Glyndebourne’s puts the focus on climate change with huge community opera

Fifteen-year-old Abigail Brainwood from Brighton is loving the fact that she knows she is on the verge of a truly extraordinary experience.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Really lovely

00:07to speak to 15-year-old Abigail in Brighton. Now, Abigail, you are doing a truly wonderful

00:12thing, aren't you? You are going to speak to the stage at Glyndebourne, no less, in

00:17the biggest community opera they've ever staged, called Uprising, and you talk about it with

00:23such enthusiasm. You're going to really love being in the middle of this huge chorus, this

00:28huge ensemble, a hundred people singing. What's that going to be like? It's going to be amazing

00:36because, as you said, this has never been done before. There's been a lot of operas,

00:46I haven't watched many, but there's performances, there's a lot of things that have been done

00:55before, and people have remade them and done it themselves, and this is going to be the

01:02first time ever doing it, first time people ever hearing about this, seeing about it.

01:09It's going to be fantastic for you because you are someone who naturally likes to sing,

01:13you just sing to yourself, don't you? And I think loving performing is a thing I love

01:21to do, and doing this thing is going to be a great and amazing opportunity.

01:27Wow, and for those of us who are not performers, that's almost difficult to understand. Why do you

01:33love performing so much? What does it give you when you are doing it?

01:37I think the stage. I like to think of it as my second home. It just feels natural to be

01:44on stage for me because I've always loved performing, since a young age. I've been

01:51doing this for the past 10 years, and it gives me so much joy and pleasure doing this,

02:00and doing Glyndebourne, and this is going to be such an amazing experience, and

02:07I just love being on stage. Well, it's going to be very good to have Glyndebourne on your CV,

02:12isn't it? Yeah, it will be. Anything to do with Glyndebourne, someone reading my CV will go like,

02:21that's amazing. Absolutely, and is this what you're wanting to do as a profession, the work?

02:28Yes, I would want to be a performer when I grow up, or when I'm older.

02:35Yeah, and as you were saying, you were saying so beautifully just now, this is an experience

02:40that you're going to love, and you're going to be telling your children about it, your

02:43grandchildren. Yeah, I think all the cast, including myself, will definitely be like,

02:50proud of this, and should be proud of this, because as I said, it is a once-in-a-lifetime

02:57opportunity, and people are going to be hearing about this, and it's just going to be incredible.

03:06I think a lot of people are going to get goosebumps and feel like,

03:15they probably would cry, especially my dad. That's all right.

03:20My dad is not a very emotional person, and I think he's probably going to be

03:26weeping in the audience. He will be very emotional when he sees you on stage, of course he will.

03:32Especially if I make my way to the front.

03:36And you're going to, aren't you? That's the plan.

03:38Yeah.

03:39Fantastic.

03:41That's one of my goals, make my way to the front.

03:45Good luck with that. It's called Uprising, and it's at Glyndebourne,

03:49end of February, very, very early March. Abigail, really lovely to speak to you. Thank you.