Experimenting in Music Theatre for Young Audiences

EXPERIMENTING IN MUSIC THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES RESULTS International Congress Happy New Ears 20th – 22nd November 2016 in Mannheim Presented by In co-operation with Funded by CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION page Experimenting with listening HAPPY NEW EARS 2 1. INTRODUCTION 2 Looking back In 2006 a Young Opera was jointly founded at National- 2. ROLLING ON theater Mannheim by the children‘s and young people’s Contemporary music theatre for young audiences‘ theatre Schnawwl and Nationaltheater Mannheim’s opera current situation 4 department. 3. DIALOGUE A initial congress on contemporary music theatre for young What’s next for music theatre for young audiences? 10 audiences took place in 2009 here in Mannheim in co- operation with the KJTZ – Kinder- und Jugendtheaterzen- 4. AGORA trum in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (The Children’s Presentation of international houses and projects 12 and Young People’s Theatre Centre in the Federal Repub- lic of Germany) and posed the question: What kind of music 5. EXPERIMENT SPACES 14 theatre do children need? This resulted in taking stock of the current music theatre for children and music pedagogy 6. CONGRESS OBSERVERS 24 in Germany. The cultural-policy position paper, “Mann- heimer Manifest zum Musiktheater für Kinder“ (“The Mann- 7. BIOGRAPHIES 38 heim Manifest on Music Theatre for Children“) conse- quently came into being and remains current to this day. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS · IMPRINT 43 Furthermore, as a result of the symposium, the ASSITEJ Collective for Music Theatre for Young Audiences was established. The more than 70 members representing opera houses and departments, children‘s and youth theatres and publishing houses, composers, librettists and social sci- entists have been regularly sharing their experiences in it’s forum since May 2010. Opportunity to together share HAPPY NEW EARS thoughts on work methods, conceptions ideas, structures, themes, repertoire and perspectives is also presented by Music Theatre for Young Audiences – the joint viewing and discussion of current productions for International Congress young audiences in various locations and houses. 20th – 22nd November 2016 in Mannheim The Staatstheater Oldenburgh held a second symposium on contemporary music theatre for young audiences in Contemporary music theatre for young audiences was 2012, once again in co-operation with the KJTZ. The sym- the focus of the international congress‘ many pres- posium asks: What distinguishes a successful music theatre entations, discussions and performances. Over three production? In order to critically discuss the conditions re- days, taking place in Mannheim, a space was created quired for a production’s success, the symposium examined in which theatremakers discussed and shared experi- five, very varying, exemplary productions from Germany ences of current and future developments within the and the Netherlands. field and conducted hands on investigation in Exper- iment Spaces. This information pack contains docu- Ten years after the Young Opera was founded and seven ments that report the congress‘ results and stimuli. years after the the first symposium on contemporary music theatre for young audiences, Mannheim once again wel- You can find additional information about the pro- comed us for the International Congress Happy New Ears – gramme and speakers here: Music Theatre for Young Audiences in co-operation with www.happynewears-congress.de. the festival of the same name and the Nationaltheater Recordings of the presentations and discussions can be Mannheim. The line of enquiry this time was: listened to here: https://voicerepublic.com/users/ happynewearscongress 2 1. INTRODUCTION What is „experimentation“ called in music theatre for discoveries and to question both material and oneself and young audiences? in doing so to go beyond the borders of one’s own experi- The hands-on investigation into this question in Experi- ence. Participants investigated in an experimental manner ment Spaces, and reflection upon experiences gathered the following varying approaches to content and methods in them, was central to what was shared and discussed. of contemporary music theatre for children: the voice; the 160 national and international participants – practicing sounds of outdoor environments, compressed into compo- and soon to be artists from the fields of composition, li- sitions when indoors; the realm of possibility of musically bretto, music, vocals, direction, dramaturgy and the visual artistic encounters with the very youngest of audiences – arts as well as colleagues from education, research, cul- those aged 0 – 3 years; the opportunities and obstacles tural mediation and promotion – gathered for three days involved in dialogue between music cultures; and sound in Mannheim. Here experimental approaches to contempo- scapes and environmental sounds that can be extracted rary music theatre for young audiences were investgated with children from everyday objects and materials. within the framework of the jam-packed programme fea- turing presenations, discussions, performances, post-per- Being a listening audience member formance discussions, five Experiment Spaces and various Remarkable music theatre productions from across Europe, reflection-rounds. which all played with performance situations and me- dias, encouraged a change of perspective and enabled re- Staging listening flection upon the features of each exemplary production. Sounds and noises among countless messages accompa- These productions developed scenes instrumentally within nied by catchy music demand our attention and form per- the procedure of making music and in doing so created manent background noise that penetrate the ear from space for aural experimentation and experience. Examples every direction. These are however rarely consciously ap- are Belgian Zonzo Compagnie’s “Listen to the Silence“ and preciated. To counteract this, contemporary music thea- Dutch Muziekvoorstelling.nl/Alle Hoeken van de Kamer- tre wants to create a space for staged listening, a space muziek’s „Hui!“ (Whoosh!), and the host, the Junge Oper in which concentration will be directed towards sounds, Mannheim‘s (Young Opera Mannheim) “Lauschangriff!“ music and in best case scenarios towards how both are (Hear Attack!). produced. It aims to open its young audience’s ears, make familiar sounds appear unfamiliar and introduce unknown The following documents aim to stimulate further thought. sounds – to make listening apparent within a scene. This is inkeeping with the congress’s focus on examina- tion, discovery, thinking outside the box regarding music An Experimental Stance theatre for young listening audiences and equally it‘s chal- To experiment with music theatre means the questioning lenging of the production structures for the future whether of all established expectations as well as the structures of in opera houses, houses with mutli-disciplinary depart- production and the traditional production methods com- ments, independent production houses or in co-operation prised of the components libretto, composition and in- with theatremakers who produce in a participative man- terpretation as well as ususal performance situations and ner with children and teenagers. Many questions remain the idea that music theatre urgently needs a storyline or unanswered such as whether, and how, experimental work music, which is to be interpreted in a habitual manner by methods can become fruitful for large opera stages. One the muscians and the instruments of a typical orchestra thing is certain: complex experimentation within music hidden away in the orchestra pit. Matthias Rebstock said theatre requires a safe space for interdisciplinary, artistic during the congress: “Experimenting with music theatre negotiation and investigation into sound scapes and the entails experimenting with listening ... that demands “pri- scope of their scenic possibilities; sufficient funding and marily a different stance towards mode of expression“ in above all, time. comparison to works that aim for the mediation of messages and content.“ Annett Israel (Project Manager International Congress Happy New Ears – The participants were presented with the challenges of Music Theatre for Young Audiences) this stance on the second day of the congress. The aim of the five widely ranging Experiment Spaces was to make 3 2. ROLLING ON Contemporary music theatre for young audiences‘ current situation The first day of the congress opened with a presentation delivered by Ina Karr, the curator of the Happy New Ears European Festival, in which she addressed music theatre for children’s current situation, material, dramaturgical approaches and aesthetics in Germany and beyond the German border. I can’t of course touch upon all developments within the whole of Europe, however during the selection process for the Happy New Ears Festival we did notice that there are many more productions and performances than there were just a few years ago. As a first impression, that sounds like a very positive state of affairs for contemporary music theatre for children and young people, whose importance is increasingly being em- phasised by theatremakers. The genre has however, not yet progressed far enough for us to be able to speak of its varying phases or waves, or for there to be concrete guide- lines along which we could stimulate our discussion. Per- haps this is the case because music theatre for children and young people has been primarily developed in opera houses and opera departments, or

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