We believe that opera is an immensely rich art form that remains relevant to today’s world, and are committed to maintaining its vitality by contributing to the renewal and expansion of the repertory.
To do this, we commission new and exciting work from up-and-coming composers, that we produce and perform with a new generation of opera talent in site-specific productions in intimate and unusual venues around Peckham.
Our first production, Snow, presented the work of three composers using the three floors of The Bussey Building, a former cricket bat factory. For the second one, we took over the Copeland Gallery to present a new production that combined the stories of Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs and showed them under new light. For our third year, we returned to the Bussey Building with a new multi-floor production retelling the story of Robin Hood.
We invite you to follow us on this journey, and re-discover these stories that you thought you knew well, re-told through the language of opera!
Some stories are better kept secret…
Our next opera retells the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box in an exciting new opera with music by Alex Woolf, and a libretto by Dominic Kimberlin (who we are happy to work with again after his wonderful Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs two years ago.)
Follow the story of these five friends who are about to learn they did not know each other so well after all. Mark your diaries: six performances between March 25 and April 4, 2020, at the Bussey Building in Peckham.
"A swinish pearl of an opera"The Observer, on Goldilocks
"A subtle and beautifully achieved piece of work"Opera, on Goldilocks
"Done with zest (some great singing from all), and with a beautifully precise, well-played score."The Observer, on Robin Hood
"A strong and absorbing evening"The Observer, on Snow
Such a great show!!! So so good!!! @E_N_O #ENOorphee https://t.co/LbkBVmG9qJ
What sad news to hear of Jonathan Miller passing! An incredible man, and incredible inspiration to so many!!! We wi… https://t.co/K4kE4pDia4
Dani is quickly gaining international recognition with regular performances across Europe, the US and Asia. This year she received her Royal Albert Hall Debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic performing “Argentum” – commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society and Classic FM, and has recently had her works performed by the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Southbank Sinfonia (London) and Multi-Story Orchestra among others, and was composer in Residence at the Suoni Dal Golfo Festival of Music and Poetry during the summer of 2018 in Italy.
Composer
Polly‘s directing work includes productions for Welsh National Opera, Independent Opera, Blackheath Halls, Theatre St. Gallen, Haydn 2021 Festival and Yellow Earth Theatre. She if founder of Loud Crowd, and director of their new production The Emperor of Atlantis. She is also Artistic Director at Longborough Festival Opera, and has conceived and run education projects for ENO, Glyndebourne and WNO.
Director
Conductor
Nicholas trained at the Hochschule für Musik, Cologne and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. Previous opera experience includes appearances at ROH’s Linbury Studio, English Touring Opera, Paris Opéra Comique and Longborough Festival, amongst others.
Baritone - Robin Hood
Sian is a graduate from the Welsh International Academy of Voice. Her operatic experience includes performances for with Welsh National Opera, Opera UpClose and Hampstead Garden Opera, for example, and international appearances in Malta, France, Norway, Finland, Estonia and Croatia.
Mezzo-Soprano - Marian
Lorna is a Scottish soprano who attended RSAMD and the Royal College of Music. She has a number of concert and recital appearances to her credit, and in opera this includes appearances with the Halle Handel Festival, Glyndebourne Touring Opera and the English Concert, for example, as well as roles in the Netherlands and Sweden.
Soprano - Joanna
Cliff attended the Royal College of Music. Apart from being part of the cast of our debut production, Snow, he has performed in numerous occasions in the UK, Malta and France, including appearances at the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. Cliff has also recently founded ‘The Marcy Foundation’, which will raise awareness and tackle issues including domestic violence, mental health, child abuse, drug and substance abuse, and HIV.
Tenor - Will Scarlett
April graduated from The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a First Class (BA HONS) in Theatre Design. Some of her notable opera design credits include work for Theater St. Gallen, Switzerland, Blackheath Halls Opera and Welsh National Opera, for which ‘Le Vin Herbé’ received the Wales Theatre Award for ‘Best Opera Production’.
Designer
Lighting Designer
Assistant Director
AK Lie has a BA honours degree in Theatre Arts: Design and Technical Theatre from Middlesex University London, and recently finished her MA in Costume Design at University of the Arts London. Her recent work includes the costume-design for Man-Up by Temperamental TC, an Eddie Nominated Performance at Edinburgh Fringe 2017, and she was the ASM for TheOperaStory’s previous two productions, Snow and Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs.
Assistant Stage Manager
Trustee
CLF Art Café The Bussey Building
133 Rye Lane
London
SE15 4ST
We are delighted to return to the CLF Art Café / Bussey Building in Peckham, where we performed our sold-out productions Snow in 2017 and Robin Hood in 2019. This live performance and clubbing complex corresponds very well to what we want to achieve with our productions, which is to allow you to feel the magic of opera as close as possible, and to break the distance between the performers and the public. Our production used two floors of the building, each of them representing part of the universe that the characters in our opera inhabit.
CLF Art Café The Bussey Building
133 Rye Lane
London
SE15 4ST
We are delighted to return to the CLF Art Café / Bussey Building in Peckham, where we performed our sold-out productions Snow in 2017 and Robin Hood in 2019. This live performance and clubbing complex corresponds very well to what we want to achieve with our productions, which is to allow you to feel the magic of opera as close as possible, and to break the distance between the performers and the public. Our production used two floors of the building, each of them representing part of the universe that the characters in our opera inhabit.
The Boltini Trust
The John S. Cohen Foundation
The Garrick Charitable Trust
Fidelio Charitable Trust
RVW Trust