If there’s one sector of the UK opera world that appears lively (‘thriving’ is not quite the right word in terms of either audience or money), it’s the contemporary short-form variety as pioneered 20 years ago by Bill Bankes-Jones’s Tête à Tête company at the Battersea Arts Centre. I remember many excellent evenings there, none better than the first tentative runthrough of what would become Jerry Springer: The Opera, with composer Richard Thomas handing out beers in exchange for bright ideas. Bankes-Jones’s company battles doggedly on, and this summer hosts its biggest festival yet at London’s Granary Square development in King’s Cross.
Tête à Tête, though it was the first, is now far from the only kid on this block: the Arcola Theatre’s annual Grimeborn festival surfs the same waves, and a number of smaller companies have appeared, and occasionally stayed. The most durable is Second Movement, which for the last few years has been running ‘scratch nights’ for new work-in-progress, often acting as a feeder set-up to full stagings at Bankes- Jones’s festivals and others. Now the two companies are linking up officially to provide even stronger support as new work reaches the stage.
Second Movement was founded in 2004 by director Oliver Mears, conductor Nicholas Chalmers and producer Abigail Toland. At first they concentrated on staging neglected 20th-century repertoire in inventive ways, which first brought the opera world’s attention to Mears’s directing skills (he is now about to become director of opera at the ROH). When Mears went to Belfast to run NI Opera in 2010, the focus began to shift, and now Second Movement is dedicated to encouraging new work. Second Movement was founded in 2004 by director Oliver Mears, conductor Nicholas Chalmers and producer Abigail Toland. At first they concentrated on staging neglected 20th-century repertoire in inventive ways, which first brought the opera world’s attention to Mears’s directing skills (he is now about to become director of opera at the ROH). When Mears went to Belfast to run NI Opera in 2010, the focus began to shift, and now Second Movement is dedicated to encouraging new work.