The Stara Zagora Opera is at the finals with an innovative educational project
News публикувана на: 03.08.2020
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State Opera - Stara Zagora is at the final of the opera competition for educational performances, organized by the Association of European Philanthropists for Opera and Ballet "FEDORA" - the most prestigious European platform supporting innovation in opera and ballet.
The EduOpera for special you(th) project, which in Bulgarian sounds like "Educational opera for special young people", is probably the most innovative Bulgarian concept that combines music, dance and opera with educational and therapeutic purposes. With it, the Stara Zagora Opera aims to provide music and dance workshops for young people with generalized developmental disorders on the autism spectrum, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down syndrome and other sensory challenges who will have the opportunity to perform with the support of psychologists, young volunteers and opera artists on the stage of the Stara Zagora Opera in the special interactive performance "I am a Musician". Partners in its realization are the Regional Centre for Support of Inclusive Education (Resource Centre - Stara Zagora), the National Association of Resource Teachers - Stara Zagora and the International Youth Centre - Stara Zagora.
Presentation of the project "I am a musician":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0N5dT-EjTQ&t=6s
In the final, the Stara Zagora Opera competes with 3 other outstanding European opera grands:
- Birmingham opera company with their project "Going for gold";
- La Fenice Opera House - Venice, Their educational performance with which the Stara Zagora Opera will compete is called "La Fenice tells you: a magical ring between gnomes, giants and heroes".
- The performance "Blue Water / CivicOpera" by Theatro Sociale Como AsLiCo - Como, Italy
You can follow the presentation of the four finalists HERE
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?
Our inspiration and motivation comes from first of all the fact that opera music can be used very effectively to support the development of children and young people with special needs, and we are convinced that we will prove it with the realization of our idea. Furthermore, we want to fill the gap of insufficient cultural productions suitable for this specific group of young people. We believe that our innovative concept will inspire other cultural and social organisations to work together to develop inclusive productions.
Support Stara Zagora Opera's project for inclusion of young people with special needs by donating HERE:
As a reminder, Stara Zagora State Opera is the first Bulgarian opera member of FEDORA and a finalist of their prestigious competition.
The beginning was made on 17 December when the project idea was submitted.
On 3 February, Stara Zagora State Opera was already among the 16 candidates selected to move on to the next phase of the competition. We can compare it to the semi-finals of a sports competition. In it Stara Zagora Opera competed with prestigious opera companies such as:
Fondazione Teatro la Fenice - Venice, Italy
English National Ballet, England
Birmingham Opera Company - also finalists, England
Staatsoper Stuttgart, Germany
Muziektheater Transparant, Belgium
Irish National Opera , Ireland
Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg, Germany
Teatro Sociale di Como - AsLiCo, Italy - third finalist
Summaries of all selected theatres are HERE:
In this semi-final phase, the Stara Zagora Opera received just over 1,000 votes through a public online vote, placing it 3rd out of all the project ideas competing for the Educational Production Award. The project receiving the most votes from the public automatically qualified for the final phase, and a special jury nominated the other 3 finalists. State Opera-Stara Zagora, respectively, was selected for the finals by the jury.
In addition to Education, FEDORA has 3 other areas for which it is soliciting project proposals :
- Opera
- Ballet
- Digital projects