We aim to deliver work of the highest quality to young people and adults of every ability and from every background. Accessibility, creativity and integration are at the heart what we do. Workshops, commissioned age-specific new works, creative residencies, and full-scale community operas are part of our ongoing engagement with local people and schools across the U.K.

EARLY YEARS: SOUND STORIES Using stories as a catalyst we introduce younger children to the instruments of the orchestra and to the immediacy of theatre and opera. Red Riding Hood by Tom Smail and Emma House, with 10 ETO players and 3 ETO singers, travelled the country in the first half of 2008. 1500 children aged 3 to 7 were involved.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS: ENGAGE/EXCITE We commission new opera for Key Stage 2 children. 3 such operas have toured in the last few years, including our myth-based pieces Crossing the Styx and Voithia! (by Rachel Leach). Highly interactive, and supported by cartoons, CDs and teachers’ packs, 15,000 children have taken part in these projects so far. We also deliver participatory workshops introducing repertoire.

SECONDARY SCHOOLS: PARTICIPATE We take every kind of project into secondary schools: day-long and 2 day creative workshops (Don Giovanni, Susannah, Turn of the Screw, Carmen, Onegin, Tosca); participatory new versions of famous operas (Ice, based on Jenufa); and composition workshops. Comprehensive teachers’ resources back up these projects.

SPECIAL SCHOOLS: CREATE We create new work with young people with disability, including week-long residencies, one-off creative workshops, and highly stimulating workshops with profoundly disabled students. We often deliver workshops on the sets of our productions. Special schools always take part fully in our community operas. A CD-Rom, The Labyrinth, is a teachers’ guide to integrated creative work. 5 week-long reidencies took place in 2008.

COLLEGES: LEARNING/PERFORMING Older students take part in workshops that develop writing, composition and performing skills. These often lead to public performances, in venues including the National Portrait Gallery (2008), or Wolverhampton Grand Theatre (House on the Moon). We also give introductory workshops and masterclasses. ETO has been at the forefront of developing pilot programmes for the new skills diplomas.

ADULTS: EXPERIENCE Pre-show talks take place at all our venues. We have a comprehensive Friends membership scheme. In addition adults take part in our community operas (Moon), and adult choirs often feature in our main productions (Orfeo, Teseo, Tobias and the Angel). A new annual project has seen us working with people with Alzheimer’s – creating song-cycles, and performing at the Royal College of Music (2008).

COMMUNITY/DIVERSITY A major strand of our work is the development of new operas with communities. One Breath (Sheffield/Doncaster, 2005) and A House on the Moon (Wolverhampton, 2007) saw us integrating in each case 200 local people of every age and ability to create with professionals new work with high values and impact. 2008/9 sees us working in Truro. These projects have been led by leading national composers.

We are very grateful to the many organisations that support our work, including:
    The Paul Hamlyn Foundation
    Equitable Charitable Trust
    Arts Council England
    Peter Moores Foundation
    Youth Music
    Esmée Fairbairn Foundation