Opera Viscera will perform ‘Narcissus & Echo’ at London’s Cockpit Theatre on Sunday as part of the ‘Rough For Opera‘ platform run by Second Movement. The evening sees three new works being presented, and each company will receive feedback on their work.

Original, reconditioned or recently excavated; anything goes in a night of musical test drives, experiments and reboots from some of the most innovative opera creators in the UK.

The other shows being presented on Sunday are ‘Midnight Closes’, Charlotte Bray‘s setting of Thomas Hardy Poems, and Kate Whitley’s ‘Unknown Position’ on a text by Emma Hogan. You can see more details here, and reserve tickets (which are £6 each) over at the Cockpit Theatre website.

Opera Viscera will create a workshop for children around our opera ‘Narcissus & Echo’ for West Ealing Family Day on the 24th September.

‘We are creating a musical performance of the story ‘Narcissus and Echo’ and we need your help to make it something special. Dive into a world of sounds and mirrors with us and who knows what your imagination might find……’

Children will discover the story of Narcissus & Echo and learn how an opera is made in an energetic, experimental and fun afternoon of music and drama. The afternoon will finish with a version of our opera ‘Narcissus & Echo’: a mythical tale of music, magic and mirrors. We hope that the children might let you in on some of the day’s discoveries so that you can enjoy the show as much as they will!

Sarah Hill – Workshop Leader

When not performing as a violinist Sarah is currently teaching the violin and leading Wider Opportunity projects at primary schools around Manchester. With an urge to gain more experience in educating children though the creative arts Sarah has completed the Dalcroze Easter Course, has been a volunteer tutor with Special Virtuosi (a music group for children with learning disabilities) and has attended all sorts of workshops with EarlyArts aiming at nurturing creativity in children.

Narcissus & Echo is being performed as part of the Arcola Theatre‘s ‘Grimeborn’ Opera Festival on Tuesday. Having performed the piece at OPEN Ealing and the Secret Garden Party Festival last month, Opera Viscera will be adapting the show to fit the theatre space. Tickets will be £10 on the door, or can be pre-booked on the Arcola website.

The Festival also features productions of new operas by Kim B. Ashton, Stephen Crowe and Jonathan Dove.

The first ever performance of Narcissus & Echo was at the OPEN Gallery, Ealing on the 20th July – the day before we set off for the trees and streams of the Secret Garden Party Festival. Opera Viscera gave around a hundred audience members a special chance to see the world premiere of our show, alongside additional performers by some of our musicians.

‘A modern opera – so some sharp edges and notes but totally listenable to and watchable. The sustained applause at the end said it all…the verdict was one of universal approval for a thoroughly well written and professional production’ – West Ealing Neighbours blog

As the audience assembled, we heard a performance of James MacMillan’s ‘After the Tryst’ by violinist Amy Heggart accompanied by music director Tom Coult, before Tom introduced the company and explained a little about how the project came about. We then heard Josh Spear play Elliott Carter’s ‘Gra’ for clarinet, before Alice Purton played Witold Lutosławski’s ‘Sacher Variation’ for solo cello.

The opera itself was performed brilliantly – you can see some pictures from the performance on this page (as well as more over at the Gallery page).

‘Narcissus and Echo’: Launch Party
Friday 1st July: 6pm
Venue: OPEN Gallery, Ealing (view a map)

At 6pm on the 1st July Opera Viscera’s exhibition at Open Ealing will open under the name of Love, Decay and Vanity. The event marks the development of the company so far, demonstrates its ideology, and acts as a departure point for the material construction of our new opera Narcissus and Echo.

The themes of ‘love, decay and vanity’ come from our original subject matter, the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus and Echo by Ovid, as translated by 17th-century English poet John Dryden.

Narcissus dies as a result of his hubris – his arrogance and his infatuation with his own beauty. Opera Viscera wants to do the opposite, to open itself to the touch of others, and to grow as a group by its presence and collaboration.

The exhibition event marks the moment of contact between Opera Viscera and the community it belongs to. The Open Ealing exhibition space is the womb of this collaborative creation, and a space where music and visual art are mutually enhancing – the visual and audial being opera’s most vital emotionally and viscerally gripping qualities.

Hopefully the final show will be as fresh and innovative as the people that make it, showing that opera isn’t just an ancient relic, and that the younger generation have much to offer this genre. The artists displayed on the walls come from the local Ealing and broader London community, not to mention our designers, sisters Rose and Miranda Keyes.

We launch the evening with the voices of some of our singers – Shoshana Pavet, Sophie Levi and Alexander Alden – who will be reciting arias from a diverse spectrum of operatic times and genres. The recital begins at 6pm. Later Rachel Jackson will be joining us from 8pm as a representative of the team of composers. Also around that time, Gareth Barnett and Tim Crombie, visual and sound artists, will collaborate in the live creation of a spontaneous piece just for us in which Gareth paints before the audience a visual representation of Tim’s music.

On the 20th July you will have the opportunity to see our final piece, Narcissus and Echo the opera. For now come and see the yarn from which it will be spun over the coming three weeks. Have a look at the Opera Viscera and the Open Ealing websites for information about other public events such as opera screenings, a presentation by the musical director Tom Coult about contemporary opera, crafts workshops with the designers, our children’s workshop on the 17th July run by our violinist, Sarah Hill.

If you are in anyway curious about what our little creature is, come and take a peak, and ask us anything you like. Hope to see you there.

Lia Alba Ikkos-Serrano
Director of Opera Viscera