The Brighton Phil is delighted to welcome international pianist Freddy Kempf to Brighton Dome for the second concert in their 2018/19 season, for a programme of music by Rossini, Beethoven and Dvo?ák.

The concert opens with the overture to Rossini’s opera Semiramide, of which the orchestra’s Artistic Administrator Ian Brignall says: “This is full of tunes, it’s an orchestral showcase – everybody will be smiling at the end of this.” Conductor Freddy Kempf agrees: “The opera is not so well known but I think everyone will recognise the overture. It’s been used in many Hollywood films, so people will definitely recognise the melodies. And as is typical with Rossini, although it’s not the most intricate writing, yet it’s so effective. It will really set the scene for the concert.”

Then Freddy will perform Beethoven’s dramatic Piano Concerto No.3 whilst directing the orchestra from the keyboard. This is a real favourite of his: “I love the Romanticism in the slow movement. I feel that he’s written it almost as an improvisation because there are a lot of incomplete things in the score, so I’m trying to improvise a little bit. And the fact that there isn’t a conductor there makes it a little easier for us because a lot of the time the orchestral players can pretty much sense what the soloist is doing and this way I don’t have to communicate that to a conductor to sort of reinforce that to the orchestra, so it should work really well. I remember when I was a lot younger and learning pieces for the first time I loved the Emperor [piano concerto] probably the most and now that I’ve played them all, now more and more I tend to love this third piano concerto.”

The concert closes with Dvo?ák’s Seventh Symphony which Freddy is looking forward to conducting: “This is probably my favourite Dvo?ák symphony and I’m really delighted to be able to do it in this concert. I love the way he incorporates so many folk melodies and folk rhythms, especially dances. I want to bring out what the strings can do, but I also want to concentrate on that dance aspect. I feel emotionally very close to Dvo?ák even though he didn’t write a mature piano concerto, and he didn’t really write anything for solo piano, he just used it in chamber music, so it’s a great way for me to experience Dvo?ák.”

Tickets are £12.50-£39.50 (50% student/U18 discount) from Brighton Dome Ticket Office, (01273) 709709, www.brightondome.org

Discounted parking (just £6) available at NCP Church Street Car Park between 1-6pm

Sunday 11 November 2018, 2.45pm

Concert sponsored in memory of Philip Wilford

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Freddy Kempf Piano/Director

RossInI Overture: Semiramide

Beethoven Piano Concerto No.3 in C Minor Op.37

Dvo?ák Symphony No.7 in D Minor Op.70

One of the great landmarks of twentieth century music theatre, featuring some of the most iconic genre-straddling music ever written, Porgy and Bess will in October be presented in a new production for the first time in English National Opera’s history. Rarely seen in a full operatic staging, this is the first such major new production of George Gershwin’s masterpiece seen in London since the 1980s.

James Robinson, Artistic Director at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, will direct this, a co-production by ENO, Dutch National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. The 1935 “folk opera” will be presented anew in a realistic and hard-hitting account of life in the African-American communities of the 20^th century Deep South. Baritone Eric Greene and Soprano Nicole Cabell take the title roles with one of the most popular conductors at work in the UK today, John Wilson, making his house debut.

Porgy and Bess tells the story of disabled beggar Porgy and his love for Bess as he tries to rescue her from the influence of her abusive lover Crown. With songs including “Summertime” and “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin” and “I Loves You Porgy”, material from the opera has been reinterpreted by jazz and popular singers for decades.

The ensemble of 40 singers, portraying the residents of Catfish Row, were specially brought together for the project, and will also appear with Dutch National Opera for the performances in 2019. This ensemble will join ENO’s own Chorus for the performances of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem later in the season.

Celebrating the company’s ongoing work with young people and the community, young people from the ENO Baylis youth programme will sing on stage of the London Coliseum on 27 October at 6.15pm before the performance of Porgy and Bess. Chief Executive Officer Stuart Murphy comments:

“As ENO continues to grow and more clearly demonstrate our public value, ENO Baylis will become an ever more significant part of what we do. I am delighted that, for the first time, an ENO Baylis performance will take place just before a performance on main stage. We need ENO to continue to be daring and try new things. It’s why we are here and is what makes us different.”

American baritone Eric Greene sings Porgy, in his second performance at ENO after his ‘truly inspiring’ (Bachtrack) Janitor in Between Worlds in 2015. Other performances in London include his ‘genuine tour de force’ (The Guardian) as Martin Carter in the premiere of The Knife of Dawn at the Roundhouse in 2016.

Bess is sung by soprano Nicole Cabell, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2005, who makes her ENO debut. Much in demand around the world: ‘hers is among the most alluring voices around’ (Opera Magazine), she last sang Bess with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2016.

Soprano Latonia Moore, who makes a very welcome return to ENO after her much-lauded debut in the title role of 2017’s Aida (‘a glorious performance’ – The Arts Desk), sings the bereaved Serena. Crown is sung by Grammy Award-winning baritone Nmon Ford in his ENO debut.

Brixton-born soprano Nadine Benjamin makes her ENO debut as Clara, also marking her debut as an ENO Harewood Artist. A fast-rising operatic star, she sang the Countess in ETO’s The Marriage of Figaro earlier in 2018. She will return to sing Musetta in La bohème later in the season.

American tenor Frederick Ballentine sings the dope peddler Sportin’ Life in his UK debut. In his native US he is a Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist. Donovan Singletary sings Jake, formerly praised as ‘excellent’ (Opera News) in the role when he performed it for Seattle Opera in 2011.

Chaz’men Williams-Ali sings Robbins and Tichina Vaughan sings Maria in their ENO debuts. Peter is sung by Ronald Samm, known for singing the title role inOtello for Birmingham Opera Company and Opera North, also in his ENO debut.

James Robinson is Artistic Director at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, known in the US for his much-praised productions of John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer (2011) and Nixon in China (2004), the latter of which has toured across the country. His prolific output in the US has led to his being called ‘one of the busiest men in opera’ by Opera News. We are delighted that James is making his UK debut with English National Opera.

English conductor John Wilson takes to the pit for his house debut with the ENO Orchestra. Best known at the head of the John Wilson Orchestra, his performances of Gershwin have been called ‘the greatest show on earth’ by The Spectator. The JWO has been a fixture of the Proms for years, garnering numerous five-star reviews.

The set design is by double Tony Award-winner Michael Yeargan, whose recent London credits include Oslo, The King and I and ENO’s Two Boys. Lighting design is by Donald Holder, also a double Tony Award-winner for his lighting designs for The Lion King (1998) and South Pacific (2008).

Choreography is by Dianne McIntyre, a legend of American dance whose career spans 50 years of Broadway, West End, and dance productions across the US. Winner of numerous awards and fellowships, she is known for her pioneering of African-American theatre alongside Ntozake Shange in for colored girls…. in which she helped develop the choreopoem form.

Porgy and Bess opens on Thursday 11 October at 7.30pm at the London Coliseum for 14 performances: 11, 17, 19, 24, 26, 29, 31 October and 08, 14 November at 7.30pm, 13 and 27 October and 10 November at 6.30pm, and 03 and 17 November at 3pm

500 tickets for £20 or less are available for each performance. Tickets start from £12*.

Welsh National Opera is delighted to announce the appointment of Aidan Lang as the new General Director following an extensive recruitment process.

British born Lang is currently General Director of Seattle Opera, a role he has occupied since 2014. He will take up his new position in July 2019, reporting directly to the Chair and Board.

Chair of WNO’s board Mark Molyneux said “The Board of WNO are delighted with the appointment of Aidan Lang as our General Director.  We conducted an extensive, global search and were exceptionally pleased with the calibre of candidates, which reflects well on the leading reputation of the Company.  Aidan stood out, with both his deep artistic credentials as well as proven leadership skills, and we look forward enormously to working with him. The experience that Aidan brings to WNO will build on the Company’s world-wide reputation for achieving the highest artistic standards, bold and innovative productions and a wide-ranging youth and community programme. As the UK’s largest touring opera company WNO is a resourceful and imaginative company and we believe we have found a leader who embodies these qualities and is equipped to undertake ambitious plans for the future. We look forward to him building a great working relationship with all of our strong leadership team.”

During his tenure as General Director at Seattle Opera, Aidan Lang has forged new partnerships across the opera industry, including co-productions with Washington National Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Queensland and New Zealand Opera. He also launched the first of several critically acclaimed chamber operas designed to showcase operas in a new light, especially those that have a direct connection to social conversations happening today. The company has greatly expanded the range of its youth and adult programmes, and its audience for mainstage performances has increased from 67,000 in his first season to 85,000 in the season just completed. Millennial audiences have nearly quadrupled during this period and 40% of Seattle Opera ticket buyers are now under the age of 50. He has also overseen the development and fundraising efforts for the company’s new administration and rehearsal home, which is due to open in December this year.

Boldly feminine interpretation of Richard Strauss’s Salome launches ENO’s 2018/19 Season

Opens Friday 28 September at 7.30pm (7 performances)

 Continuing English National Opera’s long tradition of reimagining the operatic canon in daring new ways, the 2018/19 Season opens with a production of Richard Strauss’s Salome retelling the biblical tale from a radical feminine perspective. Acclaimed Australian director Adena Jacobs makes her UK debut with an all-female creative team, excavating the themes of violence, sexuality and power from Oscar Wilde’s story and presenting them in a shockingly contemporary light. Allison Cook, one of the UK’s most exciting interpreters of 20^th century repertoire, makes her role debut as the titular princess.

This dreamlike journey through Salome’s psyche, evoked with powerful abstract visual images, shows a claustrophobic space in which female desire replicates the violence of the patriarchal world. ENO Music Director Martyn Brabbins takes the conductor’s baton in his third production as Music Director.

Adena Jacobs is the Artistic Director of acclaimed Melbourne-based theatre company Fraught Outfit, which seeks to stage classical and biblical stories from a feminine perspective. Previous adaptations have included The Bacchae (‘extraordinary, overwhelming theatre’ – ABC) and The Book of Exodus (‘gobsmacking, brilliant’– The Melbourne Critique). She was Resident Director at Belvoir in Sydney, 2014-15. She comments: “This production of Salome is mythic, feminine and brutally contemporary. Imagined through Salome’s perspective, Strauss’s opera becomes a fever dream, a dark fantasy, and an examination of patriarchal power and control. My approach to Salome is through the lens of trauma; the ways in which cycles of violence have inscribed themselves on to the bodies and psyches of these characters.” 

Martyn Brabbins has emerged as one of the country’s leading conductors. In this, the first season he has fully programmed alongside Artistic Director Daniel Kramer, he will also conduct two more pieces, War Requiem and the world premiere of Iain Bell’s Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel.

Scottish mezzo-soprano Allison Cook, widely acclaimed for her ‘tour-de-force’ (Opera Magazine) performance as the Duchess of Argyll in the 2013 New York City Opera production of Powder Her Face and in the title role as Britten’s Phaedra at the Barbican, makes her ENO debut as well as her role debut in this production.

English bass David Soar sings the prophet Jokanaan, returning to ENO after singing his ‘first-rate’ (The Daily Telegraph) Animal Tamer and Athlete in 2016’sLulu. He also returns to ENO to sing Colline in La bohème later in the autumn. Northern Irish tenor Michael Colvin, previously seen at the Coliseum as the Painter in Lulu and as Bob Boles 2014’s Peter Grimes, sings Herod.

One of ENO’s most admired artists, Susan Bickley, sings Herodias, wife of Herod. Called ‘one of the greatest singers of our time’ (The Spectator), she has been seen on the ENO stage many times, most recently as Paulina in 2017’s premiere of The Winter’s Tale and as Eduige in Rodelinda, also in 2017. British tenor and former Glyndebourne Young Artist Stuart Jackson makes his house debut as Narraboth.

Mezzo-soprano Clare Presland sings Herodias’s page, having given a ‘beautifully considered’ (WhatsonStage) Hermia earlier in 2018 in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The Jews, Soldiers, and Nazarenes ensemble includes members of the award-winning ENO Chorus, continuing an ENO practice of featuring Chorus members in principal roles from the Studio Live programme. The cast is completed by Trevor Bowes as the Cappadocian and Ceferina Penny in her house debut as the Slave.

Multi-award-winning designer Marg Horwell makes her UK debut after a much-lauded career in Australian opera and theatre. Lighting design is by Lucy Carter, whose many awards and plaudits for work including Oil at the Almeida Theatre (2016) and ENO’s own The Dream of Gerontius at the Southbank Centre (2017) have made her one of London’s most sought-after lighting designers. Australian choreographer Melanie Lane completes this all-female creative team.

Salome opens on Friday 28 September at 7.30pm at the London Coliseum for 7 performances: 28 September 3, 6, 12,18, 23 October at 7.30pm and 20 October at 6.30pm.

ENO Studio Live continues with the company’s first ever production of Paul Bunyan at Wilton’s Music Hall, with Simon Russell Beale as the voice of Bunyan

Opens Monday 03 September at 7.30pm at Wilton’s Music Hall (6 performances)

Following the sell-out success of Acis and Galatea in June, ENO continues Studio Live, a programme of work to bring the immense power of opera to more intimate environments, with Benjamin Britten’s Paul Bunyan. In a first for the company, it will perform in the historic setting of Wilton’s Music Hall, the world’s oldest grand music hall and a landmark of East London.

Paul Bunyan, with its libretto by one of England’s greatest poets W.H. Auden, is a retelling of the great American folk tale featuring the titular giant. It is one of Britten’s most eclectic scores, with blues, folk and hymns incorporated into a story of civilisation’s destructive relationship to the ecology around it, and the dangers of the American Dream.

In his first performance with ENO, Olivier Award-winning actor Simon Russell Beale provides the offstage voice of the titular giant. Known as ‘the greatest stage actor of his generation’, (The Independent), Beale’s recorded voiceover stands in for the physical appearance of the lumberjack with the 3.7 mile-stride. He is known for innumerable leading roles on the stage and screen, but also for his voice work: he provided the voice of George Smiley in the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 complete adaptation of John le Carré’s Smiley novels.

ENO Studio Live was begun partly as a showcase for emerging talent at ENO, and Paul Bunyan includes four ENO Harewood Artists, exceptionally talented early-career singers given principal roles as part of their training at ENO.

ENO Harewood Artist Elgan Ll?r Thomas takes the role of Paul’s bookkeeper Johnny Inkslinger, having been praised for his ‘perfectly targeted… demented passion’ (Bachtrack) in his ENO debut in another Britten opera, The Turn of Screw, at Regent’s Park in June. Harewood Artist Rowan Pierce makes her ENO debut as Paul’s daughter Tiny. She will return to ENO to sing Papagena in The Magic Flute in 2019.

Harewood Artists William Morgan and Matthew Durkan sing Tiny’s lover Hot Biscuit Slim and Paul’s antagonistic foreman Hel Helson respectively. Morgan shared the role of Quint with Elgan Ll?r Thomas for The Turn of the Screw. He was also seen last year as Phaeton in the inaugural Studio Live, The Day After.  Durkan has taken a number of roles with ENO in recent years, including Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and Malcolm Fleet in the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie.

Many of the roles are taken by members of the award-winning ENO Chorus, who create the dreamlike ensemble of cooks, cats, dogs and lumberjacks of the great American forest. Bringing Chorus members into principle roles continues a practice from 2017’s Studio Live, and will also be seen in September’s production of Salome at the Coliseum.

Director Jamie Manton is the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of film and theatre production company Duelling Productions. His 2017 production with Studio Live, The Day After, was praised for its ‘impressive conviction’ (The Guardian) and was included in The Observer’s Ten Best Classical Performances of 2017. It was later revived at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Productions that he has worked on as Staff Director at ENO include The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, Tristan and Isolde and The Winter’s Tale.

Designer Camilla Clarke, who also designed The Day After with Manton, is a winner of the 2015 Linbury Prize for Stage Design. Recent credits include Bad Roads (2017) at the Royal Court Theatre with Vicky Featherstone.

Conductor Matthew Kofi Waldren is a Mackerras Fellow at ENO, a programme to provide exceptional emerging conductors with an opportunity to develop their skills. Nominated for Best Newcomer in the 2017 International Opera Awards, he conducted a performance of the The Marriage of Figaro for ENO in April, and was widely praised for his conducting of Opera Holland Park’s La traviata in May (‘extremely strong’ – The Guardian).

Paul Bunyan is the third Britten opera to be performed by ENO in 2018 after A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Turn of Screw, and will be followed by War Requiem in November. The composer has had an association with the company ever since the premiere of Peter Grimes in 1945 by Sadler’s Wells Opera, ENO’s predecessor, and the four productions make up part of the celebrations marking the 50^th anniversary of ENO’s residency at the London Coliseum.

Paul Bunyan opens on Monday 03 September at 7.30pm at Wilton’s Music Hall for 6 performances: 03, 04, 05 and 07 September at 7.30pm and 08 March at 2pm and 7pm.