Tina Ellen Lee

Tina co-founded Opera Circus with performers David Pearl and Janet Mooney in 1991. She is now artistic director of this successful experimental opera/music theatre company. Tina has performed in concerts, festival operas, fringe theatre, television commercials and feature films and as a voice over artist. As a performer and producer Tina has toured all over the world with Opera Circus in many of the companies productions and has produced all of their work. This has been from the smallest venues and village hall tours to performances in major theatres, arts centres and opera houses.

From 1986 to the present day Tina has supported the work of Helen Bamber, OBE firstly through The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and then later through The Helen Bamber Foundation, both as an individual performer and through Opera Circus productions.  The company's early work with David Glass, Monika Pagneux, and Federico Davia and a meeting with Peter Brook influenced the direction of Opera Circus and Tina's artistic direction. The contributions of Frankie Armstrong, Annabel Arden, Marcello Magni, Kathryn Hunter, John Wright and others helped to develop this process further.  Opera Circus has toured world wide in collaboration with the British Council and independent production companies. She was a co-creator of Impropera, the highly successful improvised opera company.  With productions such as Shameless, Kill Me I love and King Stag, Tina toured and performed in Peru, Georgia, Thailand, Canada and throughout Europe including Ireland, Scotland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as England.

Her production credits include Cat Man's Tale with music by Alasdair Nicolson and text by David Harrower, Arcane with music by Paul Clark (Clod Ensemble) and text by David Spencer andDifferences in Demolition with music by Nigel Osborne and with text by Goran Simic.  Tina works closely with the composer Nigel Osborne and is currently developing Naciketa with Nigel and the poet and writer Ariel Dorfman.  Her work with Nigel Osborne has led her to establish partnerships with other arts organisations and NGO's in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, the Netherland and Scotland both for the creation of new work and to continue to explore the use of the arts to support communities. Opera Circus was based in London for fifteen years and is now run from Dorset.  This has led to a number of successful community projects in the region devised and created by Tina, including The Incomer and the Land, Screen Bites Dorset's Food Film Festival of which she was a co founder and the work in progress LUNCH.  Tina was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for her contribution to the arts in Great Britain.  Tina is a member of Forum London and the International Women's Forum, USA.

 

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