Opera Interludes LtdSt Wilfrid’s Hospice is an independent charity that supports local communities facing life-changing and terminal illnesses for over 30 years. Her Majesty The Queen is the President of the charity. London Festival Opera presented their ‘Opera at the Movies’ programme in the handsome setting of the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne as a fundraising event. The Grand Hotel dominates the shoreline with its impressive 19th architecture and is like re-visiting a past era of elegant living. It is regarded as one of the finest of its kind, having welcomed many distinguished guests including Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Conan Doyle and King Constantine of Greece.
Opera Interludes LdLondon Festival Opera presented an opera entertainment at The Royal Hospital Chelsea as the entertainment at the end of the Annual Gala Dinner as thanks for supporters. The event was hosted by the Governor, General Sir Adrian Bradshaw KCB OBE DL. For the final three pieces the opera soloists were joined by the Chelsea Pensioners Choir which included singing the choruses of ‘Modern Major Genera’ and ‘Nessun Dorma’.
The Royal Hospital Chelsea was founded in 1682 by King Charles II as a retirement home for veteran soldiers and designed by Sir Christopher Wren inspired by the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris. The Hospital is the historic home of the Chelsea Pensioners – there are approximately 300 retired military personnel living in the complex, including 30 female residents. The choir added real vocal body to the ensemble and a stunning extra visual element in wearing their handsome scarlet uniforms. The choir was a pleasure to work with and soloists joined musical forces with them with pride!
Opera Interludes LtdLondon Festival Opera’s programme ‘Opera at the Movies’ is proving popular for theatre and festival appearance, as well as for charity and special events.
Many celebrated filmmakers feature opera in their movies knowing that this will add an extra dramatic and emotional dimension to key scenes. Opera brings a depth and richness to the cinematic experience like no other music.
Opera at the Movies is a programme of passion, drama and humour of celebrated opera pieces featured in films including Pretty Woman, Shawshank Redemption, Quantum of Solace, The Witches of Eastwick, Gallipoli, Mrs Doubtfire, Amadeus, Family Man, Quartet, Rocky Balboa, The Father, Moonstruck, Chariots of Fire, The Godfather, Titanic and more…
Sit back and listen to some of the greatest music ever written in the company of Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Bizet, Puccini, Offenbach and Gilbert & Sullivan. This is a live performance with spoken introductions and accompanied by superb orchestral backing tracks.
Opera Interludes LtdCastle Howard has been the home to the Howard family for over 300 years and is a stunning house designed by Sir John Vanbrugh. Renowned for its dramatic Baroque architecture and world-class art collection. The house has been used as the location for many films, in particular for the iconic Granada Television series of ‘Brideshead Revisited’. Recently London Festival Opera presented a programme of arias and ensembles in the long gallery which houses many great master paintings and fine furniture. There are plans to return to Castle Howard for another performance in the Autumn 2026.
An Opera Evening is an excellent way to raise funds for a charity, and London Festival Opera has a wealth of experience in creating programmes of opera, operetta and musicals to link perfectly with a dinner or reception. The company has been the vehicle to help charities raise many hundreds of thousands of pounds. These images are from a sell out dinner in a magnificent church raising funds for a hospice. The performance was accompanied by orchestral backing tracks.
London Festival OperaWe are still in the midst of lockdown limitations, but let’s look at what we can do in these times rather than what we can’t. It certainly seems that being able to go to the opera or present opera at a party is still some way off.
A client of ours wanted to do something operatic to celebrate a special birthday. The guests were in Israel, London, Kent and Oxford, but in these times of lockdown that is not an issue. A Zoom Opera Gala was the perfect solution.
Our Artistic Director turned up at the Zoom party in black tie resulting in some surprise. ‘Who is this?’ exclaimed the guest of honour. All was revealed and we created an opera celebration using wonderful footage from past performances with live spoken links. The result was magical with guests swaying to the rousing music and applauding enthusiastically.
The client now has a movie of the event as a memento of a wonderful party.
A Zoom Opera Party could be a useful option to anywhere in the world even after lockdown!?
Client comments:
What a truly super occasion! We all loved it so much, and as usual you were an incomparable master of ceremonies.
I cannot thank you enough for the excellent performance combined with your presence in person and the entertaining commentary which made it all so special and memorable.
The guest of honour really loved it and it was a joy to see her surprise and the sheer pleasure as she enjoyed the event.
Even if we are presenting an evening of popular opera for a private party or corporate event we would always recommend the singers appearing in period costume for some of the performance. This gives a wonderful visual impact and enhances the power of the music, and can work particularly well in a period setting. London Festival Opera has an impressive collection of costumes from the 18th Century, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian eras. Many have been designed and made especially for the company but some were purchased at the rare costume sales at the Royal Opera House and English National Opera.
Many of our performances are at close quarters, so not only must the costumes be of the highest standards and design, but the accessories of hair and jewellery must be convincing close up.
Additionally, we have sets of costumes for specific operas including ‘Madame Butterfly’, ‘La Traviata’, ‘The Magic Flute’ and ‘Carmen’. Similarly, these must look good close up and look convincing in historic settings. If we are presenting a performance in venues such as St James’s Palace in London, Blenheim Palace or the British Embassy in Paris the costumes must look fabulous enough for the settings.
In an opera gala evening in a theatre or special event we would often perform part one in period costume and then change into stunning contemporary evening dress as a contrast.
Opera Interludes LtdWe were honoured to perform for a very distinguished audience in the magnificent setting of Kirtlington Park, Oxfordshire on Saturday evening. London Festival Opera presented ‘A Christmas Night at the Opera’ in the 18th Century Saloon of the house for a sell-out performance. The audience joined in a Gilbert and Sullivan chorus which prepared them perfectly to sing an absolutely rousing rendition of ‘Good King Wenceslas’, proving joyfully that people do love to sing!
The evening was in aid of the wonderful charity, Medical Detection Dogs, which trains dogs to detect the odour of human disease. The charity is at the forefront of the research into the fight against cancer and helping people with life-threatening diseases. In addition to this extraordinary work the charity also trains Medical Alert Assistance Dogs to live with individuals who have complex health conditions. Using their amazing sense of smell, the dogs are trained to identify the minute odour changes emitted prior to a medical emergency and then alert the person to take preventative action. This can help to prevent 999 calls and hospital admissions, giving these people and their families greater confidence and independence.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall is Patron of the Charity and gave her blessing to the fundraising evening in a letter printed in the programme. Her Royal Highness wrote: ‘As the proud Patron I would like to send you all my very best wishes for a wonderful evening of opera. …. By translating their research into reality, this charity could save many thousands of lives.’
It was an honour to be invited to help raise funds for such a worthy cause in the breath-taking setting of Kirtlington Park.
Where next? We have been lucky enough to perform in some stunning, unusual and historically important venues around the world, but we believe we made history last week performing opera for the first time during a private dinner in one of the elegant dining rooms on board HMS Belfast. Moored on the Thames by Tower Bridge in the heart of London and now open to the public for 362 days of the year, HMS Belfast is a fascinating museum ship supported by the Imperial War Museum and is well worth a visit!
The historic ship was originally launched on St Patrick’s Day in 1939 shortly before the outbreak of World War II. She was built as a town-class light cruiser for the Royal Navy but after the outbreak of war she saw a great deal of action acting as a blockade ship, escorting convoys and in battle. After being struck by a German mine she underwent repairs and returned to action in 1942, going on to play a pivotal role in the Normandy landings. She is one of only three remaining vessels from the bombardment fleet which supported the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 – the other two are now moored in the United States. Her bombardment of the German gun battery at La Marefontaine at Gold and Juno beaches meant that the battery was able to play no meaningful part in the defence of the beaches, allowing large numbers of allied troops to land in relative safety.
Legend has it that HMS Belfast fired the opening shots at the Normandy landings on 6th June 1944, however the ship’s log confirms her first shots were actually fired four minutes after the first shot from a ship lying just to her west. During her 33 days supporting the landings, HMS Belfast fired an incredible total of over 5,000 shells and the force from the constant firing of her impressive armament of guns cracked the crew’s loos! The invasion of Normandy was the last time HMS Belfast fired her guns. In July of that year, she set sail for Plymouth Devonport and a well-earned refit, before being despatched to the Far East.
A final fascinating fact about HMS Belfast: as she sits by Tower Bridge her guns are trained and elevated in such a way that they are aimed directly at the London Gateway (or Scratchwood Services), the last service station on the M1 before you get to London. The service station was chosen as the hypothetical target for obliteration as it happens to sit neatly on the radius of the guns’ comfortable range (about 18.5 km at 45º elevation). Of course, the guns are no longer loaded or capable of firing, so you’re pretty safe if you stop there for a sandwich!
With over thirty years of performing under our belts and dozens, if not hundreds, of private and corporate engagements during that time it struck me recently, as I travelled round London, in just how many fantastic venues we have been lucky enough to perform. Our capital city has so very many beautiful and historic locations which lend themselves perfectly as venues for dinners, soirées, corporate events and receptions – and there can be almost no better complement for such an evening than live opera! It is very exciting to sing in a venue which was not necessarily built for performance – and with imagination and the power of live opera the thrilling possibilities are endless!
Some wonderful memories came flooding back as I travelled and the thought of setting out a ‘London Festival Opera City Bus Tour’ came to me – a pure indulgence of course, but one that fills me with pride!
We alight the ‘bus’ in Central London at St James’s Palace, where we performed on several occasions for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme in the presence of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex. Carrying on up St James’s Street passing by The Ritz Hotel (memories of a civil partnership dinner with Lucien Freud as one of the guests), and continuing down Piccadilly past the Royal Academy of Art (a surprise opera gala for a major charity – ‘singing waiters’ taking guests quite off their guard!) and Le Méridien Hotel (a series of in-house operas in their beautiful Oak Room). Passing the bustle of Piccadilly Circus we head down The Haymarket, reaching the Institute of Directors, where we presented a charity gala in one of the magnificent state rooms. Immediately opposite the IOD is the stunning Athenaeum Club (astonishing swimming pool!) where we performed at a wedding anniversary dinner with a programme including favourite arias of the hosts. On to The Reform Club, and I am reminded of our artists arriving for rehearsals only to be a little flummoxed by the strict dress code of ‘no jeans and jackets and ties for gentlemen’!
We continue our journey down to Trafalgar Square flanked by the National Gallery (corporate dinners for a major bank amongst some of the world’s most stunning masterpieces!), South Africa House (a charity gala in their beautifully formed intimate theatre), and down Whitehall to the Banqueting House (built by King Charles I, at the time not realising this would be the site of his own execution!). The bus continues on to 10 Downing Street, where we presented a charity performance in the Drawing Room for a distinguished audience.
By now I am feeling a little overwhelmed as I realise how fortunate we have been to have been asked to perform in these stunning historic settings. As performers, of course, we very often see ‘the back stairs’ side of a venue as well as the grandeur of state rooms – the behind the scenes experiences and insights are surely the basis for a book one day!
We have now arrived at The House of Commons and I remember with great affection a private performance for the personal guests of former The Speaker, Baroness Betty Boothroyd, in the Speaker’s House.
Leaving Westminster we travel down the Embankment, looking back at a host of incredible buildings along the river – the Tate Gallery (‘a Family Opera’ in the lofty lobby), Lambeth Palace over the bridge (several charity occasions including one in the presence of HRH Princess Margaret), The Liberal Club at One Whitehall Place (corporate events in the beautiful Library), Middle Temple Hall (a thrill to perform in this ancient setting where Queen Elizabeth I attended performances of Shakespeare’s plays), the Inner Temple and Grays Inn Hall (corporate and charity events). Finally there is the JP Morgan Building where we have performed at in-house corporate occasions.
Passing Blackfriars Bridge I reflect on the many performances in Livery Companies, most notably the Drapers’ Hall (including an Edwardian Gala in the presence of HRH Princess Alexandra), Goldsmiths’ Hall (for their many wonderful in-house opera evenings) and Fishmongers’ Hall (several high-profile charity galas), to name but a few.
Our journey begins to draw to a close in the very heart of the City of London passing the Mansion House, where we had the honour to perform at charity dinners for several Lord Mayors. The Bus finally arrives at its destination – the magnificent Guildhall, where I remember with fondness a large-scale charity gala with soloists, ensemble and chorus. This is the very centre of our magnificent city and a wonderful place to end this journey of happy memories.
If you are planning an event and would like to find out how a live opera performance can enhance a dinner or reception please call me, Philip Blake-Jones, on 07802 183847. I can help you to plan a truly special event, and also provide plenty of inspiration if you haven’t yet decided on a venue….!