Find out more about Re:Discover

A range of brilliant ideas and suggestions were offered by Performers in the Ideas Rooms that were held in each city as we developed the idea of what our next festival would be.

As Festival Director, Abigail Kelly wanted to provide an outline of what the project will look like; a shared understanding within which we will work to co-create the project. Here is a list of what we all understand the project to be, and not to be, as we embark on our next process together:

• The piece will be three new stories inspired by the music of composers of African and Caribbean heritage first introduced by Abigail Kelly in Spring 2021. A new story will be created in each of London, Nottingham and Manchester to create a triple bill of new operas.
• The stories will draw primarily on the music of the composers – what the music makes us think, feel and imagine. What pictures the music creates in our minds eye.
  Abigail has created a list of highlights suggestions, a Streetwise Opera playlist, of the music we will begin by listening to LINK
• The stories might also draw on the essence of the story and journey of some of these composers’ lives; these are featured on each composer’s page.
• Each new opera will be a contemporary (or near contemporary) story.
• Each of the three new stories will mostly feature NEW music, co-created by Streetwise Opera performers and the composer. However, each piece will also feature one of those historic composers’ works, unchanged. The piece won’t change or adapt the composer’s music but the story will find a reason to feature this pre-written historic music.
• The piece will not be a biography of any of the composers lives, and as such, will not be about specific historical eras or events. It is not possible to do justice to these in the framework of our performance project. Instead, space will be given for this research to be presented as part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund project.
• The final piece will aim to be part of a Festival which will also feature additional performances of the original historic music (we’ll hope to work with some brilliant partners to achieve this).