Coach/Director: Bärbel Kühn, Actors: pupils from Oosterlicht College in Nieuwegein
Alive and Kicking is a mix of intriguing voices, spectacular rhythms, topical texts and surprising sound explosions. Play music by using your body, every-day objects, percussion instruments and your voice. And then combine it with texts you have written yourself!
Het Operanest
Yo! Opera Festival Project (the Netherlands)
16+
The Operanest is the place to be for a good party during the Yo! Opera Festival. The Nest is a festival within a festival. In all kinds of places around the Akademietheater you will run into singers who are singing their songs only for you.
Stom Paard
Walpurgis (Belgium)
9+
Composer: Alexander Knaifel, Librettist: Vadim Levin, Director: Judith Vindevogel
Opera has seldom been as silent as in Stom Paard [Mute Horse]. Each change in a voice or each tone on the piano acquires a special meaning in this beautiful, tranquil performance. It is set in a very special surrounding. You will not easily forget the fragile and at the same time absurd atmosphere.
Jimmy
Wervelwind Ensemble (the Netherlands)
8+
Composer: Edward Top, Librettist: Edward van de Vendel, Director: Marcel Sijm
Jimmy is a soldier. At least, that's what he thinks he is. A soldier with a mission: to become friends with Anastacia. "And suddenly, I think of Anastacia; for just a brief moment I think of Anastacia. Why am I thinking of Anastacia? Today at school I thought her hair was made of liquorice laces, and her eyes of boiled candies. Anastacia – being a soldier is a hungry profession.”
Alles Liebe
Muziektheater Transparant (Belgium)
12+
Musical Director: Jan Van Outryve, Director: Ruud Gielens, in coproduction with De Singel, Antwerp, and together with the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp
Prepare yourself for a surprise. An international company of forty young singers and musicians between 15 and 25 years of age put on a great performance together with professional opera makers – a summer training.
De Zingende Stad
Yo! Opera Festivalproject (the Netherlands)
6+
Concept: Anthony Heidweiller, Assistant Artistic Developer: Henk van Engelen, with the collaboration of years 3 and 4 of the Rietendakschool in Ondiep (Utrecht), Waag Society
Everyone can sing. Whether they sing in the shower, on their bikes or on the idols stage. However, many people are afraid to sing. Especially if they sing for someone. Especially for them, Yo! Opera has found a solution: The ZangLab [Singing Lab]. In this special room, we have combined the shower from your house with the excitement of spotlights and a big stage. Here you can sing to someone, all by yourself, as loud or soft as you want.
De Operaflat
Yo! Opera Festivalproject (the Netherlands)
6+
Composers: 25 students from various Dutch conservatories, Librettists: pupils of Openbare
Basisschool Overvecht (Utrecht), Director: Daphne de Bruin, Gisele Vegter et al
You can have goose pimples when you hear someone sing a beautiful song. Do you have that too? The singer's voice is very close to you and it touches you deeply. In the Operaflat a singer will sing to you from a distance of only a few centimetres.
34 singers will perform one-minute operas on unexpected or coincidental encounters. The texts have been written by pupils from classes three up to seven of Openbare Basisschool Overvecht in Utrecht.
Tantes
Xynix Opera (the Netherlands)
8+
Composer: Fons Merkies, Librettist: Jurrian van Dongen, Director: Joke Hoolboom
You'd better think twice when you go to Tantes [Aunts]. You may see them as some sweet old ladies, but nothing is what it seems… Their dearest wish is to get rid of all children. Fortunately, they can make their wish come true only by singing a special song, and for that they need children's voices. And where can they find those? In a children's choir of course! However, the Aunts are confronted with two formidable opponents: Sam and Rudolf.
Babylon
Ensemble Ziggurat (the Netherlands)
10+
Composer: Theo Loevendie, Director: Javier Lopez Piñon
Whoever thinks that youth opera is a purely western phenomenon, is wrong: East meets West in the opera Babylon. The fast click-clacking sounds of tap dancer Marije Nie accompany an Arab zither and a viola da gamba. And an Armenian oboe blends with Pan's pipes and a Chinese violin. Theo Loevendie creates a Babel-like confusion and lets the instruments speak foreign languages... Played by a multicultural ensemble and one singer.
‘Ik zing alleen voor jou’
Yo! Opera familieconcert (the Netherlands)
6+
A colourful group of singers, musicians and children pass by. They sing and tell us about what moves them most, or what makes them go out of their mind. Gentle and soft, or blaring; in unison or solo.
De Open Zangdouche
Yo! Opera Festivalproject (the Netherlands)
6+
Open Zangdouche [Open Singing Shower] - the ultimate open stage of the Yo! Opera Festival. Are you the new Beyoncé, Kanye West or Pavarotti? Now is YOUR chance!
Stadsschouwburg Utrecht, Theater Kikker, Akademietheater, Delta College locatie Europalaan, Kasteel de Haar, De Operaflat, Museumwerf Vreeswijk
Het Dappere Snijdertje
Wiener Taschenoper (Austria)
8+
Composer: Wolfgang Mitterer, Librettist: Helga Utz, Director: Jewgenij Sitochin
The buzzing of flies, the snoring of a giant, creaking machinery, and beautiful voices. Together these make up the soundscape for this refreshing interpretation of Grimm's fairy tale The Brave Little Tailor. It is a moving story on a tailor who through bragging and pride, and through cunning and guile defeats the giant and becomes king.
Pierlala
De Zingende Harp
6+
Composer: Aspasia Naspoulou, Director: Elsina Jansen
In this children's puppet opera, the Singing Harp pulls out all the stops. An old song on the Grim Reaper is given a facelift by Aspasia Naspoulou, and it is complemented by children's songs, folk melodies, but also classical music by Mendelssohn and Händel. Soprano Caroline Erkelens Nois alternates her role as narrator with the character of the Grim Reaper, and is accompanied by harpist Anne Nydam-Koene.
Het meisje de jongen de rivier
Muziektheater Transparant (Belgium)
8+
Composer: Jan Van Outryve, Soundscape: Michel Vanderhaeghen, Text and Images: Paul Verrept, Director: Wouter Van Looy, in coproduction with Teatro di Piazzao d’Occasione, Prato
An older woman is telling a strange story: a stray fish disappeared into the hungry tummies of a husband and wife and their son. The son dropped off to sleep. Much later, a girl went to find her fortune. She found the son and nestled against him…
Wild Dreams
Glyndebourne Youth Opera Group (UK)
14+
Imagine making no homework, but taking refuge in playing games instead. No boring jobs for the rest of your life, but travelling around the globe. What does it feel like to be 'in pursuit' of something? Glyndebourne Youth Opera explore this theme in their new show Wild Dreams.
Alive and Kicking
Nederlands Vocaal Laboratorium (the Netherlands)
12+
Musical Director: Arnold Marinissen and Romain Bischoff, Scene Coach/Director: Bärbel Kühn, Actors: pupils from Oosterlicht College in Nieuwegein
Alive and Kicking is a mix of intriguing voices, spectacular rhythms, topical texts and surprising sound explosions. Play music by using your body, every-day objects, percussion instruments and your voice. And then combine it with texts you have written yourself!
Het Operanest
Yo! Opera Festival Project (the Netherlands)
16+
The Operanest is the place to be for a good party during the Yo! Opera Festival. The Nest is a festival within a festival. In all kinds of places around the Akademietheater you will run into singers who are singing their songs only for you.
Stom Paard
Walpurgis (Belgium)
9+
Composer: Alexander Knaifel, Librettist: Vadim Levin, Director: Judith Vindevogel
Opera has seldom been as silent as in Stom Paard [Mute Horse]. Each change in a voice or each tone on the piano acquires a special meaning in this beautiful, tranquil performance. It is set in a very special surrounding. You will not easily forget the fragile and at the same time absurd atmosphere.
Jimmy
Wervelwind Ensemble (the Netherlands)
8+
Composer: Edward Top, Librettist: Edward van de Vendel, Director: Marcel Sijm
Jimmy is a soldier. At least, that's what he thinks he is. A soldier with a mission: to become friends with Anastacia. "And suddenly, I think of Anastacia; for just a brief moment I think of Anastacia. Why am I thinking of Anastacia? Today at school I thought her hair was made of liquorice laces, and her eyes of boiled candies. Anastacia – being a soldier is a hungry profession.”
Alles Liebe
Muziektheater Transparant (Belgium)
12+
Musical Director: Jan Van Outryve, Director: Ruud Gielens, in coproduction with De Singel, Antwerp, and together with the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp
Prepare yourself for a surprise. An international company of forty young singers and musicians between 15 and 25 years of age put on a great performance together with professional opera makers – a summer training.
De Zingende Stad
Yo! Opera Festivalproject (the Netherlands)
6+
Concept: Anthony Heidweiller, Assistant Artistic Developer: Henk van Engelen, with the collaboration of years 3 and 4 of the Rietendakschool in Ondiep (Utrecht), Waag Society
Everyone can sing. Whether they sing in the shower, on their bikes or on the idols stage. However, many people are afraid to sing. Especially if they sing for someone. Especially for them, Yo! Opera has found a solution: The ZangLab [Singing Lab]. In this special room, we have combined the shower from your house with the excitement of spotlights and a big stage. Here you can sing to someone, all by yourself, as loud or soft as you want.
De Operaflat
Yo! Opera Festivalproject (the Netherlands)
6+
Composers: 25 students from various Dutch conservatories, Librettists: pupils of Openbare
Basisschool Overvecht (Utrecht), Director: Daphne de Bruin, Gisele Vegter et al
You can have goose pimples when you hear someone sing a beautiful song. Do you have that too? The singer's voice is very close to you and it touches you deeply. In the Operaflat a singer will sing to you from a distance of only a few centimetres.
34 singers will perform one-minute operas on unexpected or coincidental encounters. The texts have been written by pupils from classes three up to seven of Openbare Basisschool Overvecht in Utrecht.
Tantes
Xynix Opera (the Netherlands)
8+
Composer: Fons Merkies, Librettist: Jurrian van Dongen, Director: Joke Hoolboom
You'd better think twice when you go to Tantes [Aunts]. You may see them as some sweet old ladies, but nothing is what it seems… Their dearest wish is to get rid of all children. Fortunately, they can make their wish come true only by singing a special song, and for that they need children's voices. And where can they find those? In a children's choir of course! However, the Aunts are confronted with two formidable opponents: Sam and Rudolf.
Babylon
Ensemble Ziggurat (the Netherlands)
10+
Composer: Theo Loevendie, Director: Javier Lopez Piñon
Whoever thinks that youth opera is a purely western phenomenon, is wrong: East meets West in the opera Babylon. The fast click-clacking sounds of tap dancer Marije Nie accompany an Arab zither and a viola da gamba. And an Armenian oboe blends with Pan's pipes and a Chinese violin. Theo Loevendie creates a Babel-like confusion and lets the instruments speak foreign languages... Played by a multicultural ensemble and one singer.
‘Ik zing alleen voor jou’
Yo! Opera familieconcert (the Netherlands)
6+
A colourful group of singers, musicians and children pass by. They sing and tell us about what moves them most, or what makes them go out of their mind. Gentle and soft, or blaring; in unison or solo.
De Open Zangdouche
Yo! Opera Festivalproject (the Netherlands)
6+
Open Zangdouche [Open Singing Shower] - the ultimate open stage of the Yo! Opera Festival. Are you the new Beyoncé, Kanye West or Pavarotti? Now is YOUR chance!
