Nine years ago, Opera Comică pentru Copii launched one of the most successful initiatives aimed at supporting parents who want to harmoniously develop the talent and skills of their children.
Thus, the “Little Artist” Workshops were created, a series of courses that covered five artistic directions for children aged 4-12 to explore: street dance, choir, ballet, photographic art and oratory. Today, the program meets the need for extracurricular education of students with a more than generous offer: 50 courses, held on site or online, for age groups starting from nursery school and continuing to high school.
Between September 16 and 21, 2024, the institution from Calea Giulești no. 16 organize pre-selections for all courses, with 15 weekly meetings for each individual course taking place by 25 January 2025, either online or on-site, depending on the workshop or workshops chosen. The participation fee is 490 lei/module (15 hours), paid by September 29, 2024.
Interested parents can fill out the form available on the project website, ateliereocc.ro. After sending the form electronically, the children are expected directly at the preselection at the desired workshop, according to the schedule displayed on the project website. Every year, the Comic Opera for Children strives to improve the course offer, taking into account both the suggestions of parents and the wishes of children. New this year include courses in singing and stage presence, writing through music, science and imagination, budding journalist and personal development.
Dance workshops
Through choreography, children learn to respect each other and collaborate on stage. They shape their body, mind and soul, becoming confident in their own talent and strength. In addition to the five ballet classes available at the headquarters and coordinated by Consuella Crăciun (Monday), Jaqueline Bratu (Tuesday), Theodora Munteanu (Wednesday), Maria Şerbănoiu (Wednesday) and Theodora Badea (Thursday), children who have rhythm in their blood and overflowing energy have other possibilities for exploring the universe of choreography. On Tuesdays they are expected at the zumba class (Consuella Crăciun), folk dances (Mihai Pricope) or tap (Vera Stoian), on Wednesdays at modern dance (Maria Şerbănoiu), and on Thursdays at street dance (Ionuț Picincu). With the exception of the ballet workshop on Tuesday, which is supported by the renowned choreographer Jaqueline Bratu, all other dance workshops are coordinated by dancers from the ensemble of the Operei Comice pentru Copii. How does a child feel when the very artists he saw on stage show him his first steps in the world of dance?
Music workshops
Singing in the choir is the only activity in the school timetable where children learn how to breathe properly. And at “Micul Artist” there are workshops for all school cycles: junior choir (Elena Iorgulescu), senior choir (Mădălina Maxim), singing and stage presence (Claudia Ciobanu). Music is also a form of social integration, even for the shyest children. When all the choristers follow the conductor, they become a united team and each member has an important contribution to the result that the audience then applauds in the hall. In addition, for children who like music and do not yet want to sing in a choir, there are workshops for music through games, piano, musical bells and boomwhackers, all coordinated by Angelica Baciu, soloist of the National Chamber Choir “Madrigal – Marin Constantine”.
Theater workshops
Perhaps the most popular of the children’s classes, acting workshops are in high demand every year. Every family has a little actor at home, whom Opera Comică pentru Copii awaits with joy at any of the seven theater workshops, held by Andreea Petra (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), Vera Stoian (Tuesday), Otilia Panainte (Tuesday) , Călina Epuran (Wednesday), Cristina Pătrașcu (Thursday) and Ioana Rufu (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). The workshops are aimed at children of all ages, and the teachers take care to harmoniously cultivate the talent that exists in each student. After such a workshop, children gain more self-confidence, are aware of their emotions and end up using them to their advantage.
Fine arts workshops
For children with a penchant for working with their hands and increased skill there are six fine arts workshops, covering a wide spectrum of artistic concerns. The week starts with the ceramic workshop (Cristina Anculete), continues with the photography workshop, on Tuesday (Cristina Anculete), on Wednesday with mini-masters astronomy (Adina Soare) and drawing (Livia Rus, online), creative painting and design on Thursday (Patricia Procopie), and on Saturday, the workshop of handmade creations (Angelica Baciu) culminates. It’s a fun way for kids to increase their concentration and attention to detail. In addition, most of the creations made in these workshops end up in exhibitions admired by the thousands of spectators who cross the threshold of the Comic Opera for Children, constituting an additional confirmation for the young artists in training.
Personal development workshops
For children who feel no attraction to dance or music, nor to theater or fine arts, enough to come to such a workshop weekly, OCC has not one, but 15 interesting proposals. Personal development workshops meet a wide range of emotional and cognitive needs of children between the ages of 4 and 16. At the same time, it gives structure to their thinking and expression, regardless of whether they are preschoolers or teenagers. Thus, on Mondays, the little ones can attend the chess workshop (Bogdan Ulian) and creative writing (Ioana Marinescu, online), on Tuesdays the astronomy workshop (Diana Chiriță, online) and writing through music (Claudia Ciobanu), on Wednesdays they are invited to the workshop for stimulating logical thinking (Daniela Andronie) and budding journalist (Ioana Marinescu, online), on Thursdays to the English conversation club (Otilia Panainte) and to the personal development workshop (Raluca Popa) , and on Friday at the science and imagination workshops (Daria Răduță, Simona Ivanciu, Vladimir Bănuță) and astronomy (Diana Chiriță, online). Saturday is the richest day in workshops where children learn to convey messages persuasively, project their emotions in public through speech and convince the audience through clear and coherent expression. Parents can choose between oratory (online) and debate workshops (Mădălin Guruianu, online and at the office), logical and analytical thinking (Corina Zamsa), the reading club, debates and creation (Ciprian Nedelcu) and communication and knowledge workshops – we learn how to learn (Adina Iacob).
The musical “Matilda”, only this month in the Great Hall
The new season begins in the Great Hall with the long-awaited musical
“Matilda”which returns to the stage of the Comic Opera for Children in September, with 15 performances scheduled between September 13-29. As usual, all the shows of the season, until June 2025, are already scheduled and tickets and subscriptions are available on the billete.ro network. Thus, parents can organize their schedule ahead of time to enjoy the show with their family.
“Matilda” is the extraordinary story of a little girl who dares to rebel and thus changes her destiny. With energetic dances and catchy tunes (music: Tim Minchin), the show at the Children’s Opera Comedy (premiere in the 2023/2024 season), directed by Emil Pantelimon, has a cast made up of the most talented adult and child artists of the theatre. The musical “Matilda”, inspired by the book by British writer Roald Dahl, is presented under license from Music Theater International (MTI), with all written material for the show provided by MTI. The songs in the show are performed in the original language (English).
“> is not only a popular title, but also the biggest musical made for children and with a lot of children in the cast at key points. It is a complex score, a story with many planes and many stories within stories. It’s a Roald Dahl truism, perfectly valid 50 years ago, and still today. The message from >, so diverse and indicative of so many serious problems that society, the family, the school has today, I think is the most complex and the most challenging. However, at Opera Comică pentru Copii we like to approach challenges and bring them to the public in a completely different way than the ones in which they were presented for the first time. And here I mean Broadway and the West End.”, declared before the premiere in May Emil Pantelimon, the director of the show.
In October, the musical “Matilda” will be able to be watched as part of the National Theater Festival, at the section Educational NTF. The performance is scheduled for October 23, at 11:00 a.m., and tickets are almost sold out. This marks a first for the Children’s Comic Opera, which is participating for the first time with a production at this festival. At the same time, this year, OCC, the institution led by the soprano Felicia Filip, was awarded by UNITER – The Romanian Theater Union with the Prize for the Coherence and Consistency of Art Education Programs for Young Audiences.
The sixth edition of the “Bebe Fest” festival starts at the end of September
The end of September is marked by the sixth edition of the festival “Baby Fest”dedicated to the youngest viewers, aged between 0 and 3 years. The event includes activities specially designed to stimulate the creativity and development of the little ones in an environment full of joy and safety. For two weekends (September 27-29 and October 4-6) in the premises of the Children’s Comic Opera, artistic, entertaining and educational activities take place to support young parents in one of the most beautiful stages of life together by their little ones. The event schedule is 16-20 on Fridays, respectively 10-20 on Saturdays and Sundays.
Opera Comică pentru Copii remains devoted to its mission of bringing joy, education and art of the highest quality to the lives of children and families in Bucharest and beyond. OCC is a public cultural institution subordinated to the Capital City Hall and the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest, led since 2014 by the soprano Felicia Filip. Unique in the world in terms of the audience it addresses, Opera Comică pentru Copii brings the little ones closer to art and culture, both through quality performances – opera, ballet, musicals, concert-lessons, operetta, musical theater – and through various innovative related projects such as summer and winter festivals, “Little Artist” Workshops, “OCC Store”, “Behind the Curtain” Tours, “Birthday Parties”, “Aventura Park”, “Subscriptions” or ” Volunteering”.
For press information, please contact the OCC Press Office by email at [email protected] or call 0745 45 56 45.
