‘Creating Opera’. Family programme for children aged 7 to 11 with parents workshop

The best way to get to know Catherine the Great’s opera house is to travel back in time, to the distant 18th century, and see everything with your own eyes.

Together with a chambermaid of the empress and an actress of the court theatre, participants will take an unforgettable journey into the world of baroque opera, becoming direct participants in it.

Young theatre-goers and their adult helpers will ‘create an opera’ based on a libretto by Catherine the Great herself. But first, you will have to take the manuscript, understand the Empress’ handwriting and read the first scenes from the opera The Brave and Daring Knight Archideich yourself.

During the production, participants will learn about the Baroque period and the theatre of the period, what the artists sang and how they moved, how to use sign language, and how to identify the different types of Baroque arias.

Each participant will try out different roles – actor, typist, stagehand, property-man, those who create stage marvels. Together, wind machines will be assembled, decorations installed, and the suspended structure constructed. Thanks to them, the wind will howl on our improvised stage, thunder will roar, and an unknown force will carry the protagonists to faraway lands.

Attention! In this programme, children and parents participate as equals, learn new things, rehearse and enjoy each other’s company and the magical world of baroque theatre

The event is hosted and scripted by art historian Olga Salmina and theatre historian Ekaterina Churakova, creators of the project ‘Workshop of Impressions – Upside Down’.

As a reminder, each ticket is for two people – an adult and a child. The ticket admits only one child.

An adult’s participation is compulsory.

For a group of one adult and two children, two tickets must be purchased.

 About the children’s programme at the exhibition-festival Theatrocracy. Catherine II and Opera:

The exhibition Theatrocracy. Catherine II and Opera is a unique project, born at the intersection of theatre and museum collaboration. The Theatrocracy programme for children is also an area of cooperation between the museum and musical theatre.

The educational programme was developed by one of Moscow’s most famous theatres especially for the museum together with the exhibition’s supervisors. To create a unique set of children’s theatrical classes, Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve invited the New Opera Educational Cluster (OKNO), a leading expert and innovator in the field of educational programmes for children and adults.

The programme is supervised by Alisa Spirina, the creator and head of OKNO.