A performance of Aida was the icing on the cake for four young designers from North Hertfordshire College (NHC) who were among the winners of a design competition hosted by The Royal Opera House in London this week.
The challenge was to design a piece for Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida opera in one of the four categories; stage design, costume design, posters and online educational content. The student’s work was praised by Royal Opera House professionals and by the National Skills Academy for such outstanding quality.
Erin Green from Hitchin who studies Production Arts at NHC came first place in the stage design category. Daniel Tooley and Mack Knights from Stevenage and Alex Ballantyne from Welwyn Garden City who all study Interactive Media at NHC won the online education content category for the website resource they designed.
The students from the Centre for the Arts in Hitchin were four out of only sixteen winners from more than 250 competition entries from National Skills Academy Founder Colleges and as part of the prize, all four students will get to spend a day with the dedicated design and production teams at the Royal Opera House.
David Pitcher, Assistant Principal of the Centre for the Arts said: "The collaboration with the National Skills Academy and the Royal Opera House has offered opportunities to our students in an unprecedented way, providing them with real world projects that will enable greater understanding of how they can apply their skills in many different creative sectors. Our students have demonstrated that they can deliver professional results in a challenging environment."