Hello

My name is Marie Soulier, and I am the founder of Clapham Opera Festival.

I wanted to create a Festival that would help bring Opera to a greater number of people and also showcase some incredible young talent in this country. I wanted to create a Festival that would be true to the roots of Opera, with a sense of fun and accessibility, and a Festival that would be equally attractive to the Opera cognoscenti as well as the Opera inquisitive. You can find out more about our aims here.

The first Festival took place (with no government funding) in 2013. Well over 700 people attending 4 concerts, which was fantastic. Particularly pleasing was that our efforts to attract young people succeeded, with 120 children coming along too. In 2014, nearly 900 people (including over 200 children) attended the 5 concert Festival.

We created a Festival that was rooted in a desire to create an experience for all the senses. In fact, we think this is the first Sensory Opera Festival! As previous years, we continue to challenge ourselves to find exciting ways to stimulate all of your senses at the Festival. We hope you will agree.

We are lucky to have an inspiring patron, the soprano Lucy Crowe, and the support of the Clapham community and businesses. To all of you, we thank you. To everyone who came to the first two Festivals, we can never thank you enough for your incredible belief in us. To those who are thinking of coming along for the first time, you won’t regret it. It is like an extended family.

As we prepare for the 2015 Festival, a massive thank you to the singers, the musicians, and those behind the scenes who are working tirelessly.

My best wishes

Marie Soulier