FORMER Scottish Opera composer in residence Lliam Paterson composed BambinO, an “opera for babies”, which had its world premiere last year in Manchester. A co-production with Manchester International Festival and Improbable, in the past year it has toured to Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Glasgow, Paris and New York. It’s returning to the Fringe this month and touring across Scotland this autumn.
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 director Phelim McDermott 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.
BambinO celebrates 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.
BambinO follows a bird, called Uccellina, who discovers an egg. The egg grows to a magical size. It hatches, revealing a baby bird, called Pulcino, who takes Uccellina for his mother. Together they explore the world.
I am thrilled with how well BambinO has been received since it premiered last year. I was lucky enough to get to go to New York with the show recently for its sell-out run at The Metropolitan Opera in New York, and I am looking forward to audiences at The Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman having the chance to see BambinO next year.
It’s always lovely to bring the show to a local audience, particularly as I grew up in Aberdeenshire.
After the Fringe, BambinO will be travelling to Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth, Motherwell and Lerwick.
I’ve recently been back in the rehearsal room with Phelim and a brand new cast. It’s been wonderful revisiting the piece and we’re excited to take it on the road again.
I have also recently completed my first film score, A Symphony in Stone, in collaboration with Production Attic, and am currently working on a new composition for Scottish Opera.
August 7 to 19 (not 13), Robertson Room, Edinburgh Academy; September 6 to 8, The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen; Sep 10 and 11, Eden Court, Inverness; Sep 14 and 15, Perth Theatre; Sep 17 and 18, Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre; Sep 21 and 22, Mareel, Lerwick, Shetland. All dates: 10am and 11.30am. Tickets from www.scottishopera.org.uk/shows/bambino/
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