Grimeborn

Last updated

Grimeborn
GenreOpera festival
DatesAugust
Location(s) Arcola Theatre, London
Years active2007 to present
Founders Mehmet Ergen
Website https://www.arcolatheatre.com/grimeborn/

Grimeborn is an annual musical theatre and opera festival held at Arcola Theatre in Dalston, East London. It was founded by Arcola Theatre's artistic director Mehmet Ergen in 2007. It takes place in and around August, and tends to showcase new and experimental works alongside radical productions of classic opera, using both the Arcola's performing stages.

Contents

History

The festival's name is a punning reference to the world famous East Sussex Glyndebourne Opera Festival. The "grime" element refers to the "dirtier" backdrop of the Arcola Theatre, a converted textile factory in the congested bustle of Hackney as opposed to the scenic gardens of East Sussex.

Originally, Grimeborn was devised as a contemporary contribution to the Battersea Arts Centre's (BAC) Opera Festival. The BAC Opera Festival's Artistic Director at the time, Tom Morris, asked Ergen, who was working at the BAC as an Associate Producer, to create something different from normal operatic preconceptions in a manner similar to Tête à Tête, who were also taking the stage at the BAC Opera Festival that year. Grimeborn became an opera and musical theatre festival in its own right, with the Arcola Theatre its exclusive host.

Past performances

2019

OperaComposerProduction CompanyConductor or Music DirectorDirectorDesigner
A Hand of Bridge / Sands of Time / Le 66 Samuel Barber, Peter Reynolds, Jacques Offenbach Irrational TheatrePeter JonesPaula ChittyPaula Chitty
AuroraNoah MosleyBury Court OperaNoah MosleyAylin BozokHolly Piggott
Cabildo Amy Beach Jessie Anand productionsJohn WarnerEmma Jude HarrisMax Nicholson-Lailey
Count Ory Gioachino Rossini Opera AlegríaLindsay BramleyBen Newhouse-Smith
Das Rheingold Richard Wagner, in a reduced version by Jonathan Dove and Graham Vick Arcola TheatrePeter SelwynJulia BurbachBettina John
Die Fledermaus Johann Strauss II, adapted by Leo GeyerBaseless Fabric TheatreLeo GeyerJoanna TurnerJoanna Turner
Don JoArcola Participation Queer Collective (after Mozart)Arcola ParticipationNick BonadiesLeo Doulton
Hippolyte et Aricie Jean-Philippe Rameau Ensemble OrQuestaMarcio da SilvaChristian Hey
Hotspur / Pierrot Lunaire Gillian Whitehead /Arnold Schoenberg formidAbility & SignDance InternationalScott WilsonSara BrodieSara Brodie
I Capuleti e i Montecchi Vincenzo Bellini Over the PondKelvin LimLysanne van Overbeek
Leyla Gencer: La Diva Turca (documentary film) Zeynep Oral (writer)IKSV (Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts)Selçuk Metin
Miss Havisham's Wedding Night /Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson Dominick Argento /Aaron Copland Great ExpectationsDavid EatonRalph BridleAmy Watts
Origami Soundscapes /The CraneVerity LaneVerity LaneVerity Lane
Sane and Sound Matt Geer Sane and Sound Opera CompanyFinan JonesKatie BuntingSam Harris
Silk Moth /The Heart's Ear /Bel Canto Bushra El-Turk /Liza Lim /Cassandra MillerRuthless JabiruKelly LoveladyHeather FairbairnCharlotte Henery
Treemonisha Scott Joplin Spectra EnsembleMatthew LynchCecilia StintonRaphaé Memon
Violetta Giuseppe Verdi (reduced version of La traviata )Opera AllegraWilliam GreenAshley PearsonMartin Berry

2018

List not complete: awaiting further additions

OperaComposerProduction CompanyConductor or Music DirectorDirectorDesigner
Greek (30th anniversary production) Mark-Anthony Turnage Arcola TheatreTim AndersonJonathan MooreBaśka Wesołowska
Lucia di Lammermoor Gaetano Donizetti Fulham OperaBen WoodwardSarah HutchinsonAnna Yates
The Prometheus RevolutionKeith BursteinFulham OperaBen WoodwardSophie GilpinSunny Smith
The Boatswain's Mate Ethel Smyth Spectra EnsembleJohn WarnerCecilia StintonChristianna Mason

2017

List not complete: awaiting further additions

OperaComposerProduction CompanyConductor or Music DirectorDirectorDesigner
Armide Jean-Baptiste Lully Ensemble OrQuestaMarcio da SilvaMarcio da Silva
Porgy and Bess George Gershwin
Samson and Delilah Camille Saint-Saëns Arcola TheatreKelvin LimAylin BozokAylin Bozok
The Diary of One Who Disappeared Leos Janáček Shadwell OperaMatthew FletcherJack FurnessJack Furness

2015

List not complete: awaiting further additions

OperaComposerProduction CompanyConductor or Music DirectorDirectorDesigner
The Medium /The Wanton Sublime Peter Maxwell Davies /Tarik O'Regan Opera Room ProductionsAndrew GriffithsRobert ShawGillian Argo
Daphne Richard Strauss Opera at HomeJosé Manuel GandiaJosé Manuel Gandia
GalaErgo PhizmizErgo PhizmizLuis Carvajal

2014

List not complete: awaiting further additions

OperaComposerProduction CompanyConductor or Music DirectorDirectorDesigner
The Medium   Gian Carlo Menotti OperaViewMaite AguirreNatalie KatsouMaria Kalamara
Madame XTim BenjaminRadiusAnthony BrannickLara Booth
Werther Jules Massenet Philip VoldmanAylin Bozok

2012

Curated by Mehmet Ergen and produced by Leyla Nazli (21 August - 8 September)

OperaComposerProduction CompanyConductor or Music DirectorDirectorDesigner
Il tabarro   Giacomo Puccini Philip VoldmanAylin Bozok
The Sound of a Voice Philip Glass Volta TheatreTom KellyAndrea Ferran
Hansel and Gretel Engelbert Humperdinck Opera at HomeJose Gandia
Bastien und Bastienne Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart David EatonNina Brazier
Susanna's Secret Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari David EatonNina Brazier
Handel Furioso George Frideric Handel Max Hoehn
The Emperor of Atlantis Viktor Ullmann Julian BlackMax Hoehn
La voix humaine Francis Poulenc Motion ProductionsJean-Yves CornetIlan Reichel
TonseishaKim B. AstonSaltpeterGary Merry
Unleashed Philip Venables Fourfortytwo and The Blackburn CompanyNick Blackburn
The Marriage of Figaro Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Heritage OperaSarah Helsby Hughes
Rigoletto Giuseppe Verdi Heritage OperaSarah Helsby Hughes
Thirteen Days - The MusicalAlexander S. Bermange, arr. Paul BatemanMatthew Gould

2011

OperaComposerProduction CompanyConductor or Music DirectorDirectorDesigner
Mansfield Park (World premiere tour) Jonathan Dove Heritage OperaChris GillMichael McCaffery
Savitri Wandering ScholarThe Little Opera CompanyDaisy Evans
The Demon Lover
The Emperor of Atlantis Viktor Ullmann John MurtonMax Hoehn
The Turn of the Screw Benjamin Britten
The Diary of One Who Disappeared Leos Janáček The Opera EnsembleSelina CadellGuy Burnett
AlcinaPeter FoggitJenny Miller and Polly Graham
The Boy, the Forest and the DesertAlexandre BarriereFlora Robertson
Prima la Musica /Der SchauspieldirektorRicardo GosalboJose Gandhia
The Francis Bacon OperaStephen CroweGenevieve Ellis

2010

Curated by Andrew Steggall and produced by Leyla Nazli (9 August – 21 September) [1]

OperaComposerProduction CompanyConductor or Music DirectorDirectorDesigner
The Rape of Lucretia Benjamin Britten Thomas BluntMax KeySarah Bacon
Spilt MilkTimothy Burke (libretto by James Waterfield)
Trouble in Tahiti Leonard Bernstein Timothy BurkeNina BrazierPolly Webb-Wilson
The Prodigal Son /The Homecoming Benjamin Britten /Felix Mendelssohn Elizabeth BurgessJoe AustinSimon Kenny
ViceJools Scott (libretto by Sue Curtis)
The RavenMatt RogersSinead O'NeillSarah Bacon
CrowMichael RoustonMark McInnes
Poison GardenLouis d'Heudieres (libretto by Daisy Evans)Waistcoat CompanyLouis d'HeudieresDaisy EvansDaisy Evans
The Diaries of Adam and EveDavid Josiah MooreBen Gwalchmai
How I WonderDominique Le GendreIrene Brown
The Stone Heart Alexander Campkin (libretto by Lewis Reynolds)
Cocteau in the UnderworldEd Hughes (libretto by Roger Morris)Heather Doole for Metta TheatreCarlos Del CuetoPoppy Burton-MorganWilliam Reynolds
Les Enfants Terribles Philip Glass Andrea FerranSarah Bacon

2009

Curated by Alex Sutton and produced by Leyla Nazli (24 August – 5 September) [2]

2008

Curated by Daniele Guerra and produced by Michael Harris and Leyla Nazli (4–23 August) [3]

2007

Curated by Andrew Steggall and produced by Michael Harris and Leyla Nazli (19 August- 2 September) [4]

See also

References

Sources