RedBlueGreen is a new piece devised especially for very young children (age 18 months to 4), and also for children with special educational needs. It is performed by 4 artists from ETO – 2 players and 2 singers – and is devised by a highly experienced creative team. It follows the success of the recent Midnight Moon, a work that toured the UK and travelled to Luxembourg in 2011.

The work is highly stimulating and interactive, using sound, imagery, smell, touch and colour to engage and delight mixed audiences. Lasting about 45 minutes the piece is a perfect introduction to both singing and theatre for very young children. It takes the audience on a journey through the primary colours, finding in them a story that links the different colourfields.

We celebrate the green, green grass on a summer’s day, only to be interrupted by the annoying buzzing of the yellow bee under the yellow sun. So begins a story that will bring the audience directly into a colourful world, with beautiful music, striking design and props, and lots of fun. Jonathan Kitchen (cello) arranges the music, design by Ruth Paton and devised by Tim Yealland.

RedBlueGreen is normally performed for very small audiences, with a maximum of about 30 per show, including adults.

A classic comedy, razor-sharp and musically opulent, this is an opera that is always bright and fresh. ETO’s new production is set in period Seville, but with a modern splash of colour that matches the cheek of Beaumarchais’ original play and Rossini’s vocal and orchestral brilliance.

The ever resourceful barber, Figaro (Grant Doyle/Cozmin Sime), lends a hand to an ardent young count (tenor Nicholas Sharratt) in his courtship of an intelligent beauty (Kitty Whately, winner of the 2011 Kathleen Ferrier Award) who is being forced to marry her miserly guardian (Andrew Slater).

Though the weather – and the plotting – gets very stormy indeed, the youthful and cunning prevail; their victory is celebrated in music of pure joy, with ETO’s acclaimed orchestra conducted by Paul McGrath.

New production
Sung in English
Running time: 2 hours and 46 minutes (including interval)

The story

Click here to read a plot summary of the opera.

Interviews, videos and trailers

Production trailer by Nick Howard

“Absolutely amazing”: audience reactions

Grant Doyle sings Figaro’s aria on BBC Radio 3 In Tune

ETO on BBC Radio 3 In Tune by English Touring Opera
Courtesy of BBC Radio 3 In Tune. All rights reserved.

The music

Click through to listen to a sample of music from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

• Act I Scene 1: Ecco ridente in cielo
• Act I Scene 9: Largo al factotum
• Act I Scene 2: Una voce poco fa
• Act I Scene 12: La calunnia
• Act I Scene 14: A un dottor della mia sorte

Or listen to the complete recording on Spotify. (Not on Spotify? Click here to join for free)

Reviews and audience comments

In the Belly of the Horse is a fully interactive new opera for Key Stage 2 pupils, brought to your own school hall. With music by Rachel Leach the piece explores the fantastic story that leads the Greeks to build the wooden horse. As the Greeks wait in the horse to cause havoc in Troy they tell each other stories to calm their nerves. The story is told in many different and engaging ways including acting, singing, instrumental music, dance, animated film and design.

Performed by a multi-skilled cast of 4 professional singers and 4 professional players (violin, cello, clarinet, percussion), it is fully designed and costumed. The opera is the third of three new operas based on classical myths. The piece is extremely interactive and endeavours to engage with the children on every level. Lasting an hour and a quarter, the show can work with up to about 200 pupils.

Curriculum links
In the Belly of the Horse supports various areas of the curriculum, including literacy, history, maths and science, art and design, as well as drama and music. It is suitable for pupils aged 7 to 11.

The piece is accompanied by a comprehensive teachers’ pack including stories about the Greek myths and characters, and background material as well as classroom ideas, a CD (with sheet music) of 2 songs for the pupils to learn and a special black and white, colourable, 4-page cartoon for every child, telling the story of the opera.

Video trailer

Read a review by one of the pupils

How to book
Would you like to be involved with this project? We are currently looking for schools in Buxton. If you’re from that area, and you would like us to come and perform In the Belly of the Horse at your school, please contact Alexa Carey on 020 7833 2555 or alexa.carey@englishtouringopera.org.uk.

The Feathered Ogre reinvents a famous Italian folktale, for Key Stage 1 pupils, with enchanting music by Russell Hepplewhite in your own school hall. The story is about a sick king whose illness can be cured only by the application of one of the feathers of the ogre in the mountains. To get the feather however you need to confront the man-eating habits of the monster. When a young man finally volunteers for the task everyone else also wants a feather…

In part an introduction to some of the key instruments of the orchestra, (including French horn, trumpet, bassoon, double bass and flute) the piece is performed by 5 players and 3 singers from English Touring Opera along with great design, costumes, and lots of interactive elements, including songs for the children to sing. The Feathered Ogre follows the success of ETO’s recent productions for younger children, including Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and The Starry Welkin. Lasting just under an hour, the piece can work with a large number of children, depending on the size of the hall.

Curriculum links
The Feathered Ogre is designed particularly to support the national curriculum for literacy, history, geography, and art and design, as well as drama and music.
The piece is complemented with resources for teachers; we will send you a simple pack and songs on CD ahead of the visit.

How to book
Would you like to be involved with this project? We are currently looking for schools in Sheffield, Guildford, Coventry and Durham. If you’re from one of these areas, and you would like us to come and perform The Feathered Ogre at your school, please contact Alexa Carey on 020 7833 2555 or alexa.carey@englishtouringopera.org.uk.
Alternatively, places are still available at family performances at Hall for Cornwall, Truro and Warwick Arts Centre. Please use the links on the right-hand side of this page to book.

Eugene Onegin is a powerful, nostalgic opera about youth, and the effect of youthful decisions and feelings. First love, lost love, jealousy and regret are all there – there is no opera more tender, more essential.

Exceptional young artists Sarah-Jane Davies, Nicholas Lester, Jaewoo Kim and Niamh Kelly play the quartet of young lovers, with Frances McCafferty watching their passions, and their mistakes.

ETO’s production was acclaimed in 2007, the Guardian’s critic stating that it “sheds more light on Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece than any recent UK production”. Joanna Parker and Guy Hoare’s period designs embody the poetry of Pushkin, from autumnal orchards to proud ballrooms. Conductor Michael Rosewell brings out each emotional nuance of the rich, romantic score, reflected in James Conway’s detailed production.

With its heartfelt arias and ensembles, its splendid choruses and ballroom scenes, and Tchaikovsky’s gift for melody, rich orchestration and drama, Eugene Onegin is a night at the opera for romantics of all ages.

Generously supported by the ETO Tatyana Syndicate

2007 ETO revival
Sung in English
Runnning time: 2 hours and 30 minutes (including interval)

Interviews, videos and trailers

Production trailer by Nick Howard

The story

Click here to read a plot summary of the opera.

The music

Click through to listen to a sample of music from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

• Act I Scene 2: Letter Scene
• Act II Scene 2: Lensky’s Aria
• Act III Scene 1: Polonaise

Or listen to the complete recording on Spotify. (Not on Spotify? Click here to join for free)

Programme sample

Reviews and audience reactions

We are delighted to be continuing our ongoing project for dementia and Alzheimer’s sufferers and their partners and carers with a 10-week residency in Suffolk, at Warden’s Trust Centre, an ‘Outings Centre’ for young and old people with disabilities.

Turtle Song is an opportunity for participants to sing and compose their own songs with professional musicians. The group meets once a week over ten weeks. The aims are to enjoy singing together, to write a song cycle, to record the songs on CD and to give the brain and the body a bit of stimulating exercise.

The sessions are led by an experienced creative team (Jon Petter and Alys Kihl) supported by students from the local area.

Sessions begin on Tuesday 10 April 2012, and continue every week until the performance at the Centre on Saturday 9 June 2012 at 11.00am.

If you, or a friend or partner, are interested in taking part in the project please contact Charlotte Cunningham at Turtle Key Arts on 020 8964 5060, charlotte@turtlekeyarts.org.uk or Tim Yealland at English Touring Opera on 020 7833 2555, tim.yealland@englishtouringopera.org.uk.

‘The achievement of creating something entirely new was a thrill and a source pride for the participants. It was a stimulating workout for the brain. The continuous engagement of the group in novel work was delightful to see. The opportunity to create and to give something to others is so enabling’. Chreanne Montgomery-Smith, Support and Development Officer Alzheimer’s Society West Berkshire

“My mother came back from the first session on Tuesday the happiest I have seen her for a very long time – what she really loved was the interaction with others.” A relative, 2011

Read an account of Turtle Song 2010 in this newspaper article.
There are DVDs available of the two projects run in 2007/8 and 2008/9.

Using the National Portrait Gallery’s collection, and working in collaboration with professional musicians from English Touring Opera, primary school children aged 7-11 are introduced to a portrait, and encouraged to create words and music to perform their own piece to the public in front of the chosen portrait.

Five years of collaboration!

2012 marks the fifth year of this remarkable collaboration between English Touring Opera and the National Portrait Gallery. Combining the visual arts, with history, literacy, and music this series of inspiring and creative workshops provides an opportunity for teachers of Key Stage 2 to deepen their pupils’ appreciation and understanding in these curriculum areas.

How does the day work?

Pictures in the collection serve as a jumping off point for new composition. The children are taken to one of the Gallery spaces, where they are introduced to a historical or contemporary portrait. Using their newfound knowledge of the portrayed character, the pupils then begin instant music-theatre composition, working with professional musicians in the workshop space to create their own original lyrics and music. The workshop lasts a full day and concludes with the children returning to the portrait in the main Gallery to perform their composition in public.

These workshops are run biannually at the National Portrait Gallery and are led by leading musicians and animateurs Paul Griffiths and Pete Latanka assisted by a range of other professional musicians.

Contact and booking details

The workshop is suitable for all Key Stage 2 classes and lasts a full day. The cost of the day is £400 + VAT.

For more details please email Tim Yealland or Alexa Carey at ETO, or call 020 7833 2555.

English Touring Opera and the National Portrait Gallery would like to acknowledge the generous support of Sarah and Geoff Roberts for this project.

Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring has become a classic, comic depiction of English village life. Full of character, matching humour with psychological insight, it describes the election by village committee of a shy local lad in a grocer’s shop as May King – a title normally awarded as May Queen to a virtuous girl, but no one matches up to the exacting standards of virtue held by Lady Billows. Naturally, the crowning of the May King does not go quite as planned, and poor (or lucky) Albert Herring ends up straying rather far from the path of virtue.

A genuinely hilarious satire with undertones of melancholy, Albert Herring is a village masterpiece, with a score of great beauty. ETO’s new production is conducted by Michael Rosewell, a Britten expert, and directed by Christopher Rolls; the cast includes a splendid group of experienced singers and actors as Lady Billows (Jennifer Rhys-Davies) and her committee, with Mark Wilde in the title role as the youth they judge so severely.

New production
Sung in English
Running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes

More dates to be announced. Please check the website for more information, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, or sign up to our mailing list.

Viktor Ullmann’s short opera The Emperor of Atlantis was written when the composer and writer were prisoners at the Terezín concentration camp, and it was first rehearsed by inmates of the camp, all of whom perished when transferred to Auschwitz before the premiere. The score was smuggled out of the camp, and it has been acclaimed in performances around the world as an extraordinary testament of wit and humanity in the face of barbarity.

It is not set in the camp – ironically, this black comedy reflects Ullmann’s experiences as an Austrian soldier in the WWI Italian campaign. In the story, Death, disgusted by war, resolves to go on strike (did someone mention Torchwood?), and drives a hard bargain with the Emperor Overall before going back to work.

Ullmann’s score, jazzy and expressive, is full of humour and pathos, and the opera is deeply moving. James Conway’s new production is paired with a poignant staging of Bach’s sublime cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ Lay in Death’s Bonds), arranged by Iain Farrington for Ullmann’s unusual orchestra.

New production
Sung in English
Running time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

More dates to be announced. Please check the website for more information, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, or sign up to our mailing list.

Peter Maxwell Davies’ most frequently performed opera, The Lighthouse, is based on a real-life account of the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers on the island of Flannan (a story which also inspired a Genesis song and an episode of Doctor Who).

A very intense, suspenseful night of music theatre describes the cramped and foggy conditions at the lighthouse, and the claustrophobia of the court hearing at which the relief keepers give their account of the incident. Each of the keepers is depicted with penetrating insight, so that beneath their calm, blameless exteriors the audience senses a troubled past.

Davies’ theatrical score ratchets up the tension with consummate skill; moments of lyric beauty, banjo-accompanied ballads, and hymn-inspired movements lead to a powerful, percussive conclusion. This is modern English music at its most theatrically effective.

New production
Sung in English
Running time: 1 hour and 45 minutes

More dates to be announced. Please check the website for more information, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, or sign up to our mailing list.