3. July 2025 | Press releases:

KaraOPER – Opera for all the senses Audience participation encouraged: concerts with the choir and orchestra of Technical University of Braunschweig

When opera meets participation, the result is a concert format that not only lets you listen, but also join in and sing along. With their current programme “KaraOPER”, the choir and orchestra of Technical University of Braunschweig present a project that is as thrilling as it is unusual. Famous opera choruses, intermezzos and preludes – from Verdi, Puccini and Tchaikovsky to Ethel Smyth – are performed, and at selected points, the audience becomes part of the ensemble.

During four concerts in the TU Braunschweig’s Audimax, the ensembles will open up the classical concert format and invite the audience to take part in a musical experiment. During well-known choral passages, audience members are expressly encouraged to sing along. No musical knowledge or singing experience is necessary. “Opera is a powerhouse of emotions,” say the organisers – and anyone who has ever experienced the excitement of an opera choir knows how powerful this collective energy can be.

Experience opera in a new way

The idea behind “KaraOPER” is as simple as it is captivating: the opera choir as the “voice of the people” is the perfect mediator between the stage and the auditorium. At a time when attending classical opera is no longer commonplace, this format offers a low-threshold opportunity to rediscover opera.

Many performers from the TU Braunschweig choir and orchestra will take part under the direction of Johannes Höing and Markus Lüdke.

Admission to the concerts is free. Tickets will only be issued at the venue one hour before the concert begins.

Venue

Audimax of TU Braunschweig, Universitätsplatz 3, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany

Concert dates

  • Saturday, 12 July 2025, 19:00
  • Sunday, 13 July 2025, 19:00
  • Tuesday, 15 July 2025, 20:00
  • Wednesday, 16 July 2025, 20:00

The programme includes

  • Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Preludio from the opera “La Traviata”
  • Carl Zeller (1842-1898): “Grüß euch Gott” from the operetta “Der Vogelhändler”
  • Ethel Smyth (1858-1944): Prologue to the musical drama “Der Wald” (premiered in 1902)
  • Georges Bizet (1838-1875): “Habanera” from the opera “Carmen”
  • Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924): Summchor from the opera “Madame Butterfly”
  • Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945): “Intermezzo sinfonico” from the opera “Cavalleria rusticana”
  • Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884): Polka from the opera “The Bartered Bride”
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Waltz scene from the opera “Eugene Onegin”