“What is the role of a performer? If it just to bring the score to life? To realise as faithfully as possible the intentions of the composer? Perhaps. But sometimes, you can remake the score, or just throw it out entirely.”
We recently visited Francis Holland Sloane Square to talk to their Sixth Form about creative agency as a performer, marking the launch of Marginalia Performance’s Education Programme. We introduced our work making classical music and academic research more accessible, as well as centering underrepresented voices.
Our show, ‘A rose by another name: Juliet and Romeo’ was designed not only to challenge and entertain life-long opera fans, but also to welcome young people and those new to opera. It has a 75-minute running time, a familiar story and a combination of speech and singing. We also make tickets to every performance available to U18s who would not otherwise be able to attend. You can find out more about the show and some of the workshops that run in parallel with it here.
“We loved Marginalia’s talk! It was refreshing to see different ways of presenting musical performances, opened our eyes to new ways of looking things, and challenged our heteronormative unconscious biases.”— Caroline Wilkes, Head of Sixth Form at Francis Holland School, Sloane Square, London
