SCOTTISH Opera’s pioneering musical theatre show for babies – BambinO – is getting ready to hit the road and its first stop will be a two-week stay in Paris.
The production, which had sell-out runs in Edinburgh and Glasgow last year, will return to the capital during the Fringe before then visiting Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth, Motherwell and Lerwick in the autumn.
Written by Scottish Opera’s former composer in residence Lliam Paterson, the show for infants aged between six and 18 months is a co-production with Manchester International Festival and London-based theatre Improbable.
Tickets for the Fringe performances, at Edinburgh Academy, went on sale yesterday. The Paris shows, presented by Theatre du Chatelet, run from April 6-20.
BambinO is described as celebrating the possibilities of music and the power of the infant imagination by reinventing operatic language and traditions for children at an age when their minds are wide open to new sounds, images and experiences.
Babies are free to explore during the performance, and to interact with the singers and each other.
Director Phelim McDermott said: “BambinO has gone down a treat with our tiny audiences and it has been fascinating to see their reactions.
“With some mimicking the sounds made by the singers and others dancing along to the beat, it certainly looks like they’re enjoying it. Adults get the chance to experience opera in a new way too, through the eyes and ears of the babies.”
Paterson, who is from Aberdeenshire and is now studying for a PhD at Edinburgh University, added: “BambinO is a little opera with a big heart, bringing all the operatic passions to the youngest of opera newcomers and their parents. Together with Phelim and designers Giuseppe Belli and Emma Belli, we have created a work that is as freshly experimental as it is in love with the grand traditions of opera. The smallest ears as well as the seasoned connoisseur will find something new and joyous in BambinO.
“And for adult opera newbies, it’s not every day you get to have a truly new theatrical experience at the same moment as your baby!”
Scottish Opera’s director of education and outreach, Jane Davidson, said: ‘This is a perfect opportunity to experience the highs and lows of opera, created in miniature, through the eyes and ears of your very own bambinos.”
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