Opera Anywhere's tour includes the premiere of a new opera, writes NICOLA LISLE

"I've got an opera in my bag . . ." These were Debbie Rose's words to Opera Anywhere directors Mike and Vanessa Woodward earlier this year, when plans for the company's autumn tour were under discussion. By the end of that meeting, the plans were finalised. Alongside a revival of Menotti's Christmas classic, Amahl and the Night Visitors, would be Debbie's new opera, The Selfish Giant, based on Oscar Wilde's tale for children.

Debbie is an experienced composer, having already penned three musicals and a number of choral works. Her Choral Responses have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and in 2005 she was commissioned to write a new oratorio, Bernadette of Lourdes, for Didcot Choral Society. But opera is a new departure for her. So what inspired her, and why The Selfish Giant?

"It's a story I've always loved," she told me. "I write quite a lot of religious music, so I thought the theme would be a good one for me to explore, and also there's a lot of dramatic tension. And then I started thinking about melodies, and managed to write it fairly quickly - from start to finish the bare bones of it were done in about a month."

Vanessa added: "We were committed to doing Amahl again. We wanted to do that one more year to make the most of having James Allen, the treble, while he's still a treble. But we didn't know what to put with it. Then Debbie came to the meeting, and started playing bits of her new opera, and we thought 'Yes, that's great!'"

The story has a beautiful simplicity and poignancy that makes it perfect for Christmas. The giant of the title banishes children from his garden and builds a wall to keep them out, but then finds that it is forever winter in his garden. One day the children make a hole in the wall and start to creep back in, and gradually spring returns.

The giant welcomes the children back and watches them playing. But one corner of his garden remains wintry, until he discovers a small child trying to get in. The giant lets him in, and that part of the garden also becomes bathed in sunshine. The child seems to have vanished, though - and when he finally returns the giant makes the most astounding discovery of all . . .

It's a story that lends itself to song and dance. "There's a lot of movement, and there's a maypole dance," said Debbie. "The idea is that it's colourful, and it's timeless as well, so the children will be wearing fairytale-type costumes."

Debbie has assembled a cast of about 15 children of varying ages, drawn from organisations such as the South Oxfordshire Youth Performing Arts Group and Oxfordshire Youth Music Theatre, both of which she is involved with as conductor and musical director.

We were talking during a break in rehearsals, and Debbie was clearly pleased with progress. "The children have really learned this music very, very well, and thrown themselves into it. It is hard and it's been challenging. But their enthusiasm is so huge every time they come to rehearsal, and it's starting to look really good.

"It's a good team. They're all like-minded children. They're slightly unusual children because they enjoy performing in this way, and I don't think many children would because of the intensity of it."

The little boy, while not being named in the Oscar Wilde original, has been given the name Joshua in the opera. The other children make up the ensemble, but all have individual identities, and some have solos or duets to sing. "They've all got an individual name, so nobody's just chorus," explained Vanessa. "They've all got a named part."

"We tried to give them flowery names," added Debbie. "So we've got Violet, Rose and Poppy."

There are also three adult roles, taken by Opera Anywhere regulars Nick Gee (Giant), Vanessa Woodward (Snow) and Hugo Tucker (Frost).

The music represents an amalgam of Debbie's varied background. "I try and clear my head when I'm writing so that I'm not unduly influenced by anything, but my background is in choral music, and singing in a church choir, so I have the sacred repertoire embedded. But I've got a huge interest in popular music as well, and the blues. I like to play the piano like Elton John. So it's a sort of cross between Benjamin Britten, Vaughan Williams, Elton John and the blues."

The Selfish Giant and Amahl and the Night Visitors will be touring Oxfordshire for four weeks from the end of November.

The Selfish Giant and Amahl and the Night Visitors tour dates: November 23-24, 7pm: Waddesdon Manor; December 1, 7.30pm: Abingdon Baptist Church; December 2nd, 2.30pm: Witney Methodist Church; December 15, 3pm and 7.30pm: Sulgrave Manor, near Banbury; December 20-21, 7.30pm: Holywell Music Room.

Box office for all venues except Waddesdon: 01865 305305 Box office for Waddesdon: 01296 653226 For further information, visit www.operaanywhere.com