Past Projects
East End Opera has been involved in a number of exciting projects, intiatives and productions. Choose from the menu below to find out more:
- Newham Young People’s Chorus
- Student Success Stories - 2010
- Newham Mayor’s Festival of Choirs - Early 2010
- Opening up Opera - 2006-2009
- The Opera Club - 2006-2009
- Our Voice One Voice - 2008-2009
- Newham Vocal Pathways - Summer 2008
- Opera Sunday - 2007-2008
- The Four Note Opera - October 2007
- Opera Show and Tell - June 2007
- Newham Vocal Scholarships - Summer 2006
Newham Young People’s Chorus
The Newham Young People's Chorus (NYPC) consisting of about 500 children and their teachers took part in two mass choir concerts.
Sing On!
This project was sponsored by Sing Up and was part of the Sing Up London Communities festival of song, Sing On!, which took place across London and culminated in a series of workshops and concerts in March 2011.
On March 10th 2011, eight schools performed a programme of songs accompanied by a live band, hosted by Langdon Secondary School. The concert featured songs from Romania, the American Jazz repertoire and uplifting gospel style songs including a brand new song written by children and teachers in a special Song Writing Workshop led by igospel. The children rehearsed in school, met twice for larger cluster rehearsals and were visited in school by East End Opera’s Associate Artists for special vocal workshops.
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| Teachers from Newham schools enjoying the joint East End Opera & Igospel INSET held at Langdon School in October 2010 | |
Schools featured and performed favourite songs of choice and special guests
Solid Harmony shared the stage with the young aspiring singers of Newham’s primary and secondary schools.
The programme was conducted by Lucy Griffiths, with MD Paul Watson and Randolph Matthews leading the choir in a vocal percussion masterpiece.
sing inspiration
The remaining 11 NYPC schools worked with
Igospel and took part in the
sing inspiration programme at the Royal Festival Hall on March 8th 2011. Igospel vocal leaders visited schools for their unbeatable, joyous vocal workshops and lead the group cluster rehearsals hosted by Rokeby Secondary School and Brampton Manor Secondary School.
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| Host Students of Rokeby School Choir enjoy the Igospel choir at Rokeby Secondary School in November 2010 | |
The Newham schools shared the stage with schools from Southwark as they raised the roof of the Royal Festival Hall with their programme of uplifting songs. Led by Igospel’s Artistic Director David Levale and wonderful team of musicians in particular Nadine Lee and Paul Watson.
East End Opera is indebted to our wonderful host secondary schools - Langdon, Rokeby and Brampton Manor - for their support of NYPC.
East End Opera and fellow Sing Up London Community Partners, Igospel, Ark Schools and British Gospel Arts were
rated as OUTSTANDING by Sing Up for their work in London schools over the past two years. East End Opera wishes to thank and congratulate the 30 schools and the many artists who participated in the Sing Up programme between 2009 and 2011.
Student Success Stories
Congratulations to Jesse Ayertey and Spencer Kennedy!
Both young men participated in the
Newham Vocal Pathways and
Our Voice One Voice projects and were later offered places at two of Britains top drama training institutions. Jesse won a place on the three year BA Degree in Acting at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Spencer completed the Royal Acadamy of Dramatic Art’s one year Foundation in Acting course.
Jesse and Spencer expressed their thanks to Shirley Keane of EEO and Ray Downing of Theatre Venture for their support, help and direction during the audition process.
Newham Mayor’s Festival of Choirs
Not just about choirs but about community.
The 2nd Newham Mayor’s Festival of Choirs came as a direct result of the incredible success of the Newham Young People’s Chorus and for many it was seen as important to further encourage the children’s singing and also to take a fresh look at the work of the many community choirs in the borough. The festival was overseen by The Arts & Heritage department of Newham with the Children’s & Young People’s Services.
East End Opera and IGospel undertook to bring school and community choirs together to share their work in group workshops. They were given the opportunity to perform their work to each other and then to offer feedback and share their ideas and thoughts on each other’s contribution then coming together for a second workshop to build on the work and support offered.
Choirs were subsequently invited to perform at a festival concert at the Old Town Hall in Stratford on March 16th 2010 to an audience of friends and families and the Deputy Mayor of Newham Christine Bowden
Contributing Choirs:
*Asian Music Group
*Calverton Primary
*Forest Voices
*Godwin Primary
*Luton Road Choir
*St Helen’s R C Primary
*St Winifredes R C Primary
*Solid Harmony
*Urban Development Vocal Collective
*Young & Gifted
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Opening up Opera
In association with Newceys, East End Opera ran the Opening up Opera course for five terms at Stratford Circus.
Opening up Opera was a first-step introduction to opera, aimed at people curious about opera but who might have been put off by the common misconception that opera is inaccessible. The course included six weekly classes that covered the history of opera and it’s development from Baroque and the early beginnings in Italy through to contemporary opera, but also focused on voices and how to distinguish the main opera voice-types i.e. Soprano, Mezzo soprano, Tenor and Bass. The classes included listening exercises and group discussion on individual likes and dislikes, an optional visit to see an opera performed at the English National Opera, and entry to the Opera Sunday afternoon concert held at Stratford Circus.
The course outings included seeing Manon Lescaut at Opera Holland Park, and Rigoletto, La Boheme, Carmen and Madame Butterfly at the English National Opera. We are extremely grateful to these companies for their support of our visits.
Statements from previous participants:
“Thanks to you I have listened to my first Leontyne Price CD. I loved it!”
“Great group rapport and professional teaching made this a really enjoyable course.”
If you'd be interested in hiring East End Opera to run the Opening Up Opera course for a group of friends or colleagues we'd be delighted to hear from you:
Shirley Keane
07989 976053
info@eastendopera.co.uk
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The Opera Club
The Opera Club was set up to allow Opening Up Opera course members to continue developing their interest in opera, but was also open to anyone interested in seeing and talking about opera.
The Opera Club involved East End Opera periodically organising for a group to attend a performance of an opera, followed by a get together shortly afterwards to allow the group to discuss and analyse the performance. The cost of attending was only the price of the ticket, and East End Opera did not profit from arranging these opera trips.
East End Opera expects to re-start the Opera Club in the near future so please sign up to receive announcements:
To join the mailing list please contact:
Shirley Keane
07989 976053
info@eastendopera.co.uk
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Our Voice One Voice
The
Our Voice One Voice workshops were the brainchild of some of the young people who have worked with EEO on the Newham Vocal Pathways Course. They were so keen to have more lessons, workshops and performance opportunities that they applied to the Newham Youth Opportunity Fund and were successful in their bid for funding for these classes.
The workshop series (which includes solo lessons and theatre visits) ran from January to March 2009 and was open to participants aged between 13 – 19 years old and either resident in, or working or studying in, Newham.
Find out more
Visit the
Our Voice One Voice page for more information about the aims of the project and biographies and pictures of some of the people who were involved.
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Newham Vocal Pathways
During the summer of 2008 East End Opera ran an exciting new voice training programme for young people aged between 14 and 25 and living in the London area, in particular Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.
The course included individual singing lessons, workshops and drama classes and the thirteen successful participants listed below worked towards performances in and around Newham over the summer.
* Bukola Abdul
* Joseph Adelakun
* Chioma Anichebe
* Jesse Ayertey
* Dua Hussain
* Spencer Kennedy
* Emmanuel Nwosu
* Singirai Sibanda
* Whitney Simon
* Rachel Radford Mathurin
* Eyesha Mingo
* Taymah Mingo
* Sammy Razack
Soloists from this group performed in:
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The Tempest Island at the Sing Up, Sing Out Event at the Royal Festival Hall on Friday 11th July 2008
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Theatre Venture's BUYA! Festival at Stratford Circus Saturday 12th July 2008
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The Mayor's Newham Show, Central Park, East Ham on Saturday 12th July 2008
| This course was funded through the Newham Go For It! grants scheme and Newham Children's & Young People's Services. |
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Opera Sunday
Following on from the success of the Opera Show and Tell concert in June 2007 we launched a series of informal Sunday afternoon concerts. The first of this new Opera Sunday series took place on 25th November 2007 at
Stratford Circus.
Singers performed scenes and arias from some of the best-loved operas by composers such as Mozart, Puccini, Bizet and Rossini, and the audience had the opportunities to ask questions and speak to the performers about their studies, careers and lives as professional opera singers.
Performers:
Claire Watkins - Soprano
Charlotte Stephenson - Mezzo soprano
Tom Lowe - Baritone
Sonia Ben-Santamaria - Piano
 | Shirley Keane introducing the concert |
| The singers answering questions from the audience |  |
| Claire Watkins and Charlotte Stephenson | | Tom Lowe |
Two other Opera Sunday concerts were held at
Stratford Circus and were well attended by EEO students, their families and local residents.
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The Four Note Opera
 | | East End Opera's debut production:
The Four Note Opera by Tom Johnson |
Opera! A great and glorious art that reaches the parts other art doesn’t… especially when you can combine it with a pint and dinner at The Rosemary Branch Theatre.
The Four Note Opera seeks to uncover the mysteries of Opera and cut right to the heart of a form that many music-lovers find impenetrable. How much time does a Soprano need in make-up? Is the Mezzo really a Mezzo or just a handsome woman with a hair problem? These and the myriad wonders of an ancient musical art will unfold in this satirical one-act* opera by Tom Johnson.
(* one-act means you get to the bar before closing-time .. now you don’t get that at Royal Opera House.)
Music and Libretto by Tom Johnson
Director – Shirley Keane
Music Director – Siobhain O’ Higgins
The Four Note Opera was performed by arrangement with G Schirmer Limited on behalf of the publisher and copyright owner Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI)
East End Opera's production of the Four Note Opera took place in October 2007 at
The Rosemary Branch, 2 Shepperton Road, London N1 3DT
Cast
Soprano -
Rosamund Walton
Mezzo Soprano - Henrietta Bewley
Tenor - Gareth Morris
Baritone -
Edwin Pitt-Mansfield
 | Edwin Pitt-Mansfield and Henrietta Bewley | |
|  | Henrietta Bewley, Edwin Pitt-Mansfield, Rosamund Walton and Gareth Morris |
| Rosamund Walton and Gareth Morris |  | |
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Opera Show and Tell
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| Lee Bisset | | (from left to right) Owen, Lee and Andrew chatting to the audience during the concert.
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EEO organised an 'Opera Show and Tell' concert at Stratford Circus in June 2007, where singers performed arias and scenes from popular opera and the audience was given the opportunity to ask the performers questions about the opera world, their training and careers.
Performers:
Lee Bisset - Soprano
Shirley Keane - Mezzo soprano
Andrew Sritheran - Tenor
Owen Gilhooly - Baritone
Siobhain O' Higgins - Piano
The concert included excerpts and arias from well known opera including:
La Traviata, Verdi
Carmen, Bizet
The Barber of Seville, Rossini
Following on from the success of this first concert a regular series of Sunday afternoon concerts has been launched. See our
Projects page for details of future concerts.
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The Newham Vocal Scholarships
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| Ella | | Lorelle |
Funded by:
Awards for All  |
The Jack Petchey Foundation  |
Over the summer of 2006, seven young people from all over East London took part in a course of vocal and acting classes culminating in their incredibly successful solo performances at the Theatre Venture, Big up Your Arts! Festival in Stratford Circus in July.
The first Newham Vocal Scholars were:
* Joseph Adelekun
* Lorelle Babb
* Treveisha Barton
* Ella Jones Deek
* Viera Gabarova
* Tamara Biggs Mills
* Evelyn Byfield Reid
These enthusiastic and dedicated young singers were introduced to new music genre, and given the opportunity to work with a classical vocal coach. and voice teacher and encouraged to explore and challenge their vocal abilities in the innovative Vocal Percussion and acting through song workshops.
Tutors:
Shirley Keane - vocal technique
Siobhain O’Higgins - vocal coach
Randolph Matthews - Vocal Percussion .
Sebastian Harcombe - Acting Through Song
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