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Cultural Pearl 2024 : Kiel

Children’s opera “Mermaid Kieliane seeks the Baltic Sea Pearl”

Place: Kiel 

Timeframe: mid-term 

Organiser: Opera Kiel 

Participants: Children from 3rd grade class, dramarturge and composer  

Goal: Empowering children and young people in order to strengthen equal opportunities and social participation through cultural education. 

 

WHAT IS IT?

As part of the ”Baltic Sea Region Cultural Pearls 2024” Programme, the Kiel Opera has developed an opera for children aged 4 and over. With that the opera Kiel realised a special project: primary school children accompany the process and compose the sound of the sea themselves.  

In July 2024, over 20 pupils of third grade set off on a ferry trip to the beach to collect the sound of the sea. This trip was the start of a project week in which they composed the overture together with a composer Thomas Dorsch by using the collected sounds and their own creativity. The idea is to also perform the opera in schools and kindergartens. Educational material will also be made available, such as instructions for making props and instruments. These are needed for the theatre visit, as all audience members should also become an active part of the opera. 

The project is one of Kiel’s measures to achieve the goal of empowering children and young people in order to strengthen equal opportunities and social participation through cultural education. The specific aim of the project is to strengthen the children’s self-esteem and their identity with the Baltic Sea region. By participating in the opera themselves, the children are introduced to the subject of opera and experience how they can contribute to it. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

  • The dramaturge and the composer should be familiar with working with children 
  • Design the opera flexibly so that it can be performed not only in one place, but is mobile 
  • New and good cooperation between the opera as a cultural institution of the city, a freelance composer and a school from a disadvantaged neighborhood 
  • Pupils gain new experiences and are brought into contact with opera as a cultural asset 
  • Children are not just spectators, but can help shape a cultural highlight and thus experience self-efficacy 
  • the opera can also be performed flexibly at other locations, including schools, and thus be brought to people who otherwise have little access to the opera format. 

 

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