10th Anniversary Programme Announced For GRIMEBORN Festival

Grimeborn is back for its 10th anniversary year.

Sixteen innovative new versions of classic operas, unknown, rarely-seen and long-forgotten works, brand new pieces from the most exciting up-and-coming composers, musicians and companies.

Since 2007, Grimeborn has introduced new audiences to opera and given emerging artists the platform to showcase and develop their talent. It has consistently challenged the perception that opera is inaccessible and elitist.

BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE
23 July
Arcola Creative Engagement's giant puppet opera returns to Dalston to open Grimeborn 2016. Béla Bartók's entrancing masterpiece comes to life with large-scale puppets made from recycled materials, designed by Oliver James Hymans and operated by a cast of community performers drawn from across East London. Music, dance, movement and puppetry intertwine as Judith and Bluebeard venture deeper into the castle. Don't miss this spectacular one-off event for all of the family to enjoy. Bluebeard's Castle features recorded music, performed in English.

TOSCA
27 July - 4 August
Tosca, a young singer devoted to the painter Cavaradossi, lives for art and love. Baron Scarpia, head of Rome's secret police, lives for power and in?uence. When a prisoner breaks free and is hidden by Cavaradossi, the plotting begins. Can Tosca defend herself and protect her lover's secret, or will she be ensnared by Scarpia's devious schemes? Love, lust, corruption and murder collide in Tosca: one of the best-loved operas of all time. This bold new production shines the light and shade of ?lm noir on to Puccini's masterpiece, imbuing the drama with all the suspense of a Hitchcock thriller.

A WILLESDEN LIEDERKREIS
A mash-up song-cycle
30 July
A Willesden Liederkreis ('A Willesden Song-Cycle') is a funny, provocative and touching new work from acclaimed countertenor Magid El-Bushra, based on Schumann's famous opus 39 song cycle. Bringing his "vocal beauty and ?ne presence" (Opera Magazine) to an eclectic range of music - from Handel and Schumann to Weill and Sondheim, Bjork and Nina Simone - he tells the story of a lonely Muslim boy, trapped in 1980s suburbia, who dares to imagine a different world.

DRIFTING DRAGONS
30 July
Childhood best friends Sadie and Jason are drifting apart as they edge towards their late twenties, but sudden events bring them back in touch. Will their friendship suffer a ?nal, fatal rupture, or will it endure stronger than ever? Drifting Dragons is a new opera about everyday life performed in everyday locations. Inspired by true stories from real Londoners, it puts modern friendship under the microscope, examining the pressures that push some relationships to breaking point, and the joys that sustain others despite the odds.

FIRE RING
31 July - 1 August
In a bloody civil war, a rebel girl ?ghting for the revolutionary army captures an Army Of?cer. Their opposing views have left millions dead. Now, left alone on an island, they must decide whether to continue the battle for their political ideals, or yield to their brewing sexual desires. In this intense psychological opera he lays bare the volatility of human beings in love and war.

MOZART & SALIERI
9-13 August
Amadeus Mozart was poisoned by his jealous rival, the composer Antonio Salieri. It inspired Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, and this remarkable opera from the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. This startlingly original production - which makes the audience witnesses, if not conspirators, of Saleri's murder plot - comes to Grimeborn after acclaimed runs in London and Vienna.

THE PERFECT PICNIC
11-18 August
Summertime: what better time for a picnic in the park. The sun is shining, the hamper is full... what could possibly go wrong?

A feast of singing, comedy and drama in this unique piece of 'opera theatre', set to the music of W. A. Mozart. Some of the best-loved arias from The Marriage of Figaro, Così Fan Tutte and Don Giovanni are woven into a fast-paced, highly original tale of love and misunderstanding by Tim Armstrong-Taylor and Ian Bloom?eld. It's the perfect introduction to comic opera, and a riotously enjoyable night out.

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
16-20 August
Susanna and Figaro, servants at the palace of Count Almaviva, have reached their wedding day. But before they can get hitched, some hitches: the Count is lusting after Susanna, an embitteRed Lawyer is plotting against Figaro, and a young man has been spotted jumping out of the window. A hilarious, tightly-plotted farce set to sublime music, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro is one of the best-loved operas of all time. Love, lust, deception and confusion combine to turn the natural order on its head - and back again - in this uproarious comedy.

IRIS DREAMING
23-24 August
Robin Hyde - who was born Iris Wilkinson - was one of the greatest poets in New Zealand. But her eventful life, which took her to war-torn China and to London on the brink of World War Two, was rocked by trauma and crisis. Now her extraordinary story comes to life in a powerful new work from world-famous composer Dame GillIan Whitehead and the celebrated poet Fleur Adcock.

THE MOZART DOUBLE
BASTIEN & BASTIENNE / IMPRESARIO
23-25 August
Two of Mozart's 'Singspiel' ('sing-plays'): comic operas which sparkle with wit and whimsy. In Bastien and Bastienne - composed when Mozart was just twelve - two young lovers ?nd their relationship tested by the advice of a magician. In The Impresario - composed ?ve years before his death - two sopranos compete for the prime role in a theatre company with ever more spectacular arias.

THE DOWAGER'S OYSTER
26-27 August
Cynthia and her aged mother, the Dowager, are holidaying on the French island of Oleron. Cynthia's ?ancé can't join them - he's on his own journey of discovery with a secret gay lover in Morocco. But when Cynthia and Dowager bump into old friends, gossip abounds and confusion ensues. It isn't long before events are spiralling out of all control. A murder-mystery farce set in the roaring 1920s.

THE HIVE
26-27 August
A work-in-progress performance of The Hive, an un?inching new opera about psychopathic killers and the professionals who seek them out. Inspired by Hayman's research into the addictions and compulsions which lead to psychopathic behaviour, this ambitious and provocative work premieres at Grimeborn.

MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES
30 August - 3 September
Maria was seduced by the tango. Now she is the most bewitching dancer in Buenos Aires, and the talk of its red light district. But when the languishing Piazzolla is driven mad by her 'fatal passion', he conspires to stop it dead. Maria is made of ?esh and blood, but her spirit will to be harder to kill...

A unique masterpiece about passion, lust and the supernatural. Set against the backdrop of a teeming city, and to the sound of milongas, tangos and waltzes, Maria de Buenos Aires binds the slang of brothels to the poetry of angels.

GIANNI SCHICCHI / PAGLIACCI
30 August - 3 September
Gianni Schicchi: Puccini's comic masterpiece, newly translated and adapted. A death, a will, a scheming family and an hour of comic fun, set to a sublime score. Includes the famous aria 'O Mio Babbino Caro' ('Oh My Beloved Father'): one of the most popular in all of opera, and featured in ?lms including A Room with a View. Performed in English. In this thrilling and gritty tale, based on a real life murder case, Salvador Dali meets The Tiger Lilies with a lesbian twist.

YOUKALI: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
1 September
What is happiness? Where can be it found? And how can it be kept? Atmospheric new work, inspired by Kurt Weill's 'Youkali', follows a girl and a mysterious compere on their journey in search of happiness. Star soprano Danae Eleni performs specially-chosen poems, speeches and songs, with haunting music played on the piano accordion.

SOMETHING INSIDE SO STRONG
6 - 8 September
Uplifting, surprising and witty, Something Inside So Strong is a bold new musical based on the songs of singer, songwriter and poet Labi Siffre. Created with young people and inspired by Siffre's activism as a gay, black Londoner, it tells an un?inching story of friendship, love, family and celebrity.

Tickets are available at www.arcolatheatre.com/grimeborn

To post a comment, you must register and login.