Snappy Operas - Mahogany Opera

Snappy Operas is our award-winning schools programme, making and performing new mini-operas with primary-aged children.

A Snappy Opera is a ten-minute opera, created for and by children with some of the UK’s top composers & writers, which introduces all the essential elements of opera in fun, colourful and bite-size chunks.

Working with partners including local Music Education Hubs, festivals and venues, we select schools that would most benefit from involvement in the programme – as well as an introduction to opera, children gain music and performance skills, improve confidence and team working, and have the opportunity to express themselves in a new, creative way. We train artists to work in school settings, provide Continuing Professional Development to teachers to develop creative approaches to their teaching, and bring schools and audiences together in venues to create a sense of community through the joy of opera.

Working with professionals is like a dream come true. You don’t know what will happen next but you can’t wait.
Year 5 Pupil, Tower Hamlets, on Snappy Opera

During the the 2022-23 academic year, Mahogany Opera worked with the pupils and staff of Sandgate School in Kendal to create a new Snappy Opera with and for the entire school population with learning needs and disabilities. Roll Up! became an immersive, sensory experience. Although the entire score could be condensed down into approximately 10 minutes of original music, the premiere performance took place across 2 days in Sandgate School. We took core musical ideas and expanded them - using improvisation, intensive interaction, variation and repetition with each “act” set in a different class, in response to the pupils themselves and the musical ideas they helped us create. This new venture into a specialist school will help us to develop the Snappy Opera programme, creating a truly inclusive and accessible Snappy Opera, as well as informing our future activity.

The Snappy Opera Festival will return in 2025! Are you a school, venue, music service or festival interested in Snappy Operas? Get in touch.

Temp2

Utterly inspiring and amazing. The most well-organised and professional rehearsal I have been involved in over 25 years! It was amazing to have four experts for each rehearsal.
Teacher, Snappy Operas