The main philosophy of the Opera Forward Festival is to offer to audiences and artists the opportunity to contribute to the evolution of opera in modern times. The festival includes performances by both established names and a new generation of creatives.

The most peculiar stage of this big festival was OFF Labs Performing Arts in Studio Boekman, fully dedicated to the performance of new operas born from the collaboration between composition students with dramaturges, scenographers, directors, and choreographers from several other study institutions of the Netherlands.

We are extremely proud of our KC students who actively took part in the challenge of making such a traditional entertainment form like opera, still intriguing and innovative.

Those are some of their reactions:

Composing a chamber opera for OFF LAB has brought me to a group of amazing artists in various discipline, and experienced new and different forms of contemporary operas. The way to collaborate is liberating!
Alice Yeung

To summarize my experience in the Opera Forward Festival in one single word would be DISCOVERY. It was a space where I got to know myself more, to explore more of my abilities and limits alongside my weaknesses, fear and strengths. As classical singers we normally have to perform performed repertoires. Being able to face something unknown, something recently created, It turns you into an interpreter and a creator of a world yet to be discovered for the public. That is an inimitable and beautiful feeling.
Yulietta Quevedo

It was a challenging yet extremely rewarding experience to create something from scratch with colleagues coming from different disciplines that we normally wouldn’t be able to cross path with. It did not only allow me to be a better musician, but also a better artist through all the trial-and-errors to eventually co-create something new and beautiful together!
Viola Chong

Participating in Opera Forward Festival was a very challenging and exciting experience. I got to meet incredible artists and musicians, and learned so much from them. It was so rewarding to present our work after all our effort. It allowed me to get myself much more as an artist. To do and accompany the process of an opera's creation from the start was just amazing! Thank you!
Bruna Pereira