The Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre (CROMT) at the University of Sussex researches new developments in the practice and theory of opera and related forms. Started by Nick Till in 2005, it is now run collaboratively by Evelyn Ficarra (Composer, Professor of Interdisciplinary Composition) and Tim Hopkins (Principal Research Fellow; Opera Director,  including for the Royal Opera The Golden Cockerel, Owen Wingrave and Give Me Your Blessing…)

During its 20+ year lifespan so far, CROMT has initiated and produced a rich array of performances, conferences and publications, exploring opera as a multifaceted and expressive contemporary art form, with a rich historical legacy and an ongoing, innovative relationship with technology. We co-hosted (with Glyndebourne) the Opera and the Media of the Future conference in 2014 and initiated the Robot Opera project in 2017. In addition to Evelyn and Tim, the Robot Opera project team currently comprises Dr Chris Kiefer (Reader in Musical Instrument Design) and Professor Andy Philippides (Professor of Biorobotics). Since 2019 we have collaborated extensively with singer Loré Lixenberg. Other key collaborators have included (from Sussex) Ron Chrisley, Ed Hughes, Max Worgan, Steve Symons, Dexter Shepherd, and (from the University of Aalborg, Denmark) Elizabeth Jochum. Our book chapter Towards Embodied AI: Design Approaches for Robots in Opera (Jochum et al, 2025) was published by Routledge in Cultural Technologies: Robots and Artificial Intelligence in the Performing Arts.