Live Performance

19:00-19:40, Saturday 7th August 2021

The Cockpit

 

There will also be an interactive broadcast of this show at 19:00-20:10, Tuesday 10th August 2021. A recording of that broadcast will be available for 28 days.

 

Music: Helen Caddick

Words: Verbatim from letters by Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Jean Arp, with poetry by Jean Arp and original text by Helen Caddick

 

This is a work in progress. Semi-staged extracts, weaving music, dance, verbatim, art and poetry, will be shared to coincide with the new Sophie Taeuber-Arp exhibition at London’s Tate Modern.

 

What happens to a talented female artist when she’s part of an artistic couple? What pressures does she face? Taking as a starting point the joint 1937 work Marital Sculpture where two sections have been cut to expose the ‘inside’, this new opera is inspired by the extraordinary Swiss Artist/Dancer Sophie Taeuber-Arp and her relationship with the Dadaist/Poet Jean Arp.

 

A member of the Dada movement, dancer at the notorious Cabaret Voltaire and a unique voice across a host of diverse art forms, Sophie faced many struggles before her tragic death in 1943.

 

Weaving music, dance, verbatim, art and poetry, this is a work in progress; semi-staged extracts will be shared to coincide with the new Sophie Taeuber-Arp exhibition at London’s Tate Modern.

 

You can find a libretto for Sophie here.

 

You can find a programme for Sophie here.

 

The interactive broadcast will include a Q&A with key members of the creative team. It will be live captioned throughout, though it may not be verbatim. A BSL interpreter will be present during the Q&A.

 

Age range: 13 upwards.

Content advisory: Adult themes; implied possible suicide/death.

 

In a festival of new work, please note that shows can often overrun.

 

Produced by Helen Caddick

 

 

Venue: The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, London NW8 8EH.

 

TATTOF21_Sophie_photoby_ClaireShovelton - 7

www.facebook.com/helen.caddick.music

www.twitter.com/CaddickHelen

www.instagram.com/caddickhelen

www.helencaddick.com

kamaladevamcompany.com

www.lucy-bradley.com

www.elizabethlynch.co.uk

www.neilbalfour.com

 

If you would like to help Tête à Tête and the artists creating this show, take a look at this.

 

Music: Helen Caddick

Words: Verbatim from letters by Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Jean Arp, with poetry by Jean Arp and original text by Helen Caddick

Director: Lucy Bradley

Choreographer: Kamala Devam

Sophie Taeuber-Arp (Mezzo Soprano): Elizabeth Lynch

Jean Arp (Bass Baritone): Neil Balfour

Dancers: Yanaëlle Thiran and Aaron Baksh

Conductor: Chris Hopkins

Flute/Clarinet/Bass Clarinet: Jessamy Holder

Harp: Tamara Young

Cello: James Douglas

Piano: Dawn Hardwick

Percussion: Matthew West

Producer: Helen Caddick

Assistant Producer: Ally Rosser

German Translations: Brigitte Maier

French Translations: Sébastien Tardy and Yvonne Bamford

 

On the same day:

 

Music: Helen Caddick

Words: Verbatim from letters by Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Jean Arp, with poetry by Jean Arp and original text by Helen Caddick

 

Director: Lucy Bradley

Choreographer: Kamala Devam

Sophie Taeuber-Arp (Mezzo Soprano): Elizabeth Lynch

Jean Arp (Bass Baritone): Neil Balfour

Dancers: Yanaëlle Thiran and Aaron Baksh

Conductor: Chris Hopkins

Flute/Clarinet/Bass Clarinet: Jessamy Holder

Harp: Tamara Young

Cello: James Douglas

Piano: Dawn Hardwick

Percussion: Matthew West

Producer: Helen Caddick

Assistant Producer: Ally Rosser

German Translations: Brigitte Maier

French Translations: Sébastien Tardy and Yvonne Bamford

 

 

Helen Caddick – Composer/Librettist/Producer

Helen Caddick is a British composer who is passionate about making Contemporary classical music, particularly Opera, accessible to wider audiences. Her work Amphora, inspired by the art/poetry of French German artist Hans Arp was chosen as a top pick favourite in The Musician 2018; premiered at the Arp: Poetry of Form exhibition at Turner Contemporary 2017, it received its London premiere at Tête à Tête 2018. Other works include Between Sleeping and Waking performed as part of POW celebrating the Power of Women and their achievements both nationally and internationally, Bright Planet inspired by Pedro Reyes work Palas por Pistolas where 1,527 guns previously used in Mexican drug crimes were remoulded into shovels to plant 1,527 trees and Haze inspired by 5 delicate paintings by JMW Turner performed in connection with the 2019 Turner prize. Internationally commissioned, her work has featured on SkyArts, Channel 4, Resonance FM, BBC Radio Kent, BBC 3’s Late Junction, Channel Radio, performed in the UK and abroad.

 

Lucy Bradley – Director

Lucy is an experienced Opera and Theatre director working in the UK and Europe in settings ranging from fringe and regional theatres to drama schools and large-scale opera houses; her work is detailed, accessible and full of heart. Directing credits include Trouser Power for the Royal Opera House; revival director of Street Scene by Kurt Weill for Opera Monte Carlo and Oper Köln; No Sound Ever Dies (Surrey Arts at Brooklands Museum), Eugene Onegin (Arcola Theatre); The Finding (Mahogany Opera Group, Various stages festival), Recital 1 (British Museum and Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), Found and Lost (Corinthia Hotel), Blank Canvas (Opera Up Close), Belongings, Tycho’s Dream and Into the Harbour (all for Glyndebourne Education), Grimm Tales and Wind in the Willows  (ALRA). Lucy is a founder member of I:Opera – a collective of Opera makers working to effect positive change within the Opera industry. Inclusion and empowerment are at the heart of Lucy’s work.

 

Ally Rosser – Assistant Producer

Ally Rosser is Executive Manager of Mahogany Opera and an experienced arts administrator with over 10 years of experience. Ally loves working with new ideas. In her spare time she enjoys playing music both on the clarinet in Dulwich Symphony Orchestra and the drums in punk band, Simon and the Spears.

 

Kamala Devam – Choreographer

Kamala is a London-based, multi-lingual dance artist and an internationally commissioned choreographer. She has performed in Helen Caddick’s Amphora, at the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony with Akram Khan Company, toured internationally for over 8 years with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance and worked with many independent choreographers and companies including the English National Opera, Akademi, Neon Dance, KalpanArts, ATMA Dance and Sadhana Dance Company. She has collaborated with choreographer/dancer Seeta Patel on a multi award-winning dance film The Art of Defining Me (2013) and toured duet works (Alter Ego, 2007 and Last One Standing, 2009) and her own solo work (FretLess, 2010) in Europe and the US. Kamala formed her Kamala Devam Company in January 2016 to further explore the continuum between western and Indian aesthetics, with inspirations ranging from her experience in Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance to the explosive qualities of acrobatics and Indian martial arts. Her show Ankusha and Other Mysteries received national critical acclaim.

 

Elizabeth Lynch – singing in the role of Sophie Taeuber Arp

British born Mezzo Soprano Elizabeth Lynch is a Glyndebourne New Generation Associate Artist. A regular concert and recital artist, she made her Barbican Hall solo debut performing Elgar’s Music Makers with the GSO. Elizabeth has sung in a wide variety of roles including as Ankhesenpaaten in Akhnaten (English National Opera), Opera diva La Traviata (Glyndebourne) and Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro (Garsington Opera). Elizabeth was part of the recent recording debut for the recital series Song in the City with the Album Voices of London, Songs of the Big Smoke, a soloist in Pärt’s Stabat Mater for BBC Radio 3, the voice of the Young Vixen in the BBC animation of The Cunning Little Vixen and has appeared on Channel 4’s The Rory Bremner Show. Soon to be released, Elizabeth will make her film debut singing in the title role for a new film of Britten’s masterpiece Phaedra directed by Keith Warner.

 

Neil Balfour – Bass Baritone – Singing in the role of Jean Arp

Indian-Scottish Neil Balfour is a former Britten-Pears and Concordia artist and the first opera singer to be booked by the Glastonbury Festival and to beatbox in an opera at Longborough Festival Opera. Contemporary opera roles created for Neil include Ibn Al-Haytham Al-Haytham’s light (English Touring Opera), Father  Mysterious 44 (the first electronic opera), Dad/La-La A shoe full of stars (YAM Awards Best Opera 2018) and Punch Crocodile (a dark-web animated opera). Previous Operatic performances have included Colline La bohème (Mananan Opera & OFMAN Madrid Opera Studio),  Mercurio, LaCalist0Calisto (Longborough Festival Opera), Cold Genius King Arthur (Glastonbury Festival), Mustafà L’Italiana in Algeri (Mananan Opera), Don Pasquale Don Pasquale (Mananan Opera), Claggart Billy Budd Re-imagined (The Royal Opera House L&P Department), Young Artist Macbeth (Buxton International Festival) and the nationwide tour of Aida (Chorus of Opera North). Neil will soon be perfoming as Prince Yamadori in Madam Butterfly for Welsh National Opera and will premiere Texy Back into the world for English Touring Opera.

 

Chris Hopkins – Conductor

​​Chris is a highly experienced Conductor. Recently appointed principle conductor of the English Sinfonia he is also a frequent face at the London Coliseum following the success of his ENO conducting debut in 2017. He has since returned to conduct The Magic Flute, Iolanthe and the most recent revival of The Mikado. Previously he has worked at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Opera, Opera de Paris, Grange Festival Opera, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Crash Ensemble, WNO, N1 Opera, HGO, Opera Holland Park, Wide Open Opera, Garsington Opera, Grange Park Opera, Opera Danube, London Mozart Players and appeared at many festivals including Aldeburgh, Presteigne and Latitude. He has performed throughout the UK, in the US, Asia, Europe and made live and recorded appearances for BBC1, Classic FM, BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4. Chris was honoured in 2013 to be made Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

 

Yanaëlle Thiran

Yanaëlle Thiran is a Belgian dancer, choreographer and contemporary dance teacher who trained at London Contemporary Dance School, Art Factory International (Italy), Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and the University of Chichester. As a performer, she specialises in cross-disciplinary collaborations with musicians, visual artists, and designers. She has danced in stage productions, installations and site-specific works by Kuan-Yu Chen, Irene Fiordilino, Amber Hahn, and Eleanor Tapper. Yanaëlle’s own choreographic work puts questions in motion and invites audiences to find their own answers. Using improvisation or set choreography, she creates encounters in theatres, galleries, outdoors and within online settings. Yanaëlle’s dance practice aims to draw connections between movement and sound, bodies and environments, performers of different backgrounds or performers and audiences. As a co-founder and co-director of Company Concentric, she manages a range of projects and events while also choreographing and performing in the company’s productions.

 

Aaron Baksh

Aaron is an early career dance artist who studied at The Brit School before training at Trinity Laban Conservatoire studying Contemporary, Ballet and Choreography graduating with a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance. Aaron has been involved with SLiDE Dance Collective for over a year performing and assisting and was funded by Dance Umbrella to choreograph and perform a short work at Fairfield Halls Takeover Festival 2019. Additionally, Aaron has worked in collaborative fashion projects such as Craig Green, KA WA KEY and Burberry. Recently Aaron has experienced Movement direction for his first music video for an emerging band called Giant Folk. Aaron teaches dance part time at Legacy Youth Zone Croydon in styles such as Contemporary and Hip Hop and continues to develop his performing, teaching and choreography practice.

 

Tamara Young – Harp

Tamara Young enjoys a varied and colourful freelance career both in the UK and abroad and has performed many solo recitals including at St Martin-in-the-Fields, in Paris, Munich and Israel. As a soloist she has performed Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp, Debussy’s Danses and Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro live on Radio 3 from Snape Maltings with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Other Collaborations include Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club with Sir John Dankworth and performing live on ITV’s Daybreak breakfast show. She has freelanced with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Norwegian National Opera House Orchestra, Oslo. Tamara has also performed live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune as a visiting solo artist alongside the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and won numerous accolades including 1st prize at the Camac Harp Competition, London and The John Marson Harp prize for most outstanding and creative musician.

 

James Douglas – Cello

James Douglas studied at Birmingham Conservatoire with Nicholas Roberts and Lionel Handy and completed his Masters degree at the Royal Academy of Music. James enjoys a varied career which has seen him work in a range of musical styles and contexts. He performs regularly with some of the most exciting young ensembles in London, such as Chineke! orchestra created to provide career opportunities to established and up-and-coming Black, Asian and ethnically diverse classical musicians in the UK and Europe and enjoys playing in a number of smaller chamber groups. James’ love of music for opera and theatre has taken him on tours of the UK and the Middle East. Recent highlights include a production of ‘The Lost Thing’ at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House and ‘Parable of the Sower’ at New York University Abu Dhabi. James is also sought after as a session musician and has toured internationally with recording artists Laura Mvula and Freya Ridings.

 

Jessamy Holder – Flute/Clarinet/Bass Clarinet

Jess graduated as a joint Clarinet and Saxophone scholar from the Royal College of Music in 2014. A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, she has performed in a variety of different settings including with the Guy Barker Big Band at the 2017 BBC Proms, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra. She has also performed in the West End for Richard II, Five Guys named Moe and A Christmas Carol as well as UK tours of Miss Saigon, Guys and Dolls and Thoroughly Modern Millie. She has also performed with the award winning Laefer Saxophone Quartet.

 

Dawn Hardwick – Piano

Dawn is an experienced concerto soloist with a varied repertoire – from more traditional piano concertos to contemporary collaborations and experimental music. Most recently, she performed John Psathas’ double concerto View From Olympus with percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and the British Sinfonietta to great acclaim, also appearing with Dame Evelyn at the Southbank Sky Arts Awards, broadcast on the Sky Arts channel, and on BBC One’s The One Show. Well-established as an orchestral and chamber musician, she regularly works with the UK’s most respected orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Ulster Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia + London Sinfonietta, both at home and abroad. Dawn has been involved in many radio and television broadcasts, such as James May’s Man Lab, the BBC Proms, and countless appearances on BBC Radio 3. She was the pianist for English Touring Opera’s Olivier Award-winning production of Tippett’s King Priam and has recently been working with animator Gregoire Pont on Cinesthetics, a concert of the solo piano music of Ravel set to live animation in association with Maestro Arts.

 

Matthew West – Percussion

Matthew studied at the Royal College of Music where he graduated with a BMus in percussion and MMus in Composition. Playing in a wide variety of genres he has performed in the UK and abroad including Argentina, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, Switzerland and Ireland. He has spent the past ten years working in the theatre both on tour and in the West End where shows include Singin’ in the Rain, In the Heights, The Lion King, Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. Currently, he is the percussionist for Everybody’s talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre. A passion for percussion from around the world has led him to study Cuban folkloric music alongside a myriad of other styles. He collects instruments like a magpie.