THE Longborough Opera Company marked the return of the post Covid-19 arts with a special visit to Birchensale Middle School earlier this week.
Longborough Festival Opera is an established company, situated in the heart of the Cotswolds.
Its intimate auditorium seats 500 people, enabling the audience to experience the drama and emotion on the stage on an almost personal level.
Longborough’s education and outreach programme visits schools to run workshops and performances with the aim of introducing opera to children in a fun and dynamic way that will keep opera alive and kicking in the minds of the next generation.
The performance was Hansel and Gretel but prior to curtain up the cast held a series of workshops with pupils.
The event was held outdoors – in line with Covid-19 guidelines – with the pupils thrilled to see such an exciting production.
The teacher organising the event, Carolyn Kimbrey said: “At Birchensale, we’ve been really excited to bring our pupils some fresh experiences of performing arts.
“I was thrilled to be able to establish links with this fabulous opera company, especially as so many of us haven’t experienced live performance for so long.
“With the pre-performance learning and the fabulous workshops we had before the performance, the children were able to really engage with the format, music and the story, especially the skating witch – she was a big hit!
“We’re now looking forward to all the display artwork arising from this visit, along with the incredible clay witches some children made to adorn our new forest school area.”
