The Opéra de Lyon strives every day to fulfill its mission: to educate, share, and promote inclusion and openness, through educational and cultural engagements in the fields of education, social development, health, and law. To honour this commitment, our offerings include performances for students from primary school to university, participatory arts projects, and Artistic and Cultural Education programs. Located in the heart of the city, the Opéra de Lyon is also active throughout the entire region – reaching priority neighborhoods in Lyon, as well as towns across the Métropole and Region – creating experiences for people who may feel isolated or distant from cultural life. The Opéra de Lyon is fortunate to rely on a creative and dedicated artistic team – including the Orchestra, Chorus, Maîtrise, Ballet, technical staff, and associate artists – enabling the creation of unique projects designed to reach and inspire a wide audience.

Opera and Youth : Primary and middle schools Over 10,000 preschool, primary and middle school students from the entire Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region benefit from a multidisciplinary programme specially designed for young audiences. In collaboration with Education Nationale, artists and associate companies, teachers are offered dedicated sessions to prepare their classes before attending performances. All the relevant resources are available on an online education portal accessible via the Opéra de Lyon website.

Opera and Youth : High school and universities
Thanks to special ticketing and custom sessions, each season, over 2,000 high school and university students discover Opéra de Lyon and its programming in all its artistic diversity through programs thoughtfully tailored to the school curriculum. In collaboration with the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, each season, the Lycéens et Apprentis au Spectacle program offers the opportunity to high schoolers to discover the Opera, and provides teachers with preparation sessions before attending with their students to the selected performances. Students are also offered the opportunity to meet artists, tech crews, to take tours of the backstage areas and design studios, and benefit from vocal training sessions at school as well as initiatives provided by other cultural institutions in Lyon.
Check the info and full programme on the Teachers section.

Cultural and artistic education The Opéra de Lyon has drawn inspiration from the three pillars established by Artistic and Cultural Education (EAC) to design programs aligned with the season’s featured works, allowing children from primary, middle, and high schools to explore music, literature, dance, and vocal arts. Each season, tailored pathways are developed to carry out the selected projects, in collaboration with school groups and Opéra de Lyon’s staff: backstage tours, open rehearsals, discussions with professionals, and arts workshops – offering numerous opportunities to discover performing arts and become familiar with the works.

Participative creation
Each season, Opéra de Lyon creates unique artistic projects favouring self-expression and participation. In 2026-2027, we are renewing our collaboration with the “Making Waves” teams to produce a radio project. Through radio and podcast, we wish to provide spaces favouring and nourishing discussions, self-expression, and creation. The Maîtrise and middle schoolers will gather on stage at Théâtre Nouvelle Génération (TNG), after a year of workshops and rehearsals revolving around Isabelle Albouker’s opera Olympe the Rebel. This large-scale, participative project is an opportunity for multidisciplinary work, with the contribution of the entire school and Maîtrise teaching staff.

Pôle de Ressources pour l’Éducation Artistique et Culturelle (PRÉAC) (Artistic and cultural education resources centre)
The PREAC Opéra et Expressions vocales is jointly conducted by the Délégations Académiques aux Arts et à la Culture of the Lyon, Grenoble and Clermont-Ferrand districts, the DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Opéra de Lyon. PREAC provides opera and vocal training for everyone who takes part in the EAC – teachers, artists and cultural operators – as well as projects and activities for young people. This artistic and cultural training, deployed over 2 years, revolves around national lectures followed by activities throughout the region, in collaboration with cultural organisations and based on their season’s programming.

From the heart of the city to the entire region The Opéra de Lyon has signed the Charte de Coopération culturelle de la Ville de Lyon (City of Lyon’s Cultural Cooperation Charter), contributing to education for all, in the fields of health, social services, and law, in collaboration with other artistic organisations.

Opera on the Road
Opera on the Road’s mission is to build bridges and create connections with locals in various areas: cities, rural communities, high schools, social care facilities, city halls, or recently-opened cultural centres. Each Opera on the Road provides an opportunity to develop an outreach project focused on discovering the arts, both in theory and in practice, through workshops (theatre, music, vocal training) conducted in collaboration with schools, associations, and community centres.

Opera and Health
The Opéra de Lyon has been involved in the Culture and Health program since 2013 and has established partnership agreements with the city’s main healthcare institutions: the Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL), Saint Jean de Dieu Hospital, and the CCAS de Lyon. Examples of these collaborations include the development of the “Canal Opera” TV channel, broadcast across the 13 facilities of the HCL network; regular dance workshops for patients led by Ballet dancers; sessions with musicians for care services; concerts and performances held in hospitals; visits by retirement home residents to the Opéra de Lyon; professional – experts meetings and conferences; and a wide range of initiatives updated annually.