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Brian
Gilbertson was a late starter in his professional career as a performer.
In his formative years he was brought up on a culture of sport and school
which focused on reading, writing and arithmetic not the arts. In his
travels around the world he has come to recognise that ignorance of
the arts is a universal thing even in countries which seem to be recognised
for thier artistic history.
Brian
has helped to bring opera to schools in Metropolitan and country South
Australia where he resides and is an advocate for the early education
of children in classical arts forms as early as reception and kindergarten.
He has attended kindergartens to give entertaining talks to children
and continues to pursue avenues for reaching future audiences at this
young age.
Brian,
together with composer Timothy Sexton, own the rights to a new and reduced
version of the Humperdink opera "Hansel and Gretel" with libretto by
children's writer Ian Bone. This production has already played to thousands
of children in Victoria, Australia and is currently (2000) being performed
by Opera Australia in New South Wales. Hansel & Gretel is available
for hire. Enquiries through QPM, Quality Performers Management jsloan@qpm.com.au.
Brian's
latest project with children is a version of Little Red Riding Hood.
This time the year 1/2 class at St Dominic's Priory College are with
his and their teacher's assistance, writing the opera. As at August
2000 the story has been written (the children's own version), this has
been turned by them into a libretto and they are currently expressing
that libretto in sung form which is being written into a musical score.
The children have also designed and are making their own sets with the
assistance of a stage designer. The opera will be performed by the chidren
on November 3rd 2000 and everyone is having a lot of fun.
Brian's
advice to Governments seeking to reduce funding by increasing audiences
is to stop spending so much money on attracting teenagers to the theatre.
Invest in the long term with the littlies who love it. A message he's
been shouting from the rooftops for 10 years now but no-one will listen.
Why
does he do this work with his busy schedule. "I missed out on a lot
in my youth because I did not have a broad number of options from which
to choose. I only found out about the richness offered by the arts in
my 20's. I feel a duty to try overcome this void in our culture. Having
become involved, it is no sacrifice to see the children absolutely absorbed
and loving this work which covers most of their curriculum."
Management:
Julie Sloan at Quality Performers Management
Email:
jsloan@qpm.com.au
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