From January to May 2026, opera will be travelling to five locations on Crete in the prefectures of Lasithi, Rethymno, and Chania, as well as to three islands in the Cyclades – Paros, Tinos, and Syros –, as part of the new interdisciplinary arts education programme Opera in 3 School Grades, conducted by the Learning & Participation Department of the Greek National Opera. The programme is designed for Junior High School students and revolves around a new, original music theatre work, titled Teen e-oper@;. Its goal is to meaningfully integrate opera and music theatre into a school class’s daily life through an experiential, creative, and participatory educational process. Participation in the programme is free of charge. The programme is sponsored by the National Bank, with the Attica Group serving as the official transportation sponsor.

Through Teen e-oper@;, school classes will actively participate in a collective process of learning and creating. The work brings the teenagers’ thoughts, voices, and inner worlds to the foreground by transforming snapshots from their daily lives into shared artistic experiences. The music and text combine elements of contemporary and experimental opera, body percussion, choral speech, electroacoustic practices, and prerecorded and edited sounds.  These sound levels coexist live on stage with the physical and vocal sounds produced by the students, without the need for prior musical training. Musical technology serves as an active tool of dramaturgy, creating soundscapes and settings that oscillate between realism and imagination, centred on the teenagers’ monologues.

Through weekly meetings as part of the curriculum, and guided by the educational and artistic team, participating classes will learn the core tools, aesthetic principles, and philosophy of opera, and will gradually work together to prepare a performance to be presented both within the school setting and to the wider local community.

The programme Opera in 3 School Grades is designed to transform classrooms into spaces for artistic exploration and expression, cultivating students’ self-reliance, imagination, and active participation, while linking the creative process to teenagers’ contemporary ways of thinking and experiencing.

Through Teen e-oper@;, school classes will actively participate in a collective process of learning and creating. The work brings the teenagers’ thoughts, voices, and inner worlds to the foreground by transforming snapshots from their daily lives into shared artistic experiences. The music and text combine elements of contemporary and experimental opera, body percussion, choral speech, electroacoustic practices, and prerecorded and edited sounds. These sound levels coexist live on stage with the physical and vocal sounds produced by the students, without the need for prior musical training. Musical technology serves as an active tool of dramaturgy, creating soundscapes and settings that oscillate between realism and imagination, centred on the teenagers’ monologues.

Through weekly meetings as part of the curriculum, and guided by the educational and artistic team, participating classes will learn the core tools, aesthetic principles, and philosophy of opera, and will gradually work together to prepare a performance to be presented both within the school setting and to the wider local community.

The programme Opera in 3 School Grades is designed to transform classrooms into spaces for artistic exploration and expression, cultivating students’ self-reliance, imagination, and active participation, while linking the creative process to teenagers’ contemporary ways of thinking and experiencing.