Screeching and wailing is how Lois Johston used to perceive opera.
But over the years she has changed her opinion and now she, along with a group of Dunedin singers and musicians, wants to change other people's perception of the art form.
‘‘If musicians like ourselves can have the perception of opera as screeching and wailing ... if we can get that mixed up and have it in our heads that is what opera is, then goodness knows what the general public who don't come from a musical background [think]. No wonder they think it is in that camp.
‘‘We want to set out to change that perception.''
Ms Johnston has joined Jenny and David Burchell to form Little Box of Operas and provide audiences with a different experience of opera: opera on a small scale, performed in non-theatre spaces ‘‘in the round'' and portable.
‘‘Everyone had the same idea simultaneously,'' Mrs Burchell said.
They have formed an incorporated society so Little Box was eligible for funding and had discovered quite a lot of support for the initiative.
Mr Burchell, a choir director and organist, admitted to also coming to opera quite late, mostly after his wife worked with an opera company in Oxford, England and he was roped in to be the ‘‘gofer''.
‘‘It attracted me to the possibility of doing this sort of thing but it's been on the back burner for a while now. But now is the time. There is plenty of interest.''
The operas they planned to perform were not conceived to be large-scale stage.
The 17th- and 18th-century operas were conceived for the courts of Europe in rooms of people's houses.
More recently, in the 20th century, there had been a resurgence of composition of works designed for a small number of singers performing in intimate spaces.
‘‘It brings opera to a personal level. A level where you can identify with the performers.''
Mrs Burchell said in the 18th and 19th centuries the smaller operas were often performed between the acts of a larger opera, providing light, witty entertainment.
They hoped to do three or four productions a year and take some on the road to smaller centres around the region.
The group had chosen Henry Purcell's iconic baroque opera, Dido and Aeneas c1685 as its inaugural production and will perform it as part of the New Zealand International Early Music Festival this month.
‘‘We wanted to do something new, fresh and interesting,'' Mrs Burchell said.
It is is a passionate and tragic story of love between Dido the queen of Carthage, and Aeneas the son of a hero and goddess, power, and treachery, driven to inescapable disaster by a sorceress and her witches.
‘‘It's all about the conspiracy and intrigue that went on in the courts. It's seven years out from the Salem witch trials, so England was obsessed with spies and conspiracy.''
Mrs Burchell is directing the production while Mr Burchell is music director.
Ms Johnston, who studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and came to New Zealand 10 years ago, plays Dido, alongside a cast of nine, including mezzo-soprano Claire Barton who is home from performing in Europe and plays the sorceress.
The group will be accompanied by a baroque ensemble using period instruments which will provide a more mellow, intimate and colourful sound.
