Manchester-based composer and performer Carmel Smickersgill on grassroots spaces, the Beach Boys, and being yourself
Ushara Dilrukshan
London-based Sri Lankan multimedia performance artist Ushara Dilrukshan on coding, organs, cultural identity, and womanhood
Jim Osman
Leeds-born multimedia artist Jim Osman on opera directing, dub, speculative fiction, digital folklore, and gothic futurism
Reclaiming Autonomy: PLASTIC BODIES creators on tackling abuse in opera
PLASTIC BODIES creators discuss care, open score-making, and co-creation in new experimental opera tackling abuse in the industry
Luka Venter
Composer and conductor Luka Venter on ecological writing, clarity and rigour, visceral entanglement, and journeys in collaboration
Elif Karlidag
Turkish-British composer Elif Karlıdağ on mass hysteria, 80s video games, absurdism, and working with graphic notation
Ryan Morgan
UK-based composer Ryan Morgan on immediacy, transparency, passive resistance, and leading with compassion
“Opera as a collaborative process”: a conversation with Guildhall’s Opera Makers
Composers and librettists on Guildhall’s Opera Making course discuss collaborative process, play and experimentation, and creating relevant work
Angela Slater
British composer Angela Slater on mapping natural processes, orchestration, Brian Cox, Scottish folklore, and nurturing personal canons
Emily Pedersen
Composer Emily Pedersen on storytelling, Darmstadt, tackling abuse through opera, and approaching composition through empathy
Phoenix Rousiamanis
UK-based Greek composer Phoenix Rousiamanis on queer Greek mythology, witchcraft, discovering material, and balancing creative practices
William Gardner
Composer William Gardner on musical uncanniness, microtonality, metamodernism, and composing political opera
Operatic Ecosystems: a conversation with Infinite Opera
Infinite Opera discuss their upcoming performance at London’s Signature Brew, mythologising beer, egalitarian collaboration, and performing in unconventional spaces
From Indie Pop to Opera: a conversation with librettist Hannah Hayden
Librettist Hannah Hayden discusses her upcoming opera, fairy tales, stoner comedy, the “action” of libretto, and her transition from songwriting to libretto
Crystalla Serghiou
UK-based Cypriot composer Crystalla Serghiou on “popera”, pastiche, Stepford wives, and staying authentic
Ben Richter
Composer and accordionist Ben Richter on time dilation, liminal pitch relationships, and altered states of consciousness
Laurence Osborn
British composer Laurence Osborn on cultural memory, mechanisms and automation, parenthood, and C.P.E. Bach
Riccardo Perugini
Tuscan composer Riccardo Perugini on early music, alternate histories, vaporwave, and writing for period instruments
Anna Disley-Simpson
British composer Anna Disley-Simpson on opera, stylised reality, collage notation, and crafting vocal resonance
Lucy Armstrong
Composer Lucy Armstrong on Stephen Sondheim, capturing drama, and making text sing