Brief description of project “EurOpera - The Opera In Europe” “EurOpera”: A trinational youth exchange. The participating organisations were “Offener Kunstverein Potsdam/Land Brandenburg” (Potsdam, DE), “Teatro Dispar” (Bilbao, ES) and “Bachi da Setola” (Polignano a mare, IT). The idea for the project occurred during a meeting of the involved groups in the course of the Youth in Action funded project “Cave Tales” which took place in Plentzia, ES in April 2014. The participants have fond memories of a time of unprecedented personal development, excitement and fun as well as growth in personal and artistic knowledge. International friendships were founded and inspiration for coming arts projects was taken home by everyone. Working on the “Cave Tales” project, the groups experienced the impressiveness of classical music as part of a modern stage production: an aria sung by a young woman without an amplifier and microphone was the reason to make OPERA the central element and topic of the next joint project. So the groups started collecting and debating ideas and ultimately arrived with a concept. “EurOpera” took place in Polignano a mare (IT) in September 2015. The subject of the project was the confrontation of opera as a European „gesamtkunstwerk“. The involved groups added up to a total number of 51 participants and 9 leaders. All three groups are working in various fields of arts with an emphasis on performing arts in their respective countries on a regular basis. „Opera“ as central topic, combining fine arts and crafts with performing arts and music, came to us as a light hearted choice. Many European countries developed their own tradition of opera over the centuries and kept it alive until this day when it is still a vivid art form taking new shape and producing new ways of expression every day. While opera is the form, the contents of our projects have been The idea of Freedom - (for example as in Fidelio) Love without borders - (for example as in L’Orfeo) The power of intrigues - (for example as in Rigoletto) Each of the involved groups picked one masterpiece from the world of opera and dealt with it in contents and expression. The connection between the participants’ everyday life and the dramatic scope of the libretto was the center of attention for us. The Italian group picked places they saw fit for an open air show that should be the result of the project. During the joint time in Polignano a mare the participants introduced to each other the results of their research and then the groups mixed and divided into a number of workshops in which the specific parts of the final performance were developed. Workshops included: “Dance/Movement”, “Choreography”, “Singing”, “Improvisation / Character”and "Puppet Animation". All workshops were held by professional artists. The final performance: "Forget Verona - Grande apertura - Il primo Festival dell´ Opera di Polignano a Mare". It took place on the Piazza San Benedetto in the Old Town of Polignano a Mare. For 1 hour, the large audience followed that amazing result of tri-national cooperation; people were astonished, they laughed - and when in the end the young singer - again without an amplifier sang the aria "Pace pace mio dio" aus der Verdi-Oper "La forza del destino", people hummed, and some cried with emotion... The final public performance gave the audience an opportunity to experience the power and vividness of European cultural youth work directly. So this project has created persistent bonds between the participants and contributed to the friendship of the peoples of Europe. “EurOpera!”