facebook_events

Robin Hood

We all know Robin Hood, don’t we? The righteous here that steals from the rich to give to the poor?

Well, what if we didn’t? What if there was something else behind that facade, a dark secret perhaps?

For our third production, we recast the Robin Hood story under a different light, in a contemporary retelling by librettists Zoe Palmer and Rebecca Hurst that re-thought his struggles and motivations. Set to beautiful music by up-and-coming composer Dani Howard, and in a multi-floor production directed by Polly Graham, this production breathed new life into a familiar story by bringing out a side of Robin Hood and the characters around him that is deeper than what we see in the old tales.

Read more about it in the words of the creative team in our blog!

Visit our blog

Our Team

bio team-img

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.

Dani Howard

Dani Howard

bio team-img

Zoë’s work has been performed and toured across the UK and Europe. Current projects include collaborations in the USA with  Moving Star Ensemble (Carnegie Hall) and Pittsburgh Festival Opera and a development commission for the ROH in association with Leicester Curve.

Zoe Palmer

Librettist

bio team-img

In addition to libretti, Rebecca also writes poetry, short fiction and essays. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and her work has been published in several magazines. She is also involved with the Voicings Collective and arts project Four Quarters.

Rebecca Hurst

Librettist

bio team-img

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.

Polly Graham

Director

bio team-img

Berrak studied at GSMD and the National Opera Studio. She has worked with Glyndebourne, Opera Holland Park, Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera and is the Musical Director for Pop Up Opera.

Berrak Dyer

Conductor

bio team-img

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.

Nicholas Merryweather

Baritone - Robin Hood

bio team-img

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.

Siân Cameron

Mezzo-Soprano - Marian

bio team-img

Oliver is not only a tenor, but also a composer. Some of his previous appearances in opera include roles with Opera Holland Park, Pop-Up Opera, Tete a Tete and Charles Court Opera.

Oliver Brignall

Tenor - Little John

bio team-img

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.

Lorna Anderson

Soprano - Joanna

bio team-img

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.

Cliff Zammit Stevens

Tenor - Will Scarlett

bio team-img

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’.

April Dalton

Designer

bio team-img
Claire began working as a lighting designer after having studied Mathematics at Oxford. Her credits include UK and international tours for Blackeyed Theatre as well as designs for Little Angel Theatre and Arcola Theatre, amongst others, and lighting designs for dance productions.
Claire Childs

Lighting Designer

bio team-img

Andrew is a writer and director, and has trained
at the Oxford School of Drama and at the University of York. He has notably directed four plays for new-theatre writing company The Hardy and is currently associate director at Sands Films Studios.

Andy Bewley

Assistant Director

bio team-img

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.

AK Lie

Assistant Stage Manager

The Reviews

Bachtrack

Robin Hood is a witty, accessible new work that would appeal to both opera buffs and hardened thespians. Its greatest strength lies in its score -a sophisticated and incredibly beautiful piece that surely places Howard amongst the best of contemporary British opera composers.

Planet Hugill

A striking evening of music theatre. Central to this was Dani Howard’s richly rewarding music. Added to this some highly expressive and singable lines, and the result was more than highly promising as a first opera, and certainly makes me want to know what she will do next.

The Arts Desk

This was an admirable staging of a new opera, and The Opera Story co-founders Manuel Fajardo and Hamish Mackay deserve congratulations on the success of their project. The relative lavishness of the production speaks to their skill in raising funds, and in giving the opportunity to a young composer to write her first opera they may have launched a major career.

The Stage

Enough lyrics come over to reveal potential in parts of Dani Howard’s score, whose use of colour – a 10-piece ensemble accompanies the show, securely conducted by Berrak Dyer – is impressive.

The Observer

“Done with zest (some great singing from all), and with a beautifully precise, well played score.”

Miro Magazine

Intrigue is piqued from the start and remains heightened throughout.

Boulezian

there was insight to be had both into the writing and performance of opera by those at an early stage in their careers and, just as important, into the success of so worthy an initiative. I look forward to seeing – and hearing – what The Opera Story brings us next.

Southwark Business

There are some wonderful comic moments in this opera, and a beautiful score from young composer Dani Howard, in this, her first opera.

The Venue

CLF Art Café The Bussey Building

133 Rye Lane
London
SE15 4ST

For our third production we returned to the CLF Art Café / Bussey Building in Peckham, the venue of our sold-out debut in 2017. 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.

Many thanks to…

Arts Council England

lottery_logo_black-rgb-80pixels-high

Trusts & Foundations

The Boltini Trust

The John S. Cohen Foundation

The Garrick Charitable Trust

Fidelio Charitable Trust

RVW Trust

Corporate Partners

lottery_logo_black-rgb-80pixels-high lottery_logo_black-rgb-80pixels-high

Individual Donors

  • Simon Yates
  • Catherine Olver and Jeremy Young
  • Dr JAF Spence
  • Clare Sutherland
  • Yaprak Dyer
  • Clémence Humeau
  • Robin Farr
  • Anne Humeau
  • Susi Rountree
  • Antony Feeny
  • Olivier Humeau
  • Jerome Lapostolle
  • Christopher Greene
  • Anna Andreyeva and Adam Kellerman
  • Michael Shipley
  • Jeremy Greenhalgh
  • Mark Holford
  • Carolyn Dobbin
  • Henry Waddington
  • Alice Chute
  • Isin Ozaksoy
  • Gerardo Duplat
  • Alejandro Santamaria
  • Benjamin Liebermann
  • David Roblou
  • Lucie Humeau
  • Alexandre Mendelewitsch
  • Louise Humeau
  • Adam and Helen Gac
  • Fiona Jane Schopf
  • Owen Davies
  • Olga Evsenko
  • Maria Carolina and Juan Pablo Fajardo
  • Catherine Hubbard
  • Sue Butters
  • Lydia Elliott
  • Virginie Rouas
  • Vladimir Vlaicu
  • Julie Cooke
  • James Kreiling
  • Olivia Blanchard
  • Olivia Thorby
  • Julia Jones
  • 5 anonymous donors
https://theoperastory.com/wp-content/themes/operastory/images/loader.gif
https://theoperastory.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php