The Project
Opera Pot is a four-day intensive opera training course founded by Marcella Di Garbo for aspiring opera singers, which is concluded by a public concert showcasing and celebrating our participant’s hard work and talent. Situated in central London, the course is devised by a group of international professionals with years of experience in the fields of opera performance, dramatic staging, make-up artistry and body movement. Opera Pot has made it’s debut in 2019. The second edition was supposed to be in April 2020 but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 circumstances.
Opera POT derives it’s name from an ancient Greek symbolism in which a terracotta pot represents music lessons, creative exchange and a cooking up of creative ideas. In fact, the colour of the project logo recalls the colours of the original Greek pot which Marcella spotted in one of her visits to the British Museum in London. In ancient Greece both music and theatre had a strong importance and formed a part of people’s everyday lives. The POT project aims to bring back this fascination for art and stresses the importance of music, theatre and their connection as part of our everyday entertainment.
The planning of the POT project was particularly inspired by the use of masks in ancient Greek theatre; first introduced by Tespi, the legendary inventor of the tragedy, in 530 B.C. These masks did not only lend fixed, dramatic face expressions to the actors but also served the purpose of amplifying the singers’ voices. In fact, the Italian expression ‘in maschera’ is translated as ‘the position of the voice in the face’s resonance’. In line with this ancient Greek tradition we are bringing back the use of masks and face paintings in our stagings at the Opera Pot.
This being said, the project is not only focused on the art of opera performance but also lends importance to the wider benefits of music making. It is also intended for meeting like-minded people and for networking, for sharing opportunities and ideas, and for growing together as performers and actors.