Bold Tendencies

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OPERA: SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES, YOUNG BLOOD! [KOMMILITONEN!]

16. 09. 2018 2:00 PM

Bold Tendencies with Polly Graham, and her recently formed company, Loud Crowd, are bringing a new opera programme to Peckham, beginning in 2018 with Viktor Ullmann’s The Emperor of Atlantis and a special rehearsed reading of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Young Blood!, ahead of a major production of this work here in 2019. We believe opera can appeal to many more people than it currently does, but this requires an active shift in mindset and a new, energetic and ambitious approach to making work. The Opera Programme at Bold Tendencies is supported by Selfridges and Arts Council England.

Young Blood! is an opera about the storm of history; the actions of individuals and groups which shape the course of human events. The opera weaves together three extreme moments of the 20th century, showing how young people’s actions changed history: we see the radicalisation of children in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the unstoppable determination of the American Civil Rights Activist James Meredith, and the courage of students in Munich who formed the anti-Nazi dissident group “The White Rose”. This is a piece which examines the forces of populism, nationalism and exclusion – it is ripe for our times. The opera tries not to make a moral judgment – offering us stories where young people were perpetrators of extreme violence and oppression, as well as those of bravery. But it is hard not to be blown away by Meredith and the “White Rose” students – trailblazers in dark times. Now more than ever, it’s crucial that we know their stories, and continue to be inspired by them. Young Blood! was originally commissioned by the Royal Academy of Music and the Juilliard School, New York and premiered at the Academy in 2011.

About Polly Graham, Artistic Director
Polly Graham trained at RADA, and with Teatr Pieśń Kosła and Le Théâtre du Soleil. As a freelance director she has worked at ENO, Glyndebourne Education, Buxton Festival, Grimeborn, RWCMD, Independent Opera, Teatro San Carlo, San Francisco Opera, Theater St Gallen, RADA, WNYO, WNO, Opera Sonic, Blackheath Halls Community Opera, the National Opera Studio, and the Fondazione Haydn in Italy. She was supported by the Genesis Foundation to work with David Pountney for two years at Welsh National Opera. Her work has been widely acknowledged: Kommilitonen! and Le Vin Herbé won Best Opera at the Welsh Theatre Awards in 2017 and 2018 respectively; Le Vin Herbé was nominated for the “Achievement in Opera” at the UK Theatre Awards, and she was a nominee in the “Best Newcomer” category at the 2017 International Opera Awards. In 2017 Polly founded Loud Crowd to deliver high-quality, innovative opera and music theatre work that reaches out to new audiences. Loud Crowd makes opera an art-form which expresses and responds to contemporary social, philosophical and political issues, contributing to public discourse and offering a cultural voice for our time.

About Selfridges
The business was founded by American entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1909 and was widely regarded as the first and best example of a modern department store. Harry Gordon Selfridge ran the store himself until he retired in 1940. After several ownerships the company was de-merged from the Sears Group in 1998 and floated on the London Stock Exchange. In 2003 W. Galen Weston purchased Selfridges and under his ownership Selfridges has become an extraordinary global destination for fashion, luxury and retail theatre. In June 2010 Selfridges was named Best Department Store in the World for the first time by the IGDS (Intercontinental Group of Department Stores). The title, which Selfridges held until June 2012, is the industry’s highest accolade. Selfridges won the title again in June 2012, and again in 2014 for an unprecedented three times consecutively. In May 2016, Selfridges won the inaugural award for World’s Best Sustainability Campaign at the IGDS world summit for its long-term commitment campaign, Buying Better Inspiring Change which it launched earlier in January. Selfridges has four stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester (Trafford Centre, Exchange Square) and our international website now delivers within the UK and to over 130 countries, trading in eight currencies. Selfridges today, continues Harry Gordon Selfridge’s legacy – a shopping experience that promises to surprise, amaze and amuse its customers by delivering extraordinary customer experiences.

No intermission.

Free, booking essential.

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