...and bring live music to schools in London

Many young people do not get the opportunity to experience the full force and power of an orchestra or professional opera singers. ENO Opera Squad is a life-enhancing programme that gives thousands of children and their families their first experience of live musicians and singers, taking opera directly into schools across London.

- You can help us with as little as £5.

Each interactive performance is entertaining and fast-paced, featuring 40 members of the ENO Orchestra and two professional ENO opera singers with CBBC presenter Kirsten O’Brien acting as a trusted guide.

Following each visit by ENO Opera Squad, we encourage schools to attend performances at the London Coliseum, providing free tickets and accessible opera guides.

Since 2011, we have performed to over 11,500 young people from 81 schools across Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster.

Following our in-school visit, our generous Opera Squad donors provide tickets to ENO Dress Rehearsals at the London Coliseum, giving young people and their teachers the opportunity to experience live opera at no cost. These visits are enhanced with pre-show chats with singers, backstage tours, and a child-friendly cartoon-style synopsis is sent to schools a week in advance.

In spring 2013 we aim to reach 6,000 children across London, but for this we need your help to raise an additional £20,000 to complete the funding for this innovative project. We hope that you will share our enthusiasm for bringing opera and live performance to children of all backgrounds by making a donation today.
 

How you can help

Please make a donation - at a cost of £5 per young person, your modest support can make a big impact.

How to donate

You can support a place for one child by texting OPERA SQUAD to 70700 or donate online (text costs £5 plus one network message. ENO receives at least £5 plus gift aid if you are a UK tax payer).


'Opera Squad was without a doubt one of the most impressive, inspiring, enthusing, and transformational events I have encountered. Many of our students had never seen anything like it and the impact that it had upon them was incredible. Their feedback has been exclusively positive and we are now incredibly excited about how we will further develop and extend their interest so as to breathe life into a new area of Music in school.'
Assistant Head Teacher, Holland Park School