Archives For Pop-Up Opera

‘Everyone Is Now A Fairy’ 🎶

June 16, 2019 — 46 Comments

On Friday I joined the Pop-Up Opera team to participate in the Borders Book Festival, which took place in the heart of Melrose, which is south of Edinburgh.

Just off St Mary’s road, Harmony Garden was home to marquees filled with events for both adults and children, a pop-up bookshop with some authors present to sign the books bought by visitors to the festival, and the ticket booth.

We were parked in a great spot between Harmony Garden and the Orchard where a delightful collection of Food and Drink trucks were situated decorated in bunting and festive twinkly lights. As well as delicious and artisanal food to nibble on, there were stretch tents and tipis for shaded cover – on what turned out to be a miraculously sunny day!

I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the festival and between shows, I took time to explore the stands and enjoying hunting for treats and oddities.

Then on Saturday and Sunday, we set up the trailer at the tranquil Archerfield Walled Garden in North Berwick. The beautiful grounds host a Garden Cafe where the chefs in the kitchen use local produce to create scrumptious dishes for all tastes. Not only was there a soup of the day, but also a scone of the day.

On Sunday it was Father’s Day (Love you Dad) and the cafe celebrated by offering a deal to Dad’s, a burger and a locally brewed beer! Yum! On-site there is also a farm shop, Knops microbrewery, and amazing trails to walk peacefully alone or with your friends, family, and dogs.

One walk that enticed the company, in particular, was the fairy walk! So we decided to treat our stage management and instrumental crew to fairy wings from the shop and prance around the grounds in our Iolanthe costumes. The setting was so beautiful and we had a great time.

  • Ali Biggs with her new wings

Ross Stenhouse was on the bike.

  • Robbie Fraser, Me, Laura Cioffi, Ali Biggs, Sharron Griffiths, and Aiden Edwards

Next week you can catch up with us in Callander, and the following week in Banff, Aboyne, and the Haddington Show.

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Behind The Scenes Of The Pop-Up Opera Trailer

June 2, 2019 — 49 Comments
Say Hi To The Whole Team, including Keith the driver of our amazing Trailer!
  • Me and Aidan Edwards. Credit Julie Howden
  • Ross Stenhouse, Aidan Edwards, and Me. Credit Julie Howden
  • Laura Cioffi. Credit Julie Howden

Part of the joy of this production is the way it reaches so many different people in places and venues that you would not normally associate with opera.  It is such a thrill to share our love of the artform with young and old alike, with the added benefit of traveling to some amazing parts of Scotland.

All of this would be so much harder if it were not for the lorry that Scottish Opera had purpose-built to put on these shows. The design of the lorry allows us to be self-sufficient. If needed we have a generator for electricity, (which we’ve not had to use yet).

If there are no changing facilities available to us then we can get changed on the stage behind the curtain like a large shopping changing room.

We have coat hooks on the sides of the trailers to hang out costumes and personal items which can then be hidden behind the black cloth background surrounding the performance space.

All in all, it is an ingenious design and makes the best use of every inch of space, for example, the stools, used by the audience, also double up as storage when the show is traveling to the next venue.

Next week we are off to Old Kilpatrick, Barrhead, Giffnock, Melrose, and North Berwick. Please join us if you are in the area, as we would love to see you in the audience.

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Pop-Up Opera in Beautiful Perth

May 26, 2019 — 62 Comments

This week we commenced the start of our Pop-Up Opera tour!

This year Scottish Opera’s Pop-Up Opera provides three different 30-minute performances of specially arranged Operas, selecting top hits, arias and duets and ensemble numbers to be sung by a small chamber music ensemble.

Ross Stenhouse, Sharron Griffiths, Jessica Leary, Laura Cioffi, Aiden Edwards, and Me

Our chamber ensemble consists of a soprano, (I share the role with the delightful Jessica Leary), baritone (Aidan Edwards), Flute (Laura Cioffi), Harp (Gwen Yorke Sinclair & Sharron Griffiths) and for our children’s show accordion (Lizy Stirrat), with Ross Stenhouse (Storyteller) binding them together with his own inimitable style.

I’ve never worked with these instruments alone before, so I was excited to hear how supportive and resonant the accompaniment is.

Our three shows are :

A Little Bit of The Magic Flute

A Little Bit of Iolanthe

Puffy McPuffer and the Crabbit Canals

What makes these productions so special is that they are performed in a specially converted articulated trailer.  It has been fitted out with a raised stage at the back, fitted with windows for natural light whilst rehearsing and blackout blinds for during the performances. There are spotlights and even a chandelier to add a touch of elegance to the internal surroundings.

The inside is painted to match the auditorium of the Theatre Royal, Scottish Opera’s Homebase theatre in Glasgow, even down to the carpet which is exactly the same as the carpet used in the actual theatre.

By putting on these productions in the trailer it means that Scottish Opera can take their fabulous shows on the road to all corners of Scotland and reach a much wider audience across all age groups.

This week we arrived in the City of Perth and explored the area around where we were staying. We all enjoyed eating together at the end of each day and I can heartily recommend the great restaurants that we found in Perth.

North Port Restaurant

They have a great a la carte menu with food exquisitely cooked and celebrates British cuisine. I had a mouthwatering chicken supreme.

The Post Box

Has a Michelin star and a pre-theatre menu that lasts until 10pm!

The meals were scrumptious and deliciously plated up. I felt like I was on MasterChef

Brothers 3

A family run Italian restaurant with well priced and delicious food. Plenty of variety and good quality food.

Aiden and Laura Made Ross Wait Whilst They Took Pictures For Their Instagram

In Iolanthe, I play a Fairy and if you have ever wondered what a Fairy eats when there are no Fairy cakes, well it has to be Rainbow Unicorn Cake!!

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Pop-Up Opera Tour

April 28, 2019 — 48 Comments

This week as April draws to a close I am really happy to share with you that I will be working with Scottish Opera again on their Pop-Up Opera tour around Scotland in May and June.  This year we will be performing three separate shows aimed at audiences of all ages:

A Little Bit of Iolanthe │Gilbert & Sullivan arr. Derek Clark

“ Iolanthe is banished by the Fairy Queen for marrying a mortal. Now, 25 years later, two worlds again collide when her son announces he’s in love. Unfortunately, his beloved is a popular girl and he has some serious competition… Light-hearted satire at its best, Iolanthe is full of fun.”

A Little Bit of The Magic Flute │Mozart arr. Derek Clark

  “Tamino is in love with Pamina, the daughter of the mysterious Queen of the Night. When she is abducted, he sets off to rescue her but soon realises all is not quite as it seems. A beguiling mix of comedy, fantasy and pantomime, The Magic Flute is also a profound story of the search for love, wisdom and truth.”

Puffy McPuffer and the Crabbit Canals │Music Marion Christie Words Allan Dunn

  “A tale of the five waterways that link Scotland from the North Sea to the Atlantic. Like most families, each one is different: Caledonian – the longest; Crinan – the most beautiful; hard-working Monklands; Union – the fastest; wise old Forth & Clyde. Each one thinks they’re the best. Can an ordinary little puffer boat make them think again?”

The tour will include dates at the Perth Festival of the Arts, Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival, Old Kilpatrick, Barrhead, Giffnock, Borders Book Festival, Dirleton, Callander, Cupar Arts EDEN, Aboyne & Deeside Festival, Haddington Show.  You can see the times and dates for the shows here:

For these productions, I will be performing alongside Jessica Leary ( Soprano ), Aidan Edwards ( Baritone ), Ross Stenhouse ( Storyteller ), Lizy Stirrat ( Accordion ), Sharron Griffiths ( Harp ), and Yorke Sinclair ( Harp ).

Some Of The Places We Will Visit On The Tour

If you have the time I would appreciate it if you could please check out the new Kickstarter page of my friends at Improbable who have been responsible for some really amazing and innovative projects. Watch their video and if you can spare any amount to help them to bring their imaginative plans to life I can assure you that it will be gratefully received as they only have until May the 15th to hit their target.

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