Job Description
Streetwise Opera is excited to launch Reimagining the Classics (April 2025 – March 2026), a bold and innovative project celebrating the rich heritage of opera by exploring its relevance to today’s world. This initiative will bridge the gap between the historic and the contemporary, creating an inspiring dialogue between the past and the present.
Through this project, Streetwise Opera performers, including participants in frontline homelessness settings, will uncover the histories and cultural significance of iconic operatic works from the repertoire. They will explore the contexts in which these pieces were written, examining their production histories and the social, political and artistic climates that shaped them.
Working alongside professional directors, composers and music directors, participants will reinterpret these classics through their own unique perspectives. By addressing themes and narratives that may feel outdated or problematic today, they will reimagine the works, breathing fresh life into these timeless stories. The result will be newly created performances, reflecting the insights of performers whose voices are too often unheard.
Inspired by participants’ research, each reimagined piece will culminate in performances presented alongside major opera company productions, in some of the most prestigious theatres in the UK in spring 2026, giving audiences the chance to experience these masterpieces through a contemporary lens. Alongside these productions, Streetwise Opera performers will present an interactive multimedia exhibition, providing insights into the work and diversity of opera and theatre makers from the past.
Reimagining the Classics aims to be not only a celebration of opera’s rich heritage but also a powerful demonstration of how history and creativity can intersect to inspire and challenge us. This project invites everyone to discover how the stories of the past can inform and enrich the stories of today, shining a light on perspectives often overlooked in traditional narratives.
Director Brief
Streetwise Opera will commission three directors for this project, across the three regions we work in: London, Nottingham and Manchester.
Streetwise Opera is committed to engaging local artists wherever possible and is therefore unable to pay for travel expenses to attend workshops, rehearsals or performances. We therefore ask applicants to consider this when selecting the city or region they are applying to work in.
The application deadline is 10am on Monday 17 March.
We will be holding interviews on the week of 24 March.
Details
A fee of £150 per session is offered for the project (inclusive of planning). A minimum fee of £600 for Phase 1 and £1,500 for Phase 2 would be offered.
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