
Opera Camps
at the Salzburg Festival
Opera Camps at the Salzburg Festival
In cooperation with the Salzburg Festival and the Salzburg Foundation of the American Austrian Foundation (AAF)
During the opera camps, music-loving children and teenagers aged 9 to 17 become immersed in the world of opera and spend a week at Arenberg Castle together with artists and experienced teaching professionals. Here they engage with material from great operas and conclude the week by performing their own interpretations of the works, assisted by members of the Vienna Philharmonic, in front of an audience.
The opera camps began in 2006 with the Magic Flute Camp. Since then, passwort:klassik has prepared more than 35 operas from different musical eras, such as Baroque, Classical, Romantique, Modern and Contemporary operas for the participants of the camps.
The experiences with musical theater and the interpersonal encounters that the camps provide represent a highlight of the children's summer vacation. This also lays the foundation for a love of musical theatre.
Conception and Lead: Hanne Muthspiel-Payer
Opera Camps 2023
Jedermann - Camp
Based on the drama Jedermann by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
For young people from 10 to 16 years of age
Camp language: German
Costs: € 475,- per person (siblings beginning with the 2nd child, € 455,- each)
Public Performance:
Saturday, July 22, 4:00 PM
UNIVERSITÄT MOZARTEUM / MAX SCHLERETH SAAL
(Duration: approx. 50 minutes)
Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Jedermann (Everyman) lies at the very heart of the Salzburg Festival. ‘The entire city holds its breath for this play’, wrote Max Reinhardt during the 1930s, ‘even the children act out Jedermann’. Indeed, the children back then did perform Hofmannsthal’s ‘Play of the Rich Man’s Death’ for their own amusement.
Just as in the 1930s, the children and young people who take part in the Jedermann camp will experience the original version and present their own play after an intensive week of preparation. The incidental music composed especially for the Jedermann camp also offers exciting challenges for instrumentalists. The alternation between choral singing, instrumental music, acting and stage design will enable participants to slip in and out of different roles and rise to the various tasks that are vital in putting on your own theatre production.
* Application for Opera Camps 2023 is closed as of February 1, 2023.
Figaro - Camp
Based on the Opera Le nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
For teenagers from 15 to 17 years of age
Camp languages: German, English
Costs: € 475.- per person (siblings beginning with the 2nd child, € 455,- each)
Public Performance:
Saturday, July 29, 4:00 PM
UNIVERSITÄT MOZARTEUM / MAX SCHLERETH-SAAL
(Duration: approx. 50 minutes)
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) is considered one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most successful comic operas and at the same time a devastating critique of an amoral nobility that abuses its power. Figaro and Susanna, a servant couple, are planning their forthcoming wedding. A number of obstacles and odd turns are placed in their way by a domineering count, a betrayed countess, a love-crazed teenager and a lawyer escorted by his scheming housekeeper. The happy couple must be careful not to get entangled up in their plans for rescue and revenge. The participants of the opera camp will sing, act, make music and develop their own take on the work by experimenting with the opera’s characters, plot and music.
* Application for Opera Camps 2023 is closed as of February 1, 2023.
Orfeo - Camp
Based on the opera Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck
For children from 9 to 12 years of age
Camp languages: German, English
Costs € 475.- per person (siblings beginning with the 2nd child, € 455,- each)
Public Performance:
Saturday, August 5, 4:00 PM
UNIVERSITÄT MOZARTEUM / MAX SCHLERETH-SAAL
(Duration: approx. 50 minutes)
According to the ancient myth, Orpheus’ singing bewitched people, gods, animals and even plants. No wonder that his lament at the loss of his beloved Eurydice touches the gods so much that Jupiter allows the bard to descend into the underworld to bring his wife back to the realm of the living. One condition is attached to this favour: Orpheus must not look back at her until they are both out of the underworld.
With Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck created a work that dispenses with complicated intrigues, and firmly focusses on the character of Orpheus and his feelings. In the opera camp, the children will accompany Orpheus on his journey. With singing, orchestral playing and acting scenes, they will defy lightning, thunder and darkness, dare to cross the river of the underworld, appease the Furies and accompany Eurydice back to the world of the living.
* Application for Opera Camps 2023 is closed as of February 1, 2023.
Falstaff - Camp
Based on the opera Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi
For young people from 13 to 16 years of age
Camp languages: German, English
Costs € 475.- per person (siblings beginning with the 2nd child € 455,- each)
Public Performance:
Saturday, August 12, 5:00 PM
UNIVERSITÄT MOZARTEUM / MAX SCHLERETH-SAAL
(Duration: approx. 50 minutes)
With his last opera, Falstaff, Giuseppe Verdi produced a wonderfully comic work based on William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. Sir John Falstaff is shameless, gluttonous, drunken, cash-strapped and — in his own opinion — irresistibly charming. In an attempt to ease his financial woes, he tries to reel in two rich married ladies by writing them two identical love letters. Too bad that the two ladies are acquainted and read the letters to each other — meaning that their husbands get wind of his advances.
Falstaff has plainly made too many enemies. The young people will engage with Verdi’s music by taking on roles as orchestral musicians, chorus singers, stage designers and stage actors, connecting the themes of the opera with their own range of experiences.
* Application for Opera Camps 2023 is closed as of February 1, 2023.
Häufige Fragen zu den Operncamps
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Wie sind die Operncamps gestaltet?
Pro Sommer finden drei bis vier verschiedene, einwöchige Operncamps statt, wobei jedes auf eine spezifische Altersgruppe ausgerichtet ist und eine andere Oper zum Thema hat. Die Teilnehmerinnen und das gesamte Team wohnen während der Woche in Schloss Arenberg, wo auch die Proben stattfinden.
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Welche Voraussetzungen gelten für die Teilnahme?
Es gibt kein Aufnahmeverfahren, die Beherrschung eines Instrumentes, die Freude am Singen oder an einer anderen künstlerischen Tätigkeit sind jedoch Voraussetzung. Aufgrund des großen Interesses können nicht immer alle Anmeldungen berücksichtigt werden.
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Wie ist die Unterrichtssprache?
Die TeilnehmerInnen sind international, die Unterrichtssprachen sind Deutsch und Englisch.
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Wie sieht der Tagesablauf bei einem Operncamp in etwa aus?
Vormittags und nachmittags finden parallel diverse Workshops und Proben statt, die von den TeilnehmerInnen wechselweise besucht werden. Die Mahlzeiten werden gemeinsam eingenommen, das abwechslungsreiche Abendprogramm besteht aus Spiel und Sport. Die Unterbringung ist in 2- bis 4-Bettzimmern.
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Erhält mein Kind auch Einzelunterricht am Instrument?
Die InstrumentalistInnen erhalten im Vorhinein Noten zum Üben, das Camp-Orchester wird von erfahrenen Dirigenten geleitet und von Mitgliedern der Wiener Philharmoniker unterstützt. Das gemeinsame Musizieren steht im Vordergrund, Einzelunterricht findet nicht statt.
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Wie ist das Operncamp-Team zusammengesetzt?
Es besteht aus dem künstlerisch-pädagogischen Team und dem Betreuer-Team, das sich um die TeilnehmerInnen während der Freizeit kümmert und Ansprechpartner für kleine und große Sorgen ist.
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Wie viel kostet ein Operncamp?
Kosten: € 475,- pro Person (Geschwister ab dem 2. Kind je € 455,-)
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Werden Stipendien vergeben und was muss dafür eingereicht werden?
Die Vergabe von Stipendien ist möglich, Grundlage ist der letzte Einkommenssteuerbescheid.
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Wie lauten die Stornobedingungen?
Im Falle einer Abmeldung wird die volle Teilnahmegebühr einbehalten, es sei denn, der Platz kann über die Warteliste nachbesetzt werden. In diesem Fall wird die Teilnahmegebühr bis auf eine Kommissionsgebühr von 20% zurückerstattet. Für den Weiterverkauf des Camp-Platzes übernehmen passwort:klassik und die Salzburger Festspiele keine Garantie.
Impressions 2022
These were the opera camps 2022 in cooperation with the Salzburg Festival and the Salzburg Foundation of the American Austrian Foundation.
Jedermann-Camp
Zauberflöten-Camp
Kabanova-Camp
Aida-Camp
The 160 young participants og the Jedermann Camp, the Magic Flute Camp, the Kata Kabanova Camp and the Aida Camp came from eighteen nations. Twenty members of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy and the stage orchestra of the Vienna State Opera coached the camp orchestra and were part of the final performances.
The performance exceeded our expectations by far and we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this important and great work that you and your team are doing for the children.
Seeds are sown here for a lifetime! We're just speechless, what you're able to do in one week.
It was very exciting for our girls to play with the Vienna Philharmonics, especially since their parents are not musicians. They've been looking forward to the camps for weeks. We think it's great that the children are given such an opportunity!
Many thanks to password:classik, the Vienna Philharmonics, the Salzburg Festival and last but not least The American Austrian Foundation for the amazing Kát'a Kabanova Camp, the camp was definitely the highlight of this summer.
Photos: Birgit Probst, Marco Borelli
Impressions 2021
- Jedermann-Camp about the play Jedermann by Hugo von Hofmannsthal for young people from 10 to 15 years of age
- Così fan tutte-Camp about the opera Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for young people from 13 to 16 years of age
- Intolleranza-Camp about the opera Intolleranza 1960 by Luigi Nono for young people from 15 to 18 years of age
- Tosca-Camp about the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini for young people from 9 to 12 years of age
Impressions 2019
- Medea-Camp about the opera Médée by Luigi Cherubini for young people from 13 to 15 years of age
- Orpheus-Camp about the opera Orphée by Jaques Offenbach for young people from 9 to 12 years of age
- Ödipus-Camp about the opera Oper Oedipe by George Enescu for young people from 15 to 18 years of age