|
Earlier this year, the Arts Council Wales (ACW) gave the green light and a funding agreement for a new project for Wales, proposed by rising pride of the country, Swansea City Opera (SCO). Established in 2004, SCO has fast cemented a reputation for quality, accessible operatic performances across the UK - grabbing a place in The Times’ ‘Top Five Must See Opera’ listings several times over for their last two tours in winter/spring 05/06 and 06/07 of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers and Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment - and for promoting the name of Swansea as a cultural city.
In 06/07 ACW provided additional funding for a new project specifically for Wales, linked to SCO’s tour of Donizetti’s comedy The Daughter of the Regiment. The project involved 10 venues throughout Wales, 60 hours of talks and workshops - for those with an interest in the creative process of staging operas - and 10 special surtitled performances for speakers of the Welsh language, where the opera is ordinarily sung in English. Additionally, extra promotional materials, such as leaflets and posters, were printed in dual-language for targeted distribution, with particular emphasis on ‘new audiences’, to and around the local communities set to receive these special performances. The communities included in the project were Barry, Aberdare, Pwllheli, Ucheldra, Harlech, Llanelli, Beaufort, Blackwood and Brecon.
ACW have again granted funding towards a project to run alongside SCO’s tour winter/spring 07/08 of The Magic Flute by Mozart. Being on a magical theme, The Magic Flute is especially suitable for young people, and children from schools across Wales will be involved in workshops leading up to local performances in which they will be included, both in a singing and in an acting capacity. In addition, following on from the highly successful collaboration of ‘Cars to Mars’ with Dragon Arts (funded by the Arts Council of Wales through the Millenium Comission), members of Dragon Arts, an organisation that works with the homeless in Swansea, will receive special participatory workshops leading up to the performance of The Magic Flute at The Grand Theatre, Swansea in which they will take part in an acting capacity and will also help with prop making.
SCO’s Artistic Co-Director, Brendan Wheatley, comments, “Swansea City Opera is delighted to be granted the opportunity to work with the Arts Council Wales on our ongoing Audience Development programme, and to play a part, not just in maintaining and progressing the cultural roots of Wales publicly throughout the UK, but to also bring something back to Welsh theatre audiences, music enthusiasts and lovers of opera, especially those in more rural areas where theatres do not often find surtitles to be cost-effective and where people may find it impractical to trip to the city to see the opera”
|
