This October 25, World Opera Day will bring together different lyrical houses under the slogan “The opera returns” (#OperaReboot) to celebrate the return to the stage. Different theaters around the world will perform a series of concerts from their rooftops, rooftops and other unpublished spaces to commemorate the day. The initiative, promoted by Ópera América, Ópera Europa and Ópera Latinoamérica among other organizations, seeks to encourage local actions in each theater with a view to a global impact: to raise awareness about the benefits and values ​​that opera transmits to society as a whole.

The opera has returned, audiences begin to return to their seats and the stages vibrate again with productions and singers. This Monday, October 25, theaters around the world are preparing to celebrate World Opera Day. The celebration will be big: different lyrical houses will premiere a special format of concerts from their roofs and other unpublished corners of the buildings. The recordings will be broadcast through the respective social networks and YouTube channels of the theaters, in addition to being exclusively premiered on the Ópera Latinoamérica channel.

The slogan # LaÓperaRegresa (#OperaReboot) refers to the return to theaters after the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of cultural infrastructures. The effect of the reintegration of the public is not less for any theater director, artist, producer, technician and public. It is also a reunion between different roles.

“This day of the opera we will celebrate with a series of rooftop concerts that reflect the capacity for resilience, adaptation and innovation that theaters had during the pandemic to get closer to audiences and territories. developing complex solutions and proposals “, says Alejandra Martí, executive director of Ópera Latinoamérica. “The return symbolizes the integration of new models with the old ones, incorporating valuable lessons,” she adds.

Local actions with a view to a global impact

Theaters and opera houses are reopening with new ambitions, which respond to their roles as responsible actors in society. Thus, this 2021, World Opera Day also highlights ideas and actions on equal opportunities in opera within a framework of diversity, the generation of jobs for the next generations of talents and sustainability in opera.

On this date, local actions will be encouraged with a view to a global impact. The Municipal Theater of São Paulo will hold the Ópera em pauta forum (10:00 GMT-3), an event that aims to bring the sector closer to defining joint strategies, aligning communication and the exchange of experiences. In this edition, the first face-to-face meeting and presentation of the Brazilian Forum of Opera, Dance and Concert Music (FB-ODM), created in May 2020, will take place during the period of social isolation. In addition, the theater will present at 20:00 (GMT-3) the opera The Human Voice, by the French composer Francis Poulenc and the librettist Jean Cocteau. The performance will be complemented by Ópera Aberta for singer and weightlifter, by Giberto Mendes. The show will be face-to-face and suitable for all audiences.

For its part, the Royal Theater of Madrid will present at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (CEST) two performances in the Royal Theater float installed, on this occasion, in the Plaza de Isabel II. In addition, free access to three MyOperaPlayer titles will be offered during the weekend before World Opera Day: October 22, Friday, Lohengrin; October 23, Saturday, Turandot; and October 24, Sunday, Così Fan Tutte.

From Chile, the seminar Let’s talk about opera in Latin America will be held, which will feature distinguished guests from Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay and Mexico. The event will be broadcast free of charge jointly through Facebook Live of the National Library of Chile and the YouTube channel of the Music Archive. Among the exhibitors, stand out the Chilean musicologist José Manuel Izquierdo, the 2019 National Arts Award Miryam Singer, the soprano Verónica Villarroel, the Colombian musicologist Rondy Torres and the composers Lucio Bruno Videla from Argentina, Leonardo Martinelli from Brazil, Diego Sánchez-Haase from Paraguay, René Silva from Chile and the composers Valeria Valle and Susan Campos.

For its part, the Teatro Colón de Bogotá arrives in Barranquilla to continue supporting the best opera talents in the country. Together with the National Opera of Colombia, the Theater opened the 2021 Opera Workshops to promote opera and lyrical singing from three main lines: training, circulation and production. Within the framework of World Opera Day, the second meeting will be held in Barranquilla, between October 30 and November 1.

The workshops were the result of a diagnosis that collected the needs expressed by students and professionals of this genre in the country. In Barranquilla, as in Cali, the day will end with an audition seminar.

This day is a unique opportunity of its kind to celebrate and show the efforts that theaters and lyrical organizations are carrying out to work on the great themes that will define the future of opera in contemporary society. Global coordination and collaboration is part of the spirit of World Opera Day.

What is World Opera Day?

World Opera Day is an initiative promoted by the organizations Ópera América, Ópera Latinoamérica and Ópera Europa and other representatives of world opera. It was held for the first time in 2018, within the framework of the World Opera Day Forum at the Teatro Real in Madrid. The selected date also coincides with the births of two important composers for music and opera: Johann Strauss II and Georges Bizet.

It is a campaign that seeks to raise awareness about the positive impact that opera has on the souls and hearts of people. Opera, like other artistic disciplines, contributes to developing tolerance, understanding, opening minds and connecting people through a wealth of universal emotions that are reflected in the stories it tells and the music that accompanies them.

Follow the hashtags #WorldOperaDay, # DíaMundialDeLaÓpera, #OperaReboot and # LaÓperaRegresa to find out about all the activities that theaters around the world will be doing on October 25. For more information, write to prensa@operala.org