Glyndebourne Opera Hip H'Opera Project

‘School for Lovers – a HIP H’OPERA’ is a new adaption of Mozart and Da Ponte’s ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ using Hip Hop art forms and culture. This is a ground breaking project aiming to authentically integrate hip hop and opera, develop audiences and develop young artists in the youth crew, the six professional soloists and the orchestra. The project is jointly organised by three opera houses in Europe – Glyndebourne Opera (East Sussex, UK), Komische Oper (Berlin, Germany) and Finnish National Opera (Helsinki, Finland), each of which will have a Youth Crew.

The first phase of this project began with a taster/audition workshop in September involving dance-theatre using hip hop styles and vocal work, as well as MCing and beat-boxing. Following this workshop a Youth Crew of 15-19 year olds was created to take part a series of creative workshops, culminating in a performance at the Old Market in November as part of the city wide Connecting initiative.

The second phase involves the Youth Crew in a rehearsal programme throughout the Spring term leading to the UK performances of ‘School for Lovers – a HIP H’OPERA’ which will be performed at Glyndebourne Opera House in March, the first of the three countries to perform this new work.

After the three performances at Glyndebourne the production will premiere in Berlin with the Berlin Youth crew, and similarly in Helsinki. A web-page will be set up for the Youth Crews to talk about their projects. The story is about love, infidelity and the choices we make, in a modern context, and there will be an advisory certificate of 14 years for the audience.