Youth Company
Garsington Opera’s Youth Company provides young people aged 9-19 with the opportunity to develop their creative skills and confidence through the exciting world of opera, whether that is on-stage through acting and singing or backstage as part of our Production Arts team.
Productions take place every summer at Garsington Opera, with rehearsals taking place at Garsington Studios. Application is via the form below and membership is through annual workshop auditions. No experience is necessary as we welcome young people from all backgrounds with enthusiasm and a zest for performing. All places are fully-funded and awarded on potential rather than prior experience.
Youth Company Open Auditions for our 2025 – 26 Season
Date: Sunday 20 July 2025
Time: 2 – 4pm
Location: Garsington Studios
Age: 8-18
Gone Fishing is a series of themed scenes based on operatic repertoire arranged by composer Richard Taylor. It’s an opportunity for young people to journey through many different stories and styles, exploring composers like Mozart & Rossini.
Our schedule for the 2025-26 Youth Company production of Gone Fishing is now available below. Please check your availability for all the dates before signing up for our workshop audition. We can’t wait to see you on 20 July!
2025 Production: Uprooted
Our 2025 Youth Company production, Uprooted, was commissioned by Garsington Opera. It is written by Hannah Conway (composer) and Hazel Gould (librettist).
Synopsis
There are over 150,000 children experiencing homelessness in the UK today. Uprooted tells the story of one child just like them.
Brock is being evicted. The house is being knocked down to make way for a brand-new development. Grace, Brock’s mum, has searched for a new place to rent, but there isn’t anything available.
When it becomes clear that there is no suitable housing for Grace and Brock, they are placed in a tiny room in a B&B an hour’s bus journey away. It’s hard to get to school on time, in the right uniform, with all the homework done, leading Brock to get into a lot of trouble. Anyone with 5 detentions will be banned from the upcoming Year 7 camp, which Grace has managed to scrape together a deposit for Brock to attend.
Up at Brock’s old house, the new development has had to be put on hold: a badger sett (den) has been found and it’s illegal to unsettle one. Brock is visited by the Badgers in dreams and visions, and begins to believe that the badgers are better cared for than human children.
Brock begins to wonder if life would be better underground…
Interested in getting involved in other ways?
We have a fantastic range of one-day Discovery Workshops for young people covering design, stage management, singing and drama, and more. Visit our Discovery Workshops page to learn more about the various options and sign-up or express an interest in the one’s you’d like to do.
Price: Fully funded places
Venue: Garsington Studios, Wormsley nr Stokenchurch
Youth Company Production Arts
Applications for our Production Arts opportunities in Stage Management; Lighting; and Sets, Costumes & Props are now closed.
If you are interested in Production Arts but missed the deadline, you might be interested in signing up for our Theatre Design Discovery workshop.
