Scottish Opera's new primary schools tour production goes on the road this month

Scottish Opera's production of the The Last Aliens will tour schools across Scotland including two performances in Angus.

It will visit schools across the country with two Angus performances taking place at Inverbrothock Primary in Arbroath and Northmuir Primary in Kirriemuir.

Scottish Opera’s Education and Outreach Department has been working in Primary Schools for 50 years, and teachers from schools which have already taken part agree that the tour broadened the children’s cultural experiences, improved team work skills, increased cultural confidence as well as singing ability, and supported the aims of Curriculum for Excellence.

As the pandemic resulted in the Company’s last Primary School Tour of Warriors! The Emperor’s Incredible Army coming to a halt in March 2020, with the Education team instead offering an online children’s opera entitled Fever!, they are thrilled to be back in schools to offer in- person workshops once again.

Jane Davidson, Director of Education and Outreach at Scottish Opera said: ’This is a completely new hybrid approach to our longest running project; the Primary Schools Opera tour - which we are incredibly proud to bring back to schools in this 50th anniversary year of Scottish Opera’s education programme. Through engaging directly with our artists – first online and then in ‘real life’, the pupils can experience the excitement of rehearsing and performing a meaningful and funny musical story as well as exploring this crucially important subject matter across a range of key areas in the core curriculum. As ever, our intention is to demonstrate what an effective learning and teaching tool the art form of opera is, with this unique blend of science, technology, literacy, communication skills and responsible citizenship - all connected by creativity.’

The opera tells the story of a spaceship arriving in orbit around Earth; the occupants have travelled all the way across the galaxy to convince everyone of the need to join together and take action to protect the planet for future generations.

www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/opera-for-schools/the-last-aliens/