- Title: Operatunity
- Date: 11th February 2003
- Summary: In January 2002, English National Opera (ENO) was set a challenge. Could it take a great risk and agree to find a singer with no professional operatic experience who it could prepare, within one year, to sing in one of its acclaimed operas at the London Coliseum, side by side with world-class performers? That is the premise of, and the prize at stake in Operatunity, a unique and challenging competition which has been filmed over the last 12 months exclusively for Channel 4 Arts, made in association with ENO. Tonight's opening film follows the initial stages of this risky experiment and captures the excitement, the joys, the tears and the traumas experienced by applicants and judges alike who are all entering into uncharted territory. 2,500 video applications were received and after weeks of sifting through tapes of naked men singing in showers, women of all ages singing extraordinarily high and hopefuls of both sexes singing anything and everything, only a lucky 100 are called to sing live before the panel of opera professionals, made up of Tony Legge (Head of Music at ENO), Mary King (An opera singer who runs The Knack, ENO's performance course for aspiring singers), Karen Gillingham (An actress/singer who trained on The Knack) and Philip Traugott (a top freelance classical record producer). It is their unenviable task to trawl from Glasgow to Manchester and Cardiff to London to see if such a remarkable hidden talent does actually exist. Unsure what they have let themselves in for, each finalist must sing a song of their choice, be interviewed by the panel and participate in a voice and movement workshop. Amongst the final 100 chosen to do just this is Ted, a builder with a passion for Puccini who is used to singing quite literally from the rooftops. Tony Legge, who gets him to understand how to sing quietly, puts him through his paces and Ted clearly loves every minute of it. "It's a real buzz" he says afterwards and is even unashamed that he admitted to liking Barry Manilow during his interview. Jane, a mother of four and a supermarket assistant is also through to the final 100. Desperately keen to give it her all, Jane sees this competition as her second stab at pursuing a career in her first love, opera singing. Aged 21 she tried for the Welsh National Opera who told her to go off to Music College, but the realities of family and funds prevented this from happening. Also through to round one and invited to sing before the panel of opera experts are Calin, a Transylvanian pig farmer who confesses to singing to his pigs when he is lonely. " When I start singing they shut up and when I finish they start arguing and jumping around, it's really sad" he tells the panel; Siobhan, a performer on the northern working men's club circuit who knows very little about opera. Unsure about her voice range, she sings to the panel the only aria she is familiar with, Nessun Dorma, a tenor, and asks whether they have Bingo at the opera; and Giuseppe, a chef until five years ago when an unfortunate accident crushed his right hand. He tells the enraptured panel that has no doubt that singing was his best medicine. He says, " I came off anti-depressants when I started singing." Passion and personality they all clearly have in droves, determination and talent they undoubtedly display in their group and individual workshop sessions. But, the big question on theirs and the judges lips is, do any of them have what it takes to sing alongside opera professionals in under twelve months? Panel member Mary King is not so sure. "Opera looks easy but actually you're requiring someone to be, if you like, a hundred metre runner and a marathon runner at the same time. They must have short-term explosive skills and great stamina, be able to act and project into a huge auditorium, seemingly effortlessly. On a bad day I panic and think it is just not possible to develop someone's skills in such a short space of time. It will be very exciting but on a bad day I think it's just not possible." Yet, the end of tonight's film sees the lucky 100 whittled down to the even luckier final 20. They will be invited down to London for an intensive weekend of one-on-one and group tuition led by ENO's Music Director, Paul Daniel. Who will they be and will they really be able to pull this off?
- Description:Operatunity',a series to find the opera star of the future. The series follows hopefuls through regional auditions from which 6 will be selected to be trained by English National Opera. In the final programme 1(or 2) singers are given the opportunity to perform in a role at ENO.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Entertainment
- Producer:Diverse Ltd.
- Programme Episode:Episode 1
- Transmission Date:11/02/2003
- Rights:Worldwide
- Decade: 2000s