Vivienne – Production Week

Clare McCaldin rehearses VivienneWe are in the eye of the storm of rehearsing Vivienne, turning her turbulent life and world-view into the half hour stage show that debuts in a week. As usual, working in the rehearsal space with our director Joe Austin has opened up a torrent of ideas and we must now work through them and refine the production to create something focused, purposeful, honest and communicative. The music is a real dressing-up box of styles and moods, by turns fiery, fervent and fun.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKZ5XWbBHCw&w=560&h=315]

Both summer festivals at which we are presenting Vivienne have now started; it is possible (and cheap!) to come to other productions at both the Tete-a-Tete Opera Festival and the Camden Fringe immediately prior to VivienneHere’s the booking information. There’s plenty to see and discuss at these arts festivals – it would be lovely to see you.

RVW Trust joins Vivienne

RVW TrustFantastic news today from the RVW Trust that it will be supporting Vivienne with a grant.

The Trust has been a staunch supporter of my previous collaborations with Stephen McNeff, having contributed to the commissioning costs of the Madrigali dell’Estate song-cycle and the artists’ costs for the CD of the same name that features that piece.

My thanks to the Trust for its continued support of our work.

New Projects For 2013

Following the positive reception of McCaldin Arts’ debut CD, the company has moved on to developing work for production later in the year.

Haydn’s London Ladies – a narration & song account of Haydn’s professional and personal relationships with women during his time in London, away from his unhappy marriage – is approaching its final draft. We begin rehearsals soon for the performance on 25 May.

Stephen McNeff & Andy Rashleigh have been working on the innovative and hugely exciting stage work Vivienne with a view to giving a first performance as part of the Tete a Tete Opera Festival in August 2013 and subsequent performances in the Camden Fringe.

Please return for more details on these and other projects as they emerge, or follow McCaldin Arts on Facebook or via Clare McCaldin on Twitter.

Delighted by A Voice of One Delight

The first performances of A Voice of One Delight took place last week and I am thrilled by the level of enthusiasm with which they were received. We were very fortunate in attracting the resources to bring the piece to a high-level of finish before putting it in front of an audience and this has allowed us to get detailed feedback about how the production ideas support the narrative. For more photographic images by Claire Shovelton and a link to watch the work on video, go to the A Voice of One Delight webpage.

Rehearsing A Voice of One Delight

Rehearsals have been progressing very well for A Voice of One Delight, which gets its first performances later this week at Tête à Tête: the Opera Festival.

Here we are at the Jerwood Space, deep in thought about character, time and space. The usual Sunday morning challenges.

From L to R: me, Petra Söör (choreographer) and Joe Austin (director). The picture is a pianists-eye view taken by Libby Burgess.

A Voice Of One Delight Production Team Finalised

The team producing A Voice Of One Delight has now started to rehearse in preparation for its two performances as part of the 2012 Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival.

Company director Clare McCaldin has been working with the director Joe Austin to edit and fine-tune Steven McNeff’s chamber opera, which will be performed by Clare and the pianist Elizabeth Burgess. Other team members are Simon Kenny (production design), Steve Mayo (sound design), Adam Young (AV design) and Petra Söör (choreography).

(For other biographical notes on the production team, please see the Company page of this site).