Tête à Tête (opera company)
A charity-based arts company, Tête à Tête was founded in 1997 by its current Artistic Director, Bill Bankes-Jones, the conductor Orlando Jopling and then-administrator Katie Price. Originally the company produced works such as "The Flying Fox" ("Die Fledermaus"). This was first performed at the Battersea Arts Centre in 1998 then went to the Purcell Room. "Shorts" followed in 1999, again first performed at the Battersea Arts Centre and then revived at the Bridewell Theatre in 2001. "Shorts" became Tête à Tête's first touring production. The company established Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival in 2006. The festival has since played host to over 150 guest companies. It is currently led by Bill Bankes-Jones, music director Timothy Burke, and administrative director Anna Gregg. In 2012, the company collaborated with the Royal College of Music to create new operas based on "Great Expectations", written by composition students at the College. The collaboration has continued, with subsequent operas based on "Hogarth's Stages", "Crime and Punishment", and "Frankenstein". Tête à Tête initially presented the festival at Riverside Studios across three weeks in August, with a range of artists who are given free rein to present their work, some of which is still in progress. The Festival has taken place in the King's Cross area since 2015, with pop up performances taking place in libraries, museums, and other public places as a part of the Festival since 2017. The Festival has included over 400 new operas across over 1,000 performances, with 75,000 people seeing a performance in person or online. In 2016, the company was awarded a UK Arts Online Award for its online archive of its performances, which is dominated by performances from the Festival. It is the largest online video resource of new opera in the world, reaching audiences in 155 countries. Previous participants in the Festival include Oliver Mears, Kerry Andrew, Errollyn Wallen, Bishi, Jane Manning, Na'ama Zisser, CN Lester, Alastair White, and Ayanna Witter-Johnson. In a review of two works presented at the 2010 festival by Rupert Christiansen, subtitled "Tete a Tete's annual Opera Festival is wonderfully random, and throws up some fine things", Christiansen wrote: "You never know quite what you're going to get or how good or bad it's going to be, and that's exactly as it should be. " Past productions have often been supported by the company's associate musical ensemble CHROMA and include:
History
Tête à Tête is a London-based opera company that commissions new works.