Live Performance
19:00-19:45, Monday 2nd August 2021
The Cockpit
Music and Words:
Adventure through Mother Earth’s Sewing Box: JEFSMN (words and music)
Adela: Pat Shepherd (music), Arabella Watkiss (words)
Glimmerings: Dan Nolan (music) & Sam Woof McColl (words)
A Thread through Change
Three new operas threaded together by Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera.
“A Thread through Change” takes us through three short operas originally conceived in both ‘real-Manchester’ (2019) and ‘virtual-Manchester’ (2020). The opera-film “Adventure through Mother Earth’s Sewing Box” (2020), first created during lockdown, is brought together with the pre-pandemic worlds of “Adela” and “Glimmerings” (2019) in a transitional half-real, half-digital operatic landscape for the 2021 Festival. “Adela” portrays Lorca-inspired MJ and Adela freeing their minds in poetic flight, bodies held captive by their four walls. Shards of half-remembered, half-forgotten memories haunt siblings in “Glimmerings”. Plunged into isolation, a girl adventures through Mother Earth’s Sewing Box – through joy, obsession and anxiety – in her plight to succeed at her new hobby, threading together our tales of momentous change.
The interactive broadcast will include an interplay of your thoughts with ours. We shall aim to fully satisfy your desire to understand our complete creative process. Questions can be asked, will be heard – they may or may not be answered how you expect.
You can find a programme for EXPO MCYO here.
MCYO are very grateful to their founding sponsor, the Henfrey Charitable Trust, for the generous support which has made possible their first appearance at Tête-à-Tête: The Opera Festival.
A Thread through Change is curated by MCYO Alumns: Nadia Eskandari, James Gillett, and Mia Serracino-Inglott.
This is a double bill with Until the Trans Lady Sings – An Autobiographical Spoken Word Opera. EXPO MCYO will run for 30 minutes.
Age range: All ages, but mostly adults
Content warnings: Some strong language
In a festival of new work, please note that shows can often overrun.
Produced by Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera
Venue: The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, London NW8 8EH.
If you would like to help Tête à Tête and the artists creating this show, take a look at this
Adventure through Mother Earth’s Sewing Box
Music & Words: A collaboration (2020) by JEFSMN (Eleanor Austin, Nadia Eskandari, Sohaila Ferrier, Fraz Ireland, Jessica Rowley, Mia Serracino-Inglott)
MCYO is grateful to the JEFSMN artists for allowing this special re-presentation at the 2021 Opera Festival
Mezzo-soprano: Mia Serracino-Inglott
Viola: Nadia Eskandari
Adela 2.0
Words: Arabella Watkiss
Music: Pat Shepherd
Adela: Amy Kearsley
MJ, Adela’s grandmother: Laura Coppinger
Clarinet: Isobel Mortimer
Viola: Nadia Eskandari
Glimmerings (2021):
Words: Sam Woof McColl
Music: Dan Nolan
Character of A:
Voice of A (silent film actor/recorded singer): Louis de Satgé
Sound of A (recorded bassoon): Lauren Martin
Mind of A (recorded vocalist): Laura Coppinger
Video: Benny Vernon
Audio: Dan Nolan
Multimedia Syncronist: James Gillett
Character of B:
Voice of B (mezzo soprano): Mia Serracino-Inglott
Sound of B (viola): Nadia Eskandari
Mind of B (vocalist): Amy Kearsley
EXPO MCYO: a thread through change
Curators: Nadia Eskandari, James Gillett & Mia Serracino-Inglott
Image: Sohaila Ferrier
Stage Direction: Madeleine Brooks
Musical Direction: James Gillett
Design Concept: Tomás Palmer
Music & Drama Preparation: Richard Strivens
Costume Supervisor: Poppy Philligreen
Company Stage Manager: Joe Lenehan
MCYO Artistic Directors: Richard Strivens & Nina Whiteman
On the same day:
Adventure through Mother Earth’s Sewing Box
Music & Words: A collaboration (2020) by JEFSMN (Eleanor Austin, Nadia Eskandari, Sohaila Ferrier, Fraz Ireland, Jessica Rowley, Mia Serracino-Inglott)
MCYO is grateful to the JEFSMN artists for allowing this special re-presentation at the 2021 Opera Festival
Mezzo-soprano: Mia Serracino-Inglott
Viola: Nadia Eskandari
Adela 2.0
Words: Arabella Watkiss
Music: Pat Shepherd
Adela: Amy Kearsley
MJ, Adela’s grandmother: Laura Coppinger
Clarinet: Isobel Mortimer
Viola: Nadia Eskandari
Glimmerings (2021):
Words: Sam Woof McColl
Music: Dan Nolan
Character of A:
Voice of A (silent film actor/recorded singer): Louis de Satgé
Sound of A (recorded bassoon): Lauren Martin
Mind of A (recorded vocalist): Laura Coppinger
Video: Benny Vernon
Audio: Dan Nolan
Multimedia Syncronist: James Gillett
Character of B:
Voice of B (mezzo soprano): Mia Serracino-Inglott
Sound of B (viola): Nadia Eskandari
Mind of B (vocalist): Amy Kearsley
EXPO MCYO: a thread through change
Curators: Nadia Eskandari, James Gillett & Mia Serracino-Inglott
Image: Sohaila Ferrier
Stage Direction: Madeleine Brooks
Musical Direction: James Gillett
Design Concept: Tomás Palmer
Music & Drama Preparation: Richard Strivens
Costume Supervisor: Poppy Philligreen
Company Stage Manager: Joe Lenehan
MCYO Artistic Directors: Richard Strivens & Nina Whiteman