The Gingerbread Project is Opera Holloway’s largest-scale and most challenging project to date. It is one which fulfils all three of our aims and one that we are incredibly passionate about. The project will deliver a first class interpretation of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel whilst also leading children on a musical journey where they are introduced to operatic material, attending rehearsals and performing in front of a live audience to experience the process of creating a successful production. Furthermore, the project will offer valuable performance opportunities to young singers and musicians at their start of their professional careers. The production will present Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera in our own English translation and in a production which will appeal to an audience of all ages and backgrounds and attract both seasoned opera goers and those new to the genre.
Phase 1: Workshop
Our team will offer a three day workshop at the Toynbee Theatre, Aldate, London, to children of school ages Years 8-10 during the first week of the school summer holidays. The workshop, led by our trained workshop leader Caroline Swarbrick, will focus on material from Hansel and Gretel, specifically the extract involving the children’s chorus in Act III. This will encourage musical and dramatic engagement with the careful selection of operatic material which is safe, suitable and exciting for children. Funding permitted, the workshop will be offered free of charge to students of inner city schools.
Phase 2: Performances of Production
Following the workshop sessions, we will stage two full performances of the opera at the Toynbee Theatre with a cast of auditioned, singers, incorporating the children who participated in the workshop into the production. We will audition singers between the ages of 18 and 30 in March 2013 and double cast the roles of Hansel, Gretel, the Witch and the Mother in order to offer as many performance opportunities as possible for young performers. The performances will offer all those involved, including the audience, a positive insight into the world of opera as well as acting as a platform to showcase young musical and dramatic talent.
Phase 3: Production at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013
We will proceed to take our production of Hansel and Gretel to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013 for a 12 night run (12th-24th August) with the double cast roles performing on alternate days. These performances will not include the children’s chorus, but will allow for maximum exposure for the performers, our group, and our sponsors.
Our team are extremely passionate about The Gingerbread Project since it will offer an accessible form of opera to a wide demographic, presenting it as a popular and exciting art form to people of all ages. Furthermore, we will be able to performance opportunities to young music professional who need to gain experience in order to progress in their careers free of charge.
The owner of this project has not made any updates yet.
