The Dancing Bear Opera Company

Dancing Bear Opera Company is a collection of LGBT people (and their friends) who are either experienced performers of opera, or novices who wish to learn how to perform operatic music on the stage - either in small or large roles, or as part of an opera chorus.

Our membership is nationwide and it is thus impractical to attempt to organise regular weekly rehearsals. Rather, we meet as individuals and as small groups with times and locations matched to suit the convenience of those involved in specific scenes.

Scenes involving a large cast, including chorus, are worked on during specially arranged Day Schools. These are usually held in our rehearsal spaces at Journey MCC in Digbeth.

We have members from other groups in Birmingham, such as Birmingham Opera Company, Midlands Music Makers and the gay theatre company Urban Troubadours, as well as opera groups & companies in the South West, Wales, the North West and Scotland.

At present we are preparing for a charitable Opera Gala entitled Let’s Have a Scene for Birmingham Arts Fest to be held in September 2008.

In this fully staged production we hope to present well-known and much-loved scenes in english from opera across the ages, including items from Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Coronation of Poppea, Handel’s Agrippina, the Catalogue Aria from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and the Overture and first five numbers from his Magic Flute. Other pieces in rep are the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s Nabucco, extract’s from Puccini’s Tosca, the final scene of Act I of Wagner’s The Valkyrie, extracts from Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten, and other 20th and 21st Century works.

From September we also hope to be offer a Certificate in Opera Studies, accredited by the Department of Open Studies at The University of Warwick. This is worth 30 Credits at Level 1 of university study (ie. equivalent to one-quarter of 1st yr undergraduate degree). This Certificate is authored by the Artistic Director of DB Opera Co, David Naylor-Gray and might be delivered in both Birmingham and Coventry.

For enquiries about both DBO Co. and the Certificate contact David.