Children's opera orchestra debuts with Bizet and Humperdinck
This season at Zurich Opera House, an orchestra of 76 children and young people has prepared excerpts from «Carmen» and «Hansel and Gretel». It presents these under the direction of General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda and Director of Studies Ann-Katrin Stöcker.
Since September 2025, children and young people from all over the canton of Zurich have been rehearsing works together that are usually reserved for professional orchestras. On Whit Monday, the result can be experienced for the first time on the stage of Zurich Opera House.
A project for the entire canton
The Children's Opera Orchestra is closely embedded in the music school landscape of the Canton of Zurich: In cooperation with the music schools, talented children from all regions were found and selected for the orchestra. In register and tutti rehearsals, accompanied by 28 mentors, an orchestral sound has developed in around ten months that goes far beyond an educational school project.
What makes it special: The children and young people work on original repertoire and experience opera at close quarters. The highlight was a side-by-side rehearsal in January 2026, where the children sat in the middle of the professional orchestra and performed excerpts from «Carmen» together. «Now it's really become real,» music theater teacher Thirza Möschinger sums up this moment.
Professionals as role models and partners
Director of Studies and conductor Ann-Katrin Stöcker has accompanied the orchestra from the very beginning. She is impressed by the children's motivation. «There are days with several hours of rehearsal - and then the children go home and continue practicing,» she says. The rehearsals are deliberately based on those with a professional orchestra. The focus is on interaction, technical challenges and the search for a common sound. At the same time, they also get to know the orchestra as a social structure. Older children take on responsibility and help the younger ones with cues and counting.
At the premiere on Whit Monday, the children's opera orchestra will perform in public for the first time - together with soloists and the Zurich Opera Children's Choir, under the musical direction of Gianandrea Noseda and Ann-Katrin Stöcker.
Detailed information and interviews with Thirza Möschinger, Ann-Katrin Stöcker and a participating 12-year-old violinist can be found in Magazine No. 5, Season 2025/26, from page 36 or online.
Dates:
Whit Monday, May 25, 2026, 11.15 a.m. - Zurich Opera House (premiere)
Monday, June 1, 2026, 11.00 a.m. - Zurich Opera House (school performance)
Saturday, June 13, 2026, 7 p.m. - Stadthaus Winterthur
Thursday, June 18, 2026, 11.00 a.m. - Zurich Opera House (school performance)
Sunday, June 21, 2026, 5 p.m. - Dietikon Town Hall
