Future Thinking Opera

A New Education, Learning and Participation Program from Opera Australia

By Nathan Gilkes

'What (the heck) can opera teach us in the 21st Century?’ 

Isn’t opera just old, really long, really boring (and in German)?

Well…

This year Opera Australia is launching a new Education, Learning and Participation program. We’re on a mission to transform how young people in Australia engage with and think about opera, and revamp its relevance to communities across the country. 

Image: Barber of Seville. Photographer: Keith Saunders

Opera as an artform has so much to offer young people. It deals, like lots of young people we know, with BIG emotions: love, conflict, power, betrayal - all the primal emotions of our human experience. Seeing these feelings portrayed on stage helps us understand our own emotional worlds, and in a time when young people find it difficult to express themselves, opera can express those difficult things to say. That’s where opera does its best work.

In the ELP program participation is key. From creating meaningful creative learning experiences for students, engagement opportunities for communities and professional pathways for youth artists, we want every young person to experience the power that live music and song can bring. Because opera is inherently multidisciplinary, combining music, song, drama, dance, design, history, language and visual art, you can access it in your own way, from your own experience and your own story. 

Image: Children's Chorus Regional Tour of La Boheme. Photographer: Jeff Busby

If you’ve never been to the opera, heard any opera or are terrified of opera, this is an invitation to engage with us. Like everything good, it can take a few go’s to hear what’s going on. So 'What (the heck) can opera teach us in the 21st Century?’…Lots!

Nathan Gilkes is a leader in arts education, a Helpmann Award winning composer in Theatre for Young People and is the Head of Education, Learning and Participation at Opera Australia.