2024 – L’elisir d’amore by Gaetano Donizetti, revised and updated libretto based on the original by Felice Romani
Directed by Rosetta Cucchi
A community opera commissioned and first performed by Wexford Festival Opera
“an hour and a half of hijinks, fun and laughter. Knapman’s libretto was really well designed as it not only retained the basic plot and spirit of Felice Romani’s original, but it also ensured that there were substantial roles for the community”
Opera Wire
2023 – Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini, a community opera, revised and updated libretto based on the original by Giovacchino Forzano
Directed by Rosetta Cucchi
A community opera commissioned and first performed by Wexford Festival Opera
“the star of the show is the skittish localised libretto by Knapman”
2022 – Lalla-Roukh by Félicien David, rhymed narration to replace spoken word scenes by Michel Carré and Hyppolyte Lucas
Performed by Lorcan Cranitch
Directed by Orpha Phelan
Commissioned and first performed by Wexford Festival Opera
“One of the most talked about productions of Wexford Festival Opera 2022 was the extraordinary Lalla-Roukh, which gained huge critical and audience acclaim.”
Irish Independent
**** “a top-quality, endlessly entertaining mix that sends the audience out into the night on an unmistakeable high”
“storytelling and sideswipes in a specially-commissioned text by Timothy Knapman sometimes had the audience in stitches”
**** “As the narrator, Lorcan Cranitch had… a witty, occasionally risqué narration (by Timothy Knapman)”
2021 – La vie parisienne by Jacques Offenbach, dialogue revisions of the libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Commissioned and first performed by Schlossgartenfestspiele Neustrelitz
2015 – Orontea – libretto translation for surtitles of the opera by Antonio Cesti and Giacinto Andrea Cicognini
Commissioned and first performed by La Nuova Musica at the Wigmore Hall
“The surtitles, pitched somewhere between Carry On film and Restoration bawdry, occasionally went over the top. Good, dirty fun, though, and a real treat.” The Guardian
“Timothy Knapman provded a surtitled translation rather too liberal with vulgar doubles entendres, but no harm done.” The Daily Telegraph
2015 – The Electrictionary – opera libretto for music by Alexis Bennett, with an introduction by Alex Horne
Performed by the Early Music Experiment and Guests as part of the Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival at Kings Place, London
2013 – Dido and Aeneas – rhymed introduction to the opera by Henry Purcell
Performed by the BBC Singers, Robert Hollingworth (conductor)
2011 – King Arthur – rhymed text to replace dramatic scenes in the opera by Henry Purcell First performed by Richard Pryal at Dartington International Summer School, orchestra and singers conducted by John Hancorn Revised rhymed text performed 2014 as part of the Spitalfields Music Festival, performed by Kit Hesketh-Harvey, broadcast on BBC Radio 3
2009 – Acis and Galatea – rhymed introductions to each scene of the opera by George Frideric Handel The Fairy Queen – rhymed introductions to each scene of the opera by Henry Purcell Commissioned by and first performed at the Trigonale Festival of Early Music
For Handmade Opera Tim provided spoken text to replace the recitative in the following operas, performed at Cliveden, Wantage and the Howden Festival:
2007 – Così fan tutte by WA Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte
2006 – The Marriage of Figaro by WA Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte
2005 – The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini and Cesare Sterbini.