Intrigue, misunderstanding and comedy Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte has it all. Year 9 pupils from Gladesmore School in Haringey found out just how much by composing their own piece based on these themes using Mozart’s techniques of recitative, ensemble and canon.

They then performed the results in front of a small audience on the same evening as Rattle’s much-acclaimed performance of the opera with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the Royal Festival Hall.

The project began earlier in the term with a week of intensive work in school with a professional team including writer Jo Shapcott, singer Mary King and director Mark Withers. OAE flautist Neil McLaren and violist Jan Schlapp were also in-volved.

Pupils were introduced to Cos through the Mercedes Benz advertisement which uses the famous trio Soave sia il vento. They were also shown excerpts from an Opera Factory production, and given a brief outline of the story. “We didn’t really want to emphasise the drama because what they were seeing was a concert performance”, said the South Bank’s music education officer Catherine Sutton.

“Don’t expect anything like Mozart”, warned Mark Withers, introducing the project. So what eventually came across was a tale very much of the pupils’ own making.

Two couples go out on the evening before their wedding. One pair changes partners, there are photographs in the back seat of a car and the episode ends in a shooting. “So many of the ideas were television-based”, commented Jan Schlapp.

Neil McLaren found the pupils’ work “inspiring, especially when they improvise. Some have a fantastic sense of rhythm. Although the concept of opera was light years away from anything they have ever experienced, they had no trouble in using their voices”.

Nevertheless the project was not without its difficulties. At the end of the week Mary King sang an aria from the opera in Italian. “It was a huge shock for them . . . everyone laughed. Even though it does happen sometimes it’s still terribly wounding”. Form tutor and music teacher Elena Davies was worried that pupils’ interest would die in the three weeks before the performance. “It was difficult to motivate them for a while until I realised that the school had to take ownership of the project. After a few days off time table things were back on course again”.

Education officer Catherine Sutton explained that this project was unusual in that the school had been left on its own to work after the professionals had gone. “In all our projects we follow closely the demands of the national curriculum in that children both create music and hear a performance”, she said. After their creative efforts Gladesmore pupils stayed on for a special reception and the evening concert. Attracting new audiences to the concert halls was just one aspect of South Bank arts education, said arts director Gillian Moore, adding “its really important for orchestras to work in inner city schools”.

The South Bank is currently receiving funding to undertake research in six London schools into the long-term effects of sending musicians into the classroom.

Gladesmore pupils had no doubt about the success of the Cos project. They had been unnerved by the stage at the Royal Festival Hall but it had been fun having the team in school. “After all”, they said, “if it hadn’t been for them, we wouldn’t be here, would we?” For more information about South Bank music education contact Catherine Sutton on 0171 921 0867