PRESS RELEASE

27 June 2018

Thurrock student performs at the Royal Opera House in London

11 year old Ashley Palipana from Grays has taken to the stage in Covent Garden in Barrie Kosky’s production of Puccini’s Carmen at the Royal Opera House after joining the ROH Youth Opera Company.

Ashley, a Year 6 student at Belmont Castle Academy, attended the Royal Opera House’s Big Sing event in in 2015 and joined the Youth Opera Company in 2016. Through this, he was selected to perform with the Royal Opera in Carmen on the main stage in Covent Garden. He was part of the Children’s Chorus in Act One of the opera and appeared in all 12 performances.

Ashley is a singer, actor and dancer, and has been singing from the age of two. He has appeared on television as well as well as performing with the Royal Opera. Ashley said of his performance in Carmen ‘I wasn’t nervous at all. It was really exciting and I wanted to impress the audience. I loved dressing up as a soldier and appearing on the main stage. The Youth Opera Company is really fun and I’m looking forward to doing more shows with the Company. Singing opera is my favourite thing.’

Ashley comes from a talented family; his mother was a dancer and his aunt and uncle were artists. Donna, his mother says ‘Ashley is a very hard working. I am very proud of his achievements. He is a role model and an inspiration to the other children.’

Jillian Barker, ROH Director of Learning and Participation said: ‘The Youth Opera Company

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is a very important part of the ROH family and Thurrock is our second home. We are thrilled that Ashley, a young Thurrock resident, is part of the Youth Opera Company and in the last two years has performed at the ROH, in Covent Garden Piazza and on the stage in our extraordinary new production of Carmen. We are deeply committed to giving talented young people the chance to develop their singing and performing skills as a way of building artists and audiences of the future.’

To find out more about the Royal Opera House Youth Opera Company and other opportunities for to get involved, please go to www.roh.org.uk/learning/young-people

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Press Office contact: Jules Easlea [email protected] Tel: 07941 502577

Notes for Editors

Royal Opera House Learning and Participation in Thurrock

Royal Opera House Learning and Participation in Thurrock has been offering innovative and creative projects and programmes in schools, colleges and across communities in the Thames Gateway since 2006. Since then, more than 60,000 people have participated in activities ranging from schools’ projects to teacher training, from work-based learning to fully-staged community operas. People in Thurrock have both been able to watch special performances at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and gain a very special insight into the behind-the-scenes process.

The Learning and Participation team runs the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus which currently has over 140 members of all ages and regularly performs across Thurrock and at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. For further information, please go to: www.roh.org.uk/learning/learning-in-thurrock/community-chorus. Details of future performances and taster session for the Community Chorus can be obtained by emailing [email protected] or calling 01708 891200. Regular public tours of the state-of-the-art Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop where the sets and scenery for the Royal Opera House stage in Covent Garden are built, and the Bob and Tamar Manoukian Costume Centre, which opened in October 2015, are now available. Please go to www.roh.org.uk/visit/tours/thurrock-tours for further details. In April 2012, the Royal Opera House agreed to become a Bridge organisation, working to connect children and young people to great art and culture across , North Kent, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. The Learning and Participation team is based at the High House Production Park in which is supported by a unique partnership including Arts Council , Creative & Cultural Skills, the Royal Opera House and : www.hhpp.org.uk

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