Spark Opera Bites

In collaboration with the Belfast Children’s Festival and NI Opera’s Young Artist Programme, Spark Opera developed two, new, fifteen-minute chamber operas for children in a three-day workshop.

The operas – “Monster in the Dark” by Eduard Zatriqi and Michael Shannon, and “Science (or how I learned to embrace the fact that, one day, I too am going to explode)” by Omar Zatriqi and Jack Geary – were rehearsed intensely by Caitriona McLaughlin, whilst the composers received advice and feedback on how to improve their pieces by Judith Weir.

The outcome of the workshop was an open rehearsal which over 30 theatre practitioners and funders attended. Their response to the operas was clear – these operas must be produced more fully as staged stories for children. With a slot in the Belfast Children’s Festival at the Harty Room, Queen’s University, Spark Opera has sufficient funding to showcase the operas in concert.

However we will need a further £2000 to present them as fully staged ‘opera’, complete with a human-sized bear, dry ice lab effects, flying school boy and exploding cat! No sweat surely for the mighty Sparkites. But with a deadline of 14th March 2012 to raise this amount, we'll need help getting started... So with our busker's hat outstretched we ask you - kindly - to throw a few pennies our way. (Seriously, before I sell the tv). Thanks folks!!!

Recommendations - Judith Weir said of the Spark Opera Bites workshops "I have hugely enjoyed working with Spark Opera. Belfast is going to be proud of this lively and ambitious young company, whose achievements are already remarkable."