York schoolchildren create opera
Posted on 16 June 1998
Four York city primary schools and the Minster School have spent the last few weeks working on the production and performance of the opera. Twenty students from the University's Music Department have worked with the children and their teachers preparing for the production.
The Green Children is written by composer Nicola LeFanu and librettist Kevin Crossley-Holland. The story is a haunting tale from medieval England in which village children discover two completely green children, lost in the woods and speaking an unknown language. The opera offers vivid pageantry, as well as raising issues which confront all growing children: what is home?, what are love and friendship?, and what is tolerance?
The opera's nine scenes include four school projects, or 'pocket' scences, which the children have written, composed and choreographed themselves.
The public performances are at 7 pm in the Lyons Concert Hall at the University of York. Tickets are £8 (student and OAP concessions), and children with an adult will be admitted free. The Box Office number is 01904 432439.
Notes to editors:
- The schools involved in the project are Headlands, St Aelred, Wigginton and St Wilfrid's primary schools and the Minster School.
- Composer Nicola LeFanu is head of music at the University of York. She has written 50 works, including orchestral, chamber, vocal, choral and theatrical pieces.
- Kevin Crossley-Holland is a well-known poet, writer, broadcaster and interpreter of the Northern world. His best-selling books have won many awards in Britain and the US.
- The project has been run jointly by the City of York Council Education Service, the University of York and the Minster School, with support from Nestle UK Ltd, the Feoffees of St Michael's Spurriergate, and York Children's Trust.
- For further information contact Sarah Derbyshire on 01653 668551 or 01904 432447.