Tête à Tête to Present First Performance to a Live Audience Indoors in UK

By Chris Ruel

“The Other Side of the Sea & Beyond,” a program of operatic excerpts performed solo by soprano Héloïse Werner, will be the United Kingdom’s initial foray into bringing live audiences back into the theater.

On July 26, Tête à Tête was the first opera company selected to present a live performance of opera in a theater to a live audience. Calling the performance a pilot event, the Tête à Tête production will take place at the boutique Cockpit Theatre. Steps will be taken to minimize risk with Tête à Tête asking attendees to adhere to the U.K.’s Government Guidelines around the use of public transportation, hygiene, and mitigating transmission. To facilitate contact tracing, each audience member must provide the company with their contact details and consent to Tête à Tête holding the information for 21 days.

Other measures such as temperature checks and requesting that ticket holders notify the company if they have tested positive for COVID-19 within 21 days of the event are required. Tête à Tête has set risk-minimization protocols in conjunction with the Government department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports for the reopening of indoor performances.

“It’s both a pleasure and a privilege for the opening performance of this year’s Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival also to be the first performance of opera in a theatre to a live audience, reopening the sector, after the Coronavirus shut-down,” Tête à Tête Artistic Director, Bill Bankes-Jones, as quoted on the Cockpit Theatre website, stated. “We’re very grateful to DCMS, PHE, ABO and The Sixteen for supporting us in this important enterprise, and very much look forward to what is guaranteed to be an electrifying performance and launch to a much needed festival and celebration of new opera.”

Soprano and composer Héloïse Werner’s “The Other Side of the Sea & Beyond,” is a one-woman opera written in collaboration with Octavia Bright. Werner will also perform solo vocal works by Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Cathy Berberian, and Georges Aperghis. The event is part of Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival 2020, presented by Tête à Tête and The Cockpit. The festival is slated to begin on September 8. Specific dates for performances are to be determined.

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