barefoot opera
Welcome to Barefoot Opera!
Founded in 2011, Barefoot Opera have presented a rich backlog of work including; touring productions, education projects, community outreach work and training courses – all centred around a signature style, where the inner dancer, classical singer and actor combine. Utilising the power of music to inspire, empower and connect.
Our Young Artist Tours stage operas that resonate with audiences across genres and communities. In 2022, “Bloom Britannia,” captivated audiences with its innovative blend of professional and community singers. In 2023, “La Cenerentola”, showcased the talent of both emerging and established performers. In 2024, our critically-acclaimed production of “La Traviata”, toured to even more venues across London and the South East. Our Young Artist’s Tour in 2025 is Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” with innovative collaborations within the mental wellbeing space.
We continue our training courses and community work in 2025 – our education project RED! is currently running in schools in the Sussex region.
Thanks to our audiences, supporters, the Arts Council England and other valued funding bodies, we continue to bring classic opera with our twist to stages and communities throughout the South East of England and beyond.
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OUR MISSION
Barefoot Opera challenges the notion that opera is elitist.
We produce high-quality, inclusive and accessible performances of opera,
re-working the classics, commissioning contemporary work, and engaging new audiences and participants.
Our work is guided by our aims, which are to:
*Rethink and Deconstruct: strip opera down to the basics of body, breath, movement, sound;
*Train: emerging young professionals and give them performance opportunities with BFO’s annual tours to venues in London and the South East;
*Make opera new: develop an energised, physical ensemble approach, which generates a unique way of experiencing opera;
*Reach out: widely into our local Hastings and wider regional community to bring people from different neighbourhoods, cultural groups and across generations, to sing together.
OUR VISION
Is to bring about ‘A Town That Sings’, utilising the power of music to inspire, empower and connect.
LEARN WITH US
Barefoot Opera challenges us to rethink methods of training the classical voice.
We begin by stripping our voices down to basics: body, breath, movement and sound. We reconnect with basic human responses.
This “responsive breath”, reaction and action, is the keystone of Barefoot’s training approach, refining and evolving into singing and the operatic tradition.
Alongside this responsive breath work our training incorporates physical theatre techniques and somatic movement practice.
