Streetwise Opera works in 10 homeless centres around the country in London, Luton, Nottingham, Newcastle and Middlesbrough running a weekly music programme. Each year we work towards a major show with our performers at venues such as the Almeida Theatre and Westminster Abbey.
Through July and August 2008 the composer Mira Calix and the video artists Flat-e have worked with all the groups to create My Secret Heart. We chose Allegri’s 17th century choral masterpiece, Miserere as inspiration for the piece. Streetwise performers worked on dramatic movements inspired by the secrecy and mystery of the Miserere which were then filmed by Flat-e for the visuals of the piece. They also sang sections of Miserere for the soundtrack.
Making Of Documentaries. Below are two ‘Making Of’ documentaries showing how My Secret Heart was created.
Process Documentary (no sound) showing how the piece was created in homeless centres in summer 08
Technical Documentary (with sound). A documentary showing how the artistic team created the piece.
Below are photos taken from a week of workshops at the Royal Festival Hall for all our participants in London and Luton (photo credits Clive Barda, Peter Rhodes and Rob Slater).
Drama/movement workshops at the Royal Festival Hall
Recording session at the RFH led by Mira Calix
Filming in NewcastleFilming in LondonFilming in London
Filming in London
Newcastle and Middlesbrough groups warming-up!
- RFH staging workshop
- Robin from Flat-e leads a video workshop at the RFH
ITV Tyne Tees documentary about Streetwise Opera featuring some of the workshops in Newcastle making My Secret Heart
