Q&A with soprano Natasha Day — Producing DEBUT's 'Conquests of Love' at Old Bayham Abbey

This Saturday, 3 August 2019, DEBUT comes to the Lamberhurst Music Festival. We are really excited about performing a new opera, Conquests of Love, which features highlights from Carmen to La bohème, Don Giovanni to Die Fledermaus. Ahead of this weekend’s performance, we caught up with soprano Natasha Day about Conquests of Love, which she has written and produced.

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Q&A with Glyndebourne’s Composer-in-Residence Lewis Murphy — The Toast of British Opera

Check out our Q&A with composer Lewis Murphy. Lewis is Glyndebourne’s youngest ever Composer-in-Residence – a position he held until the end of 2017. His other recent commissions have been for Scottish Opera and the National Opera Studio, as well as our very own DEBUT at Shoreditch Treehouse with soprano Gemma Summerfield. He chats to us about his collaboration with librettist and director Laura Attridge, his biggest inspirations and what it’s like to be a composer in the 21st century.

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Watch Now — pianist/composer OKIEM, Cinematic Classical at the Shoreditch Treehouse

A year on from when OKIEM joined us for DEBUT at Shoreditch Treehouse as our special guest, we wanted to catch up on what the pianist/composer is up to now and share our exclusive live recording of him for DEBUT at Shoreditch Treehouse.

OKIEM is a pianist & composer who's music is described as "cinematic classical”. He creates his signature sound by combining piano, orchestral instruments and synthesizers.

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Q&A with soprano Elizabeth Karani — 'The Monstrous Child' at the Royal Opera House

We spoke to soprano Elizabeth Karani, who is currently working at the Royal Opera in Gavin Higgins and Francesca Simon’s The Monstrous Child.

“I’ve been really interested in contemporary works for a few years now and have always sought out opportunities to perform and be involved in new pieces. Somehow the casting team at ROH must have heard this and so invited me to audition and, of course, I jumped at the chance, I devoured Francesca’s book and coached my extracts to death before the audition and…

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Watch Now — pianist Somi Kim's Instagram Takeover with the NZTrio

South Korean-born New Zealand pianist Somi Kim is a highly accomplished, multi award-winning collaborative pianist. She works with singers and instrumentalists in instrumental chamber music, opera and more.

This month she recently completed a 7-concert tour of New Zealand with the NZTrio. The programme was entitled Twine and was described by The Big Idea as delivering 'virtuosic skill and an affable, accessible stage presence in equal measures’

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Q&A with baritones Harry Thatcher and Thomas Isherwood — 'The Marriage of Figaro' at the Royal College of Music

We spoke to Thomas Isherwood and Harry Thatcher ahead of their performances as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at the Royal College of Music.

Both baritones are at the early stages of extremely promising careers and are already in demand throughout the UK. Thomas recently starred as 'Mark' in the Olivier Nominated 'Best New Opera' La bohèmeat the Trafalgar Studios with King's Head Theatre and Harry has performed a number of roles for Grange Park Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera including Curio in Giulio Cesare.

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Shoreditch Secrets: Concert in a Shoreditch Treehouse — Feature with The Stage LDN

Original article in The Stage Shoreditch by Cari Thomas “A penthouse treehouse… located in the middle of Shoreditch... containing a Steinway concert grand piano. A series of increasingly implausible statements. There’s another: this is the location of a monthly opera and classical music concert known as DEBUT at Shoreditch Treehouse.

You’ll find the treehouse just off Shoreditch’s busy Great Eastern Street. It is in fact a bohemian loft space on the top floor of an apartment building. However, step inside and it feels every bit a treehouse: an expanse of space, polished wooden floors, wooden ceilings, thick beams adorned with fairylights and brightly coloured Nepalese prayer flags, eclectic furniture and ornaments from around-the-world travels, green foliage and a large indoor olive tree. Throw in a hammock chair and a swing and you have been transported to the treetops of distant and magical woods.

I met with its owner Ross Elder to find out how…

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