In pictures: the award-nominated ‘We are Shadows’

As many of you may have heard, we’ve been fortunate enough to be shortlisted twice(!) for this year’s RPS Music Awards.

In the RPS Music Award for Learning & Participation category is last Summer’s fantastic We are Shadows - our opera project that was two years in the making and involved over 300 participants of all ages from Tower Hamlets.

It’s got us reminiscing about the project and so we thought we’d take the opportunity to share a selection of images captured from along the way. We hope you enjoy!

Composer John Barber and librettist Hazel Gould

Workshopping with The Sixteen at Village Underground

Rehearsal at Barbican Centre

Director Mia Theil Have in rehearsals a Barbican Centre

The City Chorus in rehearsal at Barbican Centre

Robert Anthony Gardiner as Toby

The City Chorus

Toby, his Shadow, Rattus Rattus and the Shadow Voice

Rattus Rattus and some of the young rats

Shoreditch Church dressed for We are Shadows

If you fancy a little bit more, have a look at the We are Shadows videos on our YouTube channel. There’s a great documentary from Andy Weir, and you can enjoy a short film below:

Images by Jez C Self.

EXCLUSIVE: Opera in Pieces update

We are very excited to announce the official name of the work which marks the culmination of our Opera in Pieces project. John Barber and Hazel Gould’s opera, which draws together performers from across the entirety of Spitalfields Music’s output, including our choirs Women sing East and Spitalfields Singers, performers from our Neighbourhood Schools, and former Associate Artists The Sixteen, will be called:

We are Shadows.

Watch this space for more exclusive information on the project as we draw nearer to the Summer Festival!

Update: Opera in Pieces

Learning & Participation Programme Director, Clare Lovett, gives us a slice of the action from the Spitalfields Music extravaganza Opera in Pieces.

Back from my much needed summer holiday and incredible trip to Japan and right back to work with a bang… the first set of auditions for our new commission Opera in Pieces, our community choir Spitalfields Singers have started up again (every Thursday lunchtime) with their Winter Songs project. The search for an Opera in Pieces venue continues, with lots of explorations of car parks, film studios and other amazing spaces in and around Spitalfields.  We now have the second fabulous draft of the libretto and Hazel Gould and John Barber have been having their respective project development meetings with the inspirational dramaturg, Ruth Little and composer, Jonathan Dove.

“If you know someone who would make a fine ‘rat’ or ‘man’, then we want to hear them.”

Coming up soon are open auditions for our two solo parts, The Rat (bass/baritone) and Toby (tenor) on 8 November.  For these crucial parts, we’re looking for professional singers at the start of their careers with not only excellent voices, but acting skills to match.  If you know someone who would make a fine “rat” or “man”, then we want to hear them.  For further information see our website.

In the chilly air of autumn turning to winter, we’re about to invite our schools involved in the project to do an outdoor photo shoot – no doubt there will be more information on this shortly, and shots of frozen children!  In the meantime, we’re running singing workshops with the magnificent Isabelle Adams in our schools to get them in full voice for their debut as rats in the summer.

For those interested in taking a less high profile part in Opera in Pieces, we need your voices too! We are looking for people to join in the chorus of office and everyday folk. Please contact Cathy Birch, our Programme Manager to sign up.

In the meantime, don’t forget to catch Opera in Pieces composer John Barber’s latest commission:

Consider the Lilies
7:30pm – Saturday 6 November 2010
Concert in support of the Helen Bamber Foundation
More information here

Find the audition information for Opera in Pieces here

[ Photographs by Jez C Self ]