Pupils from three east London schools who were inspired by the music of Mozart’s classic Marriage of Figaro opera have won ‘spoken word’ awards for their pieces about ‘identity’.
The Year 8 youngsters read their winning entries on stage in the Proms at St Jude’s music festival in north London in front of an audience of 500.
Volkan O’Grady from George Green’s Secondary in Cubitt Town, Isle of Dogs, Nicole Barrios from Kingsford Community in Beckton and Henoc Lingomba from Lister Community in Plaistow performed just ahead of the Kanneh-Mason Trio which includes gifted ’cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason who played at the Royal wedding in May.
Some 36 pupils took part in ‘Speak It!’ school workshops, in a programme created by the Toynbee Hall settlement in Whitechapel.
Their spoken word pieces included topics such as class, money and death.
They were created at workshops run by musical educator and opera director Nicholas Chalmers with soprano Sky Ingram and award-winning poet Anthony Anaxagorou who is poet in residence at several London schools.
The three pupils were chosen for the Proms festival by a panel of judges who said they showed social awareness and self-confidence with their pieces.
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