Young Midland musicians and singers are to take part in a new opera featuring Stephen Fry.
The Welsh National Youth Opera is staging a new production of Benjamin Britten’s Paul Bunyan to mark the composer’s centenary.
It will feature the recorded voice of Stephen Fry, plus Britain’s Got Talent finalists Only Boys Aloud as the Lumberjack Choir.
READ MORE: {}
Following auditions across Wales and England, more than 100 singers, musicians, technical students and costume makers have been selected to take part, all aged between 16 and 25.
They include singers Emily Tidbury, 21, from Selly Oak, Birmingham, 17-year-old Ryan Shore from Stratford-upon-Avon and Lauren Morris, 22, from Solihull.
Joanna Wright from Birmingham and Rose Liggins from Nuneaton will help out on the technical side.
Plus, Birmingham Conservatoire students Joshua Large, Sian Collins and Megan Jowett will be playing the trombone, horn and viola in the orchestra.
The performances of Paul Bunyan will be on August 23 and 24 at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre.
Most Read
Stephen Fry has recorded the off-stage spoken role of Paul Bunyan, the boss of a group of lumberjacks who has a vision of what modern America could be.
Fry says: “As a lifelong opera lover, I’m thrilled to be part of Paul Bunyan. Harnessing the energy and passion of this young company is an extremely appropriate way to celebrate Britten’s centenary year.”
The involvement of students from Birmingham Conservatoire is continuing a new relationship between the college and Welsh National Opera.
When WNO played at Birmingham Hippodrome in June, it also took time out to work with young musicians from the Conservatoire.
It was the second time they had shared its skills with students, paralleling a similar project which has been taking place in its home city of Cardiff for nearly 20 years, involving the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Spearheading the work for WNO is bassoonist Chris Vale who launched the project with orchestra manager Phil Boughton in the mid 1990s to give young people a real understanding of playing in an opera orchestra.
“The students all said they had not realised how precise an opera orchestra had to be,” says Chris, originally from Coventry.
Don’t miss
“I think they suddenly realised the dynamic range of a professional orchestra and also the things that are unique to opera orchestras.
‘‘Things like not being too loud for the singers, trying to keep the pitch incredibly steady so that the singers know where they can pitch it, and also just the complication of all those different keys and the length of time that you have to play. The success story is that some of the former students are now coming in as paid extras for us in the orchestra. That is a real reward.”
Now WNO has launched a similar scheme with students at Birmingham Conservatoire. It began in March when WNO performed Lulu, The Cunning Little Vixen and Madam Butterfly, at the Hippodrome and continued with Lohengrin and Wagner Dream in June.
“We asked the Conservatoire to come up with their best players,” explains Chris.
“We did a wind and brass sectional on Madam Butterfly with the conductor Frédéric Chaslin, which was marvellous. The students were just amazed that the principal conductor was conducting this sectional. He was wonderful with them. We had 10 wind, four brass and eight strings.
“These kind of programmes were not made available to me when I was training and they would have helped me immensely.
“It’s a very genuine scheme in terms of what the students get out of it. Sometimes they come along and play in our orchestra and say ‘this is what I want to do’ and sometimes they say ‘actually it’s not for me, I can’t cope with that’ and they go for other pathways.”
Birmingham Conservatoire says the benefits of the scheme are huge.
“The new partnership provided an inspiring and in-depth experience of operatic playing for our students,” says Conservatoire director of orchestral programme David Purser.
“Tea and cake, with the opportunity to mingle informally after the workshop sessions, seemed to be enjoyed by students and WNO members alike! We very much look forward to taking the collaboration forward.”
“It was an eye opener as the intensity is very high compared to your typical symphony orchestra,” says Conservatoire clarinet student Tom Howells.
“There are almost no rests in opera music and you need to be on the ball all of the time.”
Trumpet student Eric Brookes says: “I was thrilled and excited by the opportunity to sit in with members of WNO,” he says. “I felt the experience was extremely valuable.”
* For more information on Paul Bunyan, go to .