Walhampton’s first School opera is a success 

Walhampton staged its first opera performance of ‘The Magic Flute’ this week to a packed audience of family, staff and special guests from the local community. 

The Opera Evening involved groups of children collaborating with professional opera singers and chefs. The performers included five professional operatic singers, two alumni as well as a cast of 15 pupil singers from across the Prep School, their singing teacher and 16 children helping behind the scenes with catering and serving guests at the event.

The children have been working on their performance and backstage skills since the start of term with rehearsal music and singing filling the School in the lead up to the event. As part of SPARK enrichment, Year 7 and 8 children have also been putting their cooking skills to good use, helping to prepare the special menu for the evening. 

Walhampton School Head, Jonny Timms said: "The opera was certainly an uplifting, unifying and formative experience for everyone, but what made it extra special is that it was very much child-led with the children hosting the evening, helping to prepare, cook and serve the food, in addition to performing alongside the professional singers. We are all about experiential learning at Walhampton; if the children feel it, they’re more likely to benefit from it and real-world learning such as this is an area we are keen to develop further in our curriculum - a big thank you and well done to all involved in making this wonderful event happen.”

Pippa Judson, singing teacher at Walhampton and event organiser, enthused: “Mozart’s music is not easy to learn, especially for such young children. I am so proud of all the children involved from the performers to our front of house and backstage helpers who all worked so well together and alongside our guest operatic singers. I am pleased that we have the support of the School and the parents to put on events such as this and I hope that this is the start of many more to come!”     

Walhampton Alumni and Bass performer, Connor Williams, added: “After leaving Walhampton five years ago, it is safe to say that the magic has not disappeared. Watching our young performers immersing themselves into the world of opera and professional theatre made for a spectacular evening. Combining the voices of expert opera singers and the Walhamptonian ensembles was the perfect way to revive live performances after two years of a musically quiet pandemic. I was delighted to be a part of it."