CORINTHIA HOTEL LONDON ANNOUNCES WORLD PREMIERE OF EMILY HALL’S BRAND NEW PROMENADE OPERA “FOUND & LOST” AT CORINTHIA HOTEL LONDONJANUARY 25 – FEBRUARY 3, 2016

CORINTHIA HOTEL LONDON ANNOUNCES 

WORLD PREMIERE OF EMILY HALL’S 

BRAND NEW PROMENADE OPERA 

“FOUND & LOST” 

AT CORINTHIA HOTEL LONDON
JANUARY 25 – FEBRUARY 3, 2016

(September 21, 2015, London, England) Emily Hall, the 2015 Artist in Residence at Corinthia Hotel London, is to present the premiere of her site-specific opera, Found & Lost, in January 2016. Hall’s brand new piece, conceived in collaboration with the internationally renowned sound designer David Sheppard, will be performed for audiences of 12 at a time in the beautiful rooms, intimate spaces, and restricted areas of the hotel. The piece, developed during a month’s residency at the distinguished five-star hotel, invites audiences to embark on a sonic journey of discovery in a promenade performance, where rooms will spontaneously break into song and drama will unfold along the corridors.

‘A black cab pulls up to the kerb on Whitehall Place. A woman pays the driver and takes six steps up to where a footman is holding the door open for her; her heels create a faint echo on the marble floor as she passes a stunning floral display. The scent of camellias hangs in the air and is gone by the time she reaches the reception. 

She places a briefcase on the counter. The receptionist is on the telephone. She nods apologetically before ending the call with five star efficiency. There is a tension in the air that causes her to hesitate slightly before asking ‘How may I help you?’ The woman replies with a question of her own; you can almost hear it. It is the first of many…’

Alongside Hall and Sheppard, poet and Jerwood-Aldeburgh winner Matthew Welton (The Book of Matthew, We Needed Coffee But…) has created the libretto exclusively from texts found within Corinthia Hotel London, including wine lists, housekeeping check lists, and lost and found records. Award-winning Director Ella Hickson (Wendy & Peter, Eight, Boys) has advised on the production. The composition integrates music recorded in a variety of spaces on-site, intertwined with a live chorus sung by members of Siglo de Oro, and live performances from James McVinne on a specially simulated organ. Recorded artists featured in the production include: tenor Allan Clayton; singer-songwriter Mara Carlyle; cellist Oliver Coates; vocalist Sofia Jernberg; singer songwriter Puzzle Muteson, and trebleDuncan Tarboton, all relayed in crystal clear sound through a series of Bowers & Wilkins speakers which will be woven seamlessly into the fabric of the hotel.

Emily was selected in April 2015 from eleven finalists to create the piece at Corinthia Hotel London after entering the hotel’s fourth Artist in Residencecompetition – a search to find a composer or company to produce a brand new opera inspired piece inside the luxury five star hotel. Her idea was selected by a panel of music and arts industry leaders including opera luminaries Alex Beard CBE, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, Joseph Calleja, internationally acclaimed award-winning tenor and James Conway, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of English Touring Opera among others.

Previous residencies saw winning commissions from aspiring filmmakers Zawe Ashton and David Petch (2014), immersive theater company Look Left Look Right (2013) and photographic artist Noémie Goudal (2012).

Champagne provided by Laurent-Perrier.

All speakers for the production have been provided by Bowers & Wilkins.

For further information please contact Maisie Lawrence at The Corner Shop PR on 020 7831 7657 or email [email protected]

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Found & Lost
Corinthia Hotel London, Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2BD

Monday, January 25– Wednesday, February 3,  2016

Press Night: 27 January 2016
Monday – Friday evening performances: 7.00pm & 8.15pm (except Monday, January 25, just 8.15pm)

Saturday performances: 3.00pm, 7.00pm & 8.15pm
Booking: corinthia-air.com / +44 (0) 8444 77 1000

Website: corinthia-air.com/opera

Twitter: @CorinthiaLondon

Ticket prices:
Standard: £27.50 (approximately $42.63) including a glass of Laurent-Perrier Champagne

Premium: £35 (approximately $54.26) including a glass of Laurent-Perrier Champagne and an exclusive libretto

Concessions*: £20 (approximately $31)
*Under 26, full-time students, job seekers, seniors (60+) and people with a disability.

Running Time: 1 hour

Full performance schedule:

CAST & CREATIVES

Emily Hall (Composer). Much of Emily Hall’s music is formed through close creative relationships with singers and writers, and from finding her own ways of using technology and live performance. Her music has been performed in diverse venues, from Latitude Festival to the Cité de la Musque, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 2, 3, 4 and 6. In 2013, Emily Hall received the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists, in 2006 the Genesis Opera Prize and in 2005 the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Award. Her first opera, Sante was produced by Aldeburgh Music. Collaborations with Mara Carlye, Olivia Chaney, Lady Maisery, Oliver Coates, Mira Calix and David Sheppard took her out of the strictly classical sphere. She wrote a trilogy of song cycles with the author Toby Litt, about first love Befalling, motherhood Life Cycle and death Rest and made a film-opera, The Nightingale and the Rose, with filmmaker Gaelle Denis, written for Streetwise Opera. This year she completed Folie a Deux, a concept album/opera, written with Icelandic author Sjon for singers Sofia Jernberg and Allan Clayton, and a specially made instrument, the electro-magnetic harp. Emily Hall is a member of Bedroom Community, the Icelandic record label and close-knit collective comprising like-minded musicians from different corners of the globe.

David Sheppard (Sound Designer). David Sheppard is a sound designer, whose work has taken him across the world and across many genres, collaborating with many leading orchestras and ensembles as well as rock and pop musicians, visual artists, dance, and film creatives. He works closely with composers on helping them realize their ideas but he is also known as a sound installation artist and electronics performer in his own right. His work has recently included operas in London, Lyon and Dublin, music from helicopters in Paris, and working within a former Nazi submarine-base in Bordeaux. He works across a number of art forms including Mira Calix’sInside There Falls, a multimedia work for Sydney Festival, Christian Marclay at the White Cube, London and collaborations with artist Matthew Ritchie, and The National’s Bryce and Aaron Dessner. He has consulted for Anthony Gormley and devised and led learning projects including work with Bjork on her recent Biophillia School.

Matthew Welton (Poet). Matthew Welton received the Jerwood-Aldeburgh First Collection Prize for The Book of Matthew (Carcanet, 2003), which was a Guardian Book of the Year. He was a Hawthornden Fellow in 2004. Matthew collaborates regularly with the composer Larry Goves, with whom he was awarded a Jerwood Opera Writing Fellowship in 2008. He is a Lecturer in Writing and Creativity at the University of Nottingham.

Mara Carlyle (Voice and musical saw). Mara Carlyle is an English singer-songwriter and arranger who also plays the musical saw and the ukulele. Her debut albumThe Lovely was released in July 2004. And after critical acclaimed she signed to EMI in 2007. December 2008 saw the release of Classist, collaboration with composer Max de Wardener under the name “Max de Mara”. Carlyle contributed four tracks adapted from Handel, Purcell, Walford Davies and Jacques Offenbach. In 2011 she released her second album Floreat, to critical acclaim. In 2013 she provided the vocals for the song “She Burns” by the co-founder of Hot Chip, Joe Goddard. In 2014 she joined the presenting team of the BBC Radio 3 program Late Junction.  Also in late 2014 Mara supported Goldfrapp at their 18 November concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England.

Allan Clayton (Tenor). Allan has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting and sought after singers of his generation. A highlight of the 2012/13 season was George Benjamin’s award-winning opera Written on Skin at the Netherlands Opera, the Theater du Capitole Toulouse, the Royal Opera House London, Wiener Festwochen, and the Bayerische Staatsoper, following on from the world premiere of the work at the 2012 Festival de Aix-en-Provence. He made his debut at the Komische Oper, Berlin in 2014 with Castor in Castor et Pollux and Tamino in Die Zäuberflöte.    For English National Opera he has most recently sung Cassio inOtello, Castor in Castor et Pollux and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  His other roles include Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia for Glyndebourne on Tour and Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte for Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.  He returns to Glyndebourne in 2015 to sing in the Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, and makes his debuts at Welsh National Opera singing Tamino in Die Zäuberflöte, and at the Teatro Real, Madrid in Handel’s Alcina.

Oliver Coates (Cellist). Oliver Coates is a solo cellist, chamber musician, principal cellist with orchestras (Aurora Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia) and a producer and collaborator in new music. He has played in and developed projects with Seb Rochford, Micachu and the Shapes, Massive Attack, and Ben Frost amongst others. Oliver curates Harmonic Series at Southbank Centre, a cross-genre exploration of new and old music, which sold out in its first season. Oliver has performed concertos and recitals across Europe and the Far East. He is proud to have worked closely with the most important new composers including Chris Mayo, Larry Goves, Anna Meredith, Matt Rogers, Charlie Piper, Mark Bowden, David Fennessy, Martin Suckling, Nico Muhly, Mica Levi and many more.

Sofia Jernberg (Soprano). Sofia Jernberg is a soprano, voice-artist, improviser and composer. Jernberg studied at The Gotland School of Music Composition. In 2008 she received the Royal Swedish Academy of Music’s jazz award. She is the leader, together will pianist Cecilia Persson, of the chamber jazz group Paavo. The group received the “Jazz Group of the Year” award from Swedish Radio. Jernberg also works on the contemporary classical music scene as both a singer and composer. Jernberg has composed for several established ensembles such as Duo ego and Norrbotten NEO.

James McVinnie (Organist). James McVinnie is an organist, keyboardist, and collaborator in new music. He has held posts at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and St Albans Cathedral. He regularly collaborates with leading contemporary composers and musicians including Nico Muhly, Sufjan Stevens, Alexi Murdoch, James Lavelle, Beth Orton, and Ben Frost. Composers including Nico Muhly, Martin Creed, Richard Reed Parry (of Arcade Fire), and David Lang (winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in music) have written works for him. As a continuo player, he has appeared with leading period instrument ensembles at virtually every European early music festival.  Cycles, his debut release of music, written for him by Nico Muhly, was released on Bedroom Community in 2013 to widespread critical acclaim.

Puzzle Muteson (Tenor). Puzzle Muteson is a tenor and guitarist. He has previously opened concerts for The Fruit Bats, Death Vessel, and Daniel Martin Moore. Producer duo Valgeir Sigurðsson and Nico Muhly nurtured Puzzle’s songs into his debut recording En Garde, released via Valgeir’s Bedroom Community label.

Jessie Stanley (Actress). Jesse has worked frequently in physical theater with such companies as Corpus Dance Projects, Dusk Dances, Classical Theater Project & The Parahumans. In 2012 she completed an MA in devising at RADA and upon graduating became a founding member of Huntley Street Theater Company as well as an active facilitator and director for Third Party actors collective. As an actor and movement director, recent projects include Scratch Me I Bleed (Huntley Street), Laqueum (Huntley Street) Sunshine Five (DugOut Theatre) & Mirrors (Camden People’s Theatre).

Duncan Tarboton (Soprano). Duncan joined Tiffin School in 2012 and was one of the first in his year group to join the Tiffin Boys’ Choir. He has performed with the choir at many prestigious London locations including the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Opera House London. In the same year he appeared alongside Ian Bostridge in Netia Jones’s acclaimed st#aging of Curlew River at St Giles, Cripplegate and more recently in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland at the Barbican.  Recordings include Britten’s Friday Afternoons and film soundtracks for The Hobbit and La belle et la bȇte films. As well as singing he plays the saxophone, clarinet, and piano.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Corinthia Hotel London’s Artist in Residence
A cultural program, now in its fourth year which supports emerging talent and the arts. The first residency in 2012 saw artist Noémie Goudal create large-scale works of art which used the hotel’s environment as their starting point and aimed to transport viewers to other worlds. In 2013 the Corinthia London’s Artist in Residence winner was the theater company, Look Left Look Right, who created an immersive play drawing on the hotel’s history and interviews with the staff. The play, Above & Beyond, lasted 70 minutes taking place across 30 spaces within and around Corinthia London whilst the hotel was fully operational. The play was open to the general public and tickets sold out within the first week. The play launched to critical acclaim and was extended by an extra week. Last year’s residency saw Zawe Ashton and David Petch, the joint winners of the Corinthia London’s Artist in Residence 2014, create two short films – ‘The Place We Go To Hide’ by Zawe Ashton and ‘We Always Do What We Want’ by David Petch – which were inspired by ‘The Power of Sleep’ theme, having evolved out the filmmakers’ experiences and reflections of life within the hotel.

About Corinthia Hotel London
Housed within a Victorian building, 294 rooms including 40 suites and 7 penthouses offer sweeping views across London’s most iconic landmarks. Corinthia Hotel London provides unrivaled world-class luxury with superb ground floor offerings including The Northall restaurant, serving the best in British produce throughout the day, Massimo Restaurant serving modern Italian cuisine, and the musically-inspired Bassoon live music bar.  Corinthia Hotel London is also home to the flagship ESPA Life at Corinthia, the Next Generation spa housed across four floors, together with a hair salon by Daniel Galvin. The hotel boasts the largest room sizes in London, original restored Victorian columns, and tall windows that let in swathes of natural light.  Cutting edge technology in rooms and meeting rooms allow for recording, mixing, and broadcasting from dedicated media.  Corinthia London is a 21st century grand hotel located in the heart of London, designed by experts with a passion for craftsmanship and an understanding of world-class service. Corinthia London is the ninth of Corinthia Hotels’ collection of five-star hotels founded by the Pisani family of Malta. For more information, please visit corinthia.com or visit Twitter @corinthialondon or Instagram @corinthialondon.

About Bowers & Wilkins
Bowers & Wilkins is a global leader for premium loudspeaker products and purveyors of “true sound” with nearly fifty years of audio heritage. Bowers & Wilkin’s innovative, award-winning audio products are an essential element to audio entertainment whether at home or on the move. Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers are highly regarded as the definitive “audio reference”, as demonstrated by their use in leading recording studios throughout the world including London’s famed Abbey Road Studios and Skywalker Sound in California. The notion that remarkable sound must be experienced to be fully appreciated is reinforced by the company’s motto -“Listen and you’ll see.”

About Champagne Laurent-Perrier
Originally founded in 1812, the House of Champagne Laurent-Perrier is recognized as one of the foremost brands in Champagne. This success is the outcome of a deliberate policy to honor traditional values: a respect for nature and wines, a passion for quality, and strong, lasting relationships among the people who drive the company – both inside and outside of the House. Laurent-Perrier’s success must also be attributed to the energy of the de Nonancourt family, headed by Bernard de Nonancourt. Working in a very demanding business environment, Bernard successfully avoided many pitfalls and managed to preserve the independence of his Champagne house and its related values. These same principles guide the current management team headed by his two daughters, Stéphanie Meneux de Nonancourt and Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt.

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