What is “Operetta”?
Operetta is a theatrical production that combines singing, acting and dance and has many of the musical elements of opera but is lighter and more popular in subject and style and contains spoken dialogue. It is also called light opera.

Is operetta a play about love with a little bit of singing? Can it be seen as easy entertainment? Can operetta portray dramatic emotion? Is operetta old-fashioned and quaintly precious, or is it a mirror of the time it was written? Can it offer us anything interesting to discover? Has the Musical taken over, killing off the Operetta? Is operetta still alive?

Yes it is! The “good old operetta” survives to succeed all over the world. The variety it offers has not lost its fascination!

What form could the operetta take today? In which music, images and stories would it express itself in 2011 (the 21st century)?
JUMUM follows up on these questions. Young composers from several countries are presently writing scores which will be performed at the JUMUM-festival in the summer of 2011 in Bad Ischl, Austria. This festival, plus the accompanying JUMUM exhibition will be presented in Eggenfelder in Lower Bavaria in 2012, followed by Celje in Slovenia in April 2012.