ABOUT US
Lost & Found was launched in 2012 by the Minister for Culture and the Arts WA, with a mission to present unusual operas in found spaces that speak to the resonance of the work. The Company produces and tours work on a scale that integrates the audience, performance and environment.
In a short period, Lost & Found has produced bold and imaginative work to find its audience and help energise the creative sector in Perth with an array of successful sold out seasons garnering critical acclaim from local, state and national press.
It has been hailed as “the nation’s most innovative opera company” (Opera Magazine) and “one of the few genuinely disruptive arts organisations in Australia” (The West Australian). The Department of Culture and the Arts in Western Australia (DCA) acknowledged Lost & Found as one of the most exciting companies to have emerged in recent years and praised its work in “reinvigorating opera by presenting an exciting program of high artistic merit to new audiences”. In a recent benchmarking for its production of Bizet’s opera ‘Don Procopio’, the Company scored more highly for Captivation, Presentation, Distinctiveness and Audience Enthusiasm against an average of other Australian and UK companies (Source "Culture Counts Survey" - Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries WA Government).
Lost and Found Opera produces and tours work on a scale that integrates the audience, performance and environment collaborating with artists from a range of disciplines to produce work that extends the boundaries of operatic form and language and speaks to our human condition.
Our Mission
- To engage with new and established audiences for opera by exploring and pushing the boundaries
of the art form
- To emphasise the link between human experience and opera, uncovering the theatrical moment that
speaks to the human condition.
- To transform the world of the audience by examining the relationship between the architecture of space
and the architecture of opera.
- To showcase infrequently heard works from the operatic repertoire.
- To celebrate the relationship between different art forms and the language and the techniques used
to express them.
- To explore the processes that lead to the commissioning, development and performance of new work.
- To enhance and diversify the skills of artists in a collaborative laboratory that draws upon diverse
cultural practice.
- To explore the opportunities presented by new technology.
Artistic Director
Christopher van Tuinen
Christopher graduated with a B.Mus from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2001. In 2005 he completed a Masters in Conducting at the VCA. Experienced in both vocal and instrumental music he was awarded the John Williams Conducting Scholarship for 2004-5. He also holds a B.A. from the University of Queensland, an LLB from Q.U.T. and an A.Mus.A from the AMEB. He has been nominated by the Musical Theatre Guild for Best Music Direction and received a Green Room Award nomination in the ‘Best Conductor’ category.
During 2008 and 2009 he was a member of the Young Artists program as a Conductor with Opera Australia. In 2007 Chris was appointed as the inaugural Conducting Fellowship at the Australian Ballet. He has worked with the WASO, Orchestra Victoria, AOBO and the QSO. His previous roles include WA State Manager for Musica Viva, Classical Music Program Manager for Perth Festival, Chorus Director for WASO, Conductor of UWACS, Musical Director of Fremantle Chamber Orchestra. He is currently Music Director at West Australian Opera in addition to Artistic Director of Lost & Found Opera.
His most recent credits include a 14 city tour of China conducting Turandot for AIOC, Peter and the Wolf and the Britten Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra with WASO, The Rite of Spring for UWA, The Bells, the Verdi and Mozart Requiems for UWACS and UWA, Verdi’s Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No 1 and Scheherazade for WAYO, Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia for Staatsoper Hamburg Stabile, Madame Butterfly and Barber of Seville for OzOpera, Abduction from the Seraglio, Guistino, Don Pasquale, Sweeney Todd and The Rape of Lucretia for Lyric Opera and Gianni Schicchi / The Telephone for Powerhouse Opera Queensland. In 2005 he performed his re-orchestration of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle with the Australian Classical Players. As a pianist and conductor he recently recorded broadcasts of Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and The Emperor of Atlantis for ABC Classic FM.
Board Members
Mary-Ellen King (Chair)
Mark Coughlan (Deputy Chair)
Kate Lewis (Secretary)
Rod Gonzales (Treasurer)
David Jones
Maria Saraceni
Tom Stephens
Artistic Director
Chris van Tuinen