Last week, Tête à Tête was delighted to collaborate once again with the students of the Royal College of Music to present a series of six brand-new mini operas, created and performed by singers from RCM. The production marks the third commission between us and the RCM, following the success of Great Expectations in 2012 and Hogarth’s Stages in 2014.
Inspired by Crime and Punishment – marking 150 years since the publication of Dostoyevsky’s great novel – each opera was performed twice to a sold-out auditorium at the Britten Theatre, as well as over 4000 people worldwide who tuned in to watch the next generation of opera talent via our live stream.
Each production was commissioned at just 15 minutes, and every opera packed a punch with themed that ranged from a deranged President and Egyptian flatulence (!), to the dramatisation of a real-life kidnapping and the effects of video games.
There was also plenty of tweeting going on, with guest host James Fleury (Nouvague) heading up proceedings on the official Tête à Tête Twitter page. You can follow James’ live commentary by following the hashtag #CAndP on Twitter!
In case you missed it, you can watch all six operas on demand from the comfort of your own home on the show page HERE
Credits
Lionel Friend | Conductor
Bill Bankes-Jones | Director
Sarah Booth | Designer
Ralph Stokeld | Lighting
Benjamien Lycke (music) / Mien Bogaert (words) Stream of Consciousness, Sea of Blood
As he makes the most difficult decision of his life, the President looks to Dostoevsky for inspiration.
Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi (music and words) 76 Days
The gripping story of a real-life kidnapping
Alex Paxton (music and words) Bel and the Dragon
A vivid retelling of an extraordinary story from the Apocrypha
Algirdas Kraunaitis (music) / Grace Lee-Khoo (words) The Two Sisters
The quirkily gruesome Scottish folk-tale retold
Amy Bryce (music) / Roland Bryce (words) Der Eisenhut
A tale of revenge in post-war Germany
Sam Hall (music) / Darren Rapier (words) Killer Graphics
Reality is blurred between video games and real life.