At what age is it appropriate to bring my children to an (Italian) opera?
I'd like to take my kids to opera. However most opera shows are in original language (mostly Italian). Do you have experience with it?
Are kids following the story without understanding the language?
Aren't early readers (age 6) distracted by subtitle banners?
Any suggested piece to start with?
Anyone tried?
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I'm going to start this out by saying 1. I only have children under 4, so I'm lucky if I can get them to watch a decent movie without running away to find new ways to get in to something dangerous/destructive (I swear, one day I will find my one-year-old repelling down the side of the fridge). 2. I am lucky if they are listening to classical on the radio. I make the following statements as a trained musician, not from my experiences as a parent.
Have you thought about starting with operettas? Gilbert and Sullivan are, on the whole, comparable in "musicality" to the operas in the Bel Canto style, and are far more accessible (I dare you to try to claim that Turandot is anywhere close to as easy to understand as Mikado).
After that, I would suggest looking into local companies. I know of one group in my home town who does maybe a couple of operas a year. Small, volunteer organizations are far more likely to present these than large companies -- larger companies generally view that as uncouth.
I've heard some good things about opera films. I remember my dad being particularly fond of a version of Don Giovanni. That strikes me as an easy way to transition to the actual stage productions.
I can't follow the story. :-)
The main problem though is sitting still and keeping quiet. Once the child can do that for as long as required, it should be fine. For other kids some concert halls actually have concerts for children, which basically means popular classical music (and sometimes the good bits from operas) where kids are allowed to jump in the seats. Keep a look out for them.
My 8yo is a budding opera geek... has been for at least a year and a half. His favorites are The Phantom of the Opera and the first half of Les Miserables.
I think what both of those have in common are that the stories are very accessible to children: Phantom is a ghost story, pretty straightforward; Les Mis (the first half, anyway) is about a little girl growing up in a pretty drama-ridden scenario.
It's been my experience that kids respond to good (and complex) music regardless of the presence of words or if they understand the words, but crating a real fan requires that they get the whole experience -- and that means a story line that they can really grok. Most six-year-olds don't read fast or fluently enough to read subtitles at speed while simultaneously picking up on everything else that goes on in the story.
Rather than using an opera in a foreign language, consider starting with some in English and, after your child becomes a fan, use that motivation as a basis to start introducting other things.
What I wouldn't give for a few more really good English-language operas with kid-friendly plots!
The Met Opera has showings of operas in local movie theaters. You can get more information at the Met Opera website. It's probably easier (and cheaper) to remove a squirming kid from a movie theater than a theater. If nothing else, it could be an inexpensive way to see if your child is old enough to grasp some of the story, even if it's by the acting alone.
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