Tête à Tête Opera

Tête à Tête opera

The independent opera company Tête à Tête was founded in 1997.  It commissions and produces new small scale operatic works, and is committed to the development of artists and audiences for new opera.  Tête à Tête believes that innovative, challenging and high-quality contemporary opera can make stimulating entertainment for everyone, touching hearts and changing lives.  Over more than a decade, Tête à Tête has employed hundreds of artists and presented the world premieres of dozens of stage works by more than 30 different composers to many thousands of people all over the UK.

The Genesis Foundation's collaboration with Tête à Tête was launched with support for the company's 2007 Blind Date Tour, which presented six short operas by six different composers in the course of one evening.  Subsequently, the Foundation committed to two further years of funding with the main aim of developing audiences in the field of contemporary opera.  In 2008 Tête à Tête's three-week festival at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith presented over 30 world premieres with tickets for an evening of three shows costing just £12.50.

John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, says: "The work of Tête à Tête fits well with our brief to help develop new audiences.  I have been impressed for some time by the brilliant and innovative marketing approaches of Bill Bankes-Jones and his team as well as by the quality of their productions.  Our first collaboration was with Push! (2006), David Bruce's and Anna Reynold's opera on childbirth, which reached the final of our Genesis Opera Project.  We thought Bill and Tête à Tête would be the ideal team to produce it.  It was a huge success thanks to him and is still talked about today."