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Mahogany Opera announces two new commissions as part of its award-winning Snappy Opera programme with partners Hull Music Service and North Tyneside Music Education Hub.

Mahogany Opera has already created ten 10-minute Snappy Operas with some of the country’s most exciting composers and writers and is excited to announce the commission of two brand new Snappy Operas, in partnership with Hull Music Service and North Tyneside Music Education Hub, to expand the set. Composer Raymond Yiu and writer Russell Plows will develop their opera with children from Hull and composer Pippa Murphy and writer Karine Polwart will develop their opera with children from North Tyneside.

A Snappy Opera is developed in collaboration with children through two full days of workshop in schools with composers and writers to explore themes, characters and musical ideas. In response to COVID-19, for the first time, the initial stage of development for these magical new operas will happen remotely.

Mahogany Opera has worked closely with composers, writers and partners in Hull and North Tyneside to create fun, engaging activities to gather material from children with the help of digital platforms. The children will be invited to send in creative responses to themes chosen by the composer and writer. This could be a drawing, photographs they have taken, a poem, audio recording, a short video anything that they feel expresses their personal response to the chosen theme. The composers and writers will then use these to spark ideas for their operas. The activities are exclusive to each area with Raymond Yiu and Russell Plows creating something special just for the children of Hull and Pippa Murphy and Karine Polwart for a group of children from five chosen schools in North Tyneside. Raymond Yiu and Russell Plows will then visit a school in Hull and Pippa Murphy and Karine Polwart will visit Holystone Primary School in North Tyneside in the Autumn term to test out their operas with children from a year 5 class.

The operas will receive their world premieres during Mahogany Opera’s Snappy Opera Festival in 2021. The Snappy Opera Festival takes place biennially in a minimum of five regions in the UK engaging 25 different primary schools and over 750 children in a celebration of opera and music making in primary schools.

These two new Snappy Operas are commissioned in partnership with Hull Music Service and North Tyneside Music Education Hub and kindly supported by PRS Foundation's The Open Fund, Dr Joan Hester and the Finn Family Fund.