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"Knight Crew, an opera in two acts" (commissioned by Glyndebourne Festival Opera)

"Knight Crew" was an opera commissioned by Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Its research goal was the investigation of the grand operatic model of narrative structures – both musical and textual, but undertaken through a research process involving both amateur and professional musicians in the genesis of the work as well as its performance.

The research process took these related aims and initially, through an adaptation of Singer’s novel "Knight Crew" and development sessions with key professionals, made provisional decisions on, for example, the structure of the work and the balance between visual and textual elements. The research process then broadened into workshops in which musico-dramatic material was tested and developed with both professional and amateur singers. A selection procedure then expanded the performing community by recruiting 52 young people to the chorus and adding 37 to the small group of professional orchestral musicians. Eighteen adult amateur singers were also recruited to form a mothers’ chorus.

Overall, this breadth of engagement with the creative process fostered the integration of musical theatre voices with operatic voices, a poly-stylistic approach to musical and dramatic forms, and the reconciliation of ‘high’ and ‘low’ musical registers. These, together with other natural outcomes of the inclusive research process, allowed the work to both incorporate and comment upon the tradition of grand opera. Additionally, it confirmed a movement away from initial ideas of a socio-documentary reaction to the source material, to an investigation of opera through opera.

Parallel to this artistic set of research processes ran a sociological study in collaboration with relevant local authorities on the barriers to participation in opera experienced by young people.

"Knight Crew" received four performances at Glyndebourne and was subsequently the focus of a BBC TV documentary. A downloadable recording of the opera was available online. The opera is published by Peters Edition, London.