The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

On Friday 2nd May an audience of parents were treated to a wonderful performance of “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe!” This was an opera which was commissioned by Opera Brava.
Heron Way Primary School opera SUS-140515-103456001Heron Way Primary School opera SUS-140515-103456001
Heron Way Primary School opera SUS-140515-103456001

In the week leading up to Easter many nervous children auditioned for the roles in the opera. Once picked they went away and spent much time over the Easter break learning their lines and familiarising themselves with the music.

On Monday 28th April Opera Brava arrived at Heron Way bringing with them 8 professional operatic performers. The children spent the whole week learning the dances, songs, dialogue and stage directions – an incredible achievement! During the week the children were very lucky to work with two creative designers from the company. Every child had the opportunity to make masks and props to further enhance the performance at the end of the week.

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The musical score was extremely demanding with children singing scores written for professional opera singers. As usual the children rose to high expectations and challenge admirably. All of the hard work culminated into a performance on the Friday afternoon.

The director from Opera Brava (Bronek Pomorski) introduced the performance and in his introduction mentioned the incredible willingness of the children to believe in Narnia. Bronek went on to praise the behaviour, concentration and teamwork of all the children involved in the show.

None of the week would have been possible without the wonderful company Opera Brava. The children were given a flavour of what it would be like to work within a professional cast, with professional musicians and coaches. The energy that Opera Brava brought with them was clearly evident in the children’s enthusiasm.

The Year 6 children of 2014 have created a small piece of history. In the 46 years that the school has been open, they are the first group of children to have ever performed an opera!

Opera at Heron Way Primary School is seen as very cool!

Report and picture contributed by James Crump, headteacher atHeron Way Primary School.

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