With over 400 primary school pupils taking part in Finale!, the hour-long performance included song compositions from Year 5s, a sung soundtrack accompanying two animation films made with Year 3s and the world première of composer Jonathan Girling’s opera for professional and young voices, Gogmagog.

Finale! was a fitting culmination of a successful partnership over the last three years with the Lambeth City Learning Centre, part of the London Borough of Lambeth.

Singing is at the heart of the work of the Learning and Participation Team for English National Opera (ENO) and Finale! was no exception. During the three years, ENO Baylis has worked with almost every child in four Lambeth schools (Herbert Morrison, Hitherfield, St Leonard’s and St Saviour’s primary schools).

A range of projects were devised in collaboration with teachers, designed to complement the curriculum with links to literacy, citizenship, design, history and music. Our partnership with Lambeth has enabled us to work with primary and pre-primary school children, some of whom may never have been into a theatre before, let alone been in close proximity to the breath-taking power of an opera singer.  

The work over the last three years in Lambeth schools has included:

• The Magic Flute: Sun Trials: a project developed by ENO Baylis for reception and Year 1 classes. Based on Mozart’s popular and tuneful opera The Magic Flute, the project linked into the numeracy curriculum, using a storytelling format to teach the pupils songs and enable them to complete numeracy tasks. After working with a vocal animateur and professional singers, the children performed their final session at the London Coliseum theatre. Music arrangements were by Gareth Malone.
• Lionhunt!:  a musical work for young voices, was composed by John Webb with lyrics by Tamsin Collison and was commissioned by ENO Baylis in 2003. Classes worked with a vocal animateur/director to learn the music and stage the piece over a term, leading to a live performance. It was run with Year 2 during Autumn 2005 and then repeated in Spring 2008 with Year 3 classes. Children learned performance and singing skills and were able to visit the London Coliseum. The piece itself told the story of the make-believe animals that work on stage and backstage at the theatre and gave children an insight into life in a working theatre.
• The Ballad of Slippery Jack was commissioned by ENO Baylis and written to be performed by Year 5 classes. The project linked into the Citizenship curriculum and pupils were able to visit The Museum of London to find out about the infamous and notorious villain Jack Sheppard, ace prison breaker. Pupils worked with a director, vocal animateur, musicians and a professional soloist to perform the work. Music and lyrics were by John Webb and Tamsin Collison.

It was agreed that Finale!, performed at the end of the Summer term 2008, would be a celebratory end to the partnership with Lambeth and would bring in many of the elements from previous projects and add some new and exciting strands. A theme of ‘London legends’ linked the components.

The logistics of overseeing the event on the main stage for ENO Baylis Project Manager, Katherine Palmer, was a complex task. Finding a gap in the ENO planning schedule to use the main stage and auditorium in the midst of a busy and hectic opera season, usually almost impossible, had to be planned and carefully negotiated way in advance and had to work around the existing set on the stage which happened to be Bernstein’s satirical opera Candide. 

As luck would have it, Candide turned out to be a perfect setting for the performance. A huge TV set and projection screen had been built into the proscenium arch and back of the stage which allowed the showing of two short animation films, a live relay of the performers and collage of photos through the event. The children assumed the TV set had been built especially for Finale! and we didn’t disillusion them otherwise!

The Summer term in 2008 proved to be busier than normal for the teachers, music coordinators and pupils from the four primary schools. A series of mentoring sessions with music coordinators in schools, run by vocal animateur Suzi Zumpe, helped develop skills in leading singing which led on to the teaching of the children’s choruses and canons in Gogmagog.

In addition, Year 5 in each of the Lambeth schools worked with composer Jonathan Williams and lyricist Adey Grummet over a four-week period to write words and music for their own songs around the London legend theme. Subjects for the songs included The Ghosts of Drury Lane from St Leonard’s, allegedly the most haunted theatre in England, to Spring-heeled Jack from Herbert Morrison school, a terrifying, fire-breathing man who would jump out and attack people! 

Once the songs were completed, director Mairi Coyle worked with each class to help them make their stage performances more dynamic and creative and to give them the confidence to perform on the largest stage in London’s West End! We premiered two new animation films by Year 3 pupils from St Saviour’s and St Leonard’s schools. Year 3 pupils worked with a professional animator to depict scenes from Lionhunt! and were involved with editing and creating their own special effects. This was an off-shoot project funded by Lambeth City Learning Centre.  

Gogmagog, the last part of the Finale! programme was a newly commissioned opera by composer Jonathan Girling and writer Paul Wignall. At approximately 20 minutes long, it told the story of the giant Gogmagog who terrorised the people of old Londinium and King Brutus who overcame the giant with the stealth of his sword. Narrated by actor/writer/ director Forbes Masson and conducted by Jonathan Girling, it included baritone and tenor voice parts sung by James Gower and Shaun Dixon as well as twelve ENO orchestra members (including flute, clarinet, brass and strings) and, of course, a full children’s chorus. In the composer’s own words… ‘musically, the giant Gogmagog is represented by a Lion’s Roar, a large wired-up drum which sounds like its name’.  

Other interesting instruments used were the Schwirrbogen (an extraordinary whirly instrument rather like a huge football rattle), a set of suspended exhaust pipes and four sets of drums’ – a remarkable sound mix, guaranteed to ward off any giants in the vicinity of London! Only one full rehearsal with all participants was logistically possible on the morning of the event so no one could have imagined how awesome the piece would sound. Vocal animateur Olivia Ray, repetiteur Katrine Reimers, and assistant children’s conductor Mairi Coyle kept a steady nerve as they conducted the full force of the children’s singing in the Coliseum auditorium.

The Finale! performance, attended by friends and families of the participants, plus guests and colleagues of ENO and the Borough of Lambeth included a liberal sprinkling of speeches and introductions by head teachers, ENO and Lambeth key staff as well as soloist performances by ENO soprano Lee Bisset, baritone James Gower and tenor Shaun Dixon. A memorable moment was during a speech on stage by the Headteacher of Hitherfield School, Chris Ashley-Jones. One of his pupils was asked what he thought of it all – he said he’d always thought opera was boring but now he thought it was great!

The whole event was recorded and is being edited along with footage over the last three years to produce a short documentary about the project.

Being able to work with such a large number of children sustained over three years has been tremendously rewarding for the Baylis team in terms of its development and long-term creative planning. And, working with the schools over a long period of time has also ensured the work has been embedded in the school and given teachers the confidence and skills to work with future classes and pupils on music-making projects.

www.eno.org/baylis

I’m really grateful for the work you’ve done with Lambeth schools. It’s been so well considered, and structured in such a way that the schools have got a huge amount out of it. It’s probably been the most successful long-term programme in the borough.
Lambeth City Learning Centre

Many children in inner London simply do not get the opportunities that children should have, and working with the ENO has ensured that they have all had their eyes opened.
Teacher

It was wonderful to witness such enthusiastic energy and so much creativity. Education, in its true meaning.
Audience member

I can honestly say that the project surpassed all expectations. The children were totally absorbed in the whole experience and it was a delight to watch them grow. It broke down the barriers of opera and the children’s preconceptions as they grew in confidence and awareness. Our only regret is that the project has come to an end.
Christopher Ashley-Jones, Headteacher, Hitherfield Primary

I enjoyed the ENO because it was fun. Before they came, I thought opera was boring but when you come down to it, it’s fantastic fun. I learnt that opera isn’t about just long high notes and low notes, it’s about singing with heart and pride and that is what empowered me to sing like a semi-pro.
Omari, Hitherfield Primary School

The ENO was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot. The things I learnt from the ENO were to express yourself when you are acting and NOT be shy. I used to think opera was really boring but it is actually really nice and calming. The ENO has been the best performance that I have done so far at Hitherfield and I would hope to do it again in the future. ENO IS THE BEST! Charlotte, Hitherfield Primary School