Homeless charity on song for Mayor's show

Streetwise Opera's work gives the homeless a platform to challenge public assumptions (photo: Asa Westerlund)

Amid the colour and pageantry of this year's Lord Mayor's Show a chorus of voices singing a Mozart opera will ring out from a float resembling an Italian garden.

It's the brainchild, not of the Royal Opera House or ENO, but a charity resident in four homeless centres in London.

Streetwise Opera will be performing extracts from the Marriage of Figaro in full 18th century costume, one of a handful of community groups to have been selected and funded to appear in the parade.

The charity, founded in 2000, uses music to help people who have experienced homelessness to move forward with their lives.

Work on the project has been going on since June, involving up to 50 Streetwise participants rehearsing with professional singers and painting the set on the float.

Ahead of the big day, we talk here with the charity's founder Matt Peacock.

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You must have been delighted to hear you were taking part in this year's Lord Mayor's Show?

Yes absolutely - we felt honoured to be one of only four charities selected and given funding to take part in such a high-profile event. The public is often aware of the needs of homeless people but it's very important for us to be able to show their amazing achievements, too.

Our performers have such courage and determination to overcome major issues in their lives and Streetwise Opera's work gives them a platform to challenge public assumptions and to show off their skills.

Did it take long to come up with the idea of singing Mozart?

Our Artistic Director chose Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with our groups since they felt it would have visual and audible impact and the characters are strong. We then discussed the idea of how to stage the opera and came up with the idea of transforming the float into an Italian garden complete with bushes and statues!

It looks fantastic and we think our mobile opera set will bring something new to the parade.

Since this is our first parade, we've had to learn quickly about floats, flat-bed trailers and electronic tow vehicles Matt Peacock Streetwise Opera

You're doing it in costume as well. How do you prepare for such a big performance?

We're very excited to be using costumes that have been generously loaned by English National Opera and the performers look tremendous in them. There will be nerves of course but our performers are very experienced now.

One of the key elements of our work is that we meet the groups every week in the homeless centers we work in - this not only means that we're able to work on musical material regularly for performances, but we're a dependable part of the routines of our performers.

Come rain or shine we're there each week and when people experience difficulties in their lives, it's important they feel they have something that they can rely on. The other important factor is that we work with trained professional musicians in all our workshops, so our Streetwise performers are getting the very best.

Has anything surprising happened along the way?

The main thing that's been surprising is the amount of generosity we've seen along the way.

Everyone has been incredibly supportive from the Lord Mayor's Show organisers; Kallaway Consultants; ENO for loaning the costumes; Katy our costume supervisor; our drivers Mark, Howard and Quin giving up their time to drive the float; Crisis for loaning a van; friends and performers painting the float and all the amazing staff at Streetwise led by Project Manager Karen Richardson who have worked incredibly hard.

Since this is our first parade, we've also had to learn quickly about floats, flat-bed trailers and electronic tow vehicles!

Is the toughest challenge working with people who come to singing, to opera and to performance at such a low ebb in their lives?

Streetwise Opera's Vince and Chris get into costume for the parade

In many ways this is the most exciting part of the work - many of our performers feel they're looked down on and are made to feel like second-class citizens. If you're told that over and over, you begin to believe it.

When our performers are able to show people that they have huge skills and talents, it can restore their pride and self-respect. It can transform the way they feel about themselves and that can have a major impact in their lives when they're applying for jobs, getting back in touch with family, tackling depression or trying to settle into a new flat.

2009 has been an auspicious year for you. Streetwise was identified in a new government strategy suggesting 'positive activities' are the way forward for rough sleepers and the homeless...

This was a major breakthrough for us - we've been lobbying for recognition for the arts in the support of homeless people and it was fantastic that the government featured the arts and Streetwise Opera in the new strategy.

We're very lucky that in this country we have a fantastic social-arts scene and more and more people are realising the power the arts has to change lives for the better.

In the homeless sector there's always been a focus on practical support such as housing and health-care - although this is vital, these solutions work even better when homeless people also feel positive about themselves, motivated and their pride has been restored.

You also won a Gramophone Award...

We were gob-smacked to win three major awards in the last 12 months - the Andy Ludlow Homelessness Award which is one of the top awards in the homeless sector (and the first time an arts organisation has won); a Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award which is the biggest award in the classical music field and then the Gramophone Award.

This last one was a new award for Music in the Community launched jointly by The Times and Gramophone Magazine. It was very nerve-wracking since five charities were shortlisted and then The Times ran a public vote to chose the winner!

You're also planning on releasing the first Streetwise Opera CD. What's next for you?

A fundraising event in 2010 will let the public sing opera on a West End stage

Yes - we've got our first CD coming out just before Christmas featuring tracks from all our groups around the country. There'll be something in there for everyone and at £10 each, they make an ideal Christmas present!

After that we have a couple of interesting projects coming up - our first evening open mic gig at Connection at St Martins church in London and a fundraising event next March, where we're giving members of the public the chance to sing an opera with us on a West End Stage.

Finally, we're beginning to work on our 2010 production, another film project with a group of filmmakers joining composers to create film operas with all our performers.

Matt Peacock was talking to BBC London's Will Cantopher.

Streetwise Opera perform in the Lord Mayor's Show on Saturday 14 November. The procession from Mansion House to the Royal Courts of Justice begins at 11am, return journey to Mansion House at about 2.30pm. The day concludes with fireworks at 5pm.