OPERA ACADEMY OSTRAVA
The joint project of the University of Ostrava’s Faculty of Fine Arts (FU OU) and the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre’s opera company expands and connects existing FU OU’s student Opera Studio with the artistic programming of the theatre. Abbreviated as OAO, the project equips students with stage practice in standard, fully professional conditions and creates an opera repertoire each season, in which the FU OU’s vocal studies students and instrumentalists alternates with the NMST’s professionals (soloists and orchestra members).
The pilot production was Tom Johnson’s chamber work for five soloists with piano accompaniment THE FOUR-NOTE OPERA in the 2018/2019 season. On the stage of Theatre "12", students co-worked with many of their teachers who alternated them
In the 2019/2020 season,
THE SCHOOL OF JEALOUSY (La scuola de' gelosi) by Antonio Salieri was staged at the Antonín Dvořák Theatre as part of the Opera Academy Ostrava. The audience was delighted with a rarely performed "classical comedy about the art of loving" that besides emerging singers included emerging instrumentalists as well.
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The Four-Note opera
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The School of the Jealousy
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Due to the worldwide pandemic and related restrictions, the lyrical fantasy
THE CHILD AND THE SPELLS (L'Enfant et les Sortilèges) by French great Maurice Ravel was implemented no sooner than in the 2021/2022 season. The brilliant work that casually communicates with the child audience and offers the first contact with opera became very popular.
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The Child and the Spells
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The Child and the Spells
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The OAO’s dramaturgy has brought a new interpretative challenge in the 2022/2023 season—two Baroque gems dating back to the first century of opera's existence as a genre. The semi-dramatic ballet
THE BALLET OF THE FEMALE INGRATES (Il ballo delle ingrate) by Claudio Monteverdi and the opera
DIDO AND AENEAS by Henry Purcell have been performed by students majoring in both vocal studies and instruments. The production has also represented a new challenge for the theatre itself, as in addition to the Theatre "12", it has opened the ceremonial hall in the Jiří Myron Theatre to perform chamber productions in there for the very first time.
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The Ballet of the Female Ingrates
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Dido and Aeneas
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Photo Martin Popelář
The National Moravian-Silesian Theatre is the only opera house in the country that conceptually cooperates with a university in this way, preparing the new generation of artists for their future careers in fully professional conditions.
