Tuesday 27 April 2021

Scottish Opera's Outreach and Education department celebrates its 50th anniversary

Scottish Opera-Go-Round Bus in 1971 (Photo The Glasgow Herald)
The way we were: the Scottish Opera-Go-Round Bus in 1971 (Photo The Glasgow Herald)

Scottish Opera's Outreach and Education department is rightly celebrating the milestone of reaching its 50th anniversary year, and the events and projects planned show that they are as busy as ever despite restrictions.

A package of digital initiatives for primary school children marks the first time the Company has offered projects to all Primary 1 to 7 ages simultaneously, giving schools the opportunity to engage all pupils in a Scottish Opera primary schools project at the same time ranging from introducing Primary 1 to 3 to brass instruments whilst also supporting delivery of the Early and First Level numeracy curriculum, to a digital storybook project which introduces Mandarin language skills alongside concepts of food preparation and healthy eating (for Primary 3 and 4), whilst a digital performance project invites Primary 5 to 7 pupils on an intergalactic adventure to save Planet Earth and engage with the topic of climate change as Scotland prepares to host the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) later this year.

Scottish Opera’s work with older pupils in secondary schools includes the creation of resources relating to a sequence of filmed scenes in three contrasting stagings, directed by Roxana Haines, of Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amore as part of the Scottish Opera: On Screen collection. Available to schools in Spring 2022, the resources will encourage critical analysis from secondary school pupils studying Music, Art & Design and Theatre Studies.

Scottish Opera online performance of Primary School project Fever! in 2020
Scottish Opera online performance of Primary School project Fever! in 2020

Scottish Opera Young Company returns to the stage for the first time since March 2019 with a new production Kurt Weill’s The Tsar Has His Photograph Taken directed by Roxana Haines. Rehearsals are underway via Zoom and will culminate in outdoor performances in the car park of the Company’s Edington Street Production Studios in Glasgow on 31 July and 1 August. Looking further ahead, in 2022 the company will give the world premiere of Rubble by composer Gareth Williams and writer/director Johnny McKnight, specially commissioned for the department’s milestone anniversary.

With a new Breath Cycle project, the company begins work on a new initiative to create a song collection for and by people affected by Covid-19, and there are further projects to focus on health and wellbeing with plans also underway to engage children with the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.

Full information from the Scottish Opera website.

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