Through Listening Eyes, Welsh National Opera

An Opera on Film

A collaboration between all the organisations within the Wales Millennium Centre, 5 special schools, one adult community centre and a bilingual primary school

There are a number of arts organisations housed in the Wales Millennium Centre, and upon its opening in 2007, it was apt that they should join together in a new project, a new venture and a new piece of work. Led by Welsh National Opera, Through Listening Eyes; an opera on film was commissioned and was the very first performance to be held on the opening day of the Wales Millennium Centre

The Touch Trust is one of those organisations, and is a very special one. Through a highly sensory movement programme, Touch Trust works creatively and expressively with babies, young people and adults who have profound or multiple learning and physical disabilities.

The Through Listening Eyes project had the work and participants of Touch Trust at its very core, and a series of creative workshops were led in a number of schools and community centres in the creation of this new interpretation of Richard Chew’s opera Wise Eye, previously commissioned by WNO.

Workshops were highly collaborative, movement and music orientated and explored the life of the fox Wise Eye, and the characters and places of his life. Richard Aylwin was the creative director and filmed the workshops, then using that material along with new soundtrack material to create a new telling of the opera; with lots of participants.

A booklet accompanied the DVD. Through Listening Eyes Booklet

To build upon the creative relationship between Touch Trust and Welsh National Opera, a second project was run based on Homer’s Odyssey. I played violin in this project, and myself and one student, Naomi spent a great deal of time making music. Read about Naomi in the Odyssey Project