One day of cultural Hub at the Bucharest national Opera

Opera Promenade, a fruitful collaboration between the National Opera and the National University of Theater and Cinematography

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 13.09.2022, 14:00

The Bucharest National Opera – ONB undertakes the mission of promoting the cultural values of the Opera to a public as large and young as possible. Thus, at the end of summer, the 12th edition of the traditional event called Opera Promenade took place. It was a cultural hub that offered those present on the Opera House esplanade a series of outdoor activities that took place over the course of 12 hours. It was a fruitful collaboration between ONB and the National University of Theater and Cinematography I.L. Caragiale (UNATC).

Daniel Jinga, the general director of the Bucharest National Opera, said: The Opera Promenade is a traditional event for ONB. It started with an open-air show called Opera Promenade and this show has already reached its twelfth edition. It could be held even during the pandemic, because, as you know, in the open air the restrictions were easier to comply with and we could carry out our activity even in those conditions. For some time, we have used this event Opera Promenade to transform this esplanade in front of the Bucharest National Opera building into a cultural hub, a place where to attract new categories of public, a place to show that the Bucharest National Opera is not haughty, that the cultural act is not inaccessible. We are not in an ivory tower, and we are waiting for the public to come and enjoy a musical genre and a cultural genre that has several stages of understanding, like an onion that has several layers or skins. So, people can go to the opera and at first they can understand the beautiful part of the music, the opera arias, the overtures, then they can grasp the message. There are also people who come to see for the hundred and fiftieth time the same opera, either Traviata or Nabucco, to see different performances or to get different meanings of the same music.

Liviu Lucaci, the rector of the National University of Theater and Cinematography in Bucharest, added: The National University of Theater and Cinematography I.L. Caragiale in Bucharest today stands by the National Opera. And we will stand by it every time when we are needed and when we need to build together such events for the Bucharest public and not only. As you can see here, it is a special deployment of forces. We have built a camp, which has been operating for several days, in such a way as to offer people the best conditions for a special cultural and artistic experience. We did that together with people from several departments of the University: acting, puppetry, theater directing, film directing, and multi-media. Multi-media is very important nowadays. We have a mobile stage, we helped build this huge stage, 400 square meters, we have filming facilities, ground camera, drone cameras, balloon cameras. We are trying to achieve a 360-degree video capture from the middle of the orchestra and provide live-streaming, video-mapping on buildings. Most importantly, we want to involve a young human resource who wants to participate in such events and to build together with the National Opera a long, interesting path, attractive to all audiences.

The audience attending the event could enjoy the Extraordinary Gala, that featured the orchestra, choir and ensemble of the Bucharest National Opera conducted by Tiberiu Soare.

Daniel Magdal, deputy director of ONB, told us that: We have prepared an extraordinarily beautiful program, with arias and scenes from operas, from the shows we are preparing, premieres from the season that is just starting. We are happy to be with the public every time we have the opportunity. It is critical and we are extremely grateful that opera lovers are standing by our side. The entire staff of the Opera is participating in tonight’s event, which, in principle, means the opening of the season for us.

Alexandru Nagy, is the director of the event, and he told us the following: I am very happy that the twelfth edition of the Opera Promenade succeeds in bringing in new blood, to also ensure the regeneration of our audience, who is generally believed to belong to an age group that we dearly call seniors. This year we are showing a series of activities that include Opera People. The opera people, artists, technicians in front of and behind the scenes are all here, on the Opera Promenade, participating in different workshops. There is a ballet workshop, First ballet steps. We wanted the children who come here to have the opportunity, for 2 hours, 2 and a half hours, to take their first ballet steps under the guidance of a professional dancer, a ballerina, in our case, first ballerina Mihaela Soare. We also thought that there would be children who would like to be able to get in contact with an instrument, so we organized a piano workshop, First time on the piano. And who knows, maybe we can trigger that exceptional thrill that occurs at the moment of such an encounter, when you are a child. This is what we want to achieve this year, to boost the audience’s contact with the stage, with the artists of the opera, both from the front and the back of the stage, as I said, because we also have costume creation workshops, a workshop given by our colleagues from tailoring and scenography, but all the departments have been involved.

The painting and costume creation workshop attracted about 70 trainees, especially children. More than 650 people stepped into the Opera building for the first time, as part of the guided tours. The personal development workshop was the center of interest for 90 people, while the Jobs of the Future workshop triggered the curiosity of over 150 people. Hundreds of participants chose the puppet-making workshop, and over 50 children took their First ballet steps with prima ballerina Mihaela Soare. Another 50 children attended the First time on the piano workshop with pianist Mădălin Voicu Jr. Puppet theater attracted over 300 spectators and Kae Tempest’s theater performance ‘Wasted’ was watched with interest by over 200 spectators. Last but not least, the most original attraction of the Opera Promenade, the hot air balloon, lifted into the air, at an altitude of tens of meters, about 50 fans of unusual visual sensations. (LS)