The Future of New Opera

Founded in 1997 by director Bill Bankes-Jones, conductor Orlando Jopling and administrator Katie Price, Tête à Tête has established itself as the home of new opera.

Since its inception, the company has drawn on the skills of 10,000 singers, conductors, instrumentalists, sound engineers, lighting specialists, costume designers, videographers and producers to create over 500 new productions. In the process, we’ve become the ‘go to’ platform for opera talent.

Reaching for the corners

The first decade of the Tête à Tête era saw the team take its productions all over the UK, collaborating with the likes of Battersea Arts Centre, ENO studio, Streetwise Opera, Opera Genesis and a host of composers and producers to produce eight experimental productions. Consequently, the team fostered successful relationships with some of the standout alternative opera venues in the country, from the Bridewell Theatre, The Purcell Room and the world premiere staging of Benjamin Britten’s Canticles in Westminster Abbey, to a derelict Alexandra Palace, the Norwegian city of Sandnes and Fair Isle in Shetland. The 2006 collaboration with the spinners and knitters of the Shetland Islands for Odysseus Unwound was the first ever opera production to be performed on the isle, and was consequently featured on BBC 2’s The Culture Show.

Celebrating individuality

Right from the start, the first seeds were sown for the company’s pursuit of a truly inclusive art form.  After the joyous Flying Fox, an intoxicatingly immersive Fledermaus, Shorts saw the company venturing into commissioning new work from six composers and librettists of varying ages, cultural backgrounds and genders to stage the first of many world premières. After many sold out performances and a national tour of both this and its sequel, Six-Pack,  a new approach to the process of creating opera saw over 400 members of the public contribute aural and written feedback on the first draft of Family Matters at Battersea Arts Centre, before a run at the Bridewell Theatre and a national tour ranging from major venues to a sixth form college.

Over the following years, it was apparent that many individual artists and groups were exploring how to use words, music, staging and the human voice to energise, entrance, entertain and engage with the public. Tête à Tête saw that mentoring for these artists and their work was extremely scarce, and recognised that there was an urgent need for a supportive low-risk platform in which artists and companies could promote and development their talent simultaneously. This led to the birth of Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival.

A festival for the forerunners

Built upon a responsibility to share our experience, infrastructure and access to resources to unlock opportunities for a new generation of opera creators and audiences, the inaugural Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival launched in 2007 to huge acclaim. In 10 years, over 40,000 people have enjoyed over 1000 performances, involving the world premieres of over 400 new works. That same year, the festival branched out to include performances in public spaces, and saw successful pop-up operas in shopping centres, markets, pubs and parks, a feature that is now incorporated into our festivals year on year.

Alongside all this activity, Tête à Tête has remained at heart a producing company, most notably scoring a British Composer Award for Kerry Andrew’s Dart’s Love in 2013, uniting Royal College of Music Composers in our continued collaborations Great Expectations, Hogarth’s Stages and Crime & Punishment which included the the company’s first Live Stream.  The recent world première of Samuel Bordoli’s Grind was performed at the Southbank Centre, London, Transition Extreme, Aberdeen and at Unit23 Skate Park, Dumbarton as part of the Glasgow UNESCO Commonwealth Games; the production was shortlisted for 2015 British Composer Awards in the Community and Education category and released afterwards on NMC Records. In addition the company has developed its outdoor performances in King’s Cross by producing series as part of the annual Cubbit Sessions outdoor festival.

Celebrating 20 years

In 2017 Tête à Tête celebrated its 20th Birthday with its 10th Festival as the company continued to push the frontiers of opera, filling King’s Cross with sound, spectacle and an explosion of creativity. You can watch all performances and find out more about the anniversary festival here

Last year the company was awarded the UK Arts On Line Award for the Tête à Tête online archive of 400+ videos of every performance hosted or produced since 2008. This is the largest online video resource for new opera on the internet, reaching audiences in 155 Countries from Azerbaijan to Uruguay and from Indonesia to Iceland! You can read more about it here. As part of the 20th Birthday Celebrations Tête à Tête is launching MyNewOpera, an expansion of this worldwide resource – watch this space!

2018 sees more of everything, not least working with the Royal College of Music and a Summer Festival.