Lost & Found
St Pancras International
8 March 2022
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, Curated Place were proud to be working with The Royal Opera House, alongside Casco Phil, and Musiektheater Transparant to deliver a series of pop-up performances created by women composer and librettists. On March 8th the performances at St Pancras station offered London’s commuters, long-haul travellers and passersby the chance to pause, reflect and enjoy a moment of art and connection in an unlikely place.
A train station is a site where we can lose our time, or an umbrella, but as well a place to find a forgotten coin on the floor, or the love of our life. For most people, a train station is a non-place – a necessary connective towards a somewhere else – an experience better measured in (waiting) time than in space. This is where the opera experience Lost & Found took place. Set in London’s iconic railway station, St Pancras International, visitors had the opportunity to experience brand new opera commissions sung by rising stars from the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, and accompanied by musicians from Belgium’s Casco Phil chamber orchestra. The micro-operas were created based on stories, memories and observations submitted by the public around the theme of railway travel as part of the Europalia Arts Festival, reaching European railway stations including Antwerp Central Station, Brussels Central Station, and, in May 2022, Rotterdam Central Station.
Image Credit: Michael Redina
At the Eurostar terminal, passengers will be serenaded by two works that explore and reflect on shared experiences, and moments of magic found in the mundanity of everyday commuting. Georgia Barnes and Olivia Bell’s Everything you carry, and Rose Hall and Katie Colombus’ It’s The Little Things.
Travelers at the National Rail Service departure boards will hear Laura Reid and Oge Nwosu’s poetic song Detritus – told through the eyes of a cleaner, who unites people with their lost items.
‘The Meeting Place’ will be the backdrop for four works centered around time and travel. Sarah Lianne Lewis and Sophia Chapadjiev’s The Parting Place tells the tale of an elusive voyeur, whilst the fast-paced I just wanna be (in Centre Parcs) by Joanna Taylor and Kerry Priest explores journeys beyond the everyday. Hidden disabilities are highlighted in Anna Braithwaite and Kerry Priest’s The Hardest Journey, whilst comic opera Mini break by Victoria Bernath and Teresa Howard spotlights the panic of lost passports and the inevitable bickering that follows.
