Opera Holloway

Opera Holloway are a registered charity.

 Registered Charity Number: 1151205

We are a group of young music professionals that initially formed in 2009 at Royal Holloway University. Our core team is comprised of four individuals who are each able to offer their own distinctive and valuable skills and experience to all of Opera Holloway’s projects. The team members are:

·         Christopher Moon-Little – Artistic Director, Translator.

·         Lewis Gaston – Musical Director.

·         Caroline Swarbrick – Producer, Singer.

·         Laurie O’Brien – Producer, Repetiteur.

Our aims are:

·         To offer singers at the start of their careers the opportunity to perform in fully staged opera productions which are dramatically and musically challenging but which are vocally safe and suitable.

·         To introduce children to opera through our school workshop initiative, allowing them to engage with opera in an exciting, fun and educational way.

·         To bring opera to a larger public audience through relevant and contemporary productions performed in our own new English translations.

Past productions:

·         The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart (June 2011, Royal Holloway University of London).

·         Hansel and Gretel, Humperdinck (December 2011, Royal Holloway University of London).

·         Samson, Handel. In collaboration with Larkhill Choral Society. (March 2012, Royal Holloway University of London).

·         Cinderella, Massenet (June 2012, Royal Holloway University of London).

·         Triple Bill of; The Bear, Walton; A Hand of Bridge, Barber; The Telephone, Menotti (Summer 2012, Touring Production).

 

Past school workshops:

·         Farlington School, Sussex, 2011.

·         Englefield Green Infant School, Surrey, 2011.

·         The Marist School Ascot (as part of 2011 Hansel and Gretel production), 2011.

·         Englefield Green Easter Workshop, Surrey, 2012.

·         Music’all, Parsons Green, London, 2012.

·         Brentwood School, Essex, 2012.

·         Fressingfield, Suffolk, 2012.

Awards and other events:

·         Masterclass with Rosalind Plowright OBE, 2011.

·         Royal Holloway Entrepreneur Mini Grant Award presented by Sir Alec Reed, 2011.

·         Waitrose Music Matters Grant, 2011.

·         Masterclass with Janis Kelly, 2011.

·         Masterclass with Dame Felicity Lott, 2012.

·         Royal Holloway Music Department Initiative Award created specifically for Opera Holloway, 2012.