Last Party on Earth (2020) Filmed opera

Following fire, flood and virus, two survivors wander in a barren landscape. In her decrepit bunker, they come across the self-isolating, stockpiling Queen of Cans who invites them in to party.  Can love blossom even as life on Earth perishes? And who or what is the Dark One of whom they are so terrified? Stripped to its essentials, with only an accordion for company, this comic opera turns out to be no laughing matter. 

Apollo's Mission (2019)
opera/musical to celebrate 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing

Once upon a time, fifty years ago, Apollo (the sun-god) was President of Everything, while his dim sister (the moon-goddess) was just a cabaret artiste in a seedy nightclub. As the Americans invade the moon in July 1969, events take a sinister turn and chaos ensues. Can the gods sort it out or is the “dickhead” President too dysfunctional? Adding a bonkers twist to the Apollo 11 commemorations, this fun-opera investigates our fascination for all things lunar. Apollo’s Mission confuses fact with fiction, earth with moon, god-like humans with a Trump-like god - and then with now.

The Cloak & Dagger Affair (2018)
an adaptation of Lorca's play Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín
"...a score whose eroticism was often visceral.” (The Guardian)

Don Perlimplín has a young wife who's smitten by a mysterious stranger in a red cloak. Will Belisa be unfaithful? And why is Perlimplín so excited? With music that is a reincarnation of the bel canto style and a production that challenges ideas of love and lust, gender and identity, The Music Troupe presents a true chamber opera which is both tragic and surreal. 

The Art of Venus (2017)
The colonisation of Mars runs into difficulties...
"shaken, astonished, and utterly exhilarated."

The global search has begun for the first humans to set foot on Mars and make it their home. In 2032, as the spacecraft hurtles through space, humanity holds its breath… can the planet be colonised? But will Venus take it lying down? A short, post-baroque opera about the power of the gods - and a myth waiting to happen.

Opera With A Title (2015)
an adaptation of two dramas by Federico Garcia Lorca

Drawn from two plays by Lorca, this surrealist opera explores the theme of identity. What the actors are playing, and what is happening to them in the real world, are confused: they bring their fantasies to bear on their performances while their characters invade their own personalities. Thus, role-play and questions of gender are examined, each from the other's viewpoint, as well as the nature of theatre and its relevance to everyday life.

Six characters in search of a stage (2014)
an adaptation of Pirandello's surrealist play
✩✩✩✩ "Bite sized opera strikes gold..."

​Six Characters enter an empty theatre determined to stage their drama - but first they need to convince the sceptical Director that their opera is really good. We are drawn into a tragic tale of incest, murder and suicide worthy of any grand opera. But is it for real? If it actually happened - how can it be true? The Characters' mysterious story raises more questions than it can possibly answer...

The Catfish Conundrum (2014 & 2015)
The controversy surrounding an Arts Council exhibition in 1971
Possibly the only opera in which the heroine is eaten...

London, 1971: a gallery exhibits a tank of catfish. The Press is indignant: ‘Animal cruelty!’ 'Is this art?' Spike Milligan, the Arts Council, the artist and, finally, President Reagan all have their say. And the Catfish? Could this be the only opera in which the heroine is killed - and eaten? A musical potboiler! 

The Parting (2018)

A ten-minute opera for 3 singers

Enrique is going on a journey and he will be away ‘for a long time’. His wife watches from a window and the voices of his children cry out for presents. An old man appears and offers to help with his luggage...

​Text: Federico Garcia Lorca

The Oval Portrait (2017)

Life and art get confused in this short semi-opera

A visitor arrives at a remote castle and is disturbed by the portrait of a young woman. As her husband painted her, the picture came alive - while she lived on only in his art..

Text by Edgar Allan Poe

 

The Music Troupe was founded by composer Edward Lambert in 2014 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. Nine productions later, the group has given valuable opportunities to a wide range of nearly 70  performers and creatives (see below). We have recently made a movie of Last Party on Earth, which was also performed semi-staged at The Cockpit, London as part of the 2020 Tête à Tête Opera Festival. Performances of The Duchess of Padua planned for early 2021 have been postponed while In Five Years' Time and The Butterfly's Spell are also in the pipeline.

”…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 Troupers....