mcopera outreach
With decades of experience working in the field of performance and opera, McOpera Education and Outreach offers a wide selection of packages and projects, devised and delivered by our full range of professional orchestral musicians and singers.
From nursery through to Advanced Higher, from youth groups to corporate clients, McOpera’s Education and Outreach programmes offer exciting, innovative and inspiring opportunities to create and explore music and performance.
All our McOpera musicians are committed to reaching out musically to our community- this is a key aim of our co-operative approach to artistic life in Scotland. The McOpera musicians also have close working relationships with Enterprise Music Scotland, Scottish Opera Education Department, Artlink, Musical Minds, Children’s Classic Concerts and Glasgow Life.
Scroll down the page for more on our projects, past and present!
A Fanfare for Milngavie • Bringing Back Music - 2021
A new collaboration between the Music School of Douglas Academy, Milngavie Music Club and McOpera Outreach was launched on the final weekend of September in a socially distanced performance with an invited audience of club members and parents.
Delivered by McOpera Outreach, this inaugural project was presented as a side-by-side concerto opportunity for string players and pianists at the school, with additional creative arts work experience opportunities in presenting to camera and stage management.
Creative work experience opportunities for the main school were an integral part of this project, and two students from the Douglas Academy media studies and music courses were coached in script writing and presenting to camera by Hugh Macdonald.
The filmed performance was released on YouTube in early October. This was viewed by music club members still uneasy at returning to live concert attendance and the wider public to share the club's outreach activity and see the resulting positive impact on the health and wellbeing of these local young musicians in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Aiming to expand Milngavie Music Club's current programme of events and create a strong collaborative partnership between audiences, professionals and young musicians via blended live and digital delivery, the project was supported by Chamber Music Scotland's Transition Fund and the East Dunbartonshire Arts Council.
The programme was repeated on September 25th to a socially distanced audience at Music at St Cyprians in Lenzie, funded once again by the CMS Transition Fund.
"It was wonderful to hear live music again and to realise that the next generation of performers, and hence the next generation of teachers, are in good health in spite of all the difficulties of the last 18 months or so!" (Audience members)
Recorded by Mark Neal Music www.marknealmusic.com
Song for Haddo - 2021
A Song for Haddo returned to the Haddo Arts Festival 2021 in a creative response to the ongoing challenges of the Covid pandemic, ensuring that the children and young people of Aberdeenshire had the opportunity to perform together.
Written by Peter Kemp, A Place to Play is inspired by Haddo House and its ethos of using music-making to bring people together. The house itself was for many years the family home of June and David Gordon and was always buzzing with artists and musicians practicing and preparing for the huge productions which happened there each year. It has also been a place where generations of children and families have lived and ‘played’ in their own way, whether inside the house or in the grounds.
The project launched in August in New Deer, Rayne North and Udny Green Primary Schools and culminated in a live visit in class bubbles to Haddo House where the children were taken by guides from the National Trust for Scotland to explore the ‘secret' spaces and childhood haunts of Haddo House featured in the songs.
A Place to Play was filmed and recorded live in social-distanced 'bubbles' in Haddo Hall, conducted by professional baritone and vocal specialist Andrew McTaggart and accompanied by 5 professional musicians from McOpera.
Each participating school was given an individual link to a filmed recording of ‘their’ song, and this trailer performance was premiered on October 15th 2021
A Place to Play was recorded by audio engineer Mark Neal and funded by the Udny Community Trust Company and The People’s Postcode Trust.
A Place to Play will be performed in its entirety at the Haddo Arts Festival 2022 by the children of New Deer, Rayne North and Udny Green Primary Schools joined by the children of Haddo Voices. The orchestra will be formed of young musicians from the surrounding local Academies, professionally mentored by instrumentalists from the McOpera Ensemble with Andrew McTaggart.
Song for Haddo - 2020
A Song for Haddo 2020: Fables and Foibles
by Moira Morrison and Peter Kemp
On Thursday October 8th A Song for Haddo returned as the finale performance in the 2020 Haddo Arts Festival, as a joint Haddo Arts and McOpera response to the challenges and restrictions of the Covid pandemic and a refusal to deprive the children and young people of Aberdeenshire the opportunity to perform together.
Despite both singing and the playing of wind instruments being forbidden in schools or in groups due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the McOpera composers and musicians worked with children, young people, tutors and teachers from Aberdeenshire’s schools and East Lothian children’s choir Dunbar Voices to create a project celebrating music-making.
Following a specially devised series of pre-recorded videos, masterclass sessions and musical tracks for the classroom and at home, a cast of 148 singers, wind and string players took part in an online musical re-imagining of 7 of Aesop’s fables, taken from the series of Russell’s paintings in Haddo House. These stories were used as springboards into text, images and music to inspire us to keep our heads, learn about ourselves and respond creatively to challenging times amidst frenetic social media activity and advancing technology - something which our Hare in particular found very difficult to do!
In the final piece of Fables and Foibles, the performers were joined by string players from previous projects in a massed orchestration of A Song for Haddo (composed in 2017).
A Song for Haddo 2020: Fables and Foibles had over 1.3k views in the 3 weeks following its premiere.
A Song for Haddo project was supported by: Udny Community Trust Company Ltd and the David & June Gordon Memorial Trust
FABLES AND FOIBLES
Stories (The Fox and the Grapes & The Bear and the Bees)
The Crow and the Pitcher
The Parliament of the Owl
The Stag Looking into the Water
Tortoise and Hare
The Dog and the Stick
A Song for Haddo
Songs by Moira Morrison: Stories; Parliament of the Owl; Tortoise and Hare; A Song for Haddo
Instrumental Music by Peter Kemp: The Crow and the Pitcher; The Stag Looking into the Water; The Dog and the Stick
PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
New Deer Primary School (Primary 5/6 and Primary 6/7)
Pitmedden Primary School (Primary 7)
Rayne North Primary School (Primary 6/7)
Dunbar Voices
Alford Academy
Ellon Academy
Inverurie Academy
Kemnay Academy
Meldrum Academy
Westhill Academy
A Song for Haddo 2020: Fables and Foibles trailer showing the journey to the final performance.
Song for Haddo - 2019
A Song for Haddo 2019 - Witnesses of Time
by Moira Morrison and Peter Kemp
On October 10th, 143 local Aberdeenshire children, young people and instrumental tutors performed side-by-side with our professional McOpera musicians as part of the 2019 Haddo Arts Festival.
The song-cycle A Song for Haddo - Witnesses of Time was created for the young people of Aberdeenshire, based around the central Haddo House ethos that communities are both built and sustained by making music together.
The final composition was the culmination of months of research by composers Moira Morrison and Peter Kemp, a series of vocal workshop sessions with the children of four primary schools and side-by-side, professionally mentored rehearsal sessions with 25 high school string players.
The result was an astonishingly personal song-cycle, a series of episodes taken from different time periods, with key figures illustrating the different characters and stories left behind.
These five songs were framed by atmospheric orchestral music by Peter Kemp depicting the house’s inner theatrical ‘backstage’ life as seen from a child’s perspective, recalled by Mary Welfare in her book, 'Growing up at Haddo: A Scottish Childhood'.
Moira Morrison - Composer, Vocal Animateur, Conductor
Peter Kemp - Composer
McOpera Ensemble: Katie Hull (Leader), Elana Eisen, Peter Kemp, Aline Gow and Sarah Neil
Piano: Hebba Benyaghla
Pupils from New Deer Primary School, Rayne North Primary School, Tipperty Primary School and Udny Green Primary School
Students from Ellon Academy, Inverurie Academy, Meldrum Academy and Westhill Academy and their Aberdeenshire Instrumental Tutors
Sue Baxendale – McOpera Outreach Project Manager
Dr Cathy Guthrie – Haddo Arts Festival Administrator
A Song for Haddo – Witnesses of Time
1. Witnesses of Time - Moira Morrison: ‘old souls, strong, selfless, breathing for the earth.’
2. The Lairds of Gight - Moira Morrison: the Laird of Gight and the curse of the Hagberry Pot.
3. The Heron’s Flight from Gight - Peter Kemp: 'When the heron leaves the tree, the lands of Gight shall lairdless be...'
4. Onwards and Upwards - Moira Morrison: Lady Ishbel and the 7th Earl of Aberdeen…‘We Twa’
5. Passageways and Hideouts - Peter Kemp: “Behind every door, somebody was practising, running up and down scales, tuning a cello, scraping a fiddle” (Mary Welfare)
6. A Place to Start - Moira Morrison: the legacy of the Haddo Babies
7. Echoes - Lament on a Theme by Thomas Ravenscroft - Peter Kemp
8. A Song for Haddo - Moira Morrison
FEEDBACK
I loved being on stage and singing for my family and making them happy.
It was not boring learning about history like this. I knew nothing at all about these people from Haddo before, but now I'm almost an expert and I can hear the songs all the time.
It was superb to work alongside the composers as we could get a real insight to what their expectations were.
This is such a great opportunity for the young musicians to play alongside their peers from other schools and professional players - they don’t get this opportunity anywhere else.
Linda Moggach, Head of Faculty of Performing Arts at Meldrum Academy
This is the highlight of our year – please do it again!
Zoe Davidson, Aberdeenshire Instrumental Music Service - Music Instructor Violin
I can think of no better way to celebrate Haddo, the contribution made by our forebears, what it means to so many groups of people both locally and further afield, its living legacy of encouraging the young and providing opportunities to discover the arts and participate in creating great music and song.
Lady Joanna Aberdeen
A Song for Haddo – Witnesses of Time was commissioned by Haddo Arts, with support from the Udny Community Trust Company, The MacRobert Trust, the David & June Gordon Memorial Trust and Enterprise Music Scotland
Friday Afternoons - Song for Flight - 2019
Friday Afternoons - Song for Flight for Milngavie Music Club
Date: Friday 26thApril
Time: 8pm
Venue: Cairns Church, 11 Buchanan Road, Milngavie, G62 8AW
Friday Afternoons - A Song for Flight marks the culmination of a wide ranging inter-generational project for over 120 primary school children and high school instrumentalists, and is the third in a series of outreach projects for Milngavie Music Club.
Focusing on the music of Benjamin Britten and his contemporaries, the project began earlier this year with a concert at St Cyprian’s Church in Lenzie. This included a series of workshops and mentored rehearsals during which McOpera’s professional quintet of string players led by Katie Hull worked side-by-side with 19 talented high school musicians from the East Dunbartonshire Instrumental Music Service and the Music School of Douglas Academy to develop ensemble techniques, listening and communication skills, team building and musicianship.
In March, the project continued in two local primary schools with composer and vocal animator Moira Morrison, and included the composition of a new song, inspired by workshops with the children and funded by the Glasgow Airport FlightPath Fund. Entitled A Song for Flight, this piece explores how travel and flight can broaden horizons and bring opportunities to communities.
Discussing the composition of the new song, composer Moira Morrison said, “...the children gave their song depth, a poignant angle. Not only that seeing a plane flying overhead starts them wondering, questioning where they might end up and who they might become, but also asking about those people in the sky - are they flying or fleeing, and can we give them a better world here and now”.
The young voices (along with children of the East Dunbartonshire Children’s Chorus) will be accompanied by the high school string players, performing side-by-side with the professional McOpera musicians (members of the Orchestra of Scottish Opera) in the final concert of Milngavie Music Club's International concert series.
Programme to also include Britten's Friday Afternoons songs with orchestrations by Peter Kemp, and string music by Bridge, Holst and Britten.
Vocal Animateur and Composer (A Song for Flight): Moira Morrison
Orchestrations (Britten songs) by Peter Kemp, with kind permission from Snape Maltings.
McOpera Ensemble, Leader Katie Hull
East Dunbartonshire Young Strings: drawn from the East Dunbartonshire Instrumental Music Service Senior String Ensemble and the Music School of Douglas Academy
Children from St Machan’s Primary School (Lennoxtown) and Clober Primary School (Milngavie)
East Dunbartonshire Children’s Chorus, conductor Janet Lax
McOpera Outreach Project Manager: Sue Baxendale
Supported by the Robertson Trust, the Glasgow Airport Fight Path Fund, Enterprise Music Scotland and East Dunbartonshire Arts Council.
A Song for Haddo - 2018
Haddo Arts Festival 2018
Performed at Haddo House
October 11th 2018
in conjunction with
Music Co-OPERAtive Scotland (McOpera Outreach). in conjunction with Snape Maltings
In an exciting development of last year's outreach project at the Haddo Arts Festival, McOpera Outreach and conductor Andrew McTaggart returned to work with over 100 children drawn from 6 local primary schools, performing a selection of songs composed for Snape Maltings by the 2018 Friday Afternoons’ composer-in-residence, Errollyn Wallen. We were delighted to welcome Errollyn to Haddo for the final rehearsal and the performance.
Building on our parallel string mentoring programme, our McOpera string players played alongside local young string players from Meldrum, Ellon and Inverurie Academies and their instrumental instructors, performing Peter Kemp's new orchestrations of the Errollyn Wallen songs and Warlock’s Capriol Suite.
The chorus also performed the ‘Song for Haddo’ written by Moira Morrison, whilst the strings accompanied baritone Andrew McTaggart in a selection of short arias.
Andrew McTaggart - Baritone, conductor and vocal coach
McOpera String Ensemble (Katie Hull, Shelagh McKail, Aline Gow, Sarah Neil)
Pupils from Auchterless, Daviot, New Deer, Pitfour, Pitmedden and Tarves Primary Schools
Students from Ellon Academy, Inverurie Academy & Meldrum Academy
Sue Baxendale - Mcopera Outreach Project Manager (Music Co-OPERAtive Scotland)
Dr Cathy Guthrie - Haddo Arts Festival Administrator
Piano: Hebba Benygahla
An Cadel Trom - Lammermuir Festival 2018
We present the premiere performance of An Cadal Trom, an operatic celebration of this area’s unique journey through history and folklore by Scottish-Gabonese composer Matthew Rooke.
With distinguished conductor Sian Edwards once more at the helm , our professional cast and orchestra join a company of over 150 including the children of Dunbar Voices, Dunbar Music School and Dunbar Primary School, and Community Theatre and Costume Design students from Queen Margaret University.
Rooted in the very rich and wondrous stories which run through Dunbar’s own history, we follow the interactions of two central characters whose story of love and rejection is woven throughout time, travelling through a kaleidoscopic musical landscape filled with pilgrims, invaders, visionaries and local townsfolk.
Andrew McTaggart Baritone
Penelope Cousland Mezzo-soprano
Dunbar Voices
Dunbar Music School
Pupils of Dunbar Primary School
With the community of Dunbar and East Lothian
Music Co-OPERAtive Scotland (McOpera)
Jack Furness Director
Hannah Wolfe Designer
Sian Edwards Conductor
Moira Morrison Chorus Master
Roddy Simpson Video Designer
Sue Baxendale Project Manager/ Producer
For more information visit www.mcopera.com/ancadaltrom
East Dunbartonshire Young Musicians 2018
The concert given by Jess Gillam on Friday 8th December at Cairns Church in Milngavie marked the launch of the McOpera Outreach East Dunbartonshire Young Musicians 2018 programme, devised for Milngavie Music Club and continuing the work in the community begun last April with The Tales’ Project.
Prior to the concert, our successful young musicians met for a Q&A session with saxophonist Jess Gillam, the 2016 BBC Young Musicians of the Year finalist, whilst the String Quartet of the Music School of Douglas Academy performed a Dvorak String Quartet in the interval of the concert with the 3 finalists joined by fellow pupil, Anna Mackenzie.
This unique work experience project will catapult 7 aspiring young musicians (chosen during a series of auditions and interviews) into the professional world to play and work alongside our experienced orchestral players from Music Co-OPERAtive Scotland (McOpera). As part of the project, the students will also attend Milngavie Music Club concerts, meet the soloists and showcase their schools.
The project culminates on June 2nd, 2018 with a chamber music concert at Bearsden Cross Church, where the young people will perform as part of our fully professional ensemble.
From left to right in the photograph are:
Corin Whitmarsh: Violin (Music School of Douglas Academy, S5)
Esther Ersfield: Piano and viola (Music School of Douglas Academy, S4)
Clara Daley: Cello (Music School of Douglas Academy, S6)
Jess Gillam
Kirsty Donaldson: Clarinet (Lenzie Academy, S6)
Katrina Mulheran: Oboe (currently on a gap year, prior to taking her place reading music at Cambridge University)
Emily Kemp: Voice (St Ninians High School, S4)
Raj Bhaumik: Clarinet (Music School of Douglas Academy, S2)
The Tales Project
McOpera successfully received funding from Waitrose Music Matters and East Dunbartonshire Arts Council to commission an outreach project and concert on April 21st 2017 at Cairns Church in Milngavie as part of the Milngavie Music Club 75th anniversary celebrations and concert series.
The project was based on ‘Cautionary Tales and Fables’, and at its heart was be a performance of Igor Stravinsky's ‘The Soldier’s Tale’ in its full septet version, conducted by Sian Edwards, narrated by Flora Munro, with a projected film by Roddy Simpson and local storyboard artist Derek Gray.
This was coupled with a commissioned piece by composer Peter Kemp for children’s chorus (East Dunbartonshire Children’s Chorus and Youth Choir) and instrumental ensemble. Drawing on the Visit Scotland 2017 theme of local history, heritage and archeology, the project explored local tales set to music (including the Bennie’s railplane, the madcap events of Charlie the elephant at Craigend Zoo, the folly of the Antonine Wall and Lunardi’s balloon flight). These were workshopped within the community in a variety of formats (with both adult and children’s community groups, using music, art, text and photography).
FEEDBACK
For the young people, having the opportunity to engage with musicians of this outstanding calibre is such a valuable experience- truly inspirational – both for pupils and teachers alike.
Jane Davidson: Director of Outreach and Education, Scottish Opera
The Tales project was undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and memorable that Milngavie Music Club has undertaken in its 75-year history. Combining a great 20th Century classic of music theatre (Stravinsky's 'The Soldier's Tale') with a witty and colourful new cycle of choral songs specially composed by Peter Kemp and rooted in our own community's history added up to a truly extraordinary event.
Hugh Macdonald, President, Milngavie Music Club
It just goes to show how little I know about Scotland and more specifically East Dunbartonshire and all the great things that have happened that prove just what we’re capable of in the future. I loved how well the music was written as the musical style went perfectly with the time we were singing about. It was a unique way of learning the area’s history and was a really fun way to show people what our choir can do.
EDYC 15 year old singer
I think that the combination of the local historical links, the creative process, singing with professional players, the connection to Stravinsky, being part of a professional concert with an international conductor to sing an extended piece which was commissioned and written especially for them have made this a fantastically unique and unforgettable experience for all the young people involved.
Parent
A Song for Haddo - 2017
Haddo Arts Festival 2017
Performed at Haddo House
October 12th 2017
in conjunction with
Music Co-OPERAtive Scotland (McOpera Outreach)
and Snape Maltings.
Based on the song cycle, Friday Afternoons by Benjamin Britten, A Song for Haddo was the exciting culmination of this year’s Haddo outreach programme.
Moira Morrison, McOpera composer and vocal animateur, worked with over 120 primary school pupils and their teachers from Aberdeenshire using Kodaly-inspired vocal techniques. The schools involved were Pitfour, New Deer, Barthol Chapel, Daviot, Pitmedden and Tarves Primary Schools.
Six of Benjamin Britten's Friday Afternoon songs were accompanied by a string ensemble formed of local high school string students from Meldrum Academy, Ellon Academy and Inverurie Academy, in an orchestration by Peter Kemp.
The young string players were mentored by 3 of our professional orchestral musicians, who played alongside the students, led by Katie Hull and assisted by local string specialists.
As a key component of the project, a new song was commissioned as part of the Friday Afternoons project - 'A Song for Haddo'.
Composed by Moira Morrison with input and ideas from the children, this took inspiration from the local area and children's experience of living in Aberdeenshire, and was performed with piano accompaniment played by Jeremy Coleman.
Friday Afternoons was conceived as part of the celebrations to mark the Centenary of the birth of the composer, Benjamin Britten, by Snape Maltings (formerly Aldeburgh Music) with the initial aim of encouraging children and young people to sing.
Photograph copyright Simon Ovenden
Benjamin Britten: Old Abram Brown (from Friday Afternoons Op 7, 1935), in a new orchestration by Peter Kemp.
Performed at the Haddo Arts Festival 2017 by the pupils of Pitfour, New Deer, Barthol Chapel, Daviot, Pitmedden and Tarves Primary Schools, accompanied by students and instrumental music staff from Meldrum Academy, Ellon Academy and Inverurie Academy and musicians from Music Co-OPERAtive Scotland.
Conductor: Moira Morrison, Leader: Katie Hull
Moira Morrison: A Song for Haddo
Commissioned by Haddo Arts with Snape Maltings, for the 'Friday Afternoons' project.
Performed at the Haddo Arts Festival 2017 by the pupils of Pitfour, New Deer, Barthol Chapel, Daviot, Pitmedden and Tarves Primary Schools, conducted by Moira Morrison and accompanied by Jeremy Coleman.
It was wonderful and I know that for years to come we will be saying, Do you remember that day? Moira’s beautiful composition will go down in the history books of Haddo
Lady Aberdeen
I just wanted say how impressed I was with the Song For Haddo event. My son was one of the lucky children to take part. From when he began to practice his songs at home I knew it was going to be special. He ...loved the singing sessions with Moira and really enjoyed being part of the creative process.
Parent
Reeltime / McOpera Outreach Young Parents’ Music Project
In partnership with Music Co-OPERAtive Scotland, Motherwell based charity Reeltime Music taught interactive music skills at two eight-weekly sessions between September and December 2016 to young parents aged 15 to 25 years old and their children under 5. Five McOpera musicians worked with Early Years' specialist Daniela Hathaway alongside Reeltime Music to provide informal music experience to young parents to boost their confidence and aid child development while encouraging bonding with their child. Families were given musical challenges to complete and try out popular instruments such as guitar, drums and keyboards as well as explore more unusual instruments including cajóns, ukuleles and mandolins.
McOpera led families though music and play sessions designed to encourage bonding and communication while creating music and having fun together. Parents and children sang and rhymed, played with props and puppets and enjoyed percussion activities which were linked to everyday life. The rhythms also provided a calming and soothing effect for children, and parents were given resources to recreate the fun at home.
Laura Scott, project co-ordinator at Reeltime Music, said: “We identified that young parents lacked the confidence and self-esteem to attend community groups which could benefit them and their child. Our project acted as a stepping stone to encourage attendance in mainstream groups and promote understanding of the benefits of artistic time with their child.
“Without vital funding from UK Steel Enterprise and Creative Scotland YMI Access to Music, the project could not have gone ahead. The extra funding allowed the project to run further and therefore have a bigger impact on the young parents facing disadvantage in our community in North Lanarkshire.”
Learn more about Reeltime Music
Britten's 'Noye's Fludde' at the Lammermuir Festival 2016
An exciting community opera performed as part of the Lammermuir Festival 2016
Conducted by internationally acclaimed conductor Sian Edwards, and featuring singers Andrew MacTaggart, Penelope Cousland and Donald Maxwell as the Voice of God; and with the children of Dunbar Primary School and the community of Dunbar and wider East Lothian in a cast of over 120 performers and crafts people.
Directed by Caitlin Skinner and Assistant Director/ Chorus Master Moira Morrison, designed by Carys Hobbs and produced by Sue Baxendale. Accompanied by film sequence by Roddy Simpson.This fabulous community opera was performed on Sunday 11th September at 2:30pm and 5:00pm in Dunbar Parish Church to full houses and great critical acclaim.
“Britten’s warm-hearted monster of a masterpiece fitted beautifully in among the festival’s bold offerings….celebrating the talents of the community, and all the benefits that brings, it was an astonishing achievement… there can have been barely a dry eye in the house”- The Scotsman (September 2016) *****
For more information visit The Noye’s Fludde Website
McOpera Early Years Development
In August 2015, five instrumentalists from McOpera Outreach worked with writer and director Martin O’Connor, composer Oliver Searle, singer Daniela Hathaway, designer Rachel O’Neill and choreographer Janice Parker to develop Squirrel, a new interactive opera for the early years’, supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland. Based at Platform in Easterhouse, the team created an innovative concept in workshop performances for the 0-5 years and their parents and carers, culminating in a showing of work at Platform’s Play Cafe on the 2nd and 9th September, with further exploratory sessions taking in place in local nurseries. Taking as its inspiration the seasonal journey of the native red squirrel in its natural woodland environment, the research focused on exploring and facilitating the interaction and bonding of parent and child in creative activity using the musicians’ innate understanding of pulse and movement, timbre, expression and non-verbal communication.
Further performances and touring are planned subject to attracting successful funding. McOpera thank Creative Scotland for their support of Squirrel, our pilot project for the early years.
Read about this project in Ken Walton’s article for The Scotsman
Projects for people living with dementia
David Cargill House, Glasgow
Working with residents at the David Cargill House, McOpera Outreach presented a package of one-to-one musical interaction in a ‘quiet room’ environment, supported in larger groups by a range of familiar musical songs and material, and led by our workshop leader, soprano Rachel Hynes.
The songs for the group sessions were chosen by the residents, and arranged by the group of 3 musicians and 2 opera singers to perform with them during the visits.
To cater for the variety of mobility needs, our McOpera musicians moved through the care home as ‘wandering minstrels’, taking specific requests for songs into each room.
The power of working with operatic voices and live orchestral instruments in this context cannot be underestimated, and the connection this had with the residents was particularly powerful.
“I can't believe the response.. it's been just absolutely fabulous! Everybody has had such a wonderful time - they've all participated, those that wanted to, and it was just great.”
Roslyn Kirk, Activities Co-ordinator
David Cargill House, Glasgow
www.davidcargillhouse.co.uk
Musical Minds, Kilmarnock
McOpera Outreach were out with Musical Minds, a 100 strong Alzheimer's Choir based in Kilmarnock. Aline Gow, Alison Hastie, Sue Baxendale and our fabulous baritone, Steven Faughey, had the most amazing experience with the choir, some of whom joined us to perform solo spots- the lovely Irene singing Moon River, Ian playing beautifully on violin and our highly skilled accordion player, Miles.
Hats off to those who run this truly inspirational project…. We will be back for more!
Our Team
Sue Baxendale: McOpera Outreach
Sue Baxendale studied English and Music (University of Birmingham) and horn at the Royal Northern College of Music before taking the position as Section Principal Horn at Scottish Opera in 1996.
She currently works throughout the UK as guest principal and freelance horn player with ensembles and orchestras including the BBCSSO, RSNO, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ballet, Opera North, Scottish Ensemble and many others.
A varied portfolio musician, Sue is the producer for the Lammermuir Festival Community Operas, with acclaimed productions of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde (2016) and Matthew Rooke’s An Cadal Trom (2018), both conducted by Sian Edwards, and is Director and Project Manager for McOpera Outreach, for which she has produced a series of wide-ranging outreach projects for Milngavie Music Club and Nairn Music, and Songs for Haddo for the Haddo Arts Festival 2017-2020.
Sue is the horn tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Junior Conservatoire) and the Music School of Douglas Academy and tutors Kodaly musicianship for the East Dunbartonshire Children’s Chorus and Youth Choir.
Peter Kemp is a performing musician, composer, conductor and music therapist. A former member of the RSNO playing viola, he was the Community Music Coordinator and Lecturer on the University of Strathclyde’s BA (Applied Music) and BA (Community Arts) degrees, and holds both an MMus in Composition (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and an MSc in Music Therapy (Queen Margaret University).
Moira Morrison (McOpera Outreach: composer and vocal coach) studied music at Newcastle University where she majored in composition. She gained her Master’s degree in musical directing and conducting in 2010, culminating in a performance art piece premiered at the Sage Gateshead, which she also composed. Moira has conducted and directed Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Bernstein's West Side Story and Kurt Weill's Mahagonny Songspiel, delivered workshops for Streetwise Opera and vocal coached for Joseph, the King and I and Evita.