Tête à Tête festival returns to the capital

Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival returns to London for its 2024 edition this weekend, with an eclectic programme of performances embracing a broad spectrum of human stories. The festival offers composers, librettists and performers a space to put their latest creations to the test and receive live audience feedback as well as mentorship and support.

Tête à Tête will run from 24 August to 29 September. Most performances will take place at the festival base in The Cockpit Theatre, Marylebone, but the festival’s opening event will be presented at the Royal College of Music’s Britten Theatre. The Prisoner follows the experience of a prisoner as he faces his execution, while a lawyer and a priest fight for his life and soul. Another test of fortitude will take place at King’s College, London on 20 September where returning artist Rosie Middleton presents a 6-hour excerpt of her 12 hour ‘endurance opera’.

Introducing this year’s festival programme artistic director Bill Bankes-Jones said: ‘Deep down, I don’t think we’re over the pandemic; we have more to process. We’re also looking back, after the election, over more than a decade of gaslighting by politicians. With pressures of government funding for the arts – and indeed funding for everything – Brexit, the cost of living crisis, and the very real threats of war, climate change, AI and the harsh binary amplification of new media, we are in ever greater need of the collective imaginings, wide horizons, human dreams and suspensions of disbelief that open us up to brighter possible futures. It’s an amazing tribute to our artists that, in the face of all these vicissitudes, they have the grit and vision to come from across the globe to try and make their dreams come true, in order to share them with you, our audiences in person, in London and online.’

Further performances in this year’s programme include #CAPITAL, the first ever opera performed in the metaverse, plus The Manicurist, a musical interpretation of life inside a nail salon, Horse Person, and I Shot Mussolini and Letters, both of which tell true stories of mental illness and trauma.

In addition to darker stories including a video game-based opera, The Game, and Aqua Tofana which tells the story of the poison and its 17th Century creator Giulia Tofana, Tête à Tête will also host a free sector event. The Joy of Opera will take place on 23 September and will encourage industry participants to explore the creative possibilities of the genre.

The full programme for the 2024 Festival can be found here.