The opera houses of Italy, France and Germany are regularly filled with families out for a night's entertainment. Children are introduced to Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and the other giants of opera from a young age. In Ireland the audience is quite different. Older music lovers file into the velvet-seated auditorium of the Gaiety Theatre while their younger counterparts, equally appreciative of great music, stay away.
Nicola Moore of Opera Ireland believes the fault lies with the operatic community in Ireland, which has made too little effort to bring opera to a young audience. Opera Ireland hopes it is about to change all that with its Opera in Transition programme, which it launched last week.
"For the first time Opera Ireland invited 160 transition-year students to attend the dress rehearsal of the Friday-night double bill at the Gaeity, which features Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Zemlinsky's A Florentine Tragedy," says Moore.
Some students attended last Thursday night's dress rehearsal of The Magic Flute, by Mozart. Naomi Molmar of Mount Carmel Secondary School, in Dublin, was one of them. She had never seen an opera, but she had some preconceptions about what it would be like.
"I'm a big fan of music, but I had an idea of opera as a dusty musical relic, full of old fat performers," says Naomi, who plays the flute. "I had all my biases smashed to bits: the performers were all young and incredibly talented, and the show was flawless.
"I loved everything about it. The set and costumes made the stage look like a series of magnificent paintings. The singing and choreography were really exciting. I found The Magic Flute really funny and entertaining. I expected to be lost and bored."
The students of Mount Carmel and three other schools were invited to go to the theatre early to snoop around backstage. Opera Ireland's artistic director, Dieter Kaegi, spoke to the students in the afternoon about careers in opera. Then they had a brief introduction to some of the mechanics of performance, such as set building, lighting and sound.
"The overall response of teachers and students was very positive," says Nicola Moore. "I think many came to the theatre expecting to be bored and found that they really enjoyed themselves. We plan to make this programme a regular feature and will offer schools visits and workshops to follow up on the theatre visits if students wish to take the experience a step further. I think this is an important addition to the transition-year menu, as opera does not feature on the Junior or Leaving Cert music syllabi."
Janine Robinson of St Mary's Secondary School in Killester believes her experience at the theatre may have launched a lifelong passion. "I knew nothing of opera before last week, but I enjoyed the performance thoroughly. Despite the language difference I was able to not only follow the plot but get dragged along by it. I found the presentation by the performers and staff beforehand very interesting, too.
"I can't see myself going for a career in the opera. I am interested in becoming a regular opera-goer, though. I'll be heading out this weekend to buy a CD of The Magic Flute, and over the next while I hope to explore other operatic music and get to know the world of opera a little better. If I enjoyed this one performance so much, there must be a lot more opera out there that I will enjoy even more."
