Tête à Tête opera festival announces full programme

Three weeks of the summer are to be filled with the sound of singing courtesy of opera company Tête à Tête, whose annual festival, now in its fourth year, will take place at London's Riverside Studios between 5-22 August.

Leading stars and up-and-coming young things will rub shoulders in a programme that centres on four shows per night and pushes the boundaries of what opera means and can do in the 21st century.

Innovative ways of presenting opera are to be explored in the festival's Lite Bites series, which stages mini operas in public spaces such as shopping centres, care homes and parks around Hammersmith, in Scottish Opera's opera for babies between the ages of 6 and 18 months, Baby O, and in Opera North's 'dinner party' performance of The Lost Chord.

Elsewhere, singer Sally Burgess is to make her second directorial appearance at the festival leading a production of Sonya's Story, a 'musical psycho-drama' by Neal Thornton based on Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Composer and singer Helen Chadwick will perform a solo show, and Mark Ravenhill's first operatic text, Intolerance, will receive an airing.

Taking their place alongside several of the major opera companies - Opera North, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera - will be numerous young, emerging outfits. The Warehouse Ensemble have commissioned 30 composers to write several Six Word Operas, which do pretty much what they say on the tin - their librettos consist of just six words. Manchester's Sawn-Off Opera, performing three works by composer Ailis Ni Riain, and Gutter Press Productions - whose piece about starlets and the paparazzi promises 'satire and true romance' - will also be present.

Here at Muso we're particularly excited about the Lite Bites series, having been informed that one of the micro operas, Only Connect (by Julian Grant), features the characters of Sarah Palin and Nicolas Sarkozy (!). We have no idea what's going to happen in it, but it already sounds unmissable.

We also recommend Impropera, who we feature in our current issue in an article about the increasingly recognised world of comic opera - anything is possible during their improvised shows, two of which take place as part of Tête à Tête on 12 and 13 August.

To book tickets for Tête à Tête, call 020 8237 1111 or click here.

Tickets for the main shows are £6 or £4.

Meal tickets, which include access to two performances and a two course meal at the Riverside Bar and Kitchen, are £25.50 or £21.50. Meals can be booked to be served at a time of your preference before, in between or after shows.

For the full line-up and more information, visit:
www.tete-a-tete.org.uk
www.riversidestudios.co.uk

• Print
• Email to friend
• Discuss