Join in and find out: Opera for kids

“The Young People’s Festival is a gateway to fantasy and a mirror of our own reality. Our education and outreach programme offers kids and youngsters space to cultivate their own imagination, develop team spirit and discover their ability to express themselves.” Lilli Paasikivi

Max & Agathe in the schoolyard: Freischütz for Kids, a hands-on opera 
A new opera production that schoolchildren are involved in has its Bregenz premiere on 30 March 2025. Freischütz for Kids is being staged in the Festspielhaus; the orchestra is the Vorarlberg Symphony. The kids’ opera is a co-production with the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and will receive its world premiere in Berlin on 14 February 2025. In it, stage director Kai Anne Schuhmacher tells a modernised version of the story with exciting music from Carl Maria von Weber’s opera. Children aged eight and over are invited to sing along from the auditorium in several numbers that have been rehearsed at school or at home.

In a game on the school playground, Max has no chance against Kilian and is thrown out of the team. Now it will be hard for Max to see Agathe, who he has fallen in love with. Max is approached by Kaspar from his group, who promises to bring him some magic that will make everything work out. Although Agathe and her friend warn Max against it, he decides to meet Kaspar at night and is persuaded to take the magic, which is supposed to help him in the decisive match next day…

Superar is an organisation that enables children and young people from different social backgrounds to participate in culture through musical education and choral singing. It has been a staunch collaborator of the Young People’s Festival for many years now. Since last autumn it has been conducting regular rehearsals for Freischütz for Kids at an elementary school in Bregenz (Augasse). “This is the fourth participatory opera that we’ve worked on together with Superar,” explains the director of the Young People’s Festival, Jana Linzmeier. “The young singers of Superar are the driving force in the participatory performances; they  are a motivation and a model for the other children.”

MINT Project: DIY theatre
MINT is an acronym for mathematics, information technology, natural sciences, and technology. The MINT Project in Bregenz accordingly focuses not just on acting, but above all on theatre technology. Pupils create a play together and gain experience in lighting, sound technology, and stage construction. In June, they will present the piece on a stage they have built themselves in the Festspielhaus. For the project, the festival is partnering with the Vorarlberg State Theatre and the Rieden secondary school (Bregenz).

Opera workshops for kids
What does an opera actually feel like for the performers? For everyone who’d like to find out, the opera workshops for kids are an opportunity to change their perspective and immerse themselves in the world of Der Freischütz. The workshop participants are helped by instructors from the drama education network Opernschlüssel to bring the stage characters to life.

Children’s Festival: creating theatre playfully
For more than forty years now the Children’s Festival, also known as FedeKi, has been delighting schoolkids. In the week before the festival opens, up to 200 children aged from 6 to 11 get together to develop a piece of music theatre in a playful way. The grand finale of the creative week is a performance in front of an audience in the Workshop Theatre on 13 July 2025.

Young People’s Night: a special opera night for 5,000 youngsters
Five days before Der Freischütz opens for its second run on 17 July 2025, 5,000 young people will be able see the opera on the lake stage before anyone else as part of Young People’s Night on 12 July. In the afternoon, backstage tours, workshops and cool music will start getting them in the mood for this special night at the opera.

7th International Wind Band Camp (IBC) and Brass Amore
At the 7th International Wind Band Camp (IBC), to be held from 5 to 10 August 2025, young musicians will come to Vorarlberg to form a symphonic wind ensemble under the direction of Martin Kerschbaum, conductor and percussionist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The camp concludes on 10 August with a concert entitled Brass Amore, featuring pieces by Gioachino Rossini, Carl Maria von Weber, Alfred Reed, John Philip Sousa and John Williams. In association with the Vorarlberger Blasmusikverband (wind ensemble association).