We reach young people with the love of reading

Photos by Khalid al Busaidi.

The Royal Opera House Muscat Education Team is making great efforts this season to reach out to young people in the community, encouraging and nurturing a deep love of reading, writing and theatre, connecting communities through enriching cultural experiences. Commenting on the initiative, ROHM Artistic Director Umberto Fanni said: “As an institution, we are committed to bringing the best creative work from around the world to continue to inspire our younger generations.”

ROHM hosted creative writer Elisabetta Dami for two days of creative reading sessions last week, highlighting the adventures of beloved characters Geronimo Stilton and his sister Thea. Featuring 60 children aged 7 to 12 in each session, these special, engaging presentations allowed students from various schools around Muscat to explore the much-loved Geronimo Stilton stories. They highlighted the adventures of Geronimo Stilton, the charming mouse journalist whose humorous and heartwarming stories captured the imagination of children around the world. They explore the art of storytelling through a workshop with the author himself on ways to bring characters to life on the written page. An Omani Sign Language interpreter was also offered at one session.

On Thursday 7th – Elisabetta’s 66th birthday – selected students from the Royal Flight and Indian School Wadi Kabir attended the workshop in the Music Library and learned that Geronimo Stilton was born in a children’s hospital and was always humorous and full of hope. He is a 35-year-old, cute journalist Mouse and lives on Mouse Island. His stories, always written from the heart, have positive results. The core values ​​that his books try to instill in young readers are loyalty, honesty, kindness, honesty and courage. They encourage respect for other people, families, cultures and books through the joy and friendships of reading.

Good values ​​are like the Golden Compass. They depict a cooperative network of friends. Good books are windows to the future and stay with us throughout our lives; Books are powerful. Filled with slogans and slogans, Elisabetta started writing books when she was 7, their age. Geronimo’s 25-year-old sister, Thea Stilton, was written for girls. ‘Let’s Fly on the Wings of Imagination’ is another mantra. He has sold more than 182 million books worldwide, translated into more than 50 languages.

Then a surprise: Two life-size characters of Geronimo and Thea appeared and “Giochiamo Insiemi”, (Let’s play together) Italian Rap, inspiring the kids to get up and dance. The more lyrical song “Cerca la Felicità” (Search for Happiness) received a good response from the dancing children. Elisabetta Dami asked why the children are here today and who wants to be writers now. ‘Believe, persevere and follow your dreams,’ he nudged. The Geronimo stories were originally designed to bring comfort and joy to children in hospitals and reflected the author’s commitment to volunteerism and philanthropy. “Young generations are our hope for a better future, it is our responsibility to support their growth by transferring culture and values,” he said.

This past Saturday, a new monthly event inspired by a fairytale season at ROHM began. “Let’s Read”, a theatrical presentation of the story and characters with ‘YouThinkers’, explored the magical tale of “Beauty and the Beast”. Expect the spectacular ‘Show on Ice’ to come to ROHM on January 2 – 4, 2025.

‘YouThinkers’ is a Theatrical Youth Organization and Faisal Al Ajmi and Meera Al Shezawi, who came together at the GuTech Theater Group, presented sessions in both Arabic and English together with Arabic Sign Language translator Huda Al Amri.

The interaction between readers and children began immediately with the topic “Beauty and the Beast.” They started with an ice-breaking coordination circle game activity led by Faisal. Sitting on the soft red velvet armchairs, Meera asked the children to close their eyes and she began to read. He asked them what they saw and got answers about castles, houses, rain or shine! The connection to this text is of course that Beauty loves to read – she is a ‘bookworm’! Children shared their favorite storybooks and answered the question of whether they had done something brave like Beauty. The format, then, is not to read cover to cover without commenting; each page is commented and discussed; An early introduction to topic and content analysis. The lesson of the beauty tale is that love and beauty come from within; It’s not just superficial.

In a clever expansion of the assignment that this observer had not expected, it was now the children’s turn to read literature, one page each. This is excellent practice since big or long words have already been modeled and possibly learned. Each student received a copy of the booklet, charmingly printed by ROHM. Brimming with performance confidence, Young Arya was definitely a hit with British readers!

The next session will be held on Saturday, December 14, with “One Thousand and One Nights” in preparation for the Mariinsky Ballet in Vladivostok on February 6-7.

“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” will be released on January 11, 2025, before premiering with a live orchestra on April 10 and 11.

Robin Hood is scheduled to be performed on February 22, before Michele Dall’Ongaro’s children’s opera on April 18 and 19.