Ravel's magical opera

L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (or, The Child and The Spells) is Opera Society’s summer term production that is being performed in May 2017 at the Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York. This production is an opera in one act with wonderfully transcendent music by Ravel. We have a strong team of 70 comprising our cast, orchestra and production team.

Our aim is to produce a show available to all. The story and the wonderful visual display we are hoping to create should be loved by people of all ages. We are offering student discounts and group discounts for school and retirement homes. We hope this will allow us to provide an enriched cultural experience for a wide range of people. We would appreciate all your donations to help achieve our goal

The production

Ravel’s opera is the story of “le mechant Enfant” (the wicked child) whose mistreated furniture and objects come to life to reprimand him. L’Enfant et les Sortilèges has all the workings of a dream that drifts into a nightmare as the Child is plunged into the darkness of the garden and confronted by the animals he finds there.

The difficulty of representation involved in this ostensibly simple opera derives from the sheer amount of rich and distinctive characters and the need to reflect their individuality and charisma through not only acting, but costume. With the direction, we are aiming to focus on representing the full spectrum of the child’s emotional journey as he realises the weight of the consequence of mistreatment and the melancholy beauty of empathy. The experience satisfies the refined complexity we expect from an opera as an art form, with the addition of everything strange and exciting that Ravel brings to it.

We are excited by the artistic challenge of staging surroundings which undergo magical transformation and must suit a kaleidoscope of tones and atmospheres. The production cannot reach the height of creative scope that Ravel’s opera offers without the funds to tackle this issues with imagination, which is why your financial support is so important to us.

Where will the money go?

We will use your donations to go towards our set and costume designs to ensure that they are the best that they can be! If we hit our minimum target of £400, we will use these funds to cover the cost of the materials for the set. This will allow us to purchase materials to create more elaborate pieces of set and make sure that what we produce is of excellent quality. This is important because this opera is ambitious and its setting is surreal and a creative set will enable us to give a visual guide to the story line of the opera.

If we hit our full target, this would go far in covering our costume costs. The characters within this show range from shepherds and a child to trees and a clock. Therefore, with this broad range of characters needing effective costumes to display to the audience what they are meant to be, we will need to buy many different things to create the desired effects.

Budget Breakdown

• Set - £200
• Costume - £400
• Props - £50
• Advertising/Posters - £96.40

Rewards

We have some great rewards to thank anyone who donates, no matter how much you give. Take a look and please consider making a donation!! Please note that rewards offering complimentary tickets do not include accommodation and travel costs.

Find us here

Wondering how to keep up to date, find out all the exciting updates, upcoming events, behind the scenes action, and much more? Why not follow us on social media...

• Facebook: OperaSoc presents: L'Enfant et les Sortilèges
• Instagram: @lenfant_york

Thank you so much for taking the time to read about this exciting opera! Whether you donate £1 or £100, we are so grateful for your support and can't wait to see where it takes the production.

Come and see us perform...

Saturday 6th May - Sunday 7th May 2017 at 20:00

Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, YO10 5DD

Look out for more information about tickets coming soon...

And finally

You don't need to give money to help us succeed (although we would be extremely grateful if you do!) Please share our project with anyone you think may be interested online or in person. The more people who know about us, the more likely OperaSoc presents L'enfant et Les sortileges will be something truly special!