Hundreds of East Durham students unite to create opera
Hundreds of students across East Durham collaborated with professionals in the music industry to create an opera.
Hope Wood Academy was nominated by Durham Music Service to take part in the project Snappy Opera, a short opera created by students and professional artists.
As part of the project, a professional opera singer, three musicians, director and creative director came into the school to share their “passion and expertise” with the students.
Grace Howe, communication and English lead at Hope Wood Academy, said: “My aim from the very beginning was to get as many of our students involved as possible to make this a whole school project.
"Some young people wrote lyrics, some created short drama scenes, others engaged in making music, some responding to music on trampolines whilst engaging in rebound therapy and some of our older students made small world creations, props and background drops for the opera.
"In the end, we had over 200 young people take part.”
Hope Wood Academy caters for children aged two to 19 with a range of special educational needs and has sites in Easington, Peterlee and Eden Hill.
Professional artists came into the school for one week to collaborate with students to create “ideas, dramas and lyrics” for the opera titled Journeys.
Speaking about the project, Grace said: "Our young people and colleagues thoroughly enjoyed the project.
"They created a great relationship with the artists that came in creating music and drama and others responding to musical instruments and voice.
"The young people showed great enthusiasm throughout and worked together to learn, perform and celebrate this project as a community.
"The project created a positive sense of achievement and enjoyment across the school.”
According to Grace, this opportunity “opened their eyes” to the world of opera and “how it can be tailored to everyone”.
She said: "It supports communication, independence, creativity, music ability and overall confidence in the young people.
"The artists have responded to the wide range of needs we have at Hope Wood.”
Grace added: “We were delighted to welcome artists from across England who travelled to our school to deliver the project.”