Login Cart Items | £0.00
Opera Prelude Lecture Series 2019

Opera Prelude Lecture Series 2019

Join Opera Prelude for an exciting season of lecture-recitals, discussion mornings and celebrity masterclasses.

Opera Prelude is a small charity, run by volunteers and dedicated to supporting the next generation of operatic talent with the all-round skills to succeed in a highly competitive industry.

Since its launch in 2010, it has been bringing opera into the community, engaging, educating and involving audiences through its accessible, opera-related events which provide experience and fairly-paid performance opportunities for its young artists.

Past events in this series

Opera Prelude: Passionate Choices
Ricardo Panela

Opera Prelude: Passionate Choices

Love & Duty in Verdi’s operas

Tuesday 22 January 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

Few other composers have so perfectly explored the complexity of duty vs. personal relationships like Verdi. Focusing on some of his most well-known compositions, this lecture will explore the ever-evolving musical devices that Verdi used throughout...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: “Signore Ascolta!”
Becca Marriott

Opera Prelude: “Signore Ascolta!”

The tragedy of Silence. Puccini, Orientalism & Miscommunication

Tuesday 29 January 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

In this lecture, Becca Marriott will explore the concepts of Exoticism and Orientalism in verismo opera and how Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Turandot uphold and defy our ideas of the exotic East. She will look at how these operas sit within Pu...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: “Con Amore”
Xavier Hetherington

Opera Prelude: “Con Amore”

The spectrum of romantic declaration in the tenor repertoire

Tuesday 5 February 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

Love is the tenor’s realm. Look through any compilation of tenor arias from history’s greatest operas and you will find that love and romance is the overwhelming theme. That word ‘love’ however contains a vast spectrum of emotion and action s...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: Hidden Figures
Rosemary Clifford

Opera Prelude: Hidden Figures

The famous and forgotten of operatic history

Tuesday 12 February 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

As an art form, opera stands entirely alone; a unique blend of music, drama, poetry and emotion. It is as addictive, glamorous and fascinating now as it was at its inception. With a lifespan of over 500 years and counting, part of the lure of opera i...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: The 2019 Opera Prelude Singer’s Prize Masterclass with Della Jones
Della Jones

Opera Prelude: The 2019 Opera Prelude Singer’s Prize Masterclass with Della Jones

Tuesday 19 February 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

Now in its sixth year, the Opera Prelude Singers’ Prize offers one of our young singers the unique chance of private masterclasses with Della Jones, one of Great Britain’s leading mezzo-sopranos. We are most grateful to her for the generosity she...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: Concert Figaro with Michael Chance
Michael Chance

Opera Prelude: Concert Figaro with Michael Chance

Droit du Seigneur in the #metoo age

Tuesday 26 February 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

A musical insight with Michael Chance accompanied by rising young mezzo-soprano Amy Lyddon who will be performing a range of arias. Over more than 30 years, Michael Chance has established an international reputation as performer, teacher and director...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: Renato Balsadonna masterclass and discussion
Renato Balsadonna

Opera Prelude: Renato Balsadonna masterclass and discussion

Tuesday 5 March 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

Italian conductor Renato Balsadonna was Chorus Director of the Royal Opera Chorus 2004–16, during which time he prepared the Royal Opera Chorus for all their productions with The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet. This morning, he joins American sop...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: The Craft of the Opera Composer
Opera Prelude young artists

Opera Prelude: The Craft of the Opera Composer

with Jonathan Darnborough

Tuesday 12 March 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

Great opera composers have one thing in common – they combine musical genius with a strong dramatic gift. In this illustrated talk Jonathan Darnborough explores the techniques, common to composers of all eras, by which they mould their musical idea...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: La traviata – Fact, Fiction and Mythology
Alex Aldren

Opera Prelude: La traviata – Fact, Fiction and Mythology

Tuesday 19 March 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

‘La dame aux Camelias’ was a real woman, Alphonsine Duplessis. But how much of her real character and story survived the journey from real life to novel, to stage play to Italian opera? We examine what we know of her short but dramatic life, how...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: Pulling the Heart Strings
Sophie Pullen

Opera Prelude: Pulling the Heart Strings

The harp in opera

Tuesday 26 March 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

A discussion about the special relationship between the soprano voice and the harp in opera through the ages. This engaging duo has been performing together for a number of years since being selected to open the BAFTA games awards in 2016.
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde
Mark Austin

Opera Prelude: Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde

Tuesday 2 April 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

“I have never found a work as dangerously fascinating” (Nietzsche). Join conductor Mark Austin for an engaging introduction to Wagner’s masterpiece. This lecture will explore one of the most influential compositions ever written, and why it cam...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: ‘Tantrums & Tiaras’
Opera Prelude’s young artists

Opera Prelude: ‘Tantrums & Tiaras’

Tuesday 9 April 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

Nigel Bates was Principal Percussionist of the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden. In this morning’s talk, he takes a look at the history, architecture and life backstage at London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the tribulations an...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: Music in Colour
Maria Levandovskaya

Opera Prelude: Music in Colour

Tuesday 16 April 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

“When I hear music… I always hear colour complexes in my mind” (Messiaen) What do you feel when listening to music? Can you see colours, images, geometrical objects, and how does music play on all of our senses? Franz Liszt famously asked o...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: Britain after Britten
Mimi Doulton

Opera Prelude: Britain after Britten

The revival of British opera post 1945

Tuesday 14 May 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

‘We never seem to get over looking for the next Benjamin Britten. It’s a stupid game’ – Robert Saxton, Professor of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and teacher of Thomas Adès. Benjamin Britten famously only had one s...
More Info Past Event
Opera Prelude: Mozart's Masterful Characterisation
Callie Gaston

Opera Prelude: Mozart's Masterful Characterisation

A focus on his female roles

Tuesday 21 May 2019, 10.30am

VENUE: Caversham Room at Cadogan Hall

In his short 35-year life, this musical genius wrote melodies which are still celebrated 350 years later. Mozart had more than just musicality – he understood how to create distinct characters with his music. He was able to take any character from...
More Info Past Event

Join our Mailing List

Join our mailing list to be the first to hear about new events and for access to pre-sale tickets.

Sign up now

View our privacy policy

Find us

Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace
London SW1X 9DQ

Box Office: 020 7730 4500

Website by substrakt