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| ROH Youth Opera in Jonathan Ainscough & Jonathan Briggin’s The Sapling in July 2023 |
When I chatted to conductor Nicholas Chalmers in 2019 [see my interview], one of the topics that popped up was his work with the youth opera at the Royal Opera House, working with children aged 13 to 18 with the idea of taking young kids who sang as trebles and ensuring that they keep singing when they get older. Opportunities for teenage boys to sing at secondary school level are poor and many just give up. Based on his experiences, Nicholas Chalmers was working on arrangements for youth choir.
Now, as part of the Royal Opera House’s Step Into Opera a digital resource has been created featuring 14 arrangements of famous opera arias in 2/3/4 part harmony, created by Chalmers alongside Iain Farrington, Berty Rice and the director, Anna Morrissey. The arrangements feature everything from Dido’s Lament to The Magic Flute and The Barber of Seville to Tannhäuser and Turandot, and are intended to be versatile. The website suggests the ‘arrangements can be performed one at a time, combined to form a small concert or they can be staged using the expert director notes. They have been written to give you the flexibility to enjoy them in a way which is convenient for your ensemble and available voices.’
Director’s notes have been created to offer a context for each arrangement, and to give some initial ideas and suggestions as to how you could begin to bring these arrangements to ‘life’.
Each song page features demo tracks and backing tracks along with the sheet music and lyrics, along with hints, questions and challenges towards preparing and creating a scene.
Full details from ROH’s Step Into Opera page.
