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31 artists (including animatuers, composers, designers, directors, librettists and musicians)
90 primary school children
13 teachers from East Sussex to North Tyneside.

It’s very exciting to be meeting up and collaborating with old friends and new voices in spaces across the country, both in-person and remotely as we continue to develop ideas and collaborations with our partners. Together we’re working on some fantastic and engaging new ideas, on projects that have been postponed by lockdown or are undergoing redesign to meet the evolving restrictions.

First, we’ll be working with 30 children in East Sussex to launch the Year of Snappy Operas at The Villages Music Festival. Postponed from June 2020, there’s a huge buzz in the community about bringing music back into schools and letting the children shine. Part of this programme involves Teacher CPD sessions for ten teachers across an entire school. That’s one way we will inspire creativity in the classroom.

We’ll be bringing more music into schools through online workshops with composer/librettist teams Raymond Yiu + Russell Plows and Pippa Murphy + Karine Polwart, who have been creating two brand new Snappy Operas with childen in Hull and North Tyneside. In-class animateurs will connect the children and teachers with the remote Snappy Operas Team.

Various Stages support for Nwando Ebizie and Rolf Hind will continue. We’ll share ideas and inspiration from these exciting composers who, like us, challenge assumptions about what opera is, who it is for, and how it should be experienced. Join us for Meet Me @ Mahogany our virtual open house discussions about creative practice.

Revel with us in the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s new opera Dido’s Ghost with our co-commission partners including Dunedin Consort and the Barbican.

Our work is made possible by the generous donations of our individual supporters and significant project and operating grants from the Arts Council England, the Foyle Foundation, and The John Ellerman Foundation, along with other trusts and foundations that you can read about here.

The #CultureRecoveryFund is a time-limited grant that will contribute to Mahogany Opera’s activities between April and June 2021.