News

Much of June has been spent in Leicester, preparing over 350 young people for a super-sized Roar Evolve performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas: a unique production bringing together massed choruses of primary and secondary school students to perform the opera’s powerful choruses, interspersed with folk songs and sea shanties that are thematically linked to the story, creating a fresh and inspiring retelling of Purcell’s masterpiece.

Working in collaboration with Leicestershire Music Hub, we initially delivered a series of workshops to kickstart repertoire learning. Our first stop was two fun filled days with local primary school children to learn the sea shanties and folk, before moving to work with a choir of secondary school aged children who delighted in the variety of Purcell’s choral writing, from menacing witches’ choruses to ethereal laments. The full forces were finally brought together with Gabrieli’s professional choir, orchestra and soloists, led by the dazzling Helen Charlston as Dido, for a performance at Leicester’s fabulous De Montfort Hall.

Leicestershire Music Hub’s singing leaders offer an insight into how local children have enjoyed and benefited from the project:

“This is drastically different to what we normally do… and they’ve just run with it!” 

“Children are just enchanted by good music; the songs are great songs, the melodies flow, and children are drawn to that.”

“They will remember this forever!”

As our short film explains, this project is accessible to singers of all ages and abilities, offering them an approachable route into music by one of this country’s most celebrated composers, and an opportunity to perform side-by-side with leading professional singers. In doing so it delivers the heart of the Gabrieli Roar mission: to make great music accessible to all, and to share the joy of excellent music making widely. This is a project that we will be offering to partners over the coming seasons – do get in touch if you’re interested in us bringing this project to you!

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