EDWARD LAMBERT
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    • Productions >
      • Apollo's Mission
      • Art of Venus
      • Burning Question
      • Catfish Conundrum
      • Cloak & Dagger Affair
      • Duchess of Padua
      • Last Siren
      • Last Party on Earth
      • Masque of Vengeance
      • Opera With A Title
      • Oval Portrait
      • Parting/Buster's Trip
      • six characters
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Our past productions




The Music Troupe

fresh & crunchy operas

"For passionate opera fans, having something so new should come as a welcome joy…" (Reviews Hub)
About
Artists


The Parting & Buster's Trip

Our performance of 2 mini operas based on texts by Lorca
​(15 mins each)

Recently...

​The Music Troupe
gratefully acknowledges the recent support
of the following trusts and foundations:
Vaughan Williams Foundation
The Marchus Trust
Gemma Classical Music Trust
The Fidelio Charitable Trust
The Greenham Trust

Our productions' associated workshops have been sponsored by the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory
at the University of West London
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The Duchess of Padua at The Space, London and other venues
"Lambert’s music is spot on, fusing a traditionally dynamic Bel Canto score without feeling the least bit dated. It is always dramatic and flows seamlessly… glimpses of stunning beauty in the love-focused duets and arias... a tight score that never drops the excitement, Lambert’s gothic-inspired music fits so well, and the performers do such a strong job, that it is difficult not to enjoy it."  (Broadway World)

​Masque of Vengeance at The Cockpit, London and The Stoller Hall, Manchester
​"... a taut and driven eighty minutes in which there is very little dead time. Powered along by a dynamic, pulsating score for piano duet, with soaring bel canto vocals and dramatic recitatives, there was never a dull moment to be experienced..." (Planet Hugill, November 2023)
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Our most slimmed-down operas have been The Parting & Buster's Trip for 3 singers and accordion performed September 2024 as part of a double bill at Tête-à-Tête: The Opera Festival
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The Music Troupe was founded in 2014 by composer Edward Lambert and colleagues to perform, amongst other things, new small-scale operas.  We wanted to bring back the art of beautiful singing into new operas that are designed for smaller spaces: works that aren't scaled-down productions of grand opera but new chamber pieces in which the music and drama are tailored, not trimmed, to an intimate experience. We want our shows to be as entertaining as they are economical. 13 productions later, the group has given valuable opportunities to a wide range of over 100 performers and creatives (see below). We have delivered performances in Manchester, Brighton, Yorkshire and Berkshire as well as London, and given workshops in schools and for those living with dementia. In 2020 we made a unique opera movie on location. We have further projects in the pipeline and are keen to secure funding to support an expansion of our activities.
”…the next generation is looking to buy their vegetables at a farmers' market, not a supermarket. They want that taste, that crunch, that flavour. I think they're looking for more intimate musical experiences where you're close enough to taste the quality of the work. Opera can operate on many different levels, for many different metabolisms and on many different social scales and that diversity is a very good thing." 
Peter Sellars, The Independent, 26/02/2015

The Music Troupe is a registered charity no. 1161386
​Trustees:
Ian Caddy, Susan Holmes, Richard Foster, Jenny Weston BEM

Thank you to all the artists, venues, audiences and funders who have supported us.
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The Music Troupers....
Catherine Backhouse, mezzo-soprano
Christopher Diffey-Wilson, tenor
Ian Caddy, director
Donna Lennard, soprano
Lindsay Bramley, mezzo-soprano
Mark Beesley, bass
Olivia Clarke, soprano and conductor
Jon Stainsby, baritone
Sheridan Edward, tenor
Joseph Shiner, clarinet
Fleur de Bray, soprano
Kristy Swift, soprano
Joanna Gamble, contralto
Eloisa-Fleur Thom, violin
David Edwards, stage director
Felicity Hayward, soprano
Rebecca meltzer, stage director
Alistair Shelton-Smith, baritone
Yulia Shtern, designer
Daniel Joy, tenor
Edward Lambert, conductor and piano
Kate Howden, mezzo-soprano
William Ashford, stage director
Christopher Foster, bass
Helen Bailey, soprano
Max Ruisi, cello
Daniel de Souza, horn
Maria Fiore Mazzarini - violin
Tom Isaac, cello
Kate Symonds-Joy, mezzo-soprano
Dominic Bowe, baritone
Peyee Chen, soprano
Laura Kelly-McInroy, mezzo-soprano
Marilena Sitaropoulou, dancer
James Schouten, baritone
Ed Spanjaard, conductor
Elizabeth Karani, soprano
Samuel Pantcheff, baritone
Mark Burns, stage director
David Horton, tenor
Andrew Greenan, bass
Thomas Payne, conductor
Graínne Gillis, contralto
Jaered Glavin, stage director
Stephen Westrop, piano
Korina Kokkali, stage director
Michael Papadopoulos, conductor
Sofia Livotov, soprano
Becky Stenning, dancer
Natasha Agarwal, mezzo-soprano
Charlie Wood, designer
Samuel Lom, bass-baritone
Ariel Lang, violin
Elspeth Wilkes, conductor
Luke Wyeth, percussion
Catriona Scott, clarinet
Simon Grange, bass
Susan Norman, piano
Lydia Hillerudh, cello
Jennifer Witton, soprano
Bartosz Glowacki, accordion
Emily Thorner, soprano
Simon Gleave, stage director
Adrian-Florin Ardelean, film maker
Ilona Suomalainen accordion
Mayah Kadish violin
Layla Bradbeer Production Assistant
Arlene Belli, mezzo-soprano
Tabitha Benton-Evans, stage director
Jenny Weston, movement director
Rosalind Dobson, soprano
Louise Fuller, soprano
Harry Grigg, tenor
Henry Wright horn
Erlend Vestby cello
Dan Shilladay viola
Lucas Boardman horn
Fleur Snow stage director
Norman Welch writer
Madeline Robinson soprano
Charles Johnston baritone
Adrian Salinero piano
Lawrence Thackeray tenor
Will Diggle tenor
Alex Norton piano
Mae Heydorn contralto
Laure Meloy soprano
Leila Zanette mezzo-soprano
Francis Gush countertenor
Anna Cooper mezzo-soprano
Ellie Neate soprano
Henry Grant Kerswell bass
James Beddoe tenor
Melissa Sofoian stage designer
Yun Geng, model maker
Alise Silina accordion
Martin Nelson bass
Jonny Danciger director
Walter Hall director
Peter Lidbetter bass-baritone
Naomi Kilby soprano
And for the future...
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In 5 Years' Time
Adapted from a play by Lorca which explores themes of frustrated love, personal identity, decay and death; yet it does so in the manner of a fairy tale, clothed in fun and topsy-turviness.

​Cast of 8; accompanied by an ensemble of 8 instruments

​75 mins


​more info →
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The Butterfly's Spell
In the world of insects, a Poet Beetle rejects the love of the devoted Sylvia in favour of an impossible infatuation with a fragile Butterfly whose destiny it is to fly away. A sad tale, but a comic opera which also features a drunken Scorpion, an overbearing Mother and Two Fireflies which glow in the dark. Suitable for all ages. From an early play by Lorca.

​Cast of 7; accompanied by an ensemble of 7 instruments

​70 mins

​
​more info →
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Swellfellow the Tyrant
King Swellfellow is a tyrannical dictator who gorges himself while his subjects starve. Can he and his sleazy ministers cling to power when the Countess returns from exile? And whose side will the Press be on? Still pertinent today 200 years after it was written, Shelley's satire is here made into an opera which is as comic as it is bizarre

Written for community performance with some roles for amateur singers
​Cast of 10 and chorus; accompanied by an ensemble of 7 instruments

​80 mins


​more info →
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Scores available by means of a Performance Restricted license from IMSLP

The Music Troupe
​charity no. 1161386

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  • Edward Lambert
    • Instrumental Works
    • Vocal & Choral Works
    • Stage Works
    • Blog
    • Youth/Commuunity Operas
    • About
  • The Music Troupe
    • Productions >
      • Apollo's Mission
      • Art of Venus
      • Burning Question
      • Catfish Conundrum
      • Cloak & Dagger Affair
      • Duchess of Padua
      • Last Siren
      • Last Party on Earth
      • Masque of Vengeance
      • Opera With A Title
      • Oval Portrait
      • Parting/Buster's Trip
      • six characters
  • Media
  • Reviews