Inner Voic­es {Voix intérieures} is a col­lab­o­ra­tive opera project by and for chil­dren that invites groups of kids to help cre­ate oper­at­ic works inspired by their imag­i­na­tions. These operas take place in abstract worlds where per­son­al growth and col­lec­tive strength guide dream­like quests that unfold across non-lin­ear timelines.

Rather than ask­ing chil­dren to per­form a pre-writ­ten work, the project invites them to par­tic­i­pate in the cre­ative process itself. Over sev­er­al weeks, stu­dents immerse them­selves in the world of con­tem­po­rary opera through work­shops where they explore music and stage cre­ation as a space for play, rit­u­al, and exper­i­men­ta­tion. Under our care, each group learns to mas­ter stage prac­tices by work­ing on pres­ence, move­ment, voice, and the con­cep­tu­al­iza­tion of ideas. The project aims to devel­op self-con­fi­dence, active lis­ten­ing, and per­son­al expres­sion through a shared artis­tic experience.

“If you could cre­ate any­thing, in a world where the only lim­it would be your imag­i­na­tion, what would it be?”

This ques­tion lays the foun­da­tion for a space of absolute trust that we seek to estab­lish in our projects in order to nur­ture children’s cre­ative essence as well as their rela­tion­ship to new music and the opera of tomorrow.

The under­ly­ing themes we dis­cov­er when lis­ten­ing to the voic­es of tomor­row in par­tic­i­pa­to­ry music are not about tak­ing risks or fear of the unknown. Rather, they revolve around gen­uine human con­nec­tions and a thriv­ing open­ness to new experiences.

Operas’ syn­op­sis

Paréi­dolie (2023) (Parei­do­lia): a look at the col­lec­tive nature of our species across space and time, where mes­sages revealed through the clouds prompt us to reflect on our per­son­al development.

Fioles de rêve (2024) (Vials of Dream): an explo­ration of lucid­i­ty in dreams, the var­i­ous human qual­i­ties that can flour­ish there, as well as a study of flow objects to high­light the col­or­ful land­scape of the dream world.

L’ombre ailée et la licorne des mers (bulbe d’infini) (2025) (The Sea Uni­corn and the Less­er False Vam­pire (Seed of Infin­i­ty)): a heal­ing jour­ney through the use of the ele­ments of water and air, as well as our star ani­mals: the bat and the nar­whal. A dive into sym­bol­ism and mem­o­ry to find inner strength and peace.

Dépêche-toi (2026) (Hur­ry Up): a man­i­festo on time in the school ecosys­tem, where chil­dren and adults try to press a mag­ic accel­er­a­tion but­ton to com­plete their activ­i­ties. In the end, is it real­ly effective?

Project imple­men­ta­tion time­line (13 weeks)

The work is cre­at­ed dur­ing a 12-week res­i­den­cy in a school set­ting. Stu­dents par­tic­i­pate in the cre­ation of the opera and take part in its pub­lic per­for­mance, accom­pa­nied on stage by Maxime and an ensem­ble of pro­fes­sion­al musi­cians, as well as by Véronique and a ded­i­cat­ed tech­ni­cal team both back­stage and in the con­trol room. 

Meet­ing with the groups and intro­duc­tion to the theme | Week 1

Explorato­ry activ­i­ties (theme, music, opera, voice)

Sto­ry devel­op­ment | Weeks 1–6

Exper­i­men­ta­tion with musi­cal, tex­tu­al (libret­to), and chore­o­graph­ic material

Cre­ation of com­po­si­tions based on the exper­i­ments | Weeks 5–7

Final­iz­ing the libret­to and shar­ing the first pieces with the students

Per­for­mance work and col­lab­o­ra­tive cre­ation | Weeks 7–10

Assign­ing roles, char­ac­ter devel­op­ment, stag­ing (draw­ing inspi­ra­tion from dis­cus­sions with stu­dents and group inter­ac­tions to final­ize the pieces)

Con­nect­ing the work to our reflec­tions on the theme | Weeks 9–12

Refin­ing the musi­cal mate­r­i­al, devel­op­ing a sense of con­nec­tion to one’s char­ac­ter, and stag­ing work

Visu­al design | Weeks 3–12

Cre­at­ing sym­bols that con­tribute to the visu­al aspect of the work (on-stage pro­jec­tions) and cos­tume elements

Rehearsals for the per­for­mance | Weeks 11 and 12

Pub­lic Pre­sen­ta­tion | Week 13

This pub­lic pre­sen­ta­tion is made pos­si­ble through a part­ner­ship with Le Vivi­er, an orga­ni­za­tion spe­cial­iz­ing in con­tem­po­rary music. The project has also received sup­port from the “La cul­ture à l’école” pro­gram of the Que­bec Min­istry of Edu­ca­tion (MEQ), as well as from the Que­bec Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ca­tions (MCCQ) and the Con­seil des arts et des let­tres du Québec.

Excerpt from our logbook

Log­book

Plan­ning and Reveal­ing, Week ___

GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER

- Three well-being-focused ques­tions to answer, fol­lowed by each stu­dent tak­ing turns to share: 

- An object that helps you refocus

- A com­fort­ing place

- A sooth­ing activ­i­ty you do to calm your­self down

CREATION
- Draw a pic­ture rep­re­sent­ing the project that will be used in the video presentation
- Draw from a deck of vocal game cards and explore with the groups
- Chant select­ed slo­gans as a group with very intense piano accom­pa­ni­ment (the voice must be loud­er than the piano)

REFLECTION
- The more orga­nized we are with a clear and shared plan, the more we can exper­i­ment and dis­cov­er things (open­ness)
- Giv­ing chil­dren deci­sion-mak­ing pow­er con­nects them to the project
- Vary the approach­es across the three groups to avoid rep­e­ti­tion and bet­ter lis­ten to the group’s needs and ideas

CHALLENGE
- To engage a non-par­tic­i­pat­ing stu­dent: stay close with kind­ness and par­tic­i­pate with the group until they feel con­nect­ed. (for exam­ple: dur­ing the choir)

Con­tact

Maxime Daigneault [daigneault.maxime(at)gmail.com]

Véronique Girard [veronique.d.girard(at)gmail.com]