Paisley Opera: Opera for and with the people of Paisley, an idea born out of passion and a belief that opera can speak directly to all kinds of people.
What is Paisley Opera…?
Paisley Opera is an idea born out of passion and a belief that opera can speak directly to all kinds of people.
We want to create a company that the people of Paisley can be proud of. This means creating and staging opera in unpredictable and unusual places. It means opening the doors and inviting people in to watch our work and to work with us. This means sharing a great art with great people. It’s a different way of making opera, one that we’ve put a lot of thought, experience and research into. We need you to come and be part of it.
Who are we….?
We are a group of highly experienced professional singers, musicians, stage directors and technicians who have in common a passion for keeping opera alive and about involving local people in the company as much as we can. Our artistic director, Simon Hannigan moved to Paisley in 2010 and instantly fell in love with the town becoming more and more convinced that Paisley is an ideal place for this long-planned project.
As Urban Opera, we put on our first performance in Paisley at the University of The West of Scotland in December 2015. Since then we have been planning on how best to make the company a real part of this great town.
We need YOU !
How can I get involved…?
Come and be a volunteer. There are several ways you can help: We are starting a volunteer chorus in February of this year. This will be the core of the company. It’ll be supported by experienced professional singers who will be there to help and inspire us all as we sing some of the great choruses.
What experience do I need? None at all, lots or somewhere in between. In other words, anyone can join. There are no auditions for the voluntary chorus, so whether you have sung in choirs and would like to try something a bit different or haven’t sung since someone at school told you that you couldn’t, come and join us !
But I can’t sing… We firmly believe that everyone, given the right help can sing. So if you’ve always thought you couldn’t but would like to try.. Come and join us. We’ll help you find your voice.
Do I need to read music? No. If you can read music, great, but there will be plenty of help available for learning your parts. Apart from rehearsals, we’ll be sending out sound files with your parts so that you can practice them at home.
Are there age restrictions ? We welcome anyone of 18 years to 98 and beyond ! In the future, we will be looking to involve under 18s, but we need to get the adult chorus up and running first.
Our Programme for this year:
Weekly rehearsals start Monday 27th February, so either find us and register online on our Facebook
page @paisleyoperaproject
Or just turn up on the night… you’ll be made very welcome!
Wallneuk North Parish Church Halls, Abercorn St, Paisley PA3 4AB
Free concert involving some great opera chorus tunes and some solo numbers on Friday 21st April. Venue will be revealed nearer the time.
Autumn 2017: A specially-devised piece which will revolve around one of the great events in Paisley’s history… More information later.
The Future
After our first year we plan to put on full-scale productions in unusual venues with the chorus at the heart and using experienced professional principals.
Contact:
Email: paisleyopera@gmail.com
Facebook: @paisleyoperaproject
Phone: 07702 424528 (Simon Hannigan)