I am thrilled to announce the launch of Marginalia Performance, founded and directed by myself and Dr Anna-Luise Wagner.
Marginalia is an interdisciplinary performance collective that brings cutting-edge academic research to life in performance, telling stories that have remained hidden on the margins of history. We also shine new light on more familiar material, re-energising well-known repertoire by exploring it from different perspectives. As well as using research to unlock possibilities for original and engaging performance events, we design projects to make the world of opera and classical theatre more accessible.
Anna and I both completed our doctoral research at the University of Cambridge, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Anna’s thesis examined the career of seventeenth-century writer, opera singer, and courtesan Margherita Costa. Mine explored how skilled Parisian singers at the end of the twelfth century went about creating new kinds of complex polyphony to be sung in the equally new and impressive cathedral of Notre Dame. We met on various stages in Cambridge, ending up performing opposite each other in a number of productions, including as Carmen/Micaëla in the University Opera Society’s Carmen in 2019 and as Cinderella/Step sister in their 2020 production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola. As both academics and singers, Marginalia is our vehicle for bridging the gap between research and performance.
In these videos, you can find our more about Marginalia and meet Anna and me!