Great Expectations

21st & 22nd May 2012
Britten Theatre
Royal College of Music
Prince Consort Road
London SW7 2BS
Booking opens Spring 2012

Great Expectations is a series of short operas created and performed by leading composers and performers from the Royal College of Music (RCM).

RCM composers and librettists were set the challenge of creating 15-minute operas exploring two ill-fated fateful journeys of 1912 that started out with “great expectations” but ended in disaster at opposite ends of the world: the maiden voyage of the Titanic, and Scott’s expedition to the South Pole. 100 years on, how does an internet generation come to terms with events more sharply defined by Hollywood rather than by a clear articulation of British history?

Two composers who studied at the RCM tackled these very subjects in their scores for iconic films: Ralph Vaughan Williams’ celebrated music for his Scott of the Antarctic inspired Sinfonia Antarctica, while James Horner’s music for Titanic became the biggest selling orchestral soundtrack of all time. Now here’s your chance to discover the next generation of compositional talent.

Tête à Tête Artistic Director Bill Bankes-Jones directs the project, bringing a wealth of creative insight and experience to each operatic encounter. At the heart of the creative process is the desire for RCM composers, singers and instrumentalists to collaborate, trying to fulfil their own great expectations while pushing artistic and technical assumptions.

Produced by the Royal College of Music in association with Tête à Tête.