Through the Opera Scholarship, we support a combined composition and doctoral research project conducted in cooperation with the Hamburg State Opera (Hamburgische Staatsoper) and the Institute for Cultural Innovation Research at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre (Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg).
The scholarship will be awarded for the fourth time in 2024, following previous recipients: Samuel Penderbayne (2015), Lorenzo Romano (2018), and Clemens K. Thomas (2022). It includes a monthly stipend of up to €1,600 within the framework of our Dissertation Plus funding program.
The artistic component of the doctoral project consists of composing a full-length chamber opera, which, in this edition, will engage critically with the concept of the Bürgeroper ("civic opera"). The composer is expected to reflect on and incorporate this concept into the opera’s artistic conception and composition. The aim is to create a new form of Bürgeroper that either revisits its historical connotations and/or explores its contemporary participatory potential. The premiere of the newly composed opera is scheduled for the 2027/28 season.
The academic component of the dissertation involves investigating the resulting work through an artistic research methodology that combines creative practice with scholarly reflection. The opera will premiere at the opera stabile of the Hamburg State Opera.
On the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Hamburg State Opera in the 2027/28 season, the current call for applications invites composers to engage with the concept of the “Bürgeroper” (“civic opera”). Applicants are expected to critically reflect on this concept and incorporate it into the conception and composition of a new music theatre work. The aim is to create a new form of civic opera that either revisits the historical significance of the term and/or considers its contemporary, participatory dimensions.
The Concept of the Bürgeroper
The term Bürgeroper can be understood in two principal ways. Firstly, it refers to the Hamburg State Opera itself, whose historical roots are deeply embedded in the civic life of the city. On January 2, 1678, the Hamburg Opera at Gänsemarkt opened under the name Opern-Theatrum as the first privately operated opera house in Germany. Unlike many other European opera houses, which were typically reserved for aristocratic or courtly audiences, Hamburg’s opera was oriented from the beginning toward the urban citizenry. The city’s residents played an active role in organizing and supporting the institution, which is why it came to be known as a Bürgeroper—an opera by and for the citizens—an idea that was revolutionary for its time.
The Idea of Participation
Secondly, the term Bürgeroper is used today to describe participatory music theatre projects in which citizens—non-professionals without formal training in music or performance—are directly involved in the creative process and collaborate with professional artists. This form of theatre fosters a unique proximity between artists and audiences by dissolving traditional boundaries between the stage and the public. Members of the community are invited to contribute in diverse capacities, whether as singers and performers on stage or as part of the organizational and technical teams behind the scenes. One of the main goals of such projects is to make opera and music theatre more accessible to a broader audience and to actively include citizens in the artistic creation process. The intent is to establish opera as something to be experienced and shaped collaboratively by the city’s inhabitants.
Potential Performance Venues
A potential venue for the premiere of the newly developed civic opera is the opera stabile, the Hamburg State Opera’s smaller performance space. However, applicants are also encouraged to further develop the civic opera concept by, for example, designing a series of short operas to be performed at different locations across the city. This decentralized approach could serve to extend the notion of the Bürgeroper, engaging the public in new ways by staging opera not only in traditional venues, but also in public and unconventional urban spaces.
Ideally, the work should not only reflect on the concept of Bürgeroper in artistic terms, but also reinterpret it in relation to its integration into the urban landscape. At the same time, completely different and innovative interpretations of the concept are welcome. Applicants are free to determine how and to what extent they relate to the historical and participatory ideas outlined above.
