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This will be the first outing for this new opera, created during the pandemic with Year 5 children from Kingwood Parks Primary. Inspired by the famous Hull Fair, Teacups & Tentacles was developed by composer Raymond Yiu and local writer Russell Plows using material and ideas gathered through remote and in-school workshop sessions with children. The same children, now in Year 6, will perform the new commission as part of a city-wide Snappy Opera project in partnership with Hull Music Service.

The rest of the week will be jam packed with performances of five other Snappy Operas including Peck!, The Feast That Went Off With A Bang, The Itch Witch, The Lighthouse Wave and The Magical Music Tree, taking place each day in schools across the city (a full list of performances is below). For each performance the children will be accompanied by a small chamber ensemble of professional musicians.

Over the last term Hull based director, Lisa Coates, music director, Camille Maalawy, and pianist, Graziana Presicce have headed into five schools to collaborate and rehearse with 212 children before these upcoming performances. It will be magical week celebrating the power of children’s creativity and the importance of music and theatre making in schools.

This activity in Hull forms part of Mahogany Opera’s ‘Year of Snappy Operas’ in partnership with Edinburgh International Festival, Hull Music Service, Leicester-Shire Schools Music Service, North Tyneside Music Education Hub and Villages Music Festival. Over 750 children, aged 7-11, from 21 different schools will participate joining Mahogany Opera in a year of singing, making and theatre. As children recover from the impacts of the pandemic the ‘Year of Snappy Operas’ will provide an opportunity for school communities to reconnect through the joy of singing and the restorative power of music and theatre.

To organise a ticket for Monday 15 November and/or to find out more about Snappy Operas please email Marc Dunleavy, marc@mahoganyopera.co.uk.

Performances:

• Press performance: Monday 15 November, 2.30 – 3pm, the Albemarle Music Centre, Teacups & Tentacles, Kingswood Parks Primary School
• Tuesday 16 November, 1.45pm – 2.15pm, the Albemarle Music Centre, The Feast That Went Off With A Bang, Paisley Primary School
• Wednesday 17 November, Priory Primary School, Peck! & The Itch Witch
• Thursday 18 November, Maybury Primary School, The Lighthouse Wave
• Friday 19 November, Oldfleet Primary School, The Magical Music Tree