Next week, the annual Tête à Tête Opera Festival returns to the Riverside Studios for what'll hopefully be a seventh successful year.
This year's programme features more than 30 new operatic shows over three weeks, delving into the delightful future of opera. For a ticket costing just £7.50, your evening's entertainment will typically offer three longer pieces and a couple of shorter surprises.
We like the sound of puppet opera, Gala; British-Barbadian opera, La Belle de La Bête; Russian folk fable The Ant and the Grasshopper; and bawdy sitcom opera The Secretary Turned CEO (see video below).
But the fun isn't confined to the Riverside Studios themselves. In addition, Tête à Tête offers free, unticketed "Lite Bites" where teams develop, rehearse and perform four brand-new, super-short operas all over the Riverside Studios, and other public places across Hammersmith and Fulham including Ravenscourt Park, Bishop’s Park, Lyric Square and Fulham Palace.
Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival runs at Riverside Studios, 1 Crisp Road, Hammersmith, W6 9RL from 2 to 19 August. All tickets £7.50 (£5 concessions) except Indigestion which is £22.50/£20 concessions (including a three-course meal) and Innovation, Innovation, Innovation which is pay- what-you-can. Visit tete-a-tete.org.uk/festival-2013 to find out more.
