Community Opera News

Community Opera 2011

Following a series of auditions around Ryedale the Community Opera has now been cast, and a strong company of about 85 will now start weekly song-learning rehearsals on Sunday 12th June in Malton.

Director EM Whitfield Brooks explains:  "The first stage of the process is really just everyone learning what they have to sing, and say - this show is a musical, so there are spoken lines for some performers as well as songs to sing and harmonies to learn - and this happens between early June and our production week, which starts at the venue on Monday 18th July.

"Tim Brooks, our MD, and I run Sunday sessions for some of the cast, and I go into schools to teach others within school lunchbreaks or classtime. This year we are delighted to be working closely with Norton College and Amotherby Primary School.

"When we assemble at the beginning of production week, the idea is that we all know what we are singing - and this gives us just five days to stage the whole production, make all the set and costumes (with performers' help), work out all the choreography, rehearse with the orchestra and generally pull it all together. We have a truly mixed ability mult-generational cast, as ever, and are really excited about the weeks ahead"

Photograph by John Illingworth -  2010 Community Opera, 'Odyssey'

Odyssey, 2010 Community Opera

......was hailed as a great success. Anyone who was able to attend either the Friday or Saturday performances of Ryedale Festival's Community Opera 'Odyssey' would consider themselves very fortunate indeed. Kirkby-based duo of director Em Whitfield Brooks and composer/musical director Tim Brooks, along with a cast of 70 performers of all ages, abilities and levels of experience plus a highly talented artistic team, provided a musical spectacle in this year's Ryedale Festival that will be hard to match. A spectacle, let it be remembered, that was created in just five days!

To view a video account of Odyssey, click here. To hear Em Whitfield Brooks and Time Brooks in conversation about Odyssey, click here.

Community Opera Everyman - excerpt from OPERA magazine

.......An equally vital Ryedale tradition is the annual Community Opera devised and organized by Em Whitfield Brooks and the composer Tim Brooks, involving more than 100 Yorkshire schoolchildren and adults. This year's was an adaptation of the medieval morality play Everyman, given in the nave of St Peter's Church, Norton, with the rapt, expertly drilled cast, the band playing Brooks's tuneful, rather Brittenish music in the south aisle, and the packed audience hemming in the performers, united in a communal dramatic action as enthralling as any I have experienced in a long time.

David Cairns
Opera Magazine

Community Opera (from an article by the Arts Council England, Yorkshire)

Amateurs joined with the Community Opera team and guests to create an Opera in a Day.

The project, which was coordinated by Ryedale Festival Community Opera, aimed to celebrate a multitude of styles and approaches in one new piece of work. It was created through a series of music, dance, drama and visual arts workshops all taking place at Pickering Memorial Hall,.

There was an open invitation to take part in the project, which was free, regardless of age and ability.

The unique creative team behind the third Opera in a Day included Edward Lynch, one of the founder members of Leeds-based Phoenix Dance, DJ and MC artists from NYCC Connecting Youth Culture led by James Koppert, Ryedale Festival Community Opera and members of the public from the local community.

In total 40 people took part in the project, which was funded by Arts Council England, Yorkshire. Work began at 9.30am and the new opera was then performed at 4pm in the Memorial Hall.

Em Whitfield Brooks, Director of Ryedale Festival Community Opera, said: 'The idea for our Opera in a Day came about due to the large numbers of people from across Ryedale, of all ages, abilities and levels of experience who, by sheer numbers, could not get places in our summer productions which take place every year as part of the Ryedale Festival, so we decided to open the doors for a one-day experience to anybody who would like to take part.

‘The resulting work was a great success mixing dance, rap and soaring sopranos, with masks made by members of Cauwood Day Centre for learning disabled adults, and banners by three local youth clubs; everyone who took part learnt a lot about their chosen disciplines and about working with a wide range of other artists and participants in an intense but fun and very creative atmosphere.’

Jennifer Hallam, Visual Arts Officer, Arts Council England, Yorkshire, added: 'It's great to see people with such a wide range of backgrounds in the arts - from people entirely new to the arts, to experienced professional arts practitioners, coming together in this way to share ideas and skills in a way that benefits all the participants and the local community. Arts Council England, Yorkshire is delighted that we were able to support the day and Ryedale Festival Community Opera.’

From www.artscouncil.org.uk

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