Page 17 - FINAL_Theatre of Sound Coverage Book

• Performances will take place at London’s Stone Nest from 4-14 November 2021
alongside a creative participation programme, Judith’s Castle, in collaboration
with Live Music Now, London Sinfonietta and Rare Dementia Support

Ground-breaking new opera company Theatre of Sound launches in November 2021 with a
radical retelling of one of opera’s great masterpieces.

A new partnership between long-time collaborators Daisy Evans and Stephen Higgins who
have a shared passion and vision for presenting opera in new and exciting ways, Theatre of
Sound will foster a free flow of artistic ideas across genres and artforms to create intimate,
inclusive and innovative experiences of opera for people of all backgrounds. It will launch in
November 2021 with a brand new and intimate production of Bluebeard’s Castle by Béla
Bartók presented in partnership with arts organisation and performance venue Stone Nest.

Usually presented as a Gothic horror story centred around an abusive relationship, this new,
fully staged presentation reimagines the piece as a love story between a long married
couple coming to terms with living with dementia. Performances will take place at Stone
Nest, which is based in a stunning former Welsh chapel in the heart of London’s West End,
from 4-14 November. Sung in English in a newly-commissioned translation, the production
features a stellar cast of star singers with soprano Susan Bullock, bass-baritone Gerald
Finley, baritone Michael Mayes and soprano Gweneth Ann Rand sharing the principal
roles of Duke Bluebeard and Judith under the dynamic direction of Evans, Higgins and their
creative team. In a new chamber orchestration, players from the virtuosic London
Sinfonietta accompany the fourteen performances conducted by Higgins.

With only limited tickets available for each performance, this intimate version of the opera
for chamber orchestra promises to take audiences on a unique theatrical experience that
will place them at the heart of the action, affording a rare opportunity to hear these
internationally renowned singers – usually seen performing on the stages of the world’s
biggest opera houses – up close and personal. It will also mark the first time a staged opera
production has taken place in front of an audience at Stone Nest.

Marking the start of an extended partnership that will explore opera as a powerful pathway
for connection with each other and the world around us, Theatre of Sound will join forces
with Live Music Now to facilitate a creative participation programme, Judith’s Castle.
Created in collaboration with families living with dementia through a partnership with Rare
Dementia Support, with dynamic young composer Electra Perivolaris, new work will be
premiered on the set of the opera production at Stone Nest, featuring musicians from Live
Music Now and the London Sinfonietta.

Further details including dementia-friendly performances and a series of talks and insights
from specialists in the field of dementia care, will be announced at a later date.

Evans and Higgins, who have a long track record of successful collaboration on critically
acclaimed productions with Silent Opera, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera and
the Royal Opera House, comment: