Rising Voices

Presentation

Across Europe, opera companies are increasingly recognising that young people should not simply experience opera, they should help shape its future. Rising Voices responds to a shared European challenge: how can opera companies move beyond short-term participation projects to create lasting relationships with young people and embed youth voice within their organisations? Rising Voices is Irish National Opera's response: a long-term, youth-led creative programme that seeks to establish a healthy and thriving youth presence within the company.

Developed in partnership with Crosscare, Rising Voices brings together young people from Dublin's inner city with professional artists and youth workers to explore opera as a multidisciplinary artform. Participants will co-create an original work inspired by their own experiences, ideas and creative voices. Alongside artistic excellence, the programme nurtures belonging, confidence, leadership and creative ownership.

At the heart of Rising Voices is the belief that young people should help shape how opera evolves. A Youth Advisory Group will be set up, establishing a panel of peers who will work alongside the creative team, ensuring participants influence both the artistic process and INO's approach to youth engagement.

Rather than delivering a stand-alone participation project, Rising Voices is designed to establish a permanent youth presence within INO. By embedding youth voice, community partnerships and clear creative pathways, the project lays the foundations for a permanent youth presence within INO, including the development of a sustainable youth chorus and ongoing opportunities for young people to participate in the artistic life of the company.

Working with Materahub, the project will create practical methodologies for evaluation and create a strong and accessible case-study to share its learning. This will contribute to wider conversations about youth participation and the future of opera across Europe.

Artistic Team

Paddy Jo Malpas, Project Lead, Learning & Participation Manager, Irish National Opera (Irish): Paddy Jo leads the outreach programme for INO and will be leading the creation of the project. Sharon Carty, Creative Lead, Mezzo-Soprano (Irish): Sharon is a professional opera singer, who has devoted her career to education and outreach projects, especially geared towards young people. She is an accomplished musician and vocal teacher. Dr. Caoimhe Wandel-Brannigan, Evaluator Artist-Researcher, School of Creative Arts, Trinity College Dublin (Irish): Caoimhe's work straddles the line between academia and artistic progress, especially in the field of advanced technologies in the arts. Her work on INO's Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnach established her as an accomplished and thorough evaluation researcher. Carlo Ferretti, Evaluation & Methodology Consultant, Head of Research & Innovation, MateraHub (Italian): Carlo has worked extensively on several European artistic projects with his work with MeteraHub. His work focuses on coordinating Horizon Europe Projects, designing new methodologies and generating and producing research papers.

Partners