At Home with OperaUpClose
We really hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and well. You may have noticed we’ve been a bit quiet recently; thank you for bearing with us while we found our feet in this new way of working.
We’re delighted to be able to introduce At Home with OperaUpClose, with two strands (for now – hopefully more to come!) of new performances.
Join OperaUpClose singers and instrumentalists for a series of cosy, casual concerts, from our homes to yours. Whether you are tapping away at a laptop at your kitchen table, home schooling, or looking for ways to stay happy and busy, we think you deserve a shot of coffee (or caffeine-free alternative) and great music.
We’re approaching our regular performers to take part in this series, to share not only arias you’ll recognise from OperaUpClose shows (in our English versions, of course) but music they are passionate about which they’d like to share with you.
At around 20 minutes long, our fortnightly Coffee Break Concerts will be the perfect mid-afternoon energy boost (or moment of reflection – whatever you need!). Our first concert will premiere on Wednesday 13 May at 3.30pm, and will be available to watch via our website for one month.
Sarah Minns (soprano) and Mary Reid (harp)
Coffee Break Concert
3.30pm on Wednesday 13 May
Regular audience members will recognise Sarah from roles including Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Elle (La Voix Humaine) and Musetta (La Bohème), and Mary is one of our two wonderful Peace At Last harpists. Their concert will include arias by Handel, Mozart and Puccini, Copland settings of two Emily Dickinson poems and the beautiful and all-too-apt song by Samuel Barber, ‘The Desire for Hermitage’.
Post-Show Chat
Join Sarah, Mary and the OperaUpClose team for a post-show virtual chat immediately after premiere of the first concert (so approximately 3.50pm on Wednesday)! This, like the concert, will be free to join but you will need to book your place by emailing our producer, Amy (amy@operaupclose.com). 24 hours ahead of the event, we will send you the zoom link to our virtual space and instructions on how to join.
We hope we’ll be performing our opera for under 6s based on Jill Murphy’s wonderful picture book Peace At Last in schools and theatres again soon.
In the meantime, our family of bears, harpist and clarinettist will be recreating some of the scenes from the opera in their homes. In addition to performances, there will be singing and movement activities for families to join in together. More information very soon!