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Local school children write and star in new professional opera |
Filming has begun this week on a new opera – partly written by and starring children from two schools in South Wales.Pupils from Palmerston Primary School in Barry and Ysgol Erw’r Deryn special school in Penarth have been working with Welsh National Opera on their new production, The Merman King. A 25-minute opera inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, it tells of a young merman boy chosen by his fellow sea creatures to become king of the underwater world. However, when he finds himself washed up on shore without his tail, he loses confidence in his ability to do the job. As he embarks upon a quest to find his tail, he meets a host of characters, including a lion, chimp and elephant, who try to make him abandon his mission. The story is told by a cast of 60, which includes children from both schools, members of Touch Trust – a Cardiff-based organisation which provides touch-based movement and dance for people with profound disabilities and autism – professional performers and musicians from WNO, and members of WNO’s Singing Club, a Saturday morning group open to children across Wales aged 10 to 14. The opera was devised by the children through a series of workshops, which involved professional musicians and a librettist from WNO going into the schools. Because taking part in a traditional stage performance would not be possible for some of the performers, the end result will be a half-hour film featuring the opera, as well as a documentary on its making and development. Filming of the opera started yesterday in Wales Millennium Centre’s Orchestra Hall and will continue until Friday. The film of The Merman King will be premiered in the schools in May, with a public performance taking place WMC in June. Other local schools and community centres will then have the opportunity to screen the work. Charlotte Aubrey, project development co-ordinator for Touch Trust, says such work “increases self esteem, helps creativity, and gives them choices, such as the types of instruments they want to play.” Anne Thomas, deputy head teacher at Palmerston, says her pupils have had “an absolutely wonderful time” taking part. “It is five minutes before the end of the school day, WNO have been here since 9.30am and they still have the children’s attention,” she said speaking on one of the school’s rehearsal days. “They are stimulating them, raising them to perform.” And it’s not just the children and members of Touch Trust who are benefiting, says Paula Scott Project Manager of WNO MAX, which commissioned the work as part of its remit to bring opera to as many different groups of people as possible. She said that the workshops in the schools from which the opera was developed were “never about teaching, but using their skills and ideas”. “They’ve generated their opera and we’ve facilitated that by getting a composer and librettist in, but it’s their work.” “It’s been a two-way thing, a collaborative project the whole way.” She said that a venture such as this gives participants the chance to “show a different side they wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to show” while at the same time “opening up the door to opera”. “Hopefully some of them will come and see a dress rehearsal or performance,” she says, “we’re introducing a new audience to opera. “I think music is therapy, it doesn’t matter what background you are from, what language you speak, you can find common ground in music. And it is the same with these participants.” It’s a sentiment which Owen Webb, who plays the title role in The Merman King, agrees with. “Seeing how music makes people react and the changes in them brings me back to remembering why I became a singer in the first place,” he says. “You see it in their eyes, they tend to make more eye contact with you as the session goes on. You are gaining their trust. Music breaks down barriers.” Karen Hayes is narrative director for The Merman King. “The effect music can have is incredible – but so obvious,” she says. “It is so clear that music, of all the arts, is the one that profoundly touches us. If you try to define what moves you it’s hard to do it, but we all share that, we’re all moved by it. “Creativeness and self-expression is what makes us human and to deny that to somebody because they have a different way of expressing themselves is to act in a less than human way. “I challenge anyone to watch a session and not to be profoundly moved and not to be incredibly inspired by what they see.” For more information visit www.wno.org.uk or www.touchtrust.co.uk |
| Welsh National Opera web site: www.wno.org.uk |
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Tuesday, January 8, 2008 |
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