A Hand of Bridge
by Samuel Barber

Director: Oliver Mears
Conductor: Graham Ross
Set and Costume Design: Simon Holdsworth

A New production of Barber's classic 12 minute opera. Barber's wittily compressed masterpiece unflinchingly dissects sexual repression and desire, in a game of cards which reveals people's darkest and innermost thoughts.

Fade (World Premiere)
by Stefan Weisman

Director: Oliver Mears
Conductor: Graham Ross
Set and Costume Design: Simon Holdsworth

Second Movement has commissioned its first new opera from the talented young composer, Stefean Weisman.

Albert and Getrude arrive at their new eco home filled with hope for the future. But, as the light fails, the house begins to feel more and more isolated. Why are the phones not working? And what exactly is happening 'over there'? Stefan Weisman's gripping brand-new opera conjures an atmosphere of increasing menace in a short, sharp tale of a new home and broken lives. World premiere.

Trouble in Tahiti
by Leonard Bernstein

Director: Oliver Mears
Conductor: Graham Ross
Set and Costume Design: Simon Holdsworth & Alexandra Kharibian

A revival of one of our most successful shows! Written by one of the all-time great masters of American music, Trouble in Tahiti is both a searing indictment of apple-pie suburbia and a haunting exploration of marital breakdown. With the jazzy inflections and raw emotionalism of his best work, Bernstein painfully dissects the American Dream - and what happens when it turns into nightmare.

An Opera Triple Bill
May 2007: Covent Garden Film Studios

The Knife's Tears 
Never before performed in the UK, The Knife's Tears is an effervescent 1920s jazz opera by Czech composer Boheslav Martinu, best known for his operatic fantasy "Julietta". Containing influences as far ranging from ragtime, surrealism, pungent modernism and traditional Czech folk music, Second Movement's production of The Knife's Tears will be a rare chance to hear a forgotten masterpiece.

An Opera Double Bill
January 2006: Covent Garden Film Studios

Cast:
Allison Bell, Jane Harrington, Hannah Pedley, Margaret Rapacioli, Sean Clayton, Simon Thorpe, Daniel Leatherdale

Director: Oliver Mears
Conductor: Nicholas Chalmers
Set and Costume Design: Simon Holdsworth
Costume Design: Alexandra Kharibian

Mozart - The Impresario

Written at the same time time as The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart's hilarious satire on the foibles of opera singers, producers and the theatre remains as fresh as ever in this newly commissioned adaptation by one of the UK's leading young playwrights, Michael Flexer.

Menotti – The Medium

Menotti's most powerful score, The Medium is a gripping portrayal of the sinister world of the seance: Madam Flora's meddling with the supernatural leads to the revelation of a terrible secret - and a horrifying descent into madness.

Trouble in Tahiti

Cast:
Paul Carey-Jones; Jane Harrington, Alastair Merry; Hannah Pedley; Tom Raskin.

Director: Oliver Mears
Conductor: Nicholas Chalmers
Set and Costume Design: Simon Holdsworth & Alexandra Kharibian

Written by one of the all-time great masters of American music, Trouble in Tahiti is both a searing indictment of apple-pie suburbia and a haunting exploration of marital breakdown. With the jazzy inflections and raw emotionalism of his best work, Bernstein painfully dissects the American Dream - and what happens when it turns into nightmare.

Second movement's production at Hoxton Hall received rave reviews, which can be read here.

Mozart and Salieri

The company's inaugural production was Mozart and Salieri by Rimsky-Korsakov. This fully staged opera was paired with a first half performance of Rachmaninov’s Vespers. Performances took place at the Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair, London on 22nd and 23rd October 2004 and reviews can be read here.

Cast included:
Tom Raskin and Viktor Rud
Director: Oliver Mears
Designer: Alexandra Kharibian
Conductor: Nicholas Chalmers