Birmingham Opera Company, under artistic director, Graham Vick, was born of a passion and a belief that opera — often seen as elitist, costly and inaccessible — can be a community art that speaks directly to all kinds of people.
The company doesn’t have an “opera house”. Its performance spaces are conjured out of “repurposed” warehouses, abandoned buildings, even big tops. A brief period of illumination and then it moves on. Writing of a past production, a reviewer for The Guardian said, “With any community opera the vital question is who is it for: those performing or those paying to watch? Where Vick is concerned, the resounding answer is both.”
And you can be part of BOC’s latest project — Dido ‘n’ Aeneas, a staging of Henry Purcell’s great opera.
Over-16s can register to be part of the free dress rehearsal event on Friday 18th March at 7.15pm, to be staged at a top secret secret location in Birmingham (B4 area). To register you just need to email your name and full postcode to the BOC box office team by 10th March. Send mail.
Dido ‘n’ Aeneas will then run for nine performances between from the 18th-23rd March. Booking here.
More about Dido ‘n’ Aeneas here.
