Composer Bethany Tennick (left) & Librettist Iona Ramsay (right)
19/12/24
Commissioning | Snappy Operas | News
A New Snappy Opera Commission
The Snappy Operas canon expands, with an exciting co-commission with Dunedin Consort
In 2025 we will be working in partnership with Dunedin Consort on the creation of a new Snappy Opera. This new co-commission will draw together the priorities and expertise of both Mahogany Opera and Dunedin Consort, to create a brand-new piece to join the Snappy Operas canon which draws inspiration from Baroque music in a fun, exciting way.
Following our recent Open Call, we're delighted to reveal the creative team who will lead the development of our latest Snappy Opera will be composer Bethany Tennick and writer Iona Ramsay. The pair will work with the teams from Mahogany Opera and Dunedin Consort to create the new Snappy Opera - the first to be developed in Scotland - with a class of children from Kildrum Primary School in Cumbernauld.
Snappy Operas is Mahogany Opera’s award-winning opera programme for primary schools, winner of the Primary School Achievement Award in The Creative Learning Guild National Awards 2018/19 and Outstanding Music Initiative finalist in the Music and Drama Education Awards 2020. Since 2016, we have commissioned 13 new Snappy Operas – 10-minute pieces created by primary school children working with leading composers and writers. We have delivered Snappy Opera programmes in over 100 schools with 8,500 children to date.
Bethany Tennick & Iona Ramsay have been writing together since 2019. Winners of the British Youth Music Theatre’s New Music Theatre Award 2024, they have a long history with working with young people, writing both with and for them, as well as a love of using their projects to explore the vast history and identities of Scotland and its people.
We believe that Opera as an art form is often mischaracterised as being ’not for us’- the ‘us’ being young people, working class people, or people who belong to marginalised communities. We are so excited to be joining the Snappy team in introducing the essential elements of opera to children in a way that encourages them to both write and perform, as well as express their creativity and use their imaginations. Community work and projects with young people is a core part of our practice as a writing team, and we are so thankful to the Snappy team for including us in their brilliant work.
Bethany Tennick & Iona Ramsay
The new piece will be created in Spring 2025 through a series of in-school workshops, before being performed by the children in the summer, all as part of Dunedin Consort's residency which immerses the school population in the world of Baroque music. The opera will then form part of Mahogany Opera's Snappy Opera Festival, with performances across the UK in Spring 2026.
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