Dementia choir project hailed great success

By Madeleine Brindley

CARDIFF, WALES, UK — A UNIQUE partnership between Welsh
National Opera and people with dementia will culminate tonight with
a one-off performance.

For the last three months a group of more than 40 people with
dementia from South Wales have been working with the opera
company.

Carers and family members have spoken of how their loved ones
“have come back to life” as a result of the partnership.

The Alzheimer’s Awareness group will tonight perform self-penned
songs inspired by the Puccini opera Turandot at a concert in
Cardiff.

The project, in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Society in
Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, follows on from a successful
pilot in the run-up to Christmas last year.

There the group took part in five singing workshops, culminating
in a performance at a Christmas carol concert.

The latest residency has been themed around the Puccini opera.
The songwriting and performance sessions have given people with
dementia an opportunity to express themselves and take part in
memory activities – song and music are known to be easier to recall
than other memories.

Kate Woolveridge, the WNO’s choral leader, said: “As dementia
progresses some people can experience difficulties with
communication but the brain works in such a way that if they knew
songs before they are able to sing them now.