A pioneering care organisation is championing a project to bring opera to the streets of Wrexham.
Pendine Park has teamed up with Welsh National Opera to help promote the cutting edge three-year programme.
They are among the first of the WNO’s Community Champions to be unveiled in North Wales.
WNO are aiming to sign up a total of 10 Community Champions over the next 12 months.
Wrexham Street Songs gets under way in September and WNO want to involve the whole community.
Rhian Hutchings, Director of the community and education programme, WNO MAX, explained: “The project aims to encourage local people in writing, telling and sharing their stories in a variety of ways.
“The idea is that we make a direct connection between the stories involved in the opera.
“In the first year, we will begin with Nine Stories High, a Wrexham Soap Opera.
“Each month a writer and a composer will work with local community groups to gather stories.
“They will then write a five minute episode which will be performed in Wrexham and also put online.
“There will be nine episodes and the final, complete soap opera will be performed next May as part of the Wrexham Arts Festival.”
Welsh National Opera is based at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff and performs to 120,000 people a year.
This year sees the 60th anniversary of their first performance in Llandudno and over the next three years they’re planning to increase their presence in North Wales.
There will be a programme of fully-staged productions, concerts and community singing events along with other music projects.
Among the highlights of the campaign will be a new choral commission, Gair ar Gnawd, composed by Pwyll ap Sion, with a Welsh libretto by Menna Elfyn.
Mario Kreft, the opera-loving proprietor of Pendine Park, is excited at the prospect of the three year programme.
Pendine Park has had an artist in residence for 15 years and their innovative collaboration with the Hallé orchestra is in the running for a second Arts and Business Cymru award.
Mr Kreft said: “We are thrilled that Welsh National Opera are going to be having a presence in Wrexham and there is going to be some interesting community work.
“The project certainly chimes with the work we are doing at Pendine Park where enjoyment of the arts is helping to improve the quality of life for our residents.
“WNO is a world class company which gives a huge amount of pleasure to many people and it’s great to see it reaching out so that even more people in the community can be part of this exciting project.”
Welsh National Opera Board Member Menna Richards, the former Controller of BBC Wales, was delighted to welcome Pendine Park as one of their first WNO Community Champions.
She said: “It’s a great way for local businesses to get involved with the valuable work that Welsh National Opera is undertaking with local communities in Wrexham and across North Wales.
“WNO MAX, our community and education programme, has just announced a three year commitment to North Wales which includes community singing and song writing, music projects with primary school children as well as insight days and backstage opportunities when we are on tour.”
For information on how your business could become a WNO Community Champion please contact Mike Walmsley on 029 2063 5084 or email [email protected]
