Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2014

IN JUST 24 HOURS DURING TERIV III, TWENTY GRAMMAR GIRLS CREATED AN ORIGINAL OPERA THAT WAS THEN PERFORMED AT THE JUDITH WRIGHT CENTRE IN FORTITUDE VALLEY. AS PART OF THE WOTOPERA PROGRAMN/E, THE STUDENTS COLLABORATED TO PRODUCE THEIR OWN STORIES, THEN COMPOSED THE IVUSIC AND DESIGNED AND PAINTED THEIR SETS IN A SERIES OF FOUR ONE-DAY WORKSHOPS.

The opera, set in the 1"950s, is about Clarissa, a girl accused of murdering her lover Sam She has been put into a mental asylum for the criminally insane and while in there she sees lhe ghost of Sam as she grieves his loss At the same time, Clarissa rs being pursued by an asylum doclor who believes she would make the perfect wife. The opera lakes place when the patients decrde to stage a breakout and climaxes in a horrifying event once Doctor Xavier realises Clarissa will never love him. It's unusual in that it jumps backwards in time, starting from the breakout and travelling back to Clarissa's first meeting with Sam. It's a love story al heart, masquerading as a thniler Singer and multi-instrumentalist Breeze Mathews (9M, Clarissa) has a passion for all things theatre and her ambition to foilow in the footsteps of Andrew Lloyd Webber motivated her particrpation in WotOpera 'It was an opportunity I could not resist,' Breeze said. 'l have been involved in music since Year 1 when I first sang on stage at assembly and I have not stopped singrng since 'The best thing about WotOpera was that we actually performed our own piece. We got to create, block (decide where movement occurs) and choreograph our own scenes wrth our own music which was an amazing experience. Also, working with a bunch of other very

lalented and enthusiastic girls created a great atmosphere where our creatrve minds could flow.' The chance to extend her composrng and performance skills enticed Ailsa Traves (11G, Sam) to join the WotOpera team 'I have learned a lot, including skills involved in composing, staging, directing and even visual art areas,' Ailsa said. Both girls agreed that the experience improved their teamwork and negotiation skills and encouraged them to extend themselves. 'For me, the most challenging part has been having to work as a team. It's deflnitely been worthwhile, since it's an area I knew I needed to work on and thts experience has deflnitely improved my teamwork skills,' Ailsa said. The WotOpera programme pairs students with professronals to conceive an opera meanrngful to their lives. Grrls Grammar was one of the flrst Brisbane schools to partner with WolOpera to provide this opportunity This novel venture has opened new doors to true rnusical creativity and the School will continue providing group-devised composition project experiences. Prctured above: WotOpera Music Director Peter Aoun with stuCents Allsa Traves (11G), Ellen Wilson (9L), Isabella Hmdman (BL), Ishita Punj (BO) and Elisabeth Chua (BM)

Photo courtesy of WotOpera.