More young people from Blackburn with Darwen are to be inspired by opera as part of a new regional project.
The English National Opera (ENO) has announced the first wave of plans for a major new partnership between the company and groups in the North West. This includes linking up with the Blackburn with Darwen Music Hub.
The new ENO Greater Manchester partnership will cover every aspect of opera production.
This includes the creation of a Greater Manchester Youth Opera Company in partnership with Greater Manchester and Blackburn with Darwen Music Hub.
It will see ENO work with young people aged 13-19 from across the city-region from backgrounds underrepresented and underserved in the arts. ENO will work with Royal Northern College of Music and a range of other partners to pilot the project beginning in September 2025.
This ensemble singing programme aims to ‘broaden access to creating opera, strengthen and diversify the sector talent pipeline, and invest in the opera-makers of the future.’
Chief Executive of English National Opera, Jenny Mollica said: “The projects we are announcing today mark the first wave of our developing partnership with Greater Manchester, which will be fully implemented by 2029.
“Working together over the last year, we could not be more clear that Greater Manchester is the right place to put down roots, a place where we can develop, expand and innovate.
“Where, building on the region’s legendary reputation as the heart of music making in this country, we can make a difference to audiences and communities, help invest in the next generation of talent and break new ground in the future of the artform – locally, nationally and internationally.”
It enables children, including the most vulnerable, to enjoy music making from an early age and to access a range of musical pathways which promote ‘self-confidence, ambition and achievement’.
Through our delivery programmes ‘on the ground’ we have seen how music can transform children’s lives, often helping them to overcome other challenges, and therefore we focus our work with local families, schools and other organisations to make sustained engagement with music possible for all children in our area.
The hub currently reaches over 50,000 children weekly with specialist music tuition in a classroom, small group or individual setting and supports the music curriculum in over 80% of local schools.
Other projects across the include a new immersive production presented with Factory International, Improbable and Park Avenue Armory New York of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s opera Einstein on the Beach.
A new production for the UK premiere of Angel’s Bone, the Pulitzer prize-winning contemporary opera by Chinese American composer Du Yun and librettist Royce Vavrek.
And ENO production of Benjamin Britten’s classic comic ensemble opera Albert Herring, performed with the Orchestra of English National Opera, which will open in October 2025.
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