University of East London Premieres New Opera Tackling Roma Tragedy
A powerful new opera celebrating the music of the Roma community will be staged at the University of East London’s Great Hall. The Stopping Place, created and produced by Brolly Productions, is the work of co-artistic director Dominic Hingorani, a Professor of Performing Arts at UEL. The opera is set during World War II, when Nazi Germany committed genocide against the Roma.
The production will be performed from 3 to 5 July in Stratford, with both matinee and evening shows. Tickets are free, and the event’s organisers are encouraging young people to attend. The chorus, choir, and orchestra are all composed of secondary school pupils from Newham, East London.
The Stopping Place follows the stories of Pusomori and Kaven, half-sisters born into the Romani community but now living in vastly different worlds. Separated as teenagers, Pusomori continues her nomadic lifestyle while Kaven has settled down. When the Nazi crackdown on the Roma begins, Kaven returns to her community, facing the question of what sacrifices she must make to be a sister, a daughter, and a Romani.
This opera brings to light the often-overlooked story of the Roma Holocaust, celebrating the resilience of the community. Brolly Productions is dedicated to highlighting underrepresented stories and ensuring significant roles for marginalised artists.
Professor Dominic Hingorani said,
We want to engage new and diverse audiences. We do that by creating roles that are drawn from those communities who often aren’t seen on the stage. The Stopping Place features two central Roma characters and those Roma characters are female-identifying and the artists that play those characters are also themselves from the Roma community.
It is really important in giving the authenticity and stage space to the production. We work very closely with the Roma communities in casting, creating the work and how they feel about seeing the work in progress.
The chorus of eight young people are drawn from Newham schools, and 30-strong choirs, drawn from local secondary schools, will play in the production every day. The orchestra also features 40 local young people.
The artistic directors want to make the opera as inclusive as possible, so the songs are all in English but they utilise the music of the Roma tradition, blending it with Western forms of opera.
An exhibition called The Patrin, celebrating Roma voices, will be installed in the Great Hall alongside the production. This includes an oral history exhibit highlighting contemporary female Roma voices alongside archival testimonies from the Wiener Holocaust Library.
After the Great Hall production ends, the exhibition will go on to Stratford Library and then it will go to the Wiener Holocaust Library for a week.
The opera is produced in collaboration with composer Tate Hingorani-Short and in partnership with Newham Music and UEL. The associate director is Holly Kasselder, who has just finished a PhD at the University following a Master’s.
Holly said, “We are excited that local children will get to be part of a large-scale opera performance with very high production values, animation, choirs and an orchestra.
“We also want to show them the wider opportunities in the creative industries and the professional pathways that we at UEL can provide in terms of courses.”