European Opera Days 2018: European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018

For their 12th edition, the European Opera Days could not dream of a better theme… From 4 to 13 May 2018, celebrate the European Year of Cultural Heritage alongside your European colleagues!
Again, we invite you to open your doors to your local communities through accessible and free events during at least one of those 10 days. 
The European Opera Days will be a central focus of the joint www.onstage2018.eu promotion, as well as benefit from the heritage of 12 years of media relations in the promotion of your local and national initiatives. 
What could your theatre propose to celebrate this edition?
Cultural heritage is part of our core business, and resonates in everything we do.
Your theatres were built in a time and place that considered opera as playing a role in a community. What is your theatre’s history? Why was it built, by whom? What were the first performances it hosted? How has its relationship towards its audiences evolved since? Exhibit photos from your archives and host a conference to engage with today’s crowd.
Good craftsmanship is hard to come by for opera houses. What are the particular positions your theatre still employ? How is that craftsmanship passed on? What makes opera costumes and sets so particular? Open your workshops and have your specialists animate sessions with visitors – beading a dress, combing a wig, painting a set.
The choice of works to play is ever evolving. What commitment to the repertoire has your theatre made? What work has it premiered since its opening?
What great masterpieces does it share on a regular basis? How different are the stagings from then and now? Show off costumes from different eras, confront pictures from the same title from old and recent productions, invite a composer or director to talk about new work and revivals.
We hope that, as in previous years, many of you will join in this powerful week to pull media attention and celebrate the European nature of opera. 

Please confirm your opera company’s participation by 15 December to audrey@opera-europa.org, and send the detailed programme of your activities by 15 February.