The Year Just Gone

Lara Martins in Hopes & Fears at The Grimeborn Festival

When Panaretos and I began our journey of starting and managing a new opera company, we had no idea that after just six months the world would hurtle into full lockdown, theatres would shut and performers throughout the world would be left broadcasting from their own homes.

With the pandemic still threatening us all as we head into 2022, I wanted to hit a more positive note and look back at all that The Opera Makers have managed to achieve since our first performance in February 2020, just months before everything changed.

Over the Christmas and New Year of 2019, we ran an amazing Crowdfunding campaign to create and develop a radical new adaptation of Cavelleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci.  With the help of over one hundred supporters and friends we were able to raise enough cash to qualify for match funding through NatWest's great initiative - Back Her Business.  I remember how hard the whole team worked, even over the festive period, to ensure that we could meet our targets.  This gave us the opportunity to gather 15 fabulous singers and an orchestra of 10 to perform the new piece at St Paul's Church in Knightsbridge.  This Research and Development show gave us an opportunity to explore how the piece will work once fully realised.  We hope to raise funds over the next three years to mount this production in full.

Rehearsing The Clowns

Just the week before our R&D we were also thrilled to receive our charitable status.  Huge thanks must go to our passionate trustees: Peter Petzal, Keith Clancy and Stephan DeWachter.

In October 2020, as the world opened up a little and musicians were able to come together in a distanced way, we were lucky enough to have the support of our patron, Della Jones, who led a masterclass for four emerging artists which was informative, fun and surprisingly emotional for everyone involved.  All the artists had lost work and income and seen their world's turned upside-down by the pandemic.  Though we were unable to invite a live audience to join us, the livestream reached over 1,000 people, and we professionally recorded the event so as to give each singer useful footage for further auditions and self-promotion.

Della Jones, Panaretos Kyriatzidis and Flora MacDonald

Christmas was busy again, with the creation and launch of our tongue-in-cheek video series celebrating the twelve days of Christmas.   With 14 artists singing and filming and laborious hours of video editing (largely from Pan) we made a rather wonderful collection dedicated to all those who had lost  Christmas singing work due to Covid and raised just over £800 to share between all the artists involved.   

Here is my personal favourite!

As full lockdown descended yet again, we used the time to finish creating and preparing for our first fully staged production Hopes & Fears.  This was a real time of contemplation for us as well.  We wanted to give something back to Shine the dedicated small charity which had helped us create the opera we were working on, and which had been affected in so many ways by the pandemic.  With the help of cellist and Opera Makers' stalwart Alison Holford, Pan and I created a new version of Mimi's iconic death scene from La bohème, dedicated to those whose lives have been cast into turmoil by Covid.

Here is is

When the theatres finally reopened fully, we were ready to reopen too.  Two weeks of intense rehearsal finally brought our beautiful and intense new opera to life.  Not only did we present five performances of the work at the Grimeborn Opera Festival, but we were also lucky enough to have opportunity to perform it in the back garden of one of the people who inspired it - Ceinwen Giles - who founded Shine after her life was turned upside-down by cancer in the days after the birth of her daughter.  Giving her and her family the chance to see and hear the piece was a truly special moment.  This mini performance was featured in The Times and on BBC London.

We were also delighted to receive 4 stars in The Stage.

In early December we were fortunate to be able to host a raucus and intimate Winetr Soirée at the bohemian and chic 1901 Arts Club.  This featured some glorious singers and singing as well as some unexpected moments of mirth.  It was the most fun i have had on stage in a while and we hope to make these opera parties a regular fixture.  

Alison Holford, Panaretos Kyriatzidis, Shafali Jalota, Louis Hurst, Imogen Rose Burgess, Martins Smauktelis, Becca Marriott

Starting something new is never easy and progress is often slower than one would hope.  But, after the previous two years of world-wide chaos, I am so pleased that The Opera Makers have been able to create so much and keep so much positivity about opera alive.  

We are incredibly excited about our plans for the years to come and hope that with luck, hard work, energy and passion we can realise some or all of the amazing projects this talented young company has to offer. 

Artistic Director,

Becca Marriott