With the creation of its youth chorus, the Paris Opera seeks to offer a programme for children aged 12 and over who wish to explore the performing arts through intensive vocal and musical training.

This initiative is fully in line with the Paris Opera’s mission: to open up, educate, pass on knowledge, and promote opera to all audiences. It is overseen by the Paris Opera Academy.

The youth chorus will be structured around two core and complementary objectives:

• Taking part in operatic productions at the Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille.

• Receiving comprehensive training in music and stagecraft, including a dedicated vocal curriculum, as well as courses in movement and theatrical expression, tailored to the Paris Opera’s specific artistic context.

The youth chorus season will also feature a dedicated concert programme, designed to showcase the skills and talents developed by the young singers throughout the year.

The Paris Opera aspires to recruit children and teenagers from across France, selecting around fifty participants for an official launch in September 2026.

“This project was born from our conviction that music, singing, and the stage can change lives. Offering young people such a training environment means giving them a space for expression, a sense of direction, and the opportunity to become the artists of tomorrow. For the Paris Opera, it is therefore essential to establish a long-term action plan. Following the creation of the Lyric Ensemble, of ADO, the two youth opera orchestras, and now with the upcoming youth chorus, our institution is deepening its commitment to vocal artistry, vocal training, and related professions. This youth chorus will play a full role in our programming while also developing its own artistic activity,” says Alexander Neef, General Director of the Paris National Opera.

“Convinced that the future of opera is being shaped today, the Paris Opera Academy has for ten years devoted itself to supporting young artists in their professional careers through its artist residencies, and in pre-professional development through ADO. The creation of the youth chorus at the Paris Opera represents a significant initiative that highlights the institution’s investment in education and its reflection on renewing artistic talent,” concludes Myriam Mazouzi, Director of the Paris Opera Academy.

The youth chorus will become a new component of ADO – Apprentissage de l’Opéra, and will contribute to the Paris Opera Academy’s core mission of nurturing young talent and promoting social and cultural diversity among the next generation of opera professionals.

The Paris Opera will ensure broad outreach of the youth chorus recruitment process, drawing on the Academy’s partnerships with schools in priority education zones, numerous conservatoires, and social and cultural services in cities engaged in arts education initiatives.

• May 2025: recruitment opens for a chorus master, responsible for creating and implementing the youth chorus’s curriculum in coordination with the Director of the Paris Opera Academy, leading rehearsals and performances, and assigning students to roles in productions. The position also includes overseeing the educational aspects of ADO (Apprentissage de l’Orchestre). The position is to be filled by September 2025.

• September 2025: preparatory phase of the youth chorus.

• Autumn 2025: announcement of the youth chorus recruitment process and timeline.

• September 2026: official launch of the youth chorus’s first academic year.