{"id":3373,"date":"2017-01-20T13:45:46","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T13:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=3373"},"modified":"2017-01-20T13:45:46","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T13:45:46","slug":"garsington-opera-announces-extended-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=3373","title":{"rendered":"GARSINGTON OPERA ANNOUNCES EXTENDED SEASON"},"content":{"rendered":"

GARSINGTON OPERA SEASON\u00a0<\/span>
\n1 June to 30 July 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first time in its history, this summer Garsington Opera will present four productions as well as a large community opera.\u00a0 2017 also sees the arrival of the Philharmonia Orchestra<\/strong> for one opera production each season for the next five years. This year the festival offers Handel\u2019s seductive masterpiece\u00a0Semele<\/i><\/strong>,\u00a0Debussy\u2019s enigmatic\u00a0Pell\u00e9as et M\u00e9lisande<\/i>,<\/strong> Mozart\u2019s\u00a0Le nozze di Figaro<\/i>,<\/strong> Rossini\u2019s\u00a0Il turco in Italia<\/strong>\u00a0<\/i>and will conclude with\u00a0Silver Birch<\/i><\/strong>, a large-scale work for a professional cast with local community participants of all ages, commissioned by Garsington Opera, from leading British composer\u00a0Roxanna Panufnik\u00a0<\/b>and librettist\u00a0Jessica Duchen<\/b>. The JLT Group is the season\u2019s sponsor for the fourth consecutive year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As part of the Garsington Opera for All programme, funded by Arts Council England and run in partnership with Magna Vitae,\u00a0Semele<\/i>\u00a0will also be screened free of charge in Skegness, Ramsgate, Burnham-on-Sea and Grimsby.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Semele\u00a0<\/i><\/b>is a love story in which the god Jupiter is captivated by the beauty of the all-too-human Semele; these dramatic and colourful mythological characters inspired Handel\u2019s most memorably beautiful arias.\u00a0The title role will mark the British debut of American sopranoHeidi Stober<\/b>, an established favourite at some of the world\u2019s most important opera houses, including San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna Staatsoper\u00a0 and the Metropolitan Opera, New York.\u00a0 Singing the pivotal role of Jupiter is\u00a0Robert Murray<\/b>\u00a0with\u00a0Christine Rice<\/b>\u00a0singing his spurned wife Juno. They are joined by\u00a0Jurgita Adamonyt?<\/b>\u00a0(Ino),\u00a0David Soar<\/b>\u00a0(Cadmus & Somnus), South African countertenor\u00a0Christopher Ainslie<\/b>\u00a0(Athamas) and Leonard Ingrams Foundation Award winner\u00a0Llio Evans<\/b>\u00a0(Iris).\u00a0 Leading early music specialist\u00a0Jonathan Cohen<\/b>\u00a0will conduct the\u00a0Garsington Opera Orchestra\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Chorus<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Annilese Miskimmon<\/b>, Artistic Director of Norwegian National Opera will direct, in collaboration with designer\u00a0Nicky Shaw<\/b>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pell\u00e9as et M\u00e9lisande,<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Debussy\u2019s only opera, and often considered to be one of the most original in the history of music,\u00a0 is full of shimmering beauty creating a work of intense hypnotic allure.\u00a0It will\u00a0feature established French bass-baritone\u00a0Paul Gay<\/b>\u00a0(Golaud) and two rising stars taking the title roles –\u00a0Jonathan McGovern<\/b>\u00a0(Pell\u00e9as) and American soprano\u00a0Andrea Carroll<\/b>\u00a0(M\u00e9lisande) making her British debut, with\u00a0Brian Bannatyne-Scott<\/b>\u00a0(Arkel) and\u00a0Susan Bickley<\/b>\u00a0(Genevi\u00e8ve).\u00a0Jac van Steen<\/b>\u00a0returns (Strauss\u00a0Intermezzo<\/i>\u00a02015) to conduct the\u00a0Philharmonia Orchestra<\/b>\u00a0in its first year of partnership with Garsington Opera.\u00a0Michael Boyd<\/b>\u00a0(director) together with\u00a0Tom Piper<\/b>(designer) return following their acclaimed production of\u00a0Eugene Onegin<\/i>\u00a0last season.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Il turco in Italia<\/i><\/b>\u00a0will be a revival of Garsington Opera\u2019s joyous 2011 production directed by\u00a0Martin Duncan<\/b>\u00a0with designs by\u00a0Francis O\u2019Connor<\/b>. Three members of the original cast return –\u00a0Mark Stone<\/b>\u00a0as the poet Prosdocimo,\u00a0\u00a0Quirijn de Lang\u00a0<\/b>as\u00a0<\/b>the dashing Turk Selim, and\u00a0Geoffrey Dolton<\/b>\u00a0as the devoted but dull husband Geronio. They are joined by renowned British soprano\u00a0Sarah Tynan<\/b>\u00a0as the dazzling and flirtatious Fiorilla and rising star\u00a0Katie Bray<\/b>\u00a0as Zaida.\u00a0 Italian tenor\u00a0Luciano Botelho<\/b>\u00a0returns as the love-lorn Narciso. Rossini doyen\u00a0 David Parry will conduct the\u00a0Garsington Opera Orchestra and Chorus<\/b>\u00a0in this glittering musical score.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

John Cox\u2019s\u00a0<\/i><\/b>legendary production of\u00a0Le nozze di Figaro<\/i>,\u00a0<\/b>first seen at Garsington Manor in\u00a0<\/i>2005,\u00a0<\/i>will be recreated for the opera pavilion at Wormsley.\u00a0 Written at the height of his genius, this is one of Mozart\u2019s finest works. Australian born\u00a0Joshua Bloom\u00a0<\/b>(Leporello, Don Giovanni<\/i>, 2012) returns to sing the title role with the exciting soprano\u00a0Jennifer France<\/b>\u00a0(Leonard Ingrams Award winner) as Susanna. The Canadian singer\u00a0Kirsten MacKinnon<\/b>\u00a0will make her UK debut as the Countess with\u00a0Duncan Rock<\/b>\u00a0as the Count and\u00a0Marta Fontanals-Simmons<\/b>\u00a0as Cherubino.\u00a0Stephen Richardson<\/b>\u00a0(Bartolo),\u00a0Janis Kelly<\/b>\u00a0(Marcellina), and\u00a0Timothy Robinson<\/b>\u00a0(Basilio) join the vibrant young cast.\u00a0\u00a0Douglas Boyd<\/b>\u00a0will again conduct this highly acclaimed production with the\u00a0Garsington Opera Orchestra\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Chorus.<\/b>\u00a0 In June the principals and chorus of Garsington Opera will travel to\u00a0 the\u00a0Th\u00e9\u00e2tre des Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es in Paris to give\u00a0a semi-staged concert performance of\u00a0Figaro<\/i>\u00a0with the\u00a0Orchestre de Chambre de Paris<\/b>\u00a0conducted by its Music Director\u00a0Douglas Boyd<\/b>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Roxanna Panufnik<\/b>\u2019s\u00a0Silver Birch\u00a0<\/i><\/b>is a commission for\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Garsington Opera’s Learning & Participation programme with\u00a0Jessica Duchen\u00a0<\/b>as librettist. The production will see over 180 community participants aged 8-80, including recruits from the local military community, performing as dancers, singers, actors, instrumentalists, as well as student Foley artists from Cressex Community School under the guidance of Pinewood Studios Sound Designer\u00a0Glen Gathard<\/b>.\u00a0 They will perform alongside favourite Garsington professionals in the cast and orchestra. The story explores the extraordinary power of love within the devastating context of war and makes use of Siegfried Sassoon’s poetry from WW1 (some of which was written while staying at Garsington Manor).\u00a0The creative team is\u00a0Karen Gillingham<\/b>\u00a0director,\u00a0Rhiannon Newman Brown<\/b>\u00a0designer, and Garsington Opera\u2019s Artistic Director\u00a0Douglas Boyd<\/b>\u00a0joins them to conduct.\u00a0 The professional roles will be performed bySam Furness<\/b>\u00a0(Jack),\u00a0Victoria Simmonds<\/b>\u00a0(Anna),\u00a0Darren Jeffery<\/b>\u00a0(Simon),\u00a0Bradley Travis<\/b>\u00a0(Sassoon),\u00a0Sarah Redgwick<\/b>\u00a0(Mrs Morrell) andJames Way\u00a0<\/b>(Davey) and the\u00a0Garsington Opera Orchestra<\/b>\u00a0will be playing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GARSINGTON OPERA SEASON\u00a0 1 June to 30 July 2017 For the first time in its history, this summer Garsington Opera will present four productions as well as a large community opera.\u00a0 2017 also sees the arrival of the Philharmonia Orchestra … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3374,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373\/revisions\/3374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}