No singing experience needed to take part in community opera project

The project – Bloom Britannia was conceived by Barefoot Opera and is billed as the people’s opera. It has been four years in the making.

It aims to involve people in Hastings and Rother of all ages and abilities.

The final year of the project was intended to culminate with performances at St Mary in the Castle in the autumn of 2020, involving a huge chorus of people from the communities of Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill.

Janet Hodgson, from Barefoot Opera, said: “If, like many people, you feel that opera is not really for you, this project certainly makes you think again.

“Bloom Britannia is inspired by our lives on the south coast, with a story we can all relate to, characters we can all recognise, and musical influences from pop, folk, jazz and even beat-boxing.”

Jenny Miller, Barefoot Opera’s founder and director, is on a mission to show that opera and singing can be a fundamental and positive part of everyone’s lives. And so, alongside the opera is a wide-ranging and inclusive outreach project that brings the joy of singing and music-making to hundreds of local people, partner organisations, schools and charities.

The project is for people of all ages and from all backgrounds – this is an inclusive project, through and through. All you need is enthusiasm, and a willingness to set aside time each week to take part. You don’t need any singing experience – the project is open to people with all levels of singing ability.

Teaching will take place online, until Covid restrictions are eased, and it is hoped that a local performance can take place in the autumn.

Barefoot Opera has released a short film to launch the appeal and hopefully inspire people. It will be first broadcast on Isolation Station Hastings on Thursday February 18 at 6pm and will be available to watch anytime after that. It features several of the local people and musicians taking part in this project, followed by a short panel discussion with some of the Bloom Britannia team.

Featured in the film are: 11-year-old Poppy Martin, from Bexhill, who was new to singing when she started taking part in Bloom Britannia. Also featured is 18-year-old Justin Greenland, and Paul Toon, a client of The Seaview Project in Hastings. They are filmed singing some of their favourite pieces while going about their daily lives, in their gardens or out and about in Hastings and Bexhill.

The film can be viewed on Isolation Station Hastings and the Barefoot Opera websites after it is released.

For more on how to get involved, check out the Barefoot Opera website for details, or email [email protected] for an information pack.

See also: Sussex people reveal what it is like to live with the symptoms of Long Covid