Opera Babes
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The Opera Babes are a classical music group consisting of Karen England (born 1974), Mezzo Soprano, and Rebecca Knight (born 1970), Soprano. England studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Knight, whose mother is the opera singer Gillian Knight, wrote for children's television early in her career. Both women have performed with the English touring company, Opera della Luna, and at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.
The Opera Babes met in Cambridge while performing Mozart’s The Magic Flute in a touring opera company. They began busking together in 2001 on London's famous Covent Garden. They were spotted by a Sony executive and became famous for singing "Un bel dì vedremo" ("One fine day we shall see" from the opera Madame Butterfly), the song that ITV used for their World Cup 2002 programmes, at the FA Cup final and at the UEFA Champions League final in Milan.
The Opera Babes released their first album, Beyond Imagination in 2002 (ranking No. 1 on the UK classical charts for 11 weeks, and No. 4 on the US billboard charts). They soon had a falling out with their producer, SonyBMG, which asked them to concentrate on the studio rather than performing live. "We were originally discovered busking... so I would have thought it was obvious that we loved performing live, yet Sony weren't interested," said Karen England. Their second album, Renaissance, was released in 2006 by Instant Karma UK.[1]
The Opera Babes have performed in concert with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, the Halle, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, among others. They also performed for Queen Elizabeth II at the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, the launch of the Commonwealth Games at Buckingham Palace, and Proms at the Palace for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. They have also performed at the Los Angeles Opera House with Placido Domingo and were the first British classical act to perform in Las Vegas. They have performed on GMTV, Des & Mel, Good Morning America and Fox and Friends. OperaBabes have also been the subject of three UK documentaries and one US documentary.
The Opera Babes' recent "Renaissance" concert tour performances have multi-media special effects and visuals, as well as dancers costumed by designer Elizabeth Emanuel.
[edit] Recordings
- Beyond Imagination by Opera Babes (Audio CD - 2002) Sony, ASIN B00007MB2F
- Renaissance by Opera Babes (Audio - CD 2006) Instant Karma UK, ASIN B000EPR7PW
