EPISODES Episode 1 - Skype Call Vahan Salorian Berrak Dyer Alice Privett Katie Coventry Anthony Flaum Words and Music Piano Cast Cast Cast Episode 2 - Song of The Rocks J L Williams Lucie Treacher Oliver Brignall Words Music and Visuals Cast 1 Episode 3 - Glass Number Three Dani Howard Chloe Latchmore Music Cast Episode 4 - Soy Sauce Dominic Kimberlin Alex Woolf Dylan Perez Nicky Spence Words Music Piano Cast 2 Episode 5 - Egg Dominic Kimberlin Vahan Salorian Berrak Dyer Nicholas Lester Words Music Piano Cast Episode 6 - Got Your Goat J L Williams Alex Woolf Berrak Dyer Edmund Danon Liam Bonthrone Words Music Piano Cast Cast 3 Episode 7 - Cookies Joaquim Badia Rachael Lloyd Lyrit Milgram Alexandra Lomeiko Jossalyn Jensen Music Cast Ensemble Ensemble Ensemble (Violin) (Violin) (Viola) Cecilia Bignall Ensemble (Cello) 4 Episode 8 - Three, Two, One, Ready or Not Noah Mosley Elise Caluwaerts Anthony Gregory Music & Piano Cast Cast 5 Episode 9 - Nature - Water and Air J L Williams Dani Howard Katherine Aitken Benjamin Lewis Alexandra Lomeiko Words Music Cast Cast Ensemble (Violin) Peteris Sokolovskis Imogen Royce Peter Cigleris Ensemble Ensemble Ensemble (Cello) (Flute) (Clarinet) 6 Episode 10 - Love and Light Louis Rembges Vahan Salorian Berrak Dyer Rhys Cook AKA Alexandra Lomeiko Words Music & Visuals Piano Oberon White Ensemble Cast (Violin) Peteris Sokolovskis Peter Cigleris Ensemble Ensemble (Cello) (Clarinet) 7 Episode 11 - Life is Sweet / Life is Shit David Parry James Garner James Hurley Berrak Dyer Edmund Danon Words Music Director Piano Cast Beth Moxon Cast 8 Episode 12 - Don’t Just Clap J L Williams Lucie Treacher Lorna Anderson Words Music and Visuals Cast 9 WELCOME TO EPISODES The last time I wrote a text for a programme was a few days before we had to postpone the opening of Pandora’s Box. We had little idea of the amplitude of the crisis that was going to hit our industry, and the artists we create with. Now that the effects of this are being felt, and with no end in sight, we have moments of despair, and fear for this fragile ecosystem that is the performing arts, and for opera in particular. That last text ended on a note of determination to soldier on and keep creating beautiful music, and the “Episodes” series is a sign that this determination is still there: our art form is about telling stories, and no matter how circumstances around us change, there are few things more universal, more apt to remind us of our shared humanity, than the desire to share a story. We intend to remain around to share many more. We are very proud of this project, and I am particularly impressed of the way that MANUEL FAJARDO Hamish and the more than forty artists involved conceived and executed it, in such challenging circumstances. Collaborations such as these make us confident that this (CO-FOUNDER crisis will bring out good things for our world and that opera will continue to be part AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR) of our lives, renewing and adapting itself like it always has. We are already working on some exciting projects, and are impatient to see you soon for more new opera. Biography Manuel combines his role as Executive Director for The Opera Story with his career as a Compliance professional in the investment management industry. 10 One of the things I enjoy most is watching and listening, whether that’s people-watching, or listening to stories. These last few months have been eventful to say the least, a lot has been said and done, but also a lot has been ignored. For me, “Episodes” was a chance to listen and watch the world and comment on it, in either a comic way or in a way to get people to listen in a different way. All of the 12 episodes are based in some way on these last few months, from the hoarding of eggs and yeast to listening to the earth breathe a little easier as our own movement was restricted. My aim in commissioning these songs was to provide some hope and humour to both the brilliant artists and our wonderful audience, who all suddenly had either no work or no escape or both. My other intention was to get people to listen and not HAMISH MACKAY to rush straight back into old bad habits which may be harmful for us all, mainly (CO-FOUNDER environmentally. It is a subject which is dear to my heart, and I hope some of these songs will allow people to stop, listen and reflect. AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) Biography As well as being the Artistic Director of The Opera Story, Hamish is a freelance producer who has worked with ENO, Nevill Holt and Second Movement. 11 JL Williams In the midst of crisis, art is a means of communication and a way to touch without touching. The Opera Story’s Episodes project, conceived and curated by producer Hamish Mackay, brings together a troupe of librettists, composers and musicians who collaborated across lockdown’s slowed time and imploded space. What has been created is a record of a particular moment - highs and lows, funny peculiarities and heart-rending lessons to be (hopefully) remembered. These songs form a sonic quilt, a mini-opera collection to reach you wherever and however you are now, made in dark times while dreaming of the light. Nic Lester Egg- Here’s a cheeky and suggestive little song that Vahan has set to Dominic’s text. I love the weaving-in of a familiar little tune a few times, and as a classically trained singer I ‘enjoyed’ (read: “got frustrated with”) the challenge for me to try to find a way to make a section of it swing! A treat to have this project to work on during this weird time, providing a good vocal stretch, and helping me (and hopefully others) smile in the process! Alex Woolf I’m lucky enough to have written the music for The Opera Story’s 2019/20 commission, Pandora’s Box. We were just days away from opening this production when COVID-19 forced us to postpone it by a year. In typically brilliant fashion, Hamish and the team at The Opera Story not only made sure that 2021 performances of Pandora’s Box will go ahead, but also commissioned these “Episodes” as a wonderful means of communicating in the meantime. In the deepest days of lockdown, it felt very special to be writing music again – especially as part of such a supportive group of performers, librettists, and composers. 12 Dani Howard This has been such a lovely project to be involved with. Hamish got in touch with the idea at the beginning of the lockdown, and I thought it was so wonderful of him to bring together so many of his past and present collaborators. I’ve enjoyed the balance between looking into, and discussing both ends of the spectrum in terms of our collective response to this pandemic. The need to keep things light for our own sanity, whilst also understanding the depth of the situation. This has been a very strange balance, of which I feel has been explored so well through these ‘Episodes’. I worked with the Opera Story in 2019 on ‘Robin Hood: An Opera in Three Courses’, and was really pleased to be collaborating with them again, and hope it continues in the years to come! 13 BIOGRAPHIES Alex Woolf Alex Woolf (b. 1995) is an award-winning British composer, described by Gramophone as ‘a major presence in starry company’. His music has been performed by artists and ensembles including Sir James Galway, London Symphony Orchestra, Alice Coote, and The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge. Recent works include M1 Symphony for the BBC Philharmonic, Fairfield Fanfare for London Mozart Players, and his first opera Pandora’s Box, commissioned and produced by The Opera Story. Alex’s NHS Symphony (2018) won awards at the Prix Europa, and was praised as ‘groundbreaking’ (The Times) and ‘haunting’ (Metro). In autumn 2020 Alex’s Requiem is released commercially on the Delphian label, with soloists Nicky Spence, Philip Higham and Iain Burnside. 2020 also sees the premiere of Alex’s A Feast in the Time of Plague at Grange Park Opera, with libretto and direction by Sir David Pountney and with an all-star cast including Simon Keenlyside, Susan Bullock, Janis Kelly, Peter Hoare and Claire Booth. In 2018 Alex was recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, and in 2012 he was BBC Young Composer of the Year. Alex studied St John’s College, Cambridge, and the Royal Academy of Music. www.alex-woolf.com 14 Alexandra Lomeiko A winner of multiple National awards in her home country of New Zealand, Alexandra Lomeiko moved to London to study at the Purcell School of Music in 2006. Through her studies there, she had her solo recital debut at Wigmore Hall in October 2009 and, in November of the same year, at the Watford Colosseum performing Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Purcell School Symphony Orchestra. A laureate of numerous international competitions, recently Alex has won the Kenneth Loveland Gift Award, U.K (2016), Hattori Foundation Senior Award, U.K (2017) and the Development Prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition (2017). Most recently, she has been awarded the prestigious Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists Award by the Making Music Foundation, U.K (2018). In 2010, she was awarded “The Henry Weinrebe Award” scholarship by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London) studying there with Professor David Takeno. Following her graduation in 2014, she commenced her postgraduate studies at The Royal College of Music with Radu Blidar and Yuri Zhislin graduating in July 2017 with a Masters in Music Performance and the Artist Diploma Qualification.