"KleOPERtra" is an intercultural opera project for children in which an opera and accompanying workshops for school classes are to be realised.

The musicians from the Arabic Music Institute AMIBerlin and Stella Maris Barockensemble under the artistic direction of soprano Juliane Schubert are involved.

The aim is to inspire a young audience for baroque and Arabic music and to let them experience in their own artistic process how the language of music is able to build cultural bridges.

interkulturelles und interdisziplinäres Projekt
mit Schülerinnen und Schülern der
Miriam-Makeba-Grundschule (Berlin-Moabit)

Konzept: Susanne Barbey
Künstl. Leitung: Juliane Schubert & Bettina Truffat
Künstler:innen des KleOPERtra-Ensembles

Projektstart

November - Dezember 2023

Pilotworkshops

gefördert von Berlin Challenge (Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie)

Projektphase 1

Jahuar bis Februar 2024

- "Kunst ist mein(e) Beruf(ung)"

- "Call & Response - musikalische Mehrsprachigkeit" - Mitmachkonzerte

Projektphase 2

Februar - März 2024

Intensiv-Workshops zur Vorbereitung der Aufführung

-"Kunst der Improvisation"

-"arabische Sprache der Musik"

-"Händels Sprache der Musik"

-"arabischer und barocker Tanz"

-"Schattentheater"

-"Erzählerworkshop"

-"MiniMusicScouts"

gefördert vom BMCO (Bundesverband Chor & Orchester
Programm "Musik für alle!" über Kultur macht stark!)

20. März 2024 - Konzertsaal der Universität der Künste Berlin

Aufführung mit Schülerinnen und Schülern der Miriam-Makeba-Grundschule (Berlin-Moabit) gemeinsam mit den Musikern und Musikerinnen des KleOPERtra-Ensembles

gefördert vom BMCO (Bundesverband Chor & Orchester
Programm "Musik für alle!" über Kultur macht stark!)

konzertante Aufführung mit Schwerpunkt Barockmusik

18. & 19.4.2024 in der Villa Elisabeth (Berlin-Mitte)

Michael Lieb - Cäsar
Juliane Schubert - Kleopatra
Farouk El-Khalili - Erzähler

Arabic Music Institute AMIBerlin
Leitung: Nabil Arbaain

Stella Maris Barockensemble
Leitung: Christine Trinks

gefördert von der Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt
Projektförderung Alte Musik

VISION

konzertante Version mit Tanz &
gleichberechtigten Anteilen arabischer, barocker und gemeinsam kreierter Musik & Lichtkunst

Mitwirkende: gesamtes KleOPERtra-Ensemble

VISION

genrefluide Performance mit Musik, Tanz, Lichtkunst & Schauspiel

Mitwirkende: gesamtes KleOPERtra-Ensemble

In the newly developed musical theatre piece, the narrator "Achillas", supreme Egyptian general, takes the children on a journey into the past.
He tells the story of Cleopatra and Caesar's encounter from his own personal perspective. In the intriguing power struggles of antiquity, Achillas stained his hands with blood and has been pondering his life in the realm of the dead ever since. A colourful little bird joins him and a philosophical conversation about life, death, revenge, forgiveness and universal love ensues.

Arias and baroque instrumental movements from the Handel opera "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" were chosen to musically translate the encounter of cultures in the opera and were contrasted and enriched with traditional and modern Arabic music.
In a constant musical dialogue, the styles merge more and more in the course of the piece and thus form a common musical language. To achieve this, the musicians from the Stella Maris Baroque Ensemble, who play the original sound on historical instruments, and their colleagues from the Arabic Music Institute Berlin, who play and teach the traditional Arabic instruments with virtuosity, enter into a creative process of musical exchange and improvisation in order to create something new together.

Alongside Achillas' narratives, accompanied by the delicate sounds of the oud in a fairytale-like manner, the events come to life in musical images. The characters of the story are embodied by singers and dancers and played, sung and danced from different perspectives in the space. The audience sits on cushions in the middle of the action. The changing focus is visually supported by imaginative light projections. These immerse the existing scenery in a new light so that artistic worlds come to life. This fires the imagination and allows young and old to immerse themselves fully in the story and music.

The play is designed for primary school children in terms of content and length and is to be premiered at an inspiring venue in Berlin.

Juliane Schubert - Idea, project management, singing

Bettina Inés Truffat - artistic co-direction, dance

Susanne Barbey - Konzeption Workshops, Kommunikation

Abeer Ali Mohamed - Schauspiel, Gesang, Percussion

Jean Kleeb - Arrangements, Komposition

Christine Trinks - direction "Stella Maris Barockensemble", baroque violin

Nabil Arbaain - direction AMIBerlin, Oud

Claudia Kühn - Text connect! Aufführung

Katharina Berndt - Lichtkunst, Scherenschnitt, Grafikdesign

Simon Hertling - Videodokumentation

AMIBerlin - Arabic Music Institute Berlin

Stella Maris Barockensemble Berlin

IDYL gUG

Miriam-Makeba-Grundschule Berlin

Förderverein Miriam-Makeba-Grundschule "Feuerbohne e.V."

Universität der Künste Berlin

Villa Elisabeth & Kulturbüro Elisabeth

Naturwissenschaftlicher & kultureller Bildungsverbund Berlin-Moabit

funded by "Neustart Kultur"