DOuble A Theatre
Brenton Spiteri, playing IAN in Horse Person Opera
““Brilliant... ...It’s always exciting when one comes across a composer (and librettist) who can speak theatre.””
Founded in 2024 by Ábel MGE and Aubrey Lavender, Double A is a music theatre company built on the belief that musical storytelling is unbounded by genre. Double A produces works which bend musical genres and are borne from multimedia collaboration without hierarchy. In September of 2024 Double A presented its debut performance Horse Person Opera as part of Tête à tête, the opera festival. The show premiered to a full house and was met with laughter, gasps and a standing ovation. One audience member called the show “a breath of fresh air in an otherwise... stale opera world.”
You can watch Horse Person Opera and find out more here.
Aubrey Lavender - Co-founder
Aubrey Lavender is a composer, writer and music producer.
Aubrey has composed music for Tesla, HUNAP (The Harvard University Native American Program), tasteinyourmouth, the London Wildlife Trust and the Kaunas State Puppet Theatre, and released music under his own name and with his band Milton Keynes.
Opera Magazine said his collaboration with composer Ábel MGE I’m Cleaning, I’m Cleaning “Struck just the right balance between slapstick and satire, the score a veritable musical sneer”. Jonathan Dove said of his work with Ábel "Brilliant... ...It's always exciting when one comes across a composer (and librettist) who can speak theatre."
Aubrey holds degrees from Bennington College, USA (BA Liberal Arts with a concentration in Music Composition) and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, UK (MA in Opera Making and Writing).
Associates
Shea Sullivan - choreographer
Shea Sullivan is a California-born, London-based choreographer and movement artist. She holds a BA from London Contemporary Dance School and MA from Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her work has been featured internationally, and her choreographic experience expands into contemporary circus, opera, and dance. 2024 saw the premiere of her first full length work Bebek with composer Efe Yuksel, as well working on the comedic Horse Person Opera by Abel M.G.E. and Aubrey Lavender.
Collaboration is a key feature of Shea's practice, inspired by eclectic processes in early film and Postmodern sensibilities. "These days, I find myself interested in immersion, visceral expression, ritual, and voice. Asking ‘how simple can I make this?’ Exploring the boundaries of creating FOR an audience, FOR the performers, and/or FOR myself. A question I am currently researching: ‘can performance create thin moments in time? With the right people, the right place, can we manifest a mystery that we all feel aligned with?" You can find more of Shea's work at www.mytinybabyhands.com
Aran O’Grady - Composer
Aran O'Grady is an Irish composer and arranger based between Dublin and London. He specialises in the creation of large-scale collaborative opera as well as chamber works featuring non-traditional instruments. His music has been performed in France, Singapore, the Netherlands, Michigan (US), and across the UK and Ireland. His music has been described as 'entertaining and entrancing' (Golden Plec) and ‘edgy and stylistically confident’ (PlanetHugill).
Aran was one of five composers commissioned by Sky Arts to write a new opera about football. The 90-minute opera was produced by Factory Films and Grange Park Opera and has been broadcast on Sky Arts and Sky Originals since November 2022. Aran is currently working on a full-length opera with Tasteinyourmouth, with the support of Arts Council Ireland, which will be performed by Glasshouse in late 2024.
A prolific arranger, Aran has reimagined the works of countless artists for orchestra and chamber ensembles, including David Bowie, LCD Soundsystem, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Aphex Twin and most recently. Ryuichi Sakamoto. These sets have been performed at Ireland's leading music festival and to sold out shows at many of the country's top venues, including the National Concert Hall and the Pavilion Theatre.
Aran studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with Kevin O'Connell and Jonathan Nangle and then with Julian Philips and Stephen McNeff at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
See more of Aran’s work at https://www.aranogrady.com/
