The Mastersingers of Nuremberg (7^th February – 10^th March 2015)

ENO Music Director Edward Gardner will lead the outstanding ENO Chorus and Orchestra alongside an exceptional cast in these performances of Wagner’s epic masterpiece.

In a spectacular staging by director Richard Jones, Wagner’s only comic opera explores the tension between artistic creativity and conformity as it is played out in a society obsessed by rules and regulations.

From the ever-popular overture’s magisterial opening bars, Wagner’s score is full of glorious melodies and stirring choruses, revealing the composer at the height of his musical and dramatic powers.

The Mastersingers of Nuremberg opens on the 7^th February for 8 performances. Tickets are available at eno.org / 020 7845 9300

The Indian Queen (26^th February – 14^th March 2015)

ENO’s director in residence Peter Sellars presents a newly contextualised version of Purcell’s The Indian Queen, which describes the first contact between Europeans and the Mayans of the New World from the perspective of the women who forged a new society.

Sellars takes Purcell’s glorious but incomplete score and incorporates some of the composer’s most ravishing sacred and secular pieces, adding vibrant set designs from graffiti artist Gronk and a text based on Nicaraguan author Rosario Aguilar’s novel The Lost Chronicles of Terra Firma.

The result is an astonishing spectacle of music, theatre, dance, literature and visual art that promises both an exceptional musical and theatrical experience.

The Indian Queen opens on the 26^th February for 8 performances. Tickets are available at eno.org / 020 7845 9300

Between Worlds (11^th April – 25^th April 2015)

This groundbreaking world premiere, performed at the Barbican, is a sensitive, spiritual and uplifting journey inspired by the events of 9/11. The highly anticipated first opera from British composer Tansy Davies, Between Worlds will be directed by critically acclaimed opera and theatre director Deborah Warner,

A disparate group of individuals is trapped high up in one of the Twin Towers, caught between earth and heaven, between life and death.Between Worlds will provide a unique insight to the tragedy and the human experiences of those affected by it.

Between Worlds opens at the Barbican on the 11^th April for 8 performances. Tickets are available at eno.org / 020 7845 9300

The Pirates of Penzance (9^th May – 27^th June 2015)

Fresh from the major success of his celebrated film Mr Turner, film-making legend Mike Leigh will make his opera directing debut with this eagerly anticipated new production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s sparkling comic masterpiece.

In a hilarious production where comedy and romance combine with surprising twists and turns, The Pirates of Penzance leads us into a swashbuckling world of orphaned pirates, flat-footed policemen and beautiful women.

The Pirates of Penzance opens on the 9^th May for 14 performances. Broadcast as part of ENO Screen on 19^th May. Tickets are available at eno.org / 020 7845 9300

Garsington Opera is delighted to announce that it has been commissioned by Arts Council England in partnership with East Lindsey District Council to deliver an exciting programme of free opera throughout the country.

Arts Council England has approved £750,000 for the Opera for All programme which will deliver free public screenings, together with extensive education projects, from Garsington Opera. The screenings will take place in the North, South East, South West and Midlands, including East Lindsey. A large-scale programme of education and outreach work is firmly integrated with the digital free public screenings and will provide ground breaking opportunities for communities to be involved in creating and learning about opera.

The project will be delivered through members of the Coastal Communities Alliance (CCA), which has identified areas of low engagement with the arts for the project to target, remaining a key strategic partner for the delivery of the programme.    The project will establish a new network of touring partners through the Coastal Communities Alliance in areas with little existing access to live performance, enabling high quality art to continue to be presented in these regions after the initial three-year period.

In 2012, Offenbach’s La Périchole was broadcast live to Skegness from Garsington Opera, with Sir Terry Wogan as compere. Following this success, in 2013 the SO Festival presented a relay of Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel and in 2014 Offenbach’s Vert-Vert, both from Garsington Opera. Educational projects took place in support of these free screens.

Douglas Boyd, Artistic Director said:

“We are thrilled that Arts Council England is supporting the Opera for All project, which will be delivered in partnership with East Lindsey District Council and the Coastal Communities Alliance. To be able to reach new audiences through extensive education work and free opera screenings in areas that have limited engagement with the arts is vital and will have an enormous impact in the various communities who will participate in the project, as well as for access to opera and the arts nationwide.

This news comes at an exciting time in Garsington Opera’s development as we continue to strive for the very highest quality of production and performance in our award-winning new opera house at Wormsley. We are passionate about sharing our work with the widest possible audience and both this project and the continued work of our brilliant education team clearly demonstrates that what we do off the platform is as important as what we do on it.