I do not see why Opera has so many stigmas attached to it: conceited, overly complicated, expensive, and inaccessible. It has the potential to engage many different people on many different levels through the richness of its music and drama and the power of the human voice. It just takes time, and a creative way of cutting through the barriers.
This project will bring Opera into the community of Salford, a community often characterised as white working class and angry, as having had generation upon generation of unemployment leading to a negative outlook. It is a community that has been too often overlooked by arts outreach work. It is also a community that has recently seen big changes in its cultural make-up, causing tension and resentment. Through the process of producing Opera I hope that we can create something that allows those involved to explore themselves and the world around them.
