Scottish Opera widens access to performances for schools

Scottish Opera’s award-winning Primary Schools Tour, with the newly created show, ‘Vikings! The Quest for the Dragon’s Treasure’, is now even more accessible and adaptable for all schools in Scotland to take part.

The production has been made more accessible with online resources.

‘Vikings!’ which went on the road this month and will be for the rest of the academic year, delivers aspects of A Curriculum for Excellence, is designed for primary 5, 6 and 7 pupils, and schools can now engage with the production as a digital-only learning and teaching experience

The relevant resources currently available on Scottish Opera’s website, and prepare the children for all aspects of presenting a performance to an audience.

This online delivery method — which includes Scottish Opera singers appearing on screen in classrooms to sing alongside the class — makes the project even easier and more affordable for teachers to engage with, particularly in those schools without specialist music teachers at primary level.

With 50-plus years of experience in classrooms, Scottish Opera’s Outreach and Education Programme has developed this approach because it recognised that the in-person learning Primary Schools Tour experience reaches capacity very quickly each year.

For schools that are already signed up for the hybrid version, the same high quality resources that teach the music and movement, as well as offering a range of subject -related activities that can enrich the cross curricular learning experience, are used to prepare the pupils to enjoy a day-long workshop with Scottish Opera’s team of highly experienced arts education animateurs and performers.

Jane Davidson, Scottish Opera’s director of outreach and education said: ‘In 2024 - the year of the Chinese Dragon - Scottish Opera Education is thrilled to welcome another magical flying beast into its repertoire. A tale inspired by Norse legends, our dragon is more closely related to the creatures who feature in Cressida Cowell’s ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ books, or the ones created by JK Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien. We hope that pupils in primary schools across Scotland will delight in this original story.”

Find out more about Vikings! and Scottish Opera’s other schools productions at www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/opera-for-schools/