We work hard to build relationships with local schools, where arts provision is often limited due to staffing and funding difficulties.
Our aim is to help fill the cultural void by sharing our love of opera and the arts with young people across the towns, villages, and cities in our region. Each element of our work is carefully designed to spark a love of music, raise aspirations, encourage young people to get involved and develop a life-long love of the arts.
Longborough Festival Opera is a charity (no. 1087303). We need to raise over £80,000 every year to deliver our ambitious education and outreach programme. We rely on donations from generous individuals and Trusts and Foundations to support our work in our community.
Please consider a one-off or regular monthly donation to help us to support young people in Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire.
£20 per month could help build a school choir; £50 per month could help fund Youth Chorus training; £100 per month could help fund Playground Opera in a school. To discuss further ways of how you can help, contact Saskia Ross: saskia@lfo.org.uk
Our vision is that every child should have the opportunity to sing together. We want to enable schools to build a school choir that meets weekly and works on a wide variety of repertoire and style, promoting singing as a feel good, collaborative and inspirational activity.
“Children have improved confidence, ability, concentration and focus on a task – they have blossomed into young singers.”
Our Choir Leaders lead weekly singing sessions in each of our Singing Schools. They are engaging, fun, and introduce children to a wide variety of repertoire and styles.
Activities include –
Nine children from our Singing Schools volunteered to participate as Screaming Nibelungs in Wagner’s Das Rheingold on the Longborough stage in 2024.
We will extend our Singing Schools network to five local primary schools for 2024/25.
"This is the most wonderful opportunity for our school-the children absolutely loved it and the staff as well- it was pure joy and has made us all feel fantastic!"
Schools visited: 4
Children participating: 550
Days in schools: 88
In 2025, a new scholarship was introduced supporting pupils who demonstrate exceptional talent and enthusiasm for singing. The award offers the recipient a bursary place within our Youth Chorus, providing them with the opportunity to develop their skills further, work with professional practitioners, and grow as a young performer within a supportive and inspiring environment.
“It has been a pleasure to work alongside LFO, developing our own music curriculum and understanding, as well as opening the doors to the world of opera for our children.”
Headteacher at Longborough Primary School
Playground Opera reimagines classic operas to make them accessible for children. Schools receive teacher packs with information on the story and its characters for pre-teaching purposes. This maximises the children's experience when we visit and shows teachers where our programme makes links with the curriculum and supports their teaching.
“We thought it was amazing, enriching and a fantastic hands-on experience that we can’t give the children ourselves”
This year saw our second tour of L’elisire d’amore – The Implausible Potions of Dr Dulcamara. We toured two schools per day, visiting schools across Warwickshire and Gloucestershire over a two-week run.
Children took part in an engaging and creative workshop, working directly with professional musicians and singers. They explored the opera through music, singing, and dance. We provided a unique opportunity for them to create social bonds within their cohort, which happens particularly when it involves movement and active involvement.
Our wonderful artists delivered high-quality performances consistently throughout our Playground Opera tour. The children’s participation was a highlight, making the performance extra special. By immersing the children in the performance, it allows them to improve their performance skills and enables them to be role models to their peers in the audience.
“We’ve asked the school to set up a drama club at lunchtime because we loved your opera so much”
This summer, our team of experienced workshop leaders delivered a series of special Barber of Seville workshops in local Secondary Schools. These 90-minute interactive sessions brought The Barber of Seville to life for students through live performances of some of the most iconic arias. Students were guided to reimagine the opera’s story using improvisation, music, and movement. They explored their creativity by developing scenes, took part in vocal warm-ups, and even sang excerpts from the opera themselves. The workshop also included dedicated time for discussion, offering students and practitioners a chance to reflect, ask questions, and exchange ideas.
This hands-on approach not only sparks inspiration but also nurtures confidence, strengthens collaboration among peers, and enhances performance and theatre skills.
This was followed by 125 students attending the Barber of Seville Dress Rehearsal, a highlight of the season!
“The pupils were definitely buzzing after the performance; they really enjoyed it. Some of them had seen an opera before, but for most of them it was their first - and it was a brilliant first production to see because it was so funny and so well done. I'm only sorry we didn't bring more pupils!”
Teacher from Pate’s Grammar
The Youth Chorus has continued to grow in size and reputation as the place to learn performance skills and opera repertoire in preparation for main stage productions. It is still open to anyone under the age of 21 who is prepared to commit to the intensive rehearsals with our teams.
We offer bursaries where needed. This year, six of our members successfully applied. We now have over 55 members from ages 7-21.
This was a busy year for the Youth Chorus, involved in community outreach concerts in Blockley, the Shipston Proms Music Festival and their annual Christmas at Longborough Concert.
Members of our Youth Chorus had an exceptional year, performing in the UK premiere of Wahnfried and with the entire chorus taking part in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Dido was presented as our Emerging Artist production on the main stage, directed by Erlend Samnoen. The Youth Chorus began working in January, participating in workshops with industry professionals that focused on movement, stagecraft, and vocal training. They worked as part of a full professional company alongside Barroksolistene, an eye-opening and inspiring experience for all involved.
On-site rehearsals with the choreographer and director helped them refine their stage movement and performance skills, and parents were invited to attend the dress rehearsal, with many bringing friends along as well, introducing new audiences to opera.
“For crowd scenes, a cast of local children and emerging artists cram the stage, making a lovely tableau...the whole thing is wonderful spectacle”
Stratford Herald
