Alan Pearson's lifelong love of opera began when he heard Richard Wagner's Tannhauser on the radio as a teenager. He is a singer; a bass-baritone who once sang in the 1960s for the Auckland Opera Company however painting became his preferred occupation.  During time spent in London in the 1980s. After attending a performance at Covent Garden, Pearson saw a way of uniting his two loves, painting and opera.  Access was gained to the Royal Opera house interior to draw and, remembering the enjoyment of many performances, he embarked on a series of paintings inspired by the on-stage dramas in his natural, vibrant Expressionism.

The composition in Covent Garden Opera House, focuses on the stage and the balconies with abstract, animated figures that are interlocking intimations of collective joy. The figures move inside and outside the vortex above the stage into spatial time while the lyrically painted cast and audience, depicted in vivid colour, are evocative of the energy emanating from an entertaining performance.