Open to Opera

In the summer of 2025, Sri Lankan-British anthropologist Dr Kiara Wickremasinghe (Birkbeck University of London) and Sri Lankan musicologist Mr Wasantha Geekiyanage (University of the Visual and Performing Arts Colombo) conducted a pilot anthropological study titled ‘Open to Opera’, funded by the Wellcome Trust/Birkbeck Institutional Funding for Research Culture. The vision derived from the lead researcher’s identities of anthropologist, NHS mental health practitioner and musician, and the collaboration was driven by the researchers’ shared values around inclusive education and lived experience – and of course, their love for opera.

We asked vocal students from the University of the Visual and Performing Arts Colombo, to reflect on what ‘wellbeing’ means to them and emphasized a social model of mental health. We taught basic mindfulness techniques, peer support and active listening to build emotional resilience in a cultural context where mental distress among young people is high (Sri Lanka records higher suicide rates than the global average, particularly among young people); yet the biomedical model of psychiatry dominates and discussions around mental health remain stigmatized.

We supported the students in drawing on their lived experiences to compose an original operatic scene on the theme of ‘loneliness’. Since performing the scene at the final showcase, they aspire to turn it into a full production.

The characters of Monica and Toby from Menotti’s opera ‘The Medium’ were instant favourites of our students, and we performed this scene at the final showcase especially for them. Monica and Toby are playful teenagers, yet despite their mutual fondness, Toby is mute, and Monica frequently toys with his feelings towards her by speaking (singing) on his behalf. In Sri Lanka, ragging is a serious issue in universities causing physical and psychological injury, and even suicide. Again, in a cultural context where experiences of ragging could not be openly discussed, Monica and Toby’s story opened up debates on the treatment of people with disabilities and the identifying of toxic dynamics including discerning when the ‘game’ had gone too far.

As a final reflection, we took opera, an artform where communities of colour continue to be underrepresented, and made it both accessible and relevant to a Sri Lankan context. Using opera to open up conversations around difficult emotional themes built trust, love and hope among a group of people across class, regional and linguistic divides.

(*Photographs by Warren White)