Manchester International Festival’s pioneering opera for babies aged 6 – 18 months – BambinO, will tour Greater Manchester venues following its premiere in the Festival’s own Pavilion Theatre in July.
This colourful work will reinvent operatic language and traditions for children at an age when their minds are wide open to new sounds, images and experiences. Babies will be free to crawl around during the performance, interacting with singers, musicians and each other.
Writer Lliam Paterson explains that “BambinO will bring an operatic experience to a little audience with ears open to discovering new sounds. It is so exciting to create a colourful and vibrant work that can engage both babies and adults fully, while conveying the drama and passion of opera. The opportunity for me to work with as imaginative a director as Phelim McDermott is fantastic and truly inspiring. He and design team Giuseppe Belli and Emma Belli will bring a beautifully crafted operatic world to a whole new audience!”
Director Phelim McDermott highlights how “it is inspiring to create a new opera for what is possibly the most discerning – and important – audience there is. We all know that babies respond to music and we want to nurture and stimulate that relationship through their very first opera.”
John McGrath, Artistic Director & CEO of Manchester International Festival is keen too: “The MIF programme this year has something for every age group. We are very pleased to support Phelim, Lliam and Scottish Opera to make work that encourages babies – and their parents – to engage with what is often considered a difficult form – opera – at an age when they are open to everything new. I look forward to developing the next generation of opera lovers this Festival.”
Written by Scottish Opera’s acclaimed Composer in Residence Lliam Paterson and directed by Improbable’s ever-imaginative Phelim McDermott, whose most recent work includes directing Philip Glass’s Akhnaten at ENO, BambinO will feature singers Charlotte Hoather and Timothy Connor, cellist Laura Sergeant and percussionist Stuart Semple.
Tickets are priced at £5 for baby with carer and go on sale at 10am Friday 26 May. You can purchase them from here.
Pavilion Theatre, Festival Square, Manchester
Wed 5 July 10.30am & 1.30pm
The Edge, Riveredge, Wigan, WN3 5AB
6th and 7th July at 10:30am & 1:30pm
The Grafton Centre, Grafton Street, Hyde, SK14 2AX
8th and 9th July at 10:30am & 1:30pm
Heywood Civic Centre, LCpl Stephen Shaw MC Way, Heywood, OL10 1LW
11th and 12th July at 10:30am & 1:30pm
Gallery Oldham, Cultural Quarter, Greaves St, Oldham, OL1 1AL
13th and 14th July at 10:30am & 1:30pm
Salford Sports Village, Littleton Rd, Lower Kersal, Salford, M7 3NQ
15th and 16th July at 10:30am & 1:30pm
