The Tire Swing

Overview

A one-act circus opera, about reconnecting with child-like joy as an adult, and making peace with one’s childhood in order to move forward in life. Audiences will experience a contemporary opera, sung from new heights, and in an immersive way. They will follow an adult woman as she takes a journey through her childhood backyard to find a part of herself that went missing for a long time.

About the Artist

The Circus Opera Company is a Philadelphia-based organization that explores the synthesis of circus and opera/classical music. We are interested in growing a repertoire of circus opera and circus classical music through collaboration with interdisciplinary artists and organizations. We enable projects that expand the boundaries of what constitutes an operatic stage, by creating site-specific pieces that utilize non-traditional spaces. By moving this medium into non-traditional spaces, we strive to make opera and circus more accessible, and engage new audiences that would not typically attend opera or circus performances. We create educational workshops that teach future generations how to synthesize movement and music. Recent projects include an Acro Piano Duet, premiered at the Kimmel Center as part of the Philadelphia Orchestras Orchestra After Five pre-concert series. Our piece THROUGH HOOPS (for soprano on Lyra and piano) was featured in Watermelon Bathtubs BODIES, and won a Fringie Award at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.