ETO and Hall for Cornwall Embark on a Community Opera with a Cast of 200

One of the largest community projects Hall for Cornwall has ever been part of with One Day, Two Dawns - six months of creative workshops with over 200 local people will culminate with two performances at Hall for Cornwall.

(PRWEB) January 29, 2009 -- English Touring Opera are joining with Hall for Cornwall to create one of the largest community projects HFC has ever been part of with One Day, Two Dawns. Six months of creative workshops with over 200 local people will culminate with two performances at Hall for Cornwall.

One Day, Two Dawns is an original piece that will be created by those involved with the help of a professional team. Many of the lead artists - composers, writers and designers - are Cornish locals and are using their vast experience of Cornish culture to create this exciting new production. The story is inspired by the coincidence of the sinking of Lyonesse into the sea in 1099, and the full solar eclipse of 1999 that sent Cornwall into darkness 900 years later

Tim Yealland, Artistic Associate at ETO, explains the aims of the project:

"This is an opportunity to collaborate artistically with people in Cornwall of every age and every ability. The Duchy is filled with the richest seams of stories, history and music, and we will be tapping into this potential to create a new opera - an opera both written and performed by the participants. 4 schools, a dance group, an instrumental ensemble, a male voice choir, an adult chorus and a small theatre company all take part.

The story we create will have both historical and contemporary relevance for the participants and the audience, and we will confront some of the difficult economic issues faced by Cornwall today.

It is also a complete delight for us to be able to collaborate with so many leading artists and arts organisations in the area. Our original piece will be filled with Cornish folklore and music. Two of the three of the composers are from Cornwall. However the main work will be devising the material with the different schools and groups involved. They will finish the project with the satisfaction of creating an original work from scratch. We are delivering over 80 workshops in Cornwall between November 08 and May 09."

English Touring Opera are committed to the educational and community projects they run along their main tour, but this is the largest undertaking the company has seen to date. After successes in Wolverhampton with a similar project, ETO will now bring their knowledge of community opera to Cornwall with this exciting original production.

For further information please contact:

Simon Whittam at SWPR

simon (at) swpr.org.uk

or

michelled (at) hallforcornwall.org.uk

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Hall for Cornwall is a charity promoting the arts & education and gratefully thanks the following stakeholders for their on-going support.

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