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£1,305
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WOCo: nurturing operatic talent - Season 9: Mozart's The Magic Flute
On August 2nd and 3rd WOCo will bring 24 Emerging Artists to perform Mozart's fantastical masterpiece The Magic Flute. The performance can be seen at the Château de Panloy in Port d'Envaux, Charente Maritime, France.
WOCo was born out of a visit to the Château de Panloy 10 years ago. Guy Hopkins, WOCo's Founder and Musical Director, had a hunch standing in front of the Château that it would be the perfect venue for an outdoor opera production. Fortunately the owner, the Marquis de Grailly (now, together with the internationally acclaimed Tenor Ian Bostridge, a WOCo Patron), was willing to open up his home to this shared endeavour. After the success of each of the 8 seasons in which WOCo has performed there we are now fundraising for our 9th Season.
What is WOCo and what does it do?
WOCo provides opportunities for emerging young singers, players and design and stage teams at the cusp of their professional careers. These young artists afre frequently completing or have recently completed advanced studies at the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Opera Studio, or Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Not only is WOCo providing a valuable learning experience in terms of operating and stage training but the unique venue and company spirt of performing as a travelling company is very, very special. WOCo aims to develop as a company and start performing more regularly in the UK. For now we are focusing our efforts on:
- Securing funds for the design of the 2017 production of The Magic Flute
- Letting more people know about what WOCo does and why
- Building a sustainable platform from which to continue WOCo's Emerging Artist Programme.
Risks and challenges
The greatest risk to the 2017 production of The Magic Flute is being unable to raise sufficient funds to support the 24 Emerging Artists (singers, players, designers and production team members) who have been accepted onto the programme this year. It costs £500 per Emerging Artists to support their training, accommodation and subsistence plus £6,000 for the typical opera production costs of set construction, costume & prop hire, minibus hire to transport the show to France, marketing and other production costs. We always keep our costs to a minimum and maximise the use of volunteer support from our company directors and others, but it nevertheless takes funds to ensure the highest standards of mentoring experience and production values for each performance.
In the main our challenges are overcome by the fantastic esprit de corps developed in the process of building an opera. This is most evident as company members work together and this year we are focusing our kickstarter efforts on ensuring adequate funds are raised to create, through our design team Emerging Artists, a magical staging to do justice to Mozart's vision.
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Funding period
- (30 days)