Opéra Terre d'Orage (Fund)

What is it about?

In French-speaking Africa, there is no school or centre dedicated to the learning and promotion of opera singing in all its forms, even though there is tremendous artistic potential on the ground.

The founders of the Fonds Opéra Terre d'Orage have the ambition to create in Kinshasa the conditions for setting up a programme combining both training and promotion of these artists. The Fund's mission is to bring Congolese youth closer to lyrical and classical music and to make this music known to Congolese music lovers.

Objectives

The general objectives are as follows:

·        Stimulate interest in classical music through knowledge and practice

·        To promote musical education for young people through the creation of a lyrical singing centre

·        To promote exchanges between African and non-African classical musicians

·        To promote lyrical music performances

·        To achieve the creation of a professional lyrical pole of international level.

Achievements in 2021 and 2022

At the end of 2021, Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" was performed in Kinshasa in a short version adapted with passages in Lingala. In December 2022, Handel's "Julius Caesar" was performed, again in Kinshasa. Master classes in opera singing were organised in preparation for these performances.

Next steps

For the autumn of 2023, the creation of a third opera is on the programme: Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", in several places in Kinshasa and then perhaps elsewhere in the country depending on the available budgets.

At the same time, the ambition is still to set up a school of opera singing in order to offer a permanent opera teaching structure in the Congolese capital.