The children in the Infant Department at Byerley Park Primary School welcomed the English Touring Opera Company in to school on Wednesday morning where they were given a wonderful performance of ‘Back into the World’. This special commission was created to respond to many of the challenges children have faced during the past year: missing friends, increased anxiety, disruptions to learning, challenges understanding emotions and isolation. The children were taken on an interactive, participatory adventure, making music together, exploring friendship, sharing, teamwork and diversity, and discovering the natural world.
The story follows Lexi who comes from Exie. Life in Exie is, by all accounts, perfect but Lexi yearns for adventure. A horrible noise troubles the town of Exie. Lexi sets off on her adventure to save the town and learn more about herself and others along the way. She meets the nonsense-talking Wee-Whys, the wise and wonderful Everywhere, and learns how working together through music can save the day and turn the nasty noise into something beautiful.
This is the first time that the children have experienced Opera and they were all engrossed with the performance, which was brilliant.