11 – 21 and love to sing? It’s time to sign up for our new, very special show, an opera written by CYO and to be performed in partnership with the Norwich Puppet Theatre. It’s free of charge and open to everybody. If you sign up, you are guaranteed a place on the production.

Please read the following information carefully before filling in the sign up form

How to sign up | Where and when do activities take place | Sign up form

How to sign up

Who can sign up now?

All singers interested in chorus and solo roles can sign up now. When you sign up, we’ll ask you whether you are interested in singing solo or would like to join the chorus (you can tick both boxes). If you tick the box for solo singing, we’ll invite you to an audition. You don’t need to audition to join the chorus. We may invite you to an audition anyway, as it’s a great way to get to know you, but this is optional.

If you are interested in joining the production team working eg on costume, props, lighting, sound or stagemangement, please watch our social media – we will be recruiting to these roles later

Where / how do I sign up?

Fill in our sign up form, but please read the information on this page first.

How do the auditions work?

• We hold open auditions for all solo roles
• The chorus is not auditioned – you just need to sign up
• We do encourage everybody to audition – it gives us a chance to hear your voice and get to know you a little
• Auditions are friendy and informal: we’ll ask you to bring in something you feel comfortable singing and will work on a bit of the opera with you in the audition
• Each audition will take around 15 minutes
• You won’t be auditioning for a specific role – we’ll decide on casting after we’ve heard everybody

When do I need to be available

• There will be a kick-off workshop on the afternoon of Sunday 26 March
• Rehearsals for soloists are planned for Tuesday evenings at Chesterton Community College – not everybody will be needed for all rehearsals. Rehearsals start on 28 March and run till 13 June. There will be no Tuesday rehearsals during the Easter break or half term
• There will be whole cast rehearsals on the following Sunday afternoons:  23 and 30 April, 21 May
• There will be a full day, whole cast rehearsal on Sunday 04 June. Please note that 04 June is the final day of the half term break
• There are two solo roles where the singers will need to attend one or two additional rehearsals in Norwich. We’ll discuss this during the casting process
• The dress rehearsal in Norwich will take place on 17 June from 12:00 – 17:00
• Performances in Norwich will take place on 18 June
• The dress rehearsal in Cambridge takes place all day on 24 June – we’ll need to get used to the new venue!
• Performances in Cambridge take place on 25 June

Where does the project take place?

• The auditions and most rehearsals take place at Chesterton Community College in Cambridge
• We are working with the Norwich Puppet Theatre, who will provide the cat action for the opera. We’re going to perform at their wonderful little theatre as well as in Cambridge, so there will be a dress rehearsal and day of perfomances in Norwich for everybody
• Cambridge performances take place at the Storey’s Field Centre, Eddington
• Two of the solo roles require lots of interaction with puppets, so there will be one or two additional rehearsals in Norwich for these roles only
• We will arrange transport between Cambridge and Norwich and cover the costs

What if I can’t attend on all these dates?

• On the sign up form, there is space for you to let us know about any dates you may not be able to attend
• If these present problems, we will let you know
• Once singers have committed to the project, we expect them to prioritise CYO rehearsals