Last week our Artistic Director Joanna Turner and Composer / Conductor Leo Geyer headed to the Wimbledon Championships and chatted to the Wimbledon Channel about our exciting Die Fledermaus project supported by the Wimbledon Foundation.
11 days ago
Students workshop at St Marks Academy
As part of our exciting Die Fledermaus project we are running a series of workshops in primary and secondary schools across Merton & Wandsworth this July. These workshops teach young people about opera giving many of them an insight into an art form they might not otherwise encounter. They learn about what opera is and who is involved in creating it; the story and characters of Die Fledermaus and our modern adaptation; they learn to sing and act out the characters of a section of the opera themselves; and they get to hear a professionally trained opera singer sing right next to them and sing with her!
We can’t wait for our three talented workshop leaders to get working with all these schools in a few weeks. Meanwhile, you can learn a bit more about them here: Read more
Cosi Fan Tutte 2018 Qube Centre, Colliers Wood
What a wonderful and busy time we had reviving our Cosi Fan Tutte production last week! It was fantastic to get the team back together rehearsing at our lovely local Lantern Arts Centre and presenting our original street opera adaptation in the Colliers Wood Qube Centre and in Mitcham town centre. Thank you so much to all the wonderful businesses for letting us perform in their stores – especially Sainsburys in the Qube Centre which was a new venue for us and The White Lion of Mortimer in Mitcham for the super kind round of drinks after the show! What a treat for thirsty performers! Read more
Cast & Creative Team from Cosi Fan Tutte at The Offies Awards
We are looking for reliable, enthusiastic volunteers with an interest in theatre, music and community projects to help us create our Cosi Fan Tutte re-imagined for high street locations in Merton, South London.
No experience necessary – all training will be provided! Volunteers will get a sneak peek into our rehearsals and travel expenses covered on performance days. We also provide tea & cake! To find out further details or if you have any questions please contact General Manager, Astrid Hilne.
Need more info? check out our Cosi Fan Tutte page.
We look forward to hearing from you!
We are delighted to announce the singers and instrumentalists for our Cosi Fan Tutte 2018 production.
Singers
Louisa Tee
Louisa Tee – Fiordiligi
Louisa trained as an actress at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and then gained a scholarship to study singing at Trinity College of Music after which she attended the Opera Works course at the English National Opera. Louisa was nominated for best female in the Off West End awards for the role of Violetta in La Traviata at the Soho Theatre which then transferred to the Tricycle Theatre and toured to UK venues. She then went on to play The Countess, Le Nozze di Figaro which also toured the UK. Other roles include Mimi, La Boheme (Soho Theatre and UK tour) Donna Anna, Don Giovanni (Soho Theatre) Queen of the Night, Magic Flute (Hawaii Performing Arts Festival) Fiordiligi, Cosi Fan Tutte Grimeborn (Arcola Theatre) Louisa also directed Magic Flute and Orpheus in the Underworld for St Pauls Opera recently and has worked in the chorus of Opera Holland Park and Raymond Gubbay. Read more
May has kicked off with a busy couple of weeks for the Baseless Fabric Team as we gear up for our Cosi Fan Tutte performances in June, prepare for our Die Fledermaus school workshops in July as well as collaborating with local theatre company Attic to run another successful Merton Creative Networking Event.
St Teresa’s Primary School opera workshop
In July we’ll be offering schools in Merton and Wandsworth opera workshops to give young people an insight into what opera is, hear a professional opera singer sing right next to them and teach them to sing and act out the characters of an opera duet themselves. We have professional drama practitioners, musical directors and opera singers leading these school workshops and as part of the process of choosing these practitioners for our forthcoming workshops we recently held a Skills Sharing Workshop to meet workshop leaders new to Baseless Fabric. Read more
It’s a hugely exciting time at Baseless Fabric and we have two new members joining our team. We’re thrilled to welcome Astrid Hilne as our General Manager and Rachel Barnett as one of our trustees.
Astrid Hilne
Astrid Hilne – General Manager
Astrid Hilne has been a professional theatre practitioner since 1986. Her theatre producing and directing credits include work at the Gate Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith Studio, Bridewell Theatre, Young Vic Studio and Royal National Theatre in London.
In the UK she has produced and directed (and translated) tours of new work and foreign classics to art centres and festivals. Astrid has also worked for Chichester Festival Theatre, Bath Theatre Royal and West Sussex County Youth Theatre. Further afield she has directed and lectured at Athens University, Ohio, USA, performed and directed in France and collaborated with Iindiza Theatre Company, in South Africa and the UK. Read more
Cast & Crew from Cosi Fan Tutte (2017) at The Off Westend Awards
We are extremely excited to announce that our OffWestEnd Finalist Best Opera Production of Cosi Fan Tutte is returning in June 2018 for a very limited number of performances!!
Since our new Die Fledermaus project takes place over 2018 and 2019, with the full production performances taking place in summer 2019, we wanted to ensure our audiences could have another opportunity to experience our 5 Star Cosi Fan Tutte this summer. Read more
Following on from the success of last year’s successful Creative Networking Event, we are excited to again be collaborating with Attic Theatre Company to host another similar event this May. Last year’s event was at the new Merton Arts Space in Wimbledon Library and this year we’ll be in Mitcham Library.
It was a fun friendly evening for local creatives of all disciplines to meet and chat over a glass of wine and meet like-minded local creatives and this year will be no different. As well as the informal networking we’ll also have an opportunity for several creatives with upcoming projects or events to present to the group – including hopefully hearing more about the exciting Merton Borough of Culture Film project!
Pop Up Opera Performance at Wimbledon Foundation
We are beyond thrilled to announce that we have been awarded funding by the Wimbledon Foundation’s new Arts and Community Engagement Fund (ACE) to create our next Merton Street Opera!
Following on from the success of Drifting Dragons (2016) and Cosi Fan Tutte (2017) we are now re-imagining Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus for free unticketed high street performances enabling everyone to experience high quality professional opera for free. Read more