Sweet Sounds in Wild Places
A partnership between Scottish Opera, The Abbotsford Trust & Live Borders!
October 2021 to April 2022
Exhibition dates and venue to be confirmed
Sweet Sounds in Wild Places is a new community project which harnesses the power of music, creative writing, film and photography to empower women who are struggling with personal life challenges – especially in light of the past year’s lockdown restrictions.
Lucia is a woman beset by domineering men – whose mental health is at risk as a result of the impossible life she lives. Trapped in a remote family home, powerless to make choices about her own future and with rumours about the fidelity of her lover destroying her self-confidence still further, she is forced into taking the ultimate step to evade her persecutors…
Inspired by the title character in Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor, which is based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Bride of Lammermoor, the workshop series will explore loneliness, isolation and lack of empowerment, as well as the impact, for good or bad, that landscape and environment can have on mental health and wellbeing.
Participants have the opportunity to work with a film-maker, composer and writer, using music, creative writing, film and photography to provide a positive means of self-expression, and building their creative skills and confidence. The resulting work will be displayed at a public exhibition at Abbotsford House in 2022, with an accompanying soundtrack inspired by participants and their stories.Workshops will take place in the Scottish Borders.
Sweet Sounds in Wild Places workshops are open to anyone aged 18 and over and identifying as female. We welcome all women, trans women, and non-binary people who see themselves as partially or sometimes identifying as female.
If you're interested in taking part in this project, you can find out more at www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/sweet-sounds-in-wild-places