Brighton Chamber Choir, Jane Money, conductor
Saturday 16 March 7.30pm
Mozart: Te Deum in C; Vesperae Solennes de Dominica K321; Requiem
Baermann: Adagio for Clarinet & Strings
St Paul’s Church, West Street, BN1 2RG
Dame Felicity Lott in Concert
Wednesday 13 March 7.30pm Brighton & Hove School BN1 3AT
in aid of Springboard Festival
British director Carrie Cracknell makes her ENO debut with a new production of Berg’s twentieth century masterpiece Wozzeck
Opening Saturday 11 May, 7.30pm (6 performances)
A landmark production of Berg’s early twentieth-century masterpiece opens at the London Coliseum. Reflecting the breadth and diversity of the programme for which ENO won an Olivier Award, the company continues to engage with exciting creatives from across the arts. This production marks the opera directing debut of acclaimed British theatre director Carrie Cracknell. ENO Music Director Edward Gardner conducts a strong cast featuring a mix of British and international talent including Leigh Melrose, Tom Randle and James Morris.
Carrie Cracknell, an Associate Director of the Young Vic, was Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre from 2007 to 2012 where she directed numerous productions, including the South Bank Show Award nominated I Am Falling (2008) and collaborated with companies such as Sadler’s Wells and Headlong Theatre. Her recent production of A Doll’s House at the Young Vic Theatre earned her a nomination for Evening Standard’s Best New Director Award, and was hailed as ‘An intense emotional thriller’ (Sunday Express) and ‘a riveting production of Ibsen’s classic…’ (Financial Times). The production is being revived at the Young Vic in April 2013.
Often described as the most important and influential opera of the twentieth century Wozzeck was first performed by Berlin State Opera in 1925. Adapted from George Büchner’s play, Wozzeck charts a man’s decent into insanity, murder and self-destruction. This production will be the first staging of the opera by ENO in 25 years. The creative team includes set designer Tom Scutt, costume designer Naomi Wilkinson, and lighting designer Jon Clark.
Known for his outstanding repertoire of both classic and contemporary operatic works and following on from his performance as Wozzeck at last year’s Salzburg Festival, Leigh Melrose returns to ENO to sing the title role in this new production. After his ‘outstanding’ (The Express) appearance as Ulysses in Benedict Andrew’s The Return of Ulysses, Tom Randle sings the part of The Captain, with Bryan Register as The Drum-Major. Making his role debut as The Doctor is legendary bass/baritone James Morris in what will be his first performance in the UK in 17 years. The cast is complete with Adrian Dwyer as Andres, Andrew Greenan and James Cleverton as First and Second Workmen and Clare Presland as Margret. Making her UK debut is American soprano Sara Jakubiak as Marie.
Wozzeck opens at the London Coliseum on 11 May 2013 for 6 performances – May 11, 13, 15, 23, 25 (7.30pm) and May 18 (6.30pm)
Pre-performance talk, Monday 13 May 5.15- 6.00pm, £5/£2.50 concessions.
New production supported by George and Patti White
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Garsington Opera’s third season in its award winning Opera Pavilion on the spectacular Wormsley Estate, features the UK premiere of Rossini’s tragic drama Maometto secondo, Mozart’s masterpiece, Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Humperdinck’s magical Hänsel und Gretel. The expanded season, with three extra performances, runs from 7 June – 20 July, and also includes two show screen relays of Hänsel und Gretel and Die Entführung aus dem Serail to the beach at Skegness and Louth in Lincolnshire. It will culminate in Garsington Opera’s first large scale community opera at Wormsley.
Newcomers to Garsington Opera this year include the young theatre and opera director Edward Dick (directing the Rossini), and Leipzig’s First Kapellmeister William Lacey (conducting the Mozart), while 2013 sees the return of a number of singers, conductors, directors and designers that have helped build the company’s reputation. Garsington Opera continues its policy of seeking out talented young principal singers, some making their UK debut, to work alongside more established artists. The distinguished Garsington Opera Orchestra, many of whom have been with the company since its early days, will be joined by the Garsington Opera Chorus.
MAOMETTO SECONDO
Arguably Rossini’s most ambitious and radical work, Maometto secondo, set in Venice, tells the story of an impossible love, and struggles between the Christian and Islamic World. We welcome back two major interpreters of Rossini’s music to lead these performances, conductor David Parry and tenor Paul Nilon (Paolo Erisso). Bass-baritone Darren Jeffery sings the title role and the pivotal role of Anna is sung by the young Welsh soprano Siân Davies, making her UK debut, having trained in the US and recently made her New York City Opera debut. Caitlin Hulcup (Calbo), Christopher Diffey (Selimo) and Richard Dowling (Condulmiero) complete the cast. Edward Dick, whose work includes the acclaimed Aldeburgh production of The Rape of Lucrezia and Tarik O’Reagan’s Heart of Darkness, directs with designs by Robert Innes Hopkins.
HÄNSEL UND GRETEL
Wormsley’s woodland setting provides the perfect backdrop for Humperdinck’s folk tale Hänsel und Gretel . Rising Irish star Anna Devin sings Hänsel and Claudia Huckle Gretel. The well-known William Dazeley sings the role of Father, Susan Bickley tackles the fiendishly challenging role of The Witch, Yvonne Howard sings Mother and Ruth Jenkins is Dew Fairy. The cast includes a children’s chorus of eighteen from Trinity Boys School, Croydon. The team responsible for many Garsington Opera triumphants, Martin André (conductor), Olivia Fuchs (director) and Niki Turner (designer), return.
DIE ENTFUHRÜNG AUS DEM SERAIL
Mozart’s Die Enthürung aus dem Serail tells the story of a besotted man who discovers that love is the one thing that money can’t buy. The production features Norman Reinhardt (Belmonte) making his UK debut, joined by the Texan soprano Rebecca Nelsen (Konstanze), who in 2010 stepped in to the lead role of Il turco in Italia at short notice to great acclaim, Matthew Rose who made his world stage debut at Garsington Opera in 2003 sings Osmin and Mark Wilde Pedrillo. Swedish soprano Susanna Andersson (Blonde) completes the cast. Daniel Slater returns to direct, having brought a thrilling contemporary edge to the 2012 production of Don Giovanni and Francis O’Connor is the designer. Making his Garsington Opera debut is conductor William Lacey who is First Kapellmeister at Leipzig Opera, a position once held by Gustav Mahler.
COMMUNITY OPERA ROAD RAGE
Garsington Opera’s first community opera will have over 180 people on stage, ranging from very young school children to senior citizens drawn from the local community. They will work alongside professional opera singers, musicians from the Southbank Sinfonia, directors, designers, choreographers, stage managers and technicians. Richard Stilgoe, co-writer of Starlight Express and Cats, brings his wit and political satire to a quirky script with protest at its core. Together with composer Orlando Gough’s fast moving and rhythmic score, the commission promises to be lively funny and captivating. This is Garsington Opera’s first commission.
PUBLIC BOOKING OPENS 15 APRIL 2013 Tel 01865 361636 www.garsingtonopera.org
CALENDAR
Die Entführung aus dem Serail 7, 9, 15, 19, 22*, 25 June, 1, 6 July 6.20pm
Maometto secondo 8, 10, 16*, 20, 26, 28 June, 2, 4, 10 July 5.45pm
Hänsel und Gretel 23, 27, 29 June, 5, 7*, 9, 11 July 6.35pm *pre-performance talk 4.15pm
Community Opera Road Rage 19 July 7.30pm; 20 July 2.30pm & 7.30pm
After only two years in their new home at Wormsley on the Buckinghamshire/ Oxfordshire border, the first large scale community opera will be performed in the Opera Pavilion in July 2013 as part of the Garsington Opera season. Over 180 people will be on stage, ranging from school children to senior citizens drawn from the local diverse community working alongside professional opera singers, musicians, directors, designers, choreographers, stage managers and technicians. This is the first time an opera has been commissioned by Garsington Opera.
The satirist, Richard Stilgoe, co-writer of Starlight Express and Cats, together with composer Orlando Gough, has been commissioned to create an hour long opera. A funny, quirky and political piece has now been created after initial workshops held in local primary and secondary schools as well as with an adult group, where themes and ideas were explored, Richard Stilgoe said:
“One minute you are on the M40 being dive bombed by red kites; the next you are in the peace and beauty of Wormsley, surrounded by ancient trees. This contrast has been our starting point in which a community (village) stands up and sits down for what it believes in. Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire must feel it has been singled out for transport schemes – the Romans built the Icknield Way through it, the Georgians dug the Grand Union Canal, the 20th century drove the motorway through the chalk hills and the 21st century threatens HS2. We took this idea to the groups we visited and their reactions were diverse and powerfully expressed. So this is a story about how a huge road scheme divides a community not only physically but socially, as they battle over the appropriate level of protest and deal with internal arguments, incoming professional protestors, rent-a-crowd and the media. How do you use the village’s people, wildlife and archaeology to prevent or alter the government’s plans? If and when the road is built, will life in the village ever be the same? Meanwhile, watching this and interested only in whether the new road will bring more food, are the red kites”.
Composer Orlando Gough said: “The culmination of all the lively local workshops with many different ages over the past year is the creation of a jazzy, fun piece for our talented and diverse group including characterful solo lines for amateurs singing alongside and sometimes with professional singers, challenging choruses written in three parts, a smattering of rapping red kites and songs appropriate for charming golden crested newts and Chiltern-loving animals.”
Taster workshops for teenagers and adults as well as workshops in participating school throughout Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire continue prior to the start of weekly rehearsals in March.
The project will enable those who have little or no experience of live performance to become involved either as performers, technicians or audience. The total number of people benefiting from the project will be over 2,600. In addition to the opera chorus of primary school children, young people and adults, the project will also involve 50 backstage volunteers working as project assistants, programme sellers, car park attendants, chaperones and ushers; they will be supported by a fully professional production team. Others from the local community who will be involved are the audience of 1,800 together with a further 600 children and adults involved in the dress rehearsal as well as other students in the schools involved.
Garsington Opera Education has been running projects and forming partnerships with local schools and organisations for many years. Since their recent move to Wormsley they have concentrated on their new locality establishing firm links with the community. This will be the first time that Garsington Opera Education has presented such a major event. It will be part of the 2013 season and taking place in the award winning Opera Pavilion on 19 & 20 July. www.garsingtonopera.org
ARTISTS INVOLVED
Librettist Richard Stilgoe Composer Orlando Gough
Director Karen Gillingham Designer Rhiannon Newman Brown
Vocal Director Lea Cornthwaite Opera Singers Garsington Opera
InstrumentalistsSouthbank Sinfonia Conductor Susanna Stranders
Barbican presents The English Concert and Les Talens Lyriques:
Handel Radamisto – 10 February 2013; Lully Phaëton – 8 March 2013
Renowned for its commitment to historically-informed performances of Baroque music, the Barbican’s classical music season in Spring 2013 features two of the finest interpreters of the Baroque and Classical music repertoire: The English Concert with Artistic Director Harry Bicket; and Les Talens Lyriques, under the directorship of Christophe Rousset. Both present concert performances of lesser-known gems of the operatic repertoire, with a prestigious cast of singers.
On 10 February, Harry Bicket conducts The English Concert in a rare UK performance of Handel’s Radamisto. The story of desire, dictatorship and personal infatuation at the court of the Armenian King Tiridate is the first of a collection of operas that Handel wrote for the newly-founded Royal Academy of Music. Despite being given its premiere at the King’s Theatre, London in 1720, modern revivals have been reasonably scarce, something The English Concert is rectifying; Radamisto forms the main focus of its current season.
Recognised as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world and celebrated for its inspiring performances of Baroque and Classical repertoire, The English Concert celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2013. The Barbican performance will see the ensemble joined by a stellar cast of regular collaborators including the American countertenor David Daniels in the title role of Radamisto, English soprano Elizabeth Watts, as well as Patricia Bardon, Luca Pisaroni and Brenda Rae.
The following month, distinguished French conductor and harpsichordist Christophe Rousset and his Baroque ensemble Les Talens Lyriques continue their exploration of forgotten masterpieces with a fresh interpretation and first UK performance of Lully’s Phaëton – the story of the son of Helios, the Sun God (8 March).
Christophe Rousset has a special affinity with Lully and his exciting performances have done much to revive appreciation of this influential composer. In the UKpremiere at the Barbican, he champions this revival of Lully’s tragédie lyrique with a cast that includes Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Ingrid Perruche, Isabelle Druet, Sophie Bevan, Andrew Foster-Williams, Matthew Brook and Benoît Arnould.
For more information, please see the Barbican’s website:
The English Concert / Bicket – Radamisto, 10 February 2013: http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=13052
Les Talens Lyriques / Rousset – Phaëton, 8 March 2013: http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=13058
ENO to stage the UK premiere of Philip Glass’s new opera The Perfect American, directed by Phelim McDermott
ENO’s commitment to staging highly original, theatrical work, with collaborations across artistic disciplines continues with the staging of the much anticipated UK premiere of The Perfect American by Philip Glass, directed by Phelim McDermott. Author and screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer’s libretto, based on Peter Stephen Jungk’s novel, is a factional story about Walt Disney during the final years of his life, narrated by cartoonist Wilhelm Dantine, who worked for Disney in the 1950s. British conductor Gareth Jones makes his ENO debut with an impressive cast featuring Christopher Purves as Walt Disney.
One of the world’s most influential composers of operas, symphonies, compositions for his own ensemble and collaborations with artists, Glass’s latest opera, his twenty-forth, was commissioned by ENO and Teatro Real Madrid to mark his 75th birthday and will receive its world premiere in Madrid in January 2013. Glass is perhaps best known for his film work. A three-time Academy Award Nominee and BAFTA award winner, he has received accolades for his film scores to Kundun (1997), Notes on a Scandal (2006) and The Hours (2002) which also received nominations for Golden Globe and Grammy Awards. His operas include Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, Akhnaten, and The Voyage.
British director Phelim McDermott, Artistic Director and co-founder of Improbable Theatre Company, returns to ENO to stage his second Philip Glass opera. McDermott made his ENO debut in 2005 with ENO’s production of Glass’s Satyagraha, a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera New York, where it was subsequently staged. The Guardian described it as ‘an astonishingly beautiful work, and The Times ‘a masterwork of theatrical intensity and integrity’. Completing the creative team is lighting designer Jon Clark and designer Dan Porta, whose acclaimed work on leading international events and costumes includes the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games ceremony.
Conductor Gareth Jones, a frequent collaborator with Bryn Terfel, and founder and Artistic Director of Sinfonia Cymru, was a member of the music staff at Welsh National Opera from 1990 – 2008. Previously he has conducted at Bregenz Festival and Vancouver Opera. This will be his ENO debut.
The Perfect American opens at the London Coliseum on 1 June 2013 for 9 performances – June 1, 6, 8, 13, 17, 20, 25, 27, 28 (7.30pm)
An Opera Undressed performance of The Perfect American will take place on Thursday 13 June. See www.eno.org/undress for more information.
In 2013-14 the Academy of Ancient Music will present its first London season exclusively at the Barbican, thereby becoming a central part of one of the world’s most vibrant artistic communities. Alongside large-scale performances in the Barbican Hall, the AAM gives five concerts at Milton Court Concert Hall, the Guildhall School’s new building, and latest addition to the growing ‘cultural quarter’ in the heart of the City of London. With a capacity of 608 seats the concert hall is the perfect venue for intimate baroque and classical performances.
The 40th anniversary season, led by Music Director Richard Egarr, displays the breadth of the AAM’s music making: starting at the dawn of the baroque with a stellar-cast performance of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607), and ending in the nineteenth century with Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 9 (1824). Along the way the AAM surveys the music of JS Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn and Mozart, and unearths lesser-known works of the composers of the Bach dynasty.
Highlights from the season include:
The AAM’s first London season exclusively at the Barbican, with concerts in the Barbican Hall and Milton Court Concert Hall which opens in September 2013
Handel Radamisto – 10 February 2013, 6:30pm
Lully Phaëton – 8 March 2013, 7pm
Barbican Centre, London, UK
Renowned for its commitment to historically-informed performances of Baroque music, the Barbican’s classical music season in Spring 2013 features two of the finest interpreters of the Baroque and Classical music repertoire: The English Concert with Artistic Director Harry Bicket; and Les Talens Lyriques, under the directorship of Christophe Rousset. Both present concert performances of lesser-known gems of the operatic repertoire, with a prestigious cast of singers.
On 10 February, Harry Bicket conducts The English Concert in a rare UK performance of Handel’s Radamisto. The story of desire, dictatorship and personal infatuation at the court of the Armenian King Tiridate is the first of a collection of operas that Handel wrote for the newly-founded Royal Academy of Music. Despite being given its premiere at the King’s Theatre, London in 1720, modern revivals have been reasonably scarce, something The English Concert is rectifying; Radamisto forms the main focus of its current season.
Recognised as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world and celebrated for its inspiring performances of Baroque and Classical repertoire, The English Concert celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2013. The Barbican performance will see the ensemble joined by a stellar cast of regular collaborators including the American counter-tenor David Daniels in the title role of Radamisto, English soprano Elizabeth Watts, as well as Patricia Bardon, Luca Pisaroni and Brenda Rae.
The following month, distinguished French conductor and harpsichordist Christophe Rousset and his Baroque ensemble Les Talens Lyriques continue their exploration of forgotten masterpieces with a fresh interpretation and first UK performance of Lully’s Phaëton – the story of the son of Helios, the Sun God (8 March).
Lully composed Phaëton when he was fifty years old, at the height of his fame and the peak of his abilities. He was commissioned by Louis XIV (the Sun King) to establish French Opera at the Palace of Versailles and this allegorical tale of the upstart hero Phaëton enjoyed great success at its premiere in January 1683, with following performances including the first opera to be performed in Avignon (1687), at the original Opéra de Lyon (1688) and Rouen (1689). Originally conceived as a theatre work, Phaëton is characterised by the variety of its musical language, splendid choral passages, and increasingly colourful orchestral writing.
Christophe Rousset has a special affinity with Lully and his exciting performances have done much to revive appreciation of this influential composer. In the UK premiere at the Barbican, he champions this revival of Lully’s tragédie lyrique with a cast that includes Emiliano Gonzalez Toro , Ingrid Perruche, Isabelle Druet, Sophie Bevan, Andrew Foster-Williams, Matthew Brook and Benoît Arnould.
International Associate Residency at the Barbican
13–17 March 2013
Supported by the SHM Foundation and the City Bridge Trust
A highly anticipated event in the Barbican’s classical music spring season is the first international associate residency from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. The residency takes place from 13–17 March 2013 and will include three major concerts of 20th and 21th century music, masterclasses, an open rehearsal conducted by Dudamel involving young musicians and teachers from Los Angeles and East London, and an international symposium.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, one of the Barbican’s five international associates, performs three concerts during the residency featuring three European premieres. On 14 March the first two European premieres – Graffiti, a new, Barbican co-commissioned work by Unsuk Chin, and Joseph Pereira ’s Concerto for Percussion and Chamber Orchestra – are performed by the LA Phil New Music Group and Dudamel as part of a Green Umbrella concert. Green Umbrella is the Philharmonic’s innovative new music series, and the concert also includes John Adams’ Son of Chamber Symphony.
On 16 March the residency continues with the orchestra and Dudamel giving the European premiere of John Adams’s new oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary to a libretto by Peter Sellars, who also directs the performance. Also a Barbican co-commission, the work is based on the New Testament stories of Lazarus and the Passion of Christ, contextualized with excerpts from the memoir of social activist Dorothy Day and poetry by Hildegard von Bingen and by Latin American writers. The Gospel According to the Other Mary was written as a companion piece to the nativity oratorio El Niño, a previous John Adams/Peter Sellars collaboration that presented Biblical tales through contemporary verse. The final concert of the residency on 17 March sees Dudamel conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Claude Vivier’s Zipangu, Debussy’s La Mer and a complete orchestral performance of Stravinsky’s Firebird.
The education focus of the residency is an international symposium Future Play: music systems in the 21st century presented by the Barbican and the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 13-15 March. Bringing together some of the world’s top music institutions, leading artists and educationalists, the symposium explores the impact and need for ensembles, venues and conservatoires in today’s society, and the crucial role they could play in our future cultural landscape. The symposium, which will be opened by John Adams, also includes a keynote speech from director Peter Sellars and panel discussions chaired by Sir Nicholas Kenyon (Managing Director, Barbican Centre) and Deborah Borda (President and CEO, Los Angeles Philharmonic Association). It takes place in partnership with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Take a Stand initiative – a partnership of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Longy School of Music and Bard College.
The three-day symposium culminates on 15 March in Discover Dudamel, an open rehearsal in the Barbican Theatre. Audience members can witness Gustavo Dudamel rehearsing a mixed-ability orchestra of 100 young people from across London and Los Angeles in Tchaikovsky’s fantasy overture Romeo and Juliet. The young instrumentalists come from the LA Phil’s Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA), from the Barbican Young Orchestra, from the Music Hubs of Tower Hamlets, Barking & Dagenham and Hackney in East London, from Junior Guildhall, and from the Centre for Young Musicians.
Between the concerts, members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will give masterclasses to musicians from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. The sessions on 15 March at the School are open to the public (free but ticketed) and feature a trombone class led by Nitzan Haroz, a harp class led by Lou Anne Neill, a French horn class led by Andrew Bain, and a cello class led by Robert deMaine.
To complement the performances, Barbican Cinema will screen the UK premiere of Mark Kidel’s documentary Road Movie, a Portrait of John Adams on 16 March, and on 17 March one of the most ambitious live recordings ever made: Dudamel Live from Caracas, in which Gustavo Dudamel conducts 1,400 performers from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.
