How we do it

Registration

Registration for the full production is £300 per child. This fee is heavily subsidised as it costs approximately £1500 per child to create a production (£1000 when we are online).  We ask that any parents who can afford to do so selects the £600 registration. This will allow us to offer a bursary place to a cast member who would otherwise not be able to experience being part of LYO.

We offer full bursaries to 25% of our cast. If you would like your child to be considered for a bursary, please select and complete the bursary application at the end of the registration form. Because bursary places are limited these usually need to be applied for earlier than the registration closing date (in 2023 this is by the 7th August) and will be confirmed as soon as possible after that date. All application information is confidential and your ability to pay will in no way effect casting.

Auditions & Rehearsals

Auditions normaly take place in the first week of September.

We ask you to prepare an unaccompanied song of your choice. Something you love that shows off your voice and acting talent! We may also send you a page of dialogue which you might be asked to read (this does not need to be memorised but do make sure you know it well enough to be able to act and look up from the page).

Everyone who registers is offered a place in the company and a role in the production. Auditions simply allow us to see how best we can showcase your talents. There will be around 60-80 cast member. These places will be allocated on a on a first come basis so please make sure to register as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Once casting is completed, you will receive a vocal score and the rehearsals start with learning the music. This will be done in groups and you only learn the music relevant to your carachter. Parallel to this you will also do carachter and movement work in groups. If you have a solo you will at this point do some one-to-one sessions with our vocal coach as well.

You will quickly get the music under your belt and as soon as you do the Director will start the staging of the Opera. This means that you are blocking your moves, getting into your carachter and start telling the story. These rehearsalhs will also be done in bigger or smaller groups depending on what scense you are working on.

When you have all the bits of the Opera rehearsed you will put it all together working on runtrhoughs and the week before you move into the theatre you will do a sing through with the full orchestra, this is called a sitzprobe.

Rehearsals take place for all cast members on Monday afternoons and on Tuesdays afternoons there will be additional rehearsals for the soloist and small ensembles.  After half term we will also add in some Sunday workshops to the rehearsal scheduel.

Performance

Our performances normally take place on the second weekend in December at POSK in Hammersmith which is a professional theatre.  Our final week of rehearsals takes place at the theatre so, in addition to performances at the weekend, the cast will be called for Tuesday - Friday evenings of the previous week . We do two preview performances/dress rehearsals to specially invited guests including other young people from local schools and the some of the elderly residents in the community.

Volunteers

Volunteers play an important role at W11 Opera and we rely heavily on parents to volunteer both during rehearsals at St James's Church and at POSK.

LYO is overseen by a group of voluntary Trustees. Our day-to-day running is managed by a professional Company Manager and artistic management falls under the remit of our Musical Director and Director, all report directly to the Board of Trustees.

Our Creative Team are freelance professionals but we require volunteers to work alongside them to support their work:

Team Positions:

• Fundraising Team

• Social Media Team

• Alumni Team

• Commissioning Team

• Projects Team/Education & Outreach

Individual Roles:

• Rehearsal Room Manager

• Group Parents

Volunteers are essential to the running and survival of LYO and most parents volunteer while their child/children are performing with the company.  We cannot function without this substantial support.

If you are interested in volunteering or taking part in an internship please get in touch, we would love to hear from you.