Grange Park Opera 2018

st 21 season

ER

19 9

8 – 2 0 18

A

GR

AR GE P K OP N A

Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who can call today his own; He who, secure within, can say, Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

HORACE ODES TRANSLATED BY JOHN DRYDEN

WELCOME

TO WEST HORSLEY PLACE, SURREY 3

When all the involved calculations prove false and the philosophers have nothing more to tell us it is excusable to turn to the random twitter of birds or towards the distant mechanism of the stars THE EMPEROR HADRIAN (76-138 AD) AS SUPPOSED BY MARGUERITE YOURCENAR

RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN

OKLAHOMA! GIUSEPPE VERDI

UN

BALLO

IN

MASCHERA

Sponsored by NEX Group plc

KONSTANTIN BOYARSKY

PUSHKIN

Staged world première Suppor ted by VOLGA GAS, VIASAT WORLD and generous admirers of the great poet

CHARLES GOUNOD

ROMÉO

ET

JULIETTE

With generous support from DAVID & AMANDA LEATHERS with Sir Win & Lady Bischoff

Photography Richard Lewisohn 5

CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD

W

elcome to Grange Park Opera’s 21st season – the second that is being held in our wonderful new home at West Horsley Place.

You will see we have been busy since you were last here. We have undertaken a number of major projects, from the light drawing on the ceiling of the auditorium, to the intricate cross-gartered brickwork on the outside and, of course, our new, permanent Lavatorium Rotundum. I hope you will love what you see, as well as loving what you hear!

Continuing our tradition of mixing musical theatre with well-known, as well as lesser-known, operas, the season opens with Oklahoma!, followed by Un Ballo in Maschera, Roméo et Juliette, and the world’s first staging of Pushkin, a new opera by Konstantin Boyarsky.

I encourage you to make more than one visit if you possibly can.

On the fundraising front, I am delighted to report that our capital campaign has passed the £10 million mark. We need to raise another £2m in order to complete work on the theatre and the surroundings. And we intend to keep going so we can set up a small endowment which will give us a greater degree of financial security and allow us to continue to host more marvelous performances. I am confident that we will get there.

It is always challenging to run a capital campaign whilst also raising money for the operas themselves.

But we seem to have managed it so far and this is largely due to our very loyal sponsors, members and supporters who have continued to show their confidence in us. There is no better example of this than the 14 years of support from Michael Spencer and NEX plc. In addition to contributing to the operas, Michael and NEX made a generous donation to the Capital Appeal.

I would like to thank Dame Vivien Duffield and Sir David Davies, co-chairs of the Capital Appeal, and Jack Rush who has made sure everyone’s efforts are properly coordinated. Joanna Lumley has been a very active patron of the Appeal – sprinkling her magic dust far and wide – and our lead donors, Michael and Hilary Cowan, have played a vital part in getting us to the £10 million mark.

Your involvement and that of other lead donors plus the Circle of Virtuous Enterprise have been central to our success.

Many people work incredibly hard to make this exciting project possible. Wasfi Kani’s vision and drive have been central to the realisation of this dream. Without her, none of this would have been possible.

Bamber and Christina Gascoigne and the trustees of the Mary Roxburghe Trust have been enthusiastic collaborators and I am particularly grateful to them.

With our 99-year lease in place, I feel confident in the knowledge that we have a long-term home for Grange Park Opera. While the quality and variety of our seasons have always made us stand out from other summer festivals, the fact that we are now less than an hour from central London by car, makes us not only a very special experience, but also a very accessible one.

The future has many delights in store including the return of Joseph Calleja, Bryn Terfel and Simon Keenlyside to our stage. Red Butterfly Foundation have helped us create an American Friends programme and Michael Cowan has masterminded a legacy campaign, The Immortals, which we explain later in this Season Book.

There is a lot to look forward to!

Our trustees have shown tremendous diligence.

Hamish Forsyth and Emma Kane stood down after many years of great service and William Garrett played a pivotal role since 2001, as chair of Grange Park Opera, the 2002 Endowment Fund and, most recently, helping steer the ship to calm waters. My thanks to them. I am delighted to report that we have attracted three new trustees: David Kershaw, Keith Weed and Sue Butcher, all of whom are already making a terrific contribution.

On behalf of all the trustees, I congratulate Wasfi and the entire Grange Park Opera team for their extraordinary efforts in getting us to where we are today.

I hope that you thoroughly enjoy our festival.

SIMON FREAKLEY

CHARITY PARTNERS Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People Main Partner Academy of St Martin in the Fields Anthony Nolan Barbican Centre Trust BRIGHT Cancer Care British Youth Opera Cambridge BID Cancer Research UK Child Autism UK Childline & NSPCC Combat Stress Dreamflight GRACE Charity

Greenmead Primary, Prader Willi Syndrome & Rokeby Schools Helford River Children’s Sailing Trust Howard of Effingham School Marymount International School London Polesden Lacey Infant School Polka Theatre Princess Alice Hospice READ College Royal College of Music RNLI in British & Irish Waters Rugby Portobello Trust Saddle Sand Sea

Seenaryo arts & education with refugees in Lebanon Southend Hospital Charity SSAFA the Armed Forces charity The Brain Tumour Charity The Royal British Legion The Opera Awards Foundation The Victoria Foundation Topic of Cancer Providing support and funding Immunotherapy Research Women’s Aid XLP London Youth Charity Young Epilepsy

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IS PROUD TO SUPPORT GRANGE PARK OPERA

WHEN IT REALLY MATTERS. alixpartners.com

Š NEX Group plc 2018. NEX and other service marks and logos are service marks of NEX Group plc and/or one of its group of companies. All rights reserved. Group companies of NEX Group plc are registered as applicable.

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Making every stay unique

S IR ROC C O F ORT E A R RI V I N G AT B ROW N ’ S H OT E L M AY FAI R, LON D ON

ROCCO FORTE HOTELS HOTEL DE ROME BERLIN HOTEL AMIGO BRUSSELS THE BALMORAL EDINBURGH HOTEL SAVOY FLORENCE VILLA KENNEDY FRANKFURT ASSILA HOTEL JEDDAH BROWN’S HOTEL LONDON THE CHARLES HOTEL MUNICH HOTEL DE RUSSIE ROME VERDURA RESORT SICILY HOTEL ASTORIA ST PETERSBURG FUTURE OPENINGS: ROME & SHANGHAI ROCCOFORTEHOTELS.COM

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T H E C A P I TA L S T R E A M Launched in late November 2015, the ÂŁ10m target was achieved in 20 months

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THE

THEATRE IN THE WOODS APPEAL

JOINT CHAIR:

SIR DAVID DAVIES & DAME VIVIEN DUFFIELD

LEAD DONORS MICHAEL & HILARY COWAN z DONORS TO THE GRAND TIER THE WILLIAMS FAMILY z HADRON COLLIDERS

Red Butterfly Foundation Michael & Sarah Spencer Clore Duffield Foundation Ronnie Frost & family William Garrett Geoff & Fiona Squire Foundation David & Linda Lloyd Jones z SPUTNIK THE FIRST ARTIFICIAL EARTH SATELLITE

David & Amanda Leathers John L Pemberton Simon & Meg Freakley Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Ruth Markland William & Kathy Charnley Stephen Gosztony & Sue Butcher Sir Henry & The Hon Lady Keswick Tony & Sarah Bolton Jane & Jonathan Clarke Mark & Louise Seligman Unilever plc The Kirby Laing Foundation

THE

PIONEERS

PATRON JOANNA LUMLEY

TURING

SOPWITH

BREAKER OF THE ENIGMA CODE

SURREY AVIATOR

Rothschild & Co Anonymous The Allen Trust Joanna Barlow Mr Quentin Black Ms Karen Burgess Michael & Julia Calvey David & Elizabeth Challen Samantha & Nabil Chartouni Aidan & Colette Clegg Adam & Lucy Constable Peter & Annette Dart Sir David Davies David & Sara Delaney Peter & Manina Dicks Noreen Doyle T V Drastik Nick & Lesley Dumbreck Judith Lawless & Kevin Egan Niall, Ingrid & Gabriella FitzGerald Alex & Alison Fortescue Deborah & Neil Franks Franรงois Freyeisen & Shunichi Kubo Chris & Marjorie Gibson-Smith Nerissa Guest Hilary Hart Harry Hyman David & Clare Kershaw The Kirk Family Lord & Lady Marks of Broughton Andrew & Sarah Hills Mr & Mrs Matthias Ruhland The Sackler Trust Lord & Lady Sassoon Sir Siegmund Warburg's Voluntary Settlement Ed & Lulu Siskind Martin & Lucy Stapleton Hugh & Catherine Stevenson Anthony & Carolyn Townsend Mr David & Mrs Alison Watson Anonymous Barlow Robbins Solicitors

Sir Gerald & Lady Acher John & Jackie Alexander Vindi & Kamini Banga David & Chris Beever Simon & Sally Borrows The Buckley Family Mr & Mrs Tony Bugg Jane & Paul Chase-Gardener Richard & Frances Clarke Mr & Mrs Tim Cockroft The John S Cohen Foundation Anonymous Mr & Mrs Leo A Daly III The de Laszlo Foundation Dolly Knowles Charitable Trust David & Virginia Essex The Ewins Family Jeremy & Rosemary Farr Sir Rocco Forte Christina & Bamber Gascoigne The George John & Sheilah Livanos Charitable Trust Roger & Clare Gifford The Gillmore Trust The Reekimlane Foundation George & Caroline Goulding Charles & Maggie Hallatt The Hon Charles Harris Malcolm Herring Dr Jonathan Holliday & Dr Gwen Lewis Richard & Pamela Jacobs Raymonde Jay Keith & Lucy Jones The Justham Trust Mr & Mrs Francis C Lang The Carole & Geoffrey Lawson Foundation Mark & Sophie Lewisohn Oscar & Margaret Lewisohn Richard & Alex Lewisohn Raphael & Marillyn Maklouf Tessa & John Manser Darcy & Alexander Munro

Bruce & Pamela Noble Peter & Poppity Nutting Norah & Patrick O'Dwyer Winston & Julia Oh Hamish Parker Stephen & Isobel Parkinson Cathy & Michael Pearman Lord & Lady Phillimore Neena & Mike Rees Mike & Jessamy Reynolds John & Pit Rink Nigel & Viv Robson Anne & Barry Rourke David & Lynneth Salisbury Victoria & John Salkeld Michael Sennett Diane & Christopher Sheridan Anonymous Sir John & Lady Sunderland Andrew & Jane Sutton Christopher Swan David & Fiona Taylor Ian & Tina Taylor Anonymous Adam & Louise Tyrrell Johnny & Marie Veeder Jo Waldern Rev John Wates OBE & Mrs Carol Wates Keith & Katy Weed Anonymous Edward & Mandy Weston Linda Wilding Jane & Andrew Winch Mia & Graham Wrigley z The Hobson Charity The John Coates Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation The Golden Bottle Trust Albert Van den Bergh Charitable Trust Company of Actuaries Charitable Trust The Bellasis Trust The Drapers' Charitable Fund 15

As for our wealth, we do not brag of it.

Instead, we use it well, appropriately, for the good of all.’ PERICLES 432 BC

13 May 2018 Bricks are hand-cut to achieve the cross-gartered pattern

‘Our passion for the beautiful does not make us extravagant, nor does our love of culture make us weak.

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THE

CIRCLE

OF

VIRTUOUS ENTERPRISE

PATRON SIR BRYN TERFEL

This Virtuous Circle has played an important role building the Theatre in the Woods, donating £962,518 in total.

They are listed in the order they contributed. To join them contact jack@grangeparkopera.co.uk Sir Bryn Terfel 59 Mrs Margaret Green 114 Mr & Mrs Peter Leaver Wasfi Kani 60 Helen Culleton 115 John Kessler Alexander & Mary Creswell 61 Peter & Marie-Claire Wilson 116 Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs David Ibeson 62 Mrs Margaret Bolam 117 Mr Habib Motani 63 Mrs Elizabeth Vyvyan Ms Nicola A Freshwater 118 Miss Elizabeth Cretch Mr & Mrs Graham West 64 Mr Brian Boyce 119 Anonymous Jean & Richard Baldwin 65 Mrs Judith Boyce 120 David & Vivienne Woolf Hilary & James Leek 66 Anonymous 121 Mr Julian Stanford 67 Mr & Mrs S R Jeffreys Adam & Carola Lee 122 – 124 James & Béatrice Lupton Christopher & Tineke Stewart 68 Christopher Jack & Stephanie Sfakianos 125 Mina & Suzanne Goodman 69 Robin & Anne Purchas Miss Pamela M North 126 Mrs Carolyn Conlan Tony Legge 70 Laura & Andrew Sykes 127 Dominic & Katherine Powell Anonymous 71 Anonymous 128 Mrs Laurence Colchester Mrs Susan Lochner JP DL 72 Mr Adrian Knowles 129 Mr Mark & Mrs Sue Luboff Mr Harry & Mrs Ellen Thurman 73 Mrs Tikki Adorian 130 Julian G Jones Roger & Jackie Morris 74 Laurence & Janey Langford 131 Ian & Helen Andrews 17 Peter & Irene Casey 75 Paul Batchelor 132 David & Elizabeth Pritchard 18 George Kingston 76 Janet Batchelor 133 Anne Howells & Steve Clarke 19 – 23 Gerry & Joyce Acher’s grandchildren 77 Miss Deborah Finkler 134 Hugh Fagan & Mr Allan Murray-Jones 24 Peter & Jacquie Homonko 135 Crispin Cazalet 25 Mrs Alyson Wilson 78 Mr & Mrs John Colwell 136 Antoni & Caroline Daszewski 26 James & Helena Watson 79 Dr Jonathan Holliday & Dr Gwen Lewis 137 Dr Anthony Smoker 27 Mr & Mrs William Witts 80 Sharon Pipe 138 Mr & Mrs Max Ulfane 81 Martin & Brigitte Skan 28 Liz & Nigel Peace 139 Clive & Helena Butler 29 Jane Poulter 82 Dr Patrick Mill 140 Jill & Mike Pullan 141 Nick Viner & Victoria Boyarsky 30 Angela & David Harvey 83 Jeanette Mill 31 Mrs Annabel Allott 84 Dr Peter Harrison & Verity Jones 142 Mr & Mrs John Tremlett 32 Ian & Clare Maurice 85 The Fischer Fund 143 Edwina Sassoon 33 Nick & Sarah Treble 86 Bill Bougourd & Judith Thomas 144 Christopher & Clare McCann 34 David & Fiona Taylor 87 Iain & Mary Rhind 145 Michael de Navarro 35 Paul Drury & Anna McPherson 88 Mrs Michael Beresford-West 146 Emily, Victoria & Isobel Battcock 36 Mr George & Mrs Marie Rushton 89 Mr Mat Kirk & Mrs Sam Kirk 147 Christian & Katie Wells 37 Peter & Marianne Hooley 90 & 91 The Foxley Trust 148 Mr & Mrs Angel 38 Mark & Rosemary Carawan 92 Peter Kerfack & Russell Townend 149 Austin & Ragna Erwin 39 Sir Anthony & Lady Cleaver 93 Andrew & Jane Sutton 150 Charles Alexander & Kasia Starega 40 Ernst Uwe Hanneck & Karin Mueller 94 George Meagher 151 Alan Thomas 41 Madeleine & Stephen McGairl 95 Jack Gardener 152 Jerry & Clare Wright 42 Antonia Murphy & Clare Bevan 96 Jan & Michael Potter 153 Sue & Peter Morgan 43 Dame Janet Gaymer 97 Mr & Mrs Henry Lumley 154 Sue & Peter Paice 44 Mr John Gaymer 98 Sir Michael Parker 155 Dieter & Lesley Losse 45 Dr Martin Read & Dr Marian Gilbart Read 99 Lady Parker 156 Mr Charles Rosier 46 Siân & Ben Tyler 100 Miss Lily Bagwell Purefoy 157 Anonymous 47 Sally Phillips 101 Pam Alexander & Roger Booker 158 Professor Heather Joshi CBE 48 Tristan Wood 102 Dr & Mrs G M Tonge 159 Dr Barbara Domayne-Hayman 49 Dr Carolyn Greenwood & John McVittie 103 Simon & Rosemary Godfrey 160 Mr Hugh Gammell 50 Eliza Mellor 104 Rob & Felicity Shepherd 161 Anonymous 51 Mr Andrew & Mrs Marian Sanders 105 June, Dyrol & Becky Lumbard 162 Neil & Elizabeth Johnson 52 William & Kitty Vaughan 106 Janet Mernane 163 Eleanor G Berry 53 David & Sarah Rosier 107 Mr Victor Coles 164 Cilla & John Slater 54 John & Cecilia Gordon 108 Hilde Slade 165 Mr & Mrs L Vine-Chatterton 55 David & Peta Crowther 109 Mr & Mrs David Blackburn 166 – 170 Anonymous 56 Liz & Mike Cooper-Mitchell 110 Andrew Luff 171 Peter & Katie Gray 57 Anonymous 111 & 112 Diana & Terence Kyle 172 Mr David Gutman . . . continued . . .

58 Dr Henry & Mrs Julia Pearson 113 Mr Julian Hardwick

Bryn Terfel as Tevye, Fiddler on the Roof 2015

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

‘Singing with Grange Park Opera is life-affirming.

These are people who want to bring a new generation to opera on and off the stage.

I ask you to participate with me to help create a Theatre in the Woods.’

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16 May 2018 Finishing touches from a plasterer prior to painting

THE CIRCLE OF VIRTUOUS ENTERPRISE

173 David & Alex Rhodes 174 Charlie Chase-Gardener 175 Lucy Chase-Gardener 176 Mr Josh Holliday 177 Mr Tom Holliday 178 Peter & Brenda Berners-Price 179 Miss Rula Al-Adasani MBE 180 Helen Dorey & Markus Geisser 181 Mrs Tim Landon 182 Hugh & Mary Boardman 183 Stephen & Nilda Ginn 184 Tom & Sarah Grillo 185 Dr Tom McClintock 186 Richard & Miriam Borchard 187 Chris & Miranda Ward 188 Mr Peter Linacre 189 William & Felicity Mather 190 Nicholas & Jane St Aubyn 191 Mr & Mrs Barry Bramley 192 Mr Ian Coutts-Wood 193 Oliver & Felicity Wethered 194 The O’Hea family 195 J & V Knox 196 Mr Andrew Simon 197 Anonymous 198 Anonymous 199 The One Style Tour 200 Bruce & Bridget Montgomery 201 Oliver & Rebecca Huggins 202 Ms Morfydd Evans 203 Christina & Timothy Benn 204 Prudence & Kevan Watts 205 Bobasch Joel Foundation 206 Veronica Powell 207 Anonymous 208 Sue & Graham White 209 Sir Rupert & Lady Jackson 210 Angela & Clive Gilchrist 211 Michael & Nirmala Rappolt 212 Patricia & Richard Millett 213 Mr Graham Elliott & Mrs Emma Crabtree 214 John & Susan Burns 215 Hilary & Barney II Myerscough 216 Michael & Allie Eaton 217 Lady Purves 218 Ms Carolyn Saunders & Mr Richard Ford 219 The Tickner family 220 Nigel Silby 221 Andy & Estelle Los 222 Ben & Christina Perry 223 Richard & Sally Nield 224 Mr & Mrs John Jarvis 225 Mrs Juliet Dunsmure 226 Ian & Wendy Sampson

227 Felix Appelbe 228 George & Veronique Seligman 229 Clementine Wyke 230 The Lady Heseltine 231 Adair Turner & Orna NiChionna 232 Fiona & Peter Hare 233 Peter & Rosemary Derby 234 Kathrine Palmer 235 Nigel & Johanna Stapleton 236 Mr Andrew & Mrs Jill Soundy 237 Mark & Alva Powell 238 Tamara Mitchel 239 John Derrick & Preben Øeye 240 Shirley & Brian Carte 241 Sir Peter & Lady Cazalet 242 Prof Mark & Dr Gill Britton 243 John & Trudi Harris 244 Longina Boczon 245 David & Frances Waters 246 Polizzi Charitable Trust 247 Anne & Alistair Calder 248 Nerissa Guest 249 Sally & Fraser Wilson 250 Prof Graham Layer & Dr Jenny Sillick 251 Ms Jane Jenkins & Mr Oscar Harrison-Hall 252 Paul Coleman DL 253 Mrs Jeanette Bird 254 Toby & Jennifer Greenbury 255 Anthony & Fiona Littlejohn 256 David Alan Foster 257 Dr John Grimshaw 258 Baroness Patience Wheatcroft 259 Victoria Gath & Mark Echlin 260 Peter & Angela Granger 261 – 265 Jenny Bland 266 Ms Melinda Hughes 267 Paul & Lydia Goodson 268 Bruce & Lizzie Powell 269 – 272 Anonymous 273 Sir John & Lady Hood 274 John & Elizabeth Maycock 275 Pam & John Bevington 276 Susanne & Jeffrey Nedas 277 Dr Ann Williams 278 Tony & Valerie Thompson 279 Rosie Faunch 280 Hugh & Claire Peppiatt 281 Mr & Mrs Andrew Frost 282 Sir David & Lady Normington 283 Ione Woollacott 284 Ron & Pennie Zimmern 285 Jocelin & Cherry Harris 286 Jilly Allenby-Ryan 287 Nicole Hutchings

continued

288 The Peak family 289 Mr Michael & Mrs Julia Kerby 290 Christopher & Georgie Birrell 291 Stuart Errington CBE DL 292 Lord & Lady Woolton 293 Robert & Felicity Waley-Cohen 294 Bruce & Roma Hooper 295 Oliver & Emma Pawle 296 The McGinley Foundation 297 Zsalya 298 Jonathan & Sarah Bayliss 299 Julie Joy Jarman & Jack Pickard 300 Miranda Robinson 301 Jeremy Lewis Simons 302 Christopher & Sarah Smith

303 Nick & Anne Driver 304 Nicholas & Linda Payne 305 Mike Hendry 306 Christopher Reeves Memorial Trust 307 Derek & Lynda Rapport 308 Mr Per Jonsson 309 Mr & Mrs Haydn Abbott 310 David & Deborah Stileman 311 Robert & Judith Hart 312 Jeffrey & Vivien Sultoon 313 Olivier Bourgois & Alice Goldet 314 Mr Roderick Davidson 315 Anthony Bunker 316 Anonymous 317 Mr & Mrs Leprince Jungbluth 318 Brian, Jennifer & Ben Ratner 319 Prof Neil & Dr Jane Mortensen 320 David Buchler 321 Miss Christine May 322 Mr & Mrs L M Eagles 323 Mrs Margaret Green 324 Paul & Ursula Manduca 325 Mr Michael & Mrs Sarah Hewett 326 The Houston family 327 Roy & Frances O’Gorman 328 Handa Bray 329 Dame Sarah Goad 330 Penny Proudlock 331 Andrew & Alison Hutton 332 Alan & Sheena Kingsley 333 Lisa Bolgar Smith 334 Valerie & Peter Hewett 335 Mollie & John Julius Norwich 336 Malcolm & Gill Aish 337 Fiona & William Alexander 338 Ludlow, Fenston & Cassar Morris 339 Robert & Julia Williams 340 Barry & Dee Jones . . . continued . . .

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13 May 2018 David Lloyd Jones, Martin Smith, Wasfi Kani

341 Mr & Mrs Christopher Lambourne 342 Mr & Mrs Neil Donnan 343 Fran & Mike Pattinson 344 Sir David & Lady Prosser 345 Tom & Alison Baigrie 346 George & Jane Boden 347 Jean & David Poole 348 S F G Fachada & J H Breck 349 Martyn & Karen Brabbins 350 Simon & Sally Borrows 351 David & Madeleine Cannon 352 Tulchan Communications LLP 353 John & Jane Harrap 354 Malcolm & Anita Paul 355 Martin & Sarah Young 356 Richard & Patricia Holden 357 Peter & Carol Cordrey

373 & 374 Lady Gavron 375 Anonymous 376 Claire & Edward Bailey 377 Mr & Mrs Ian Field 378 Alison Samuel 379 Martin & Alicia Herbert 380 John W Newman 381 Gordon & Mary Lee-Steere 382 Andrew Burgess 383 Charles Smart 384 Clapton Family 385 Douglas & Francesca Lamont 386 Spirit of Genie 387 Spirit of John 388 Prof Martin Brown & Dr Sue Brown 389 Donna & Stewart Robertson & Family 390 The Hare family

358 Chris & Clare Mathias 359 & 360 Gay Huey-Evans 361 Peter & Rita Gray 362 Jutta & Josef Brinkhaus 363 Lady Green 364 Jill & Martin Stringfellow 365 Alex Ruggeri 366 Edward & Debbie Speed 367 Jeremy & Julie Llewelyn 368 Bruce & Maaike McInnes 369 James & Caroline fforde 370 & 371 Christopher & Anne Saul 372 John & Gilly Baker

391 Porter Foundation Switzerland 392 Christian Hernandez &

Michelle Crowe Hernandez

393 Nicholas & Melanie Purnell 394 Richard & Louise Wynne-Griffith 395 Paul & Elaine Clements 396 Catherine Lewis Foundation 397 Helen Strilec Schatiloff 398 The Addis-Jones Family 399 Elizabeth Lockhart-Mure 400 Gus & Louise Black 401 Anonymous 402 Stephen & Audrey Hofmeyr

continued

403 Stephen Fry 404 Nigel & Alison Goodenough 405 Anonymous 406 Deborah Finkler & Allan Murray-Jones 407 Aemelia Chivers 408 Anthony & Amy Barklam 409 Mrs Della Howard 410 Fiona & John Yeomans 411 David & Janet Grenier 412 Michael & Amanda Parker 413 Richard Hamilton 414 Gareth Robertson 415 Victoria & Edward Bonham Carter 416 Mrs Emma Crabtree &

Mr Graham Elliott

417 Marian & Gordon Pell 418 Mr & Mrs J G Hayter 419 Mr & Mrs Raj Parker 420 Julia & Richard Siberry 421 In mem Valda Goldblatt 422 B Mercer & P McInerney 423 Jeremy Abram & Diane Kenwood 424 Jutta & Josef Brinkhaus 425 Neville & Nicola Abraham 426 Anonymous 427 In memory of my husband Bill 428 Miss Elaine Best

From top left clockwise: connecting to the sewage treatment tanks, the tanks embedded in concrete; the curved basin of the Lavatorium; from the roof looking into the centre well

THE CIRCLE OF VIRTUOUS ENTERPRISE

AND . . .

Simon Allen Dr Simon Bailey Mr Rober t David &

Mrs Hilary Barnfather Elisabeth & Bob Boas Stephen & Margaret Brearley Anonymous Mrs Peter Cadbury Sir Hugh & Lady Cubitt Mr John A Dembitz Frank & Bobbie Dewar Anonymous Mr Malcolm Edwards Caroline Egan-Strang Benjamin Hargreaves Nicholas & Jeremy Hunter Mr & Mrs A B Issard-Davies Jonathan & Kalyani Katz Eric & Pauline Leyns

Mrs Joyce Lloyd Nina Lobanov-Rostovsky John Mair Mr R. J. McBratney Roger & Sylvia Mills Michael & Sarah More-Molyneux Mr & Mrs J Moxon Liz & Charlie Pinney Mr & Mrs Adrian Platt Greg & Sabine Preston Miss Anne Ross Lewine & Gordon Rush Peter & Tina Ruygrok Serena Simmons Rober t Simons Janis & Richard Stanhope Mr Michael Udal Mr James L Vernon John & Mary Williams

Mr David Woodhead Anonymous Ms Christina Zandona Caroline Doggar t Christina & Timothy Benn Michael de Navarro Michael & Allie Eaton John & Cecilia Gordon Jocelin & Cherry Harris The Lady Heseltine Christopher & Tineke Stewar t Mr Per Jonsson Cecile Gordon Dr Ingo &

Dr Maria Lucia Klรถcker Anthony & Fiona Littlejohn Mrs S E Lochner Bruce & Sibylla Tindale Sir Anthony & Lady Cleaver

Peter Kerfack Mr G T Teague The Addis-Jones Family Rober t Ballantyne Sarah Grillo Tom Grillo Ken & Jane MacIntyre Dr Mar tin Read &

Dr Marian Gilbar t Read Anonymous Mr & Mrs R H T Hingston Anonymous Penny Proudlock Stephen & Mary Roe Mr & Mrs Car ter Inner Wheel Club of Guildford

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THE

LAVATORIUM ROTUNDUM

We decided we couldn't wait any longer and launched ourselves into yet more building works

SPEND A PENNY

CAMPAIGN

The Lavatorium Rotundum is a theatrical event in itself, surrounded by a fragrant rose arbour (Paul's Himalayan Musk, Mme Alfred Carrière, Gentle Hermione, Souvenir du Docteur Jamain, Comte de Chambord). Alas, the roses may not be planted in time for the opera season and could very well remain in their overwintering quarters with John and Victoria Salkeld. However, the facilities will be ready for the amusement and enjoyment of our audience. At the time of going to press, it is unfinished but we are not perturbed.

THE FARTHING LEAD DONOR François Freyeisen & Shunichi Kubo

THE PENNY LEAD DONOR Penny & Atlas Freakley

THE ROYAL FLUSH Goldman Sachs Gives – at the recommendation of Jonathan & Sarah Baylis Carole Lawson Geoffrey Lawson Sarah & Tony Bolton Geoff & Fiona Squire Foundation The Houston Family Ms Jane Jenkins & Mr Oscar Harrison-Hall Neil & Elizabeth Johnson David & Clare Kershaw Adam & Lucy Constable Felix Appelbe

THE CALL OF NATURE Andrew & Jane Sutton Claire & Edward Bailey Bill Bougourd & Judith Thomas Brian & Judith Boyce Mrs P A Freshwater Nicholas & Louisa Greenacre William & Lucy Griffiths Anonymous Mr Julian Hardwick Dr Peter Harrison & Verity Jones Bruce & Roma Hooper Richard & Pamela Jacobs

Raymonde Jay Janey Langford Mark & Sophie Lewisohn Ruth Markland Sue & Peter Morgan Peter & Poppity Nutting Sir Michael & Lady Parker Christopher & Sandra Pearce Sir David & Lady Prosser Iain & Mary Rhind John & Pit Rink David & Sarah Rosier

David Newlove Hugh & Catherine Stevenson Theo & Louise Trayhurn John & Carol Wates In gratitude for Kate Clutterbuck Oliver & Felicity Wethered Mr & Mrs Johnny Veeder Mrs Margaret Green Julian G Jones Graham & Sally Moore

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www.sjp.co.uk

TRUSTED ADVICE TUNED TO HELP ACHIEVE YOUR FINANCIAL ASPIRATIONS PROUD SPONSORS OF GRANGE PARK OPERA

PARTNERS IN MANAGING YOUR WEALTH

St. James’s Place representatives represent only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Cover from a recital programme for music composed by Hannah Mathilde von Rothschild (1832-1924) for poems written by Victor Hugo, sung by Adelina Patti, both Rothschild clients

Rothschild Private Wealth is proud to support Grange Park Opera Rothschild Private Wealth provides an objective long-term perspective on investing, structuring and safeguarding assets, to preserve and grow the wealth of some of the world’s most successful families, entrepreneurs, foundations and charities.

Helen Watson CEO, UK Wealth Management 020 7280 5000 or helen.j.watson@rothschild.com rothschild.com

THE RE VE N U E STREAM

KEY FESTIVAL SUPPORTERS

2018

GPO is a charity with no public subsidy and ever y year generous donors make the miracle happen.

Please consider joining them.

H Indicates additional support for Capital Projects (Theatre in the Woods & Lavatorium Rotundum) Brian & Jennifer Ratner H John & Carol Wates H David & Clare Kershaw H Sandbourne Investment Advisers Financial Express PWC The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Anonymous H Anonymous H Clive & Helena Butler H Adam & Lucy Constable H Linklaters LLP M&C Saatchi Withers Worldwide AlixPartners Kleinwort Hambros Rocco Forte Hotels Jackie & John Alexander H Prof Martin Brown & Dr Sue Brown H Mr John C Pearson The Dyers Company

Joseph Calleja as Cavaradossi, Tosca 2017

Hye-Youn Lee as Elettra, Idomeneo 2012

NEX Group PLC H Porta Romana H David & Amanda Leathers H Red Butterfly Foundation H Anthony & Carolyn Townsend H Franรงois Freyeisen & Shunichi Kubo H Hamish & Sophie Forsyth H John L Pemberton H Elm Capital Associates Ltd St James's Place Laurent-Perrier Champagne Unilever PLC H Rothschild Wealth Management H Ed & Lulu Siskind H Jeremy & Rosemary Farr H Mr & Mrs Grant Gordon H Mr & Mrs Peter Nutting H In memory of Nigel Williams, every morning Sue Lawson H Sir Win & Lady Bischoff Noreen Doyle H Judith Lawless & Kevin Egan H

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THE

DEPARTMENT

OF

REVELS

2018

Henry VIII created a Revels Depar tment to organise enter tainments as he travelled through the land.

Elizabeth I arrived at West Horsley Place on 17th August 1559 and, rather than the Revels Depar tment erecting a de-mountable theatre, her host built his own. Guests included Rober t Dudley, the Queen’s favourite and suitor.

H Indicates additional support for the Capital Project (Theatre in the Woods & Lavatorium Rotundum) Charles Alexander & Kasia Starega H Mr & Mrs Jeremy Arnold Mr Alan & Mrs Pam Barber Mrs Sue Barr Mrs Rupert Beaumont Sir Antony Beevor & Artemis Cooper Christina Benn H Mrs Michael Beresford-West H Jenny Bland H Anonymous Nicholas Brougham Anthony Bunker H Mark & Rosemary Carawan H Samantha & Nabil Chartouni H Sir Christopher & The Reverend Lady Clarke Ron & Jane Cork Helen Dorey & Markus Geisser H Jackie & Michael Gee Mrs M Green H Hilary Har t H The Lady Heseltine H Lady Peter Anne Hunt & Mr D John

Anonymous John & Angela Kessler H Mark & Sophie Lewisohn H Anthony & Fiona Littlejohn H Andrew Luff H Charles & Sarah Martin Louis Tan & Gordon Martin William & Felicity Mather H Ian & Clare Maurice H Madeleine & Stephen McGairl H Roger & Jackie Morris H Sir Michael & Lady Parker H Sally Phillips & Tristan Wood H Mrs Christopher Reeves H Anonymous H Mr Graham Richardson David & Lynneth Salisbury H Angela & Harvey Soning Mr Theo & Mrs Louise Trayhurn H Nick & Sarah Treble H Michael & Janet Welch Mr Peter & Mrs Marie-Claire Wilson H

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THE

SCHOOL

OF

HIPPOCRATES

2018

H Indicates additional support for the Capital Project (Theatre in the Woods & Lavatorium Rotundum)

Dino Adriano Mr David & Dr Michele Badenoch John & Jennifer Beechey Miss Elaine Best H Roger Birtles & John Hayward Mr & Mrs David Blackburn H Anonymous Nan Brenninkmeyer Dorothy & John Brook Roy & Carol Brown David & Julia Cade Paul & Suzanne Clarke Ian Clarkson & Richard Morris Mrs Carolyn Conlan H Anonymous H Martin & Rosie Copeland Tony Doggart James Drake, Drake Calleja Trust Paul Drury & Anna McPherson H Mark & Nicola Dumas Anonymous Mr Stuart Errington H Jeremy & Rosemary Farr H Rosie Faunch H Geoffrey & Elizabeth Fuller Dr Richard Golding Julian & Marina Hardwick H Simon & Helen Hill

Christopher & Jo Holdsworth Hunt Mr & Mrs H Houghton-Jones Mrs Merlin Hutchings John & Jan Jarvis H Michel Kallipetis QC David & Louise Kaye Leonard Klahr Dr Ingo & Dr Maria Lucia Klรถcker Diana & Terence Kyle H Anonymous Mr & Mrs Peter Leaver H Anonymous Tim & Susie Lintott Meredith & Caroline Lloyd-Evans June, Dyrol & Becky Lumbard H Anonymous Kathryn & Sarah McLeland William Middleton-Smith Mrs Jane Mills & Family Sue & Peter Morgan H Anonymous David & Angela Moss Suma Mourad Darcy & Alexander Munro H Anonymous Mr Graham & Mrs Helen Parkin Mr & Mrs S Parkinson H Liz & Nigel Peace H

Anonymous Mark & Alva Powell H Veronica Powell H Mr Hugh Priestley Jill & Mike Pullan H Shirley & Grant Radcliffe Dr Martin Read & Dr Marian Gilbart Read H Hilary Reid Evans Tineke Dales David & Hilary Riddle Peter Rosenthal David & Sarah Rosier H Nigel Silby H Dr Anthony Smoker H Prof & Dr Stone Eleanor Cranmer & Nick Thomas Mr A H Thomlinson Tony & Valerie Thompson H Geoffrey & Antoinette Traylen Richard & Judy Wake Ken Watters & Robin Wilkinson J Anthony Wechsler Edward & Mandy Weston H Anonymous Ms Christina Zandona H

THE

SCHOOL

OF

ARCHIMEDES

2018

H Indicates additional support for the Capital Project (Theatre in the Woods & Lavatorium Rotundum)

Mrs Samantha Aarvold William & Charlie Allingham Priscilla & Mark Austen Robert Ballantyne H Robin Barton Paul & Janet Batchelor H Mr & Mrs Antony Beevor Clare Bennett David & Helen Blow George & Jane Blunden Mrs Margaret Bolam H Stephen & Margaret Brearley H Dr & Mr Stephen Breathnach Malcolm & Susan Brenton Robin & Jill Broadley Ms Diana Brotherton Nicholas Browne & Frederika Adam Nick & Maggie Butcher Mr Donald Campbell Mr & Mrs Carrington Ben & Peck Carroll Sir Bryan & Lady Carsberg Peter & Irene Casey H Max & Karina Casini Dr J D H Chadwick Alex & Laura Walters Anne Chambers Antony & Yosi Chandler Anonymous H Tim Clarke Sir Anthony & Lady Cleaver H Roy & Jackie Colbran Mr Ben Cooper Annie Cosh Mr & Mrs J Crawford Clement & Verity Cruse Charles Callum Lady Curtis Richard Czartoryski Mr Clifford R Dammers Enrique Biel Gleeson Eric de Lalande Roland Cornish & Luci de Nordwall Cornish Krystyna Deuss Drs Elaine & Peter Doyle Anonymous H Mrs Ann Dunbar Takashi Suzuki

Janet & Ian Edmondson Jennifer Edwards Elaine Elliott Miss Jill Elsworthy Ian & Sue Farman Martin & Maureen Farr Roger Fidler WixHill PR Mr & Mrs Phillip Fox Diane & David Frank Glynn & Liz Gardner Ms Dinah Garrett Victoria Gath & Mark Echlin H Howard Gatiss Ms Jillian Ede Gendron Peter Gerrard Alan & Mary Gibbins Lynne Gillon Simon & Rosemary Godfrey H Drs Richard & Sally Godwin-Austen Cecile Gordon H Stuart Gordon & Julie Hall Robert B Gray Mrs Patricia Grayburn Nicholas & Louisa Greenacre H Ian & Tricia Grice Dr William & Mrs Lucy Griffiths H Alistair & Jenny Groom Pamela Gross Loyd Grossman Mr & Mrs Gerard Guerrini Mr Mervyn Hadden CBE Gareth Hadley Mr & Mrs S Hainsworth Helen & Richard Hall Dr Peter Harper Tim & Geli Harris Bruce & Carol Harrison Robert & Judith Hart H Maureen & Peter Hazell Paul Henderson Clare & Bill Hewlett Will & Janine Hillary Mr & Mrs Trevan Hingston H Mr & Mrs A J Hobson Mr R E Hofer Hansgeorg & Leonor Hofmann Guy & Sophie Holborn Peter & Marianne Hooley H

Mr & Mrs Richard Hughes Mr & Mrs Ingman Brian James & Jean Hazel Mr Michael Derek Jones Pauline & Geraint Jones Mr & Mrs Patrick Hofmann Kevin Kissane A & Z Kurtz Janey & Laurence Langford H Monica Langston Hilary & James Leek H Sonya Leydecker & Steven Larcombe Eric & Pauline Leyns H Mrs Roger Liddiard Peter Lloyd Mr & Mrs Lutley Ken & Jane MacIntyre H Andrew MacKrill & David Wills Mr & Mrs Maddox Mr Alisdair & Mrs Jane Mann Mr A Philip Marsden Doug & Gill McGregor Dr Carolyn Greenwood & John McVittie H Roger Mears & Joanie Speers Eliza Mellor H Carol & Robin Michaelson Chris & Hilary Mitchell Graham & Sally Moore H Habib Motani & Rozmina Ladak H Mrs Joanne Nangle Chris & Annie Newell Ben & Sarah Newman John & Dianne Norton Barry & Sue O'Brien Sir Peter Osborne Howard & Joanna Page Alan & Susan Parker Dr Henry & Mrs Julia Pearson H Penny & Giuseppe Pecorelli Mr & Mrs Colin Penney Claire Peppiatt H Stephen Peppiatt Matthew Pintus & Joanna Ward David & Christina Pitman Anthony & Patricia Proctor Nicholas & Melanie Purnell H Dr James C Ramage . . . continued . . .

33

The Box Office is made of boxes

Neil & Julie Record David Rendell & Ali Smith Mike & Jessamy Reynolds H Sally Riley Mr & Mrs Andrew Robb Mr Derek Robinson Mrs Susan Russell Flint Zsalya H Mr & Mrs John Salkeld H Mrs Ann Salter Jonathan & Sarah Scheele John & Tita Shakeshaft Jane & David Shalders Shepard Demwell Rob & Felicity Shepherd H Caroline & Mark Silver Mr & Mrs Andrew Simmonds

Mr & Mrs L Simpson Mr Giles Slater Margaret Smith David & Unni Spiller J G Stanford H Janis & Richard Stanhope H Anonymous H Mr J Strachan Duncan & Natalie Straughen David & Christine Thorp Mr & Mrs Hugh Tidbury Bruce & Sibylla Tindale H Dr & Mrs G M Tonge H Dr Michael Toseland Dr & Mrs James Turtle Mr & Mrs A Veys Miss Siobhan Walker

Peter Ward Jennifer Wardell Katherine Watts H Mark & Vanessa Welling Mr & Mrs Graham West H Mr Graham Westwell Jane & Ian White Isobel Williams Penelope Williams Mr & Mrs Wilsdon Ginny & Alastair Woodrow Anonymous H Nick & Gill Portet at Wreyford Ltd Graham & Wendy Ziegler and 10 other anonymous donors

THE

SCHOOL

OF

PLATO

2018

H Indicates additional support for the Capital Project (Theatre in the Woods & Lavatorium Rotundum)

Anonymous Drs Charles Alessi & Anu Jain A J Allen CBE & Mrs Helen Allen Professor David Ames John Andrews Anonymous Brian & Marion Arbuckle Phillip Arnold & Philip Baldwin Eufi & Kent Atkinson Anonymous Jane & Robert Avery Dr Helen Bach Nick & Audrey Backhouse Mr Simon Baddeley Felicity Bagenal Mr & Mrs Edward Bailey Mr & Dr Bakowski John & Liz Ball Mrs Caroline Barber Peter & Ruth Bareau B Barttelot Christine Bass Pat Stewart & Nick Bates Thomas Baxendale Mary Rose Beaumont Jill & David Berliand Adrian Berrill-Cox Bronwen Black Brenda Blackwell Paul & Avril Blagbrough Anonymous Anonymous Mr & Mrs David Bonsall David & Alison Boothby Bill Bougourd & Judith Thomas H Mr & Mrs Boylan Anonymous Francelle Bradford Anonymous Anonymous H Adam & Sarah Broke Therese Brook Anonymous Alison & Michael Brown Louise Abrams & George Browning Anonymous Peter & Debs Bunn Hugh Burkitt Mr & Mrs Ken Burrage Mrs Myrna Bustani Dr Bella Caiger Mr Angus Carlill Russ & Linda Carr Francesca & John Carter Lanna Castellano Graham Cawsey & Virginia Korda Peter S Chapman Rachel Chapman

Mr & Mrs Stephen Chater Sir Michael Checkland Mr & Mrs I Clark Mrs Ailis P Clarke John & Gillian Clennett Michael & Pamela Cohn Mrs Laurence Colchester H Professor Richard Collin Anonymous Martin & Linda Colvill Mrs Ann Cook Mr & Mrs Ian Cormack Mrs Diana Cornish Anonymous Anthony Cove Johnny & Liz Cowper-Coles Alan & Heather Craft John & Jane Crafts Melissa Crawshay-Williams Stephen & Patricia Crew Christopher & Wendy Critchlow Mr & Mrs Crouch Rosemarie Cundy Mr & Mrs Darling Gavin Darlington Antoni & Caroline Daszewski H Anonymous S de Grey Michael de Navarro H Count & Countess M de Selys Anonymous Frank & Bobbie Dewar H Mr & Mrs Dickson Peter & Joan Dixon Mr David Dodd Dr Barbara Domayne-Hayman H Anonymous Philippa Drew Peter & Jill Drummond Rt Hon Baroness D'Souza CMG Patrick Edward Duane Saskia Dunlop Mr James I Dunnett Anonymous Mr David Dutton Mrs Dickie Dutton Julian & Eileen Ellis Mr & Mrs Peter Ellis David & Jane Elmer Mark Everett Mr Michael Ewing Steven F G Fachada H Michele Finch Peter & Glen Firth The Fischer Fund H Deborah Flood Victoria Franklin Mrs A Frears

Anonymous Andrew French Howard & Stephanie Friend Anton Gabszewicz & Mark Gutteridge Mr & Mrs Jack Galaun Racheline & Clive Garston Christina & Bamber Gascoigne H Mr & Mrs Rod Gavshon David & Anne Giles Brett & Caroline Gill Mrs Jacqueline L Gill Patricia & John Glasswell Anonymous Anonymous G W Goad Dame Sarah Goad H Olivier Bourgois & Alice Goldet H Colin & Letts Goodwin Anonymous Martin & Georgina Van Tol John & Cecilia Gordon H Dr & Mrs Gostick Beatrice Gould Robin & Rosemary Gourlay Peter Granger H Mr A M Green David & Barbara Greggains Mr & Mrs Mervyn Greig Andrew & Andrea Greystoke Tom & Sarah Grillo H Mr & Mrs Grower Mrs Miranda Gunn Mr David & Mrs Diana Hales Allyson Hall Jane Halliwell Jane Halsey Penny Hamer Lady Corinna Hamilton of Dalzell Bruce & Muriel Hamilton Sheila & Stephen Hammerton Christopher Hammond Mr Chris & Mrs Margaret Handley Jennifer Hardy Benjamin Hargreaves H Mr & Mrs J Harkins Anonymous Martin & Eily Harty Cynthia Haynes Mrs Lucy Hayward Mrs Anna Henderson Alan & Ann Herring Mrs Christine Heys Patrick & Sue Higham Jenny & Chris Hipwell Mr & Mrs Peter Hobbs Andrew & Elinor Hogarth John & Hilary Holmes . . . continued . . .

35

The Stables

Mr & Mrs Adrian Holmes Robin Holmes Mrs Sandra Holt Anonymous Anonymous Denzil & Kate How Mr John Howes Mr Martin & Mrs Cherry Hughes Iain & Claudia Hughes Anonymous Diana Humphrey David & Sue Humphrey Mrs Marie-Josee Hunter Mrs Juliet Huntley Sir Donald & Lady Insall Sir Barry & Lady Jackson Sir Rupert & Lady Jackson H Mr & Mrs Ray Jacques Dr Anthony James Peter & Morag James Allan & Rachel James Marilyn Jeffcoat Mr & Mrs S Bobasch H Neil & Elizabeth Johnson H Barry & Brenda Jones

Mr & Mrs Robert Jones Douglas Jones Keith & Patricia Jones Mrs Rachel Jones Mr & Mrs Joshua Mr David Judd Alison & Jamie Justham H Dr & Mrs Douglas Justins Dr Catherine Katzka & Dr Swen Hölder Vincent & Amanda Keaveny Mr & Mrs G R Kellett Judith Kelley Oliver & Sally Kinsey Ann Kirk Lady Penelope Kirkwood Anonymous David & Madi Laurence Richard Law Mrs Charles Lea John & Gayle Leader Maria Leader John Learmonth Jan Leigh & Jan Rynkiewicz Mr & Mrs Leprince Jungbluth H Ruth & Brian Levy

Anonymous Linda Lomri Brigadier & Mrs Desmond Longfield Mr & Mrs B Louveaux Dr Charles Lowdell Mr Chris Loynes Dr Helge Loytved Mrs S Smith & Mrs G Lucken Joe Lulham Mrs Michèle & Mr Julian Lyon Derek Mackay Mrs Tom MacKean Mr & Mrs P Macklin Anonymous Bill & Sue Main Mrs Ita Major Paul & Ursula Manduca H Angela Marber Charles & Sue Marshall Dr & Mrs David & Fiona Martland Chris & Clare Mathias H Michael & Ann Maughan Christopher & Clare McCann H Jeff & Anne McCormack Anonymous

Jinny McLeod-Hatch Sarah & David Melville Dr & Mrs P J Mill H Hilary Kingsley & Peter Miller Mr & Mrs C Milloy Roger & Sylvia Mills H Miss Gursharan Minhas Susan Mitchell Dinah Moore E A LL Morgan Mark Morison Nigel & Angela Morland Anonymous Mr & Mrs Mostyn Anonymous In memory of Patrick Neill a loyal supporter of GPO Mrs Cristina Nichols J R Nichols & Mr William Ward Jeremy & Elizabeth Nicholson Graham & Berendina Norton Sir Charles & Lady Nunneley The Hon Mr & Mrs M J O'Brien Mr & Mrs Oliveira Richard & Jenny Openshaw Charles & Roe Orange Chris Ormond Janet & Michael Orr Patrick & Mary O'Sullivan His Hon Sean K Overend Mr & Mrs Page Mrs Christine Palmer Penny Panman & Family Susan & Stephen Parker Mr & Mrs Jeremy Parr Mrs Margaret Parry Mr Colin Patrick John & Jacqui Pearson Placido Carrerotti Prof AAW Pepper Bryony & Jeremy Pett Theresa Phillips Mr & Mrs Robert Pick Mr & Mrs Charles Pike Mr & Mrs Adrian Platt H Mr & Mrs M Possener Professor Postma David & Mary Potter David Potter & Jane Thomson Mrs H Potter Mrs Jane Poulter H Anonymous Anonymous Judith Prickett & Raymond Sutton Mr & Mrs Stephen Proctor Robin Purchas H Lady Purves H Anonymous

Mala & Mike Rappolt H Margo Rappoport & Michael Emont Mr Richard Raworth Lady Jane Rayne Lacey Mrs Julia Reardon Smith Nigel & Elizabeth Reavley Jane & Graham Reddish Alan Richardson Ian & Freda Rickword Madeleine Rijndorp Mr Paul & Mrs Jill Rimmer Sir John & Lady Ritblat Mr & Mrs Luke Rittner Anonymous Diane Roberts Judith Roberts Miss Anne Robertson Catharine & James Robertson Mr & Mrs A Robinson H Mr M Ross & Mrs J Cochrane Mr Alan Roxburgh Joan & Lewis Rudd Martin Rumbelow Peter & Tina Ruygrok H Cat Sabben-Clare John & Maxine Samuels Mrs Rosemary Sandars Mr & Mrs Sanders Simon & Abigail Sargent Mr & Mrs T Sawano Mr & Mrs Richard Scopes Robert Seabrook Prof Lorna Secker-Walker Anna & Alan Selwyn Mary & Thoss Shearer David Sheraton & Kate Stabb Elizabeth Siberry Jeremy Simons H Christopher & Lucie Sims Mr & Mrs Peter Singer Richard & Amanda Slowe Robin & Phyllida Smeeton C N Smith Mr Huw Smith Prof Ian Smith Dr. Howard Sowerby James Spicer & Ina De Peter William Stansfield Dianne Steele Auerbach & Steele H Christopher & Tineke Stewart H Jeremy & Phyllida Stoke Judith Strong Simon & Kate Tate Anonymous H Jacky & Wint Taylor Mrs Patricia Taylor Richard & Lynne Taylor-Gooby

Dr Davina A Tenters Judith Tew Jean & Tom Thistleton Jeremy & Rachel Thomas Anonymous Mr & Mrs J Thomlinson Anonymous Valerie Thum Mr Rupert Tickner Tessa & Clive Tulloch Mark & Christine Turner Nicholas & Jane Tyrrell-Evans John Uzielli Lesley de Blocq van Kuffeler L C Varnavides Ali & William Venables Dr Phillip & Mrs Elizabeth Vessey X N C Villers Anonymous Anonymous George & Pat Wallace Mrs Jacquie Waller Lady Rachel Waller Heather & Andrew Wallis Mr Andrew Waltham & Mrs Connie MacKechnie Anonymous Anonymous Alex & Kathleen Watson John & Sabina Fordham Mrs Susan Watson Watts Gallery Trust Mr & Mrs John Way Mr & Mrs Simon Webber Christian Wells H Mrs Margaret E Westwood Susan White Anonymous Mrs Maud Whitting Janek & Sue Wichtowski Anonymous Anonymous Jackie Williams John & Gillian Williams Mary Williams H Philip R Williams Mr Roger & Mrs Diana Wilson Val Wilson Dr & Mrs Adrian Winbow Mr & Mrs Winskell-Rowe Mr & Mrs William Witts H Jane & Leslie Wood Mr David James Woodhead H Dame Fiona & Mr Nicholas Woolf Anonymous Anonymous H Rupert Yardley & Jane Dockeray Mr & Mrs Donald Young

37

H A M P S H I R E D AY S

From 1998 to 2016 Grange Park Opera staged more than 50 operas and appeared at the BBC Proms

THE

GPO 1998 FOUNDING DONORS

The Cunning Little Vixen 2009

Rusalka 2011

SYSTEMS UNION Ltd Ashe Park Water Baring Asset Management British Steel BT Alex Brown Hays plc Wilde Sapte Mr Mark Andrews Mr Felix Appelbe BSc FRSA Mr Peter Arengo-Jones OBE Mr David Buchler Mr William F Charnley Professor Ian Craft Lydia & Miles d’Arcy-Irvine Sir David & Lady Davies Mr Peter Foy Mr Simon Freakley Mr William Gronow Davis Mr Michael Hoare Mr & Mrs Donald Kahn Mr T Landon James & Béatrice Lupton Charles & Annmarie Mackay Mr Harvey McGregor QC Greg & Gail Melgaard Mr & Mrs Hugh Peppiatt Mrs Lucinda Stevens Mr & Mrs Anthony Townsend Mr & Mrs Max Ulfane Mrs Marie Veeder Mr & Mrs Graham John West Bankers Trust Barclays Private Banking Catering & Allied Coutts & Co Biddle Denton Hall Houston & Church Knight Frank Leopold de Rothschild Trust Well Marine Reinsurance Brokers

Mr & Mrs James Airy John & Jackie Alexander Mr & Mrs R Atkinson-Willes Miss Anne Beckwith-Smith Mr & Dr J Beechey Sheila Lady Bernard Mr Robert Bickerdike Mrs M R Bonsall Mrs Cherida Cannon Mr Patrick Carter Mr & Mrs Bernard Cazenove Mrs Justin Clark Mr & Mrs M Cooper-Mitchell Mr & Mrs R G Cottam Mr David Crowe Mr Nicholas de Zoete Ms K Deuss Gillian Devas Mr Anthony Doggart Robyn Durie Mr & Mrs W L Eddlestone Stuart & Anne Fowler Archie & Henrietta Fraser Gen Sir David Fraser GCB OBE Mr & Mrs Wyatt Gates Lt Col David R Gilbert His Honour Martin Graham QC Mr Robert B Gray Mr & Mrs J C Green Mr John Hammond Mr & Mrs Peter Hobbs Mr & Mrs G Hollingbery Mr Charles Irby Mr & Mrs Malcolm Isaac Mr Barry Jackson Mrs Julian Jeffs Mrs Lynette G Joly JP Mrs Z L Kelton Mr John Learmonth Mr Gerald Levin Mr & Mrs Mark Lomas Mr & Mrs David Maitland Anonymous Gordon & Julia Medcalf Lord Montagu of Beaulieu Mrs Jonathan Moore Mr Barry O’Brien Mr Laurence O’Mara Mrs Deidre Pegg Miss Mahtab Pouria Mrs C H Powell Mrs Joan L Prior Mrs Thomas Redfern Mr John A Rickards Dr Janet Ritterman Mrs Martin St Quinton Mr Anthony Salz Anne, Lady Scott Mr & Mrs Philip Snuggs Mr David F M Stileman Mr & Mrs Ian Streat Mr R H Sutton Mr Peter Tilley The Hon Mrs W Tufnell K Sandberg & T Watkins Mr & Mrs T Wightman Andrew & Emma Wilson Olivia Winterton Dr Nicholas Wright Mr Tim Wright Mrs Paul Zisman

Mr & Mrs Gerald Acher Richard & Delia Baker Mr & Mrs Nicholas Baring Mr & Mrs Tom Bartlam Dori Bateson Mr Peter Bedford Mr & Mrs Robin Behar Mr Alan Bell Mr Keith Benham Mrs M Bennett Sir Christopher & Lady Bland Mrs Gerald Bland Mr & Mrs Simon Borrows Mr Graham Bourne Mr Peter Braunwalder Mr & Mrs Keith Bromley Mr Robin W T Buchanan Mr & Mrs Mark Burch Mrs James Butler Sir Euan Calthorpe Bt Mr & Mrs Michael Campbell Mr Maximilian Carter Sir Peter & Lady Cazalet David & Elizabeth Challen Mr Oliver Colman Cynthia Colman Dr P M de Z Cooke Mr & Mrs Brian Cornish Mr Peter Davidson Guy Boney & Bente Dawkins Mr Peter Dicks Mr & Mrs Malcolm Edwards Austin & Ragna Erwin Mr T Alun Evans CMG Alastair & Robina Farley Mr & Mrs J fforde Mr & Mrs Roger Fidgen Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Mr & Mrs Robin Fox Mr Andrew Frost Mr Stephen Frost Mr Nicholas R Gold Lady Shauna Gosling Mr & Mrs George Goulding Mr Verne Grinstead Mr Michael Gwinnell Mr Philip Gwyn Mr & Mrs Charles Haddon-Cave Mr & Mrs Philip Hallett Mr Clifford Hampton Mr Alan H Harrison Angela & David Harvey The Bulldog Trust Dr & Mrs James F Hill Mr & Mrs Hansgeorg Hofmann Mr Peter Holland Dr Jonathan Holliday Mr J P Hungerford Robin & Pat Ilbert The Countess of Iveagh Mr & Mrs Evan James Mr Martin Jay Mr & Mrs David Jervis Mr J T L Jervoise Neil & Elizabeth Johnson Mr & Mrs A N Joy Ms Walia Kani Mr Vincent Keaveny Maureen & Jim Kelly Peter Kerfack & Russell Townend Mr & Mrs David Leathers Mr & Mrs Adam Lee

David & Linda Lloyd Jones Mr Simon Lofthouse Dr Peter Lyndon-Skeggs Mrs Stuart Macnaghten The Hon Dwight Makins Mr & Mrs Charles Marriott Mr John Marden Mr William Mather Wendy & Michael Max Mr & Mrs P N J May Mr & Mrs T McMaddy Mr Nigel McNair Scott Mr & Mrs A S McWhirter Mr James Meade Leni Lady Miller Mr & Mrs Patrick Mitford Slade Miss Charlotte Moore Elizabeth Morison Mr Michael J Morley Dr & Mrs Julian Muir Lord Neill of Bladen QC Sir Charles Nicholson Bt John & Dianne Norton John Julius Norwich Mr & Mrs Michael Orr Maj Gen & Mrs Simon Pack Mark & Rachel Pearson Ron & Lyn Peet Mr & Mrs Nicholas Phelps Brown The Countess of Portsmouth Mr & Mrs David Potter Bruce & Lizzie Powell Mark & Veronica Powell Mr & Mrs Richard Priestley Mrs Barbara Rait Sir Peter & Lady Ramsbotham Mr Myrddin Rees MS FRCS Mr David Reid Scott David & Alex Rhodes Anonymous Mrs Eric Robinson Clare Rowland Mr & Mrs James Sabben-Clare Sir Timothy Sainsbury Mrs John Salkeld Lady Salomon Mr Richard Scopes The Countess of Selborne Mr & Mrs Mark Silver Mr Paul Skinner Mrs David Smith The Hon & Mrs Jeremy Soames Mr J G Stanford Mrs Donald Stearns Mr R Kirk Stephenson Mr & Mrs Richard H Sykes Sally & Jeremy Stone Mr Anthony John Thompson Professor & Mrs G M Tonge Adair Turner & Orna Ni-Chionna Bill Tustin Mr & Mrs David Vaughan The Hon Mrs Lucy Vaughan Mrs Peter Vey Caroline Vroom Mr Hady Wakefield Lady Jane Wallop Dr & Mrs Oliver Wethered M Whalley & K Goldie-Morrison Mr F E B Witts Mr Charles Young

39

THE

GPO 2002 APPEAL

built the theatre in Hampshire

DONALD KAHN & FAMILY Ronnie Frost & family Geoff & Fiona Squire Lydia & Miles d’Arcy-Irvine Carphone Warehouse Clore Duffield Foundation Lord Harris of Peckham John & Anya Sainsbury Simon & Virginia Rober tson Anonymous James Cave David & Amanda Leathers Sir David & Lady Davies EFG Private Bank William Garrett Corus Mark Andrews Mr & Dr J Beechey David & Elizabeth Challen Mr & Mrs William Charnley Mr & Mrs Peter Dicks Simon Freakley David Gilgrist & Bobbie du Bois Philip Gwyn Mrs Ian Jay James & Béatrice Lupton Donald & Jill Mackenzie Nigel & Anna McNair Scott P F Charitable Trust Richard & Victoria Sharp Mrs Timothy Syder Richard & Cynthia Thompson Anne Veeder The Band Trust

Mr & Mrs Gerald Acher Mr & Mrs David Anderson Mr & Mrs R Atkinson–Willes Tom & Gay Bartlam Rupert T Bentley B G S Cayzer CharitableTrust Kevin & Corinne Bespolka William & Judith Bollinger Douglas Guest Bollinger James Philip Bollinger Sarah & Tony Bolton Mr & Mrs Paul Brewer Rory & Elizabeth Brooks Mr & Mrs Tony Bugg The Bulldog Trust Sir Euan Calthorpe Bt Christopher & Katie Cardona Nigel & Elisabeth Carrington Sir Peter & Lady Cazalet Mr & Mrs Bernard Cazenove The Chase–Gardener family Pam Clarke Alastair & Tiana Collett Oliver & Cynthia Colman Michael Cuthbert Peter & Annette Dart Mr & Mrs Geoffrey de Jager Sandra & Damon de Laszlo Mr & Mrs Lionel de Rothschild Alun & Bridget Evans Iain R Evans Mr & Mrs James fforde Mr & Mrs T Floyd Hamish & Sophie Forsyth The Misses Ismay, Ottilie & Cecilia Forsyth Peter & Judith Foy Mr Mark N Franks Reita Gadkari Janet & John Gaymer Jacqueline & Michael Gee Trust Enrique Biel Gleeson Lady Shauna Gosling Mr & Mrs George Goulding Stephen Gosztony & Sue Butcher Nigel & Diana Grimwood William Gronow Davis Mr & Mrs Charles Haddon–Cave

Hayden Trust Mr & Mrs Raymond Henley Malcolm Herring Mr & Mrs John Hewett Dr Jonathan Holliday & Dr Gwen Lewis George & Janette Hollingbery

The Holmes Family Hugh & Tamara Hudleston Nicholas & Jeremy Hunter Mr & Mrs David Hunter Mr & Mrs M J Isaac Hannah Jacobs Harriet Jervis Mr & Mrs J Jervoise Neil & Elizabeth Johnson Andrew & Caroline Joy Mr & Mrs Colin Keogh Dr R Hubert Laeng–Danner Rufford Foundation Mrs T Landon Barbara Yu Larsson Mr & Mrs Malcolm Le May Peter Leaver & Thomas Sharpe Mr & Mrs Adam Lee Jeremy Gardner Lewis Susie Lintott & Louisa Church David & Linda Lloyd Jones Joe & Minnie MacHale Charles & Annmarie Mackay Mr & Mrs Michael Mackenzie Tessa & John Manser J P Marland Charitable Trust Wendy & Michael Max Mr & Mrs Peter May Harvey McGregor QC Thomas Monk Martin & Caroline Moore Elizabeth Morison Mr & Mrs Richard Morse Dr & Mrs Julian Muir The Nawrocki family The O’Hea family Sue & Peter Paice Tim & Therese Parker Alexia Paterson William & Francheska Pattisson Mark & Rachel Pearson Peter Tilley in memory of Nigel Perfect Lord & Lady Phillimore Sir David & Lady Plastow Jan & Michael Potter Bruce & Lizzie Powell Mark & Veronica Powell Benjamin Pritchett–Brown Mr & Mrs Gary Ralfe Mrs Christopher Reeves David & Alex Rhodes Ros & Ken Rokison Mrs Faanya Rose Mrs Antony Rowe Mr & Mrs John Salkeld

Mr & Mrs Anthony Salz Christopher & Anne Saul Mr & Mrs Richard Scopes Mr & Mrs Roderick Selkirk Mrs Christopher Sheridan Lord & Lady Simon of Highbury Edward M Siskind Paul & Rita Skinner Mr & Mrs Martin St Quinton Nicholas Stanley Donald & Rachael Stearns Steel Charitable Trust Stevenson Charitable Trust John & Lesley Stuttard Mr & Mrs R H Sutton Mr & Mrs Bernard Taylor Gordon & Sue Thorburn The Titchmarsh Family Mr & Mrs Anthony Townsend Wendy & John Trueman Adair Turner & Orna Ni–Chionna The Hon Lucy & Michael Vaughan

John & Lou Verrill Lady Jane Wallop John & Carol Wates Miss Clare Williams Hamish & Elisabeth Williams Mark & Jane Williams The Hon Geoffrey & Mrs Wilson

The Wolf Family Mr & Mrs C H R Wunderly Caroline Wyld and 5 anonymous donors

Past performance should not be seen as an indication of future performance.

SG Kleinwort Hambros Bank limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. The firm reference number is 119250. The company is incorporated in England and Wales under number 964058 and its registered address is 5th floor, 8 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4JU. Š 2018 Societe Generale Group and its affiliates and subsidiaries.

Laurent-Perrier chosen by

Michel Roux at Le Gavroche.

Illustrated by Quentin Blake

Photo credit: Iris Velghe / Illustrator credit: Quentin Blake

CUVÉE ROSÉ CHOSEN BY THE BEST

43

I can’t list everyone who has made this all happen. You should all feel very proud of YOUR achievement. Your hard work, money, brainpower, gardening, sewing were thrown into the pot to miraculous effect. The expanded GPO family melds people from the earliest days (Salkelds, Leathers, Niall Fitzgerald, Squires, Townsends, Achers, Michael Spencer and many more) with new enthusiasts (Clarkes, Seligmans, Cleggs, Sassoons, Lewisohns, Mia Wrigley and her Rosé wine) plus exceptional generosity and ideas from Hilary and Michael Cowan.

Ronnie Frost helped set up GPO in 1998. I played the Méditation from Thais at his memorial service and life without him is very annoying because he was both amusing and supremely sensible. You can read about his remarkable life in the following pages. ////

Phase 2 building works suffered mightily with gruesome weather and we thought it was all going pear-shaped. Then the sun shone . . . and it was peach-shaped. Our modest achievements include: / The Lavatorium Rotundum and all it entailed – especially sewage treatment tanks in a rather gorgeous teal colour. (They are underground so only the worms now enjoy the teal colour) / The cross-gartered exterior of 140,000 bricks were laid with <5mm tolerance by Steven Maryon, Daniel Kear, Tom Buckle, Dane Sheridan, Joe Oram and Paul McLoughlin. These are magnificent men / A fanfare balcony (plus bells for non-fanfare days) / Generous reconstituted stone architraves at the theatre entrances. (There is nothing Martin Smith enjoys more than designing a stone architrave) / In the dressing rooms: flooring, loos, décor + Joanna Lumley’s old kitchen in the Green Room / In the auditorium: work in the orchestra pit, a further 40 Porta Romana wall lights (hurray for Andrew and Sarah Hills), Hugo Dalton’s light drawings for the ceiling and beautification of the vestibule (advised by Tricia Guild and Nicky Haslam) / The two theatre staircases with curved walls / Outside: a quince orchard, wildflower plugs, a hazel-pole frame for sweet peas, perching benches in case this list is exhausting you.

The sins of omission (to be rectified) include theatre flooring (oak in the vestibule and stalls, and elsewhere terrazzo with a bit of glitter), work to the proscenium area, the signature train set in the vestibule, the stone forecourt, finishing the larch north façade and the canopy around the theatre.

The 562 donors to the project have embraced two ideas (a) you can’t take it with you (b) music makes the world a better place. Where would we be without music?

And where would we be without Martin Smith?

Undoubtedly . . . stuck in the mud and without all the lovely details he so cherishes. For every idea (for example, the tin flags in the Ladies’ Lavatorium denoting an unoccupied cubicle), he finds a friend from schooldays who can make it. Every joiner, groundworker, electrician, bricklayer, plumber, plasterer, roofer who works with Martin is a craftsman.

Architect David Lloyd Jones has been with the project since Day One. The good ideas are his ideas (when they aren’t Martin’s) – the bad ideas are mine. ////

While all that goes on, Dec and Paul have teams preparing the stage, Bernard attends to the hectic rehearsal rooms, Helen prepares everything from the new potwash to the ordering of 44 lavatory roll holders. She turns her hand to anything, as do my compatriots in the office: a small group whose total is more than the sum of the parts.

They are all involved with Annabel Larard’s Primary Robins project which gives a weekly half-hour singing class to 1,800 children. And we work in prisons. The next show is November in Bronzefield Prison, near Heathrow Airport. Come along. ////

I hope we have finished perspiring and can concentrate on aspiring. There is massive potential here. Just now however, I want to dwell on (not in) the Lavatorium Rotundum. Since my earliest opera days (Garsington 1992-1997) never have I worked amongst real loos.

This is a coming of age.

WASFI KANI Founder & CEO

In the stable block, October 2017

W

e’re here. We succeeded. The big deal is done. Now we can enjoy it.

Cultural life, 1959

SUCCESS IN THE THEATRICAL WOODS

45

RONNIE FROST 1936-2018 A thoughtful, kind and generous man, few people have shown such entrepreneurial talent and gained such admiration for their achievements in their lifetime.

R

An extract from David Felwick's eulogy at Guildford Cathedral, 20 th March 2018 onnie, my dear friend of some 30 years, was charismatic, entertaining and very successful.

The son of a soldier, Ronnie was born in Yorkshire – which explains his love of Sunday roasts and a bargain. With two brothers and a sister he grew up in Windsor but after the war his father was posted to Germany. It was there he first developed his commercial instincts by breeding white mice in the attic and selling them for half a crown each.

Unfortunately, a feral mouse crept in one night and the outcome was several speckled mice whose scarcity was exploited: Ronnie sold them at the inflated price of 3 shillings.

Ronnie left school in 1953 with no qualifications apart from being a promising hurdler. He became an apprentice cabinet maker in Windsor before joining his father’s regiment, The Royal Horseguards (The Blues). He soon found himself promoted and posted to Cyprus.

When Ronnie left the army to join his parents in Petersfield where his father was managing a chicken farm, he took several military traits with him: he was always punctual, immaculately dressed with polished shoes and in the early days wore starched white collars. He was the only friend I knew to have creases down the front of his jeans and shorts!

In those days, his father's poultry was being sent to a wholesaler and Ronnie suggested he start van sales supplying caterers, pubs and small hotels. He found a garage near Kew Bridge, turned it into a cold store and set off in an insulated Ford transit van to sell poultry – the chicken salesman was born. He soon had three vans going flat out. In due course he went into partnership with his Smithfield supplier and the combined business prospered and expanded to cover southern England.

Meanwhile, at a Windsor bus stop on a foggy day in 1955, he had met Beryl. In 1959, Ronnie and Beryl got married. So Beryl was also sharing the chicken experience, the starched collars and caring for Stephen, Jane and Louise.

One Christmas at Smithfield, Ronnie met a Waitrose meat buyer who had been let down by his turkey

supplier. Ronnie was “off like a robber's dog” across the market buying turkeys wherever he could. It was the start of a special relationship. He, and later Hays, traded with Waitrose for almost 50 years – the first 24 years on merely a handshake.

With brothers Derrick and Chris, Ronnie formed Farmhouse Securities, providing chilled and frozen food distribution for retailers. 10-fold expansion over 15 years had crises – especially in the 1970s – and Ronnie admitted life became a bit of a struggle. Undeterred, he continued with 18-hour days, always optimistic, full of ideas and irrepressibly enthusiastic.

In 1981, Ronnie took these attributes forward into the sale and merger of Farmhouse Securities with Hays, then owned by the Kuwaiti Investment Office. As CEO of the new enterprise, Ronnie set about building Hays into a top logistics and business services group. He had secured first refusal to buy back the business and he did that in 1987. The day after Black Monday he parted with £257m in a management buyout. Two years later it floated on the stock market valued at £400m. Timing was unfortunate. That very day Nigel Lawson resigned as Chancellor and in the jittery market the initial offer price was cut by 15%. But Hays plc went forward as a public company with little borrowing and the ability to make acquisitions.

Throughout the 1990s Hays was the darling of the City and grew organically and by acquisition to reach a turnover of £1.55 billion in 1999.

Hays had become a world leading business services group and Ronnie had established a strong Board around him to grow and support that size of business, including his close confidante and brother Derrick.

We have to remember, Ronnie was not schooled at university or business school but everyone, including the City, recognised Ronnie as an instinctive and courageous leader who gave strong direction, took risks and even if he thought he was only 51% right was convinced his team could make it work – and invariably they did. He had a tremendous eye for detail, a prodigious memory, picked up concepts easily and learned quickly. Ronnie’s strategy was for Hays to maintain a 3 legged stool; Logistics, Commercial and Personnel because they were

Ronald Edwin Frost 19 th March 1936 – 22 nd February 2018

cyclically different. Additionally, some were cash– generative and some cash–shy but in hard times they were mutually supportive. The City view at that time was that Hays was a conglomerate, which was not the flavour of the day, and after Ronnie’s retirement in 2001 the City pressed his successors to concentrate on Personnel and dispose of the rest.

Ronnie had 14 years at the helm of Hays plc; he was the first chief executive to lead a management buyout into the Footsie 100, he acquired more than 40 companies. At its height the company was worth nearly £9 billion. Not bad for a chicken salesman!

Ronnie was driven, ambitious and didn’t consider his work a chore. Although holidays were not in vogue in the early years, Ronnie relished his sailing, cruising and shooting forging long–lasting friendships. His yacht Blue Leopard was used infrequently but he enjoyed sailing in the Mediterranean with St Tropez a favourite destination where there was a pipe shop with a good selection of Cuban cigars. Then it was time for a coffee and a seat where he could view the harbour and passing traffic while the wives went shopping. On cruises he favoured Portofino and the Cinque Terre. One year we were heading for Ischia when the coast was lit up by fireworks: Italy had won the World Cup. Our shooting days took us everywhere from Cornwall to Scotland – complete with kilts – and even Spain. The most memorable was a Rovos train safari through Zambia and Zimbabwe which was where Ronnie, somewhat smugly, christened our team The Africa Corps, an epithet we use whenever we shoot together. Stories abound about that trip – from sweeping black mambas out of the lounge door to sending wives on the Zambezi in dugout canoes amidst hippos and crocodiles and marvelling that all of them returned!

Ronnie was a great raconteur with a wealth of stories and he and Beryl were superb hosts at Thorncombe Park and at The Grove in Jersey where they opened their magnificent garden to raise funds for the Jersey Association for Youth & Friendship.

Closer to the Hays headquarters here in Guildford he supported Meath Home, other local charities and was a long time supporter of Grange Park Opera both in Hampshire and now more locally at West Horsley Place where Ronnie accompanied by Beryl

and the family were delighted to attend Tosca on the opening night last summer of the new Opera House.

Thorncombe Estate was loved and cherished by Ronnie; he took great delight in setting the estate to rights and developing a first class shoot there. Beryl tells the story that they fell in love with the house and setting at first sight and they had purchased it within three months. It has been the home of many happy events with all the family and close friends and especially his 11 grandchildren; they all, like his children, had a special place in his heart and he often spoke fondly of their achievements.

Ronnie was a larger than life character and I want to finish on an upbeat note as we are here to celebrate a life well-lived and totally appreciated.

There can be no greater achievement as a business man than to create wealth and share it. But to do it as generously as Ronnie, with such modesty and good humour, without ever flying the flag of ego, is truly remarkable. Ronnie was a man whose deeds and personality cast a long shadow and those of us it touched have been blessed indeed.

Ronnie, you will always be remembered as rising from Chicken Salesman to Business Icon and, most importantly, as a loyal, devoted and loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.

We all miss you.

47

䔀䰀䴀 䌀䄀倀䤀吀䄀䰀 䄀匀匀伀䌀䤀䄀吀䔀匀 䰀吀䐀

倀刀䤀嘀䄀吀䔀 䔀儀唀䤀吀夀 䄀䐀嘀䤀匀䔀刀匀

眀眀眀⸀攀氀洀挀愀瀀椀琀愀氀⸀挀漀洀 䌀漀渀琀愀挀琀 唀猀 ㈀㘀 匀琀 䨀愀洀攀猀ᤠ猀 匀焀甀愀爀攀Ⰰ 䰀漀渀搀漀渀Ⰰ 匀圀㄀夀 㐀䨀䠀 吀攀氀㨀 ⬀㐀㐀⠀ ⤀ ㈀ 㜀 㤀 ㄀ 㠀㤀㐀 䔀洀愀椀氀㨀 椀渀昀漀䀀攀氀洀挀愀瀀椀琀愀氀⸀挀漀洀

GRANGE PARK OPERA TRUSTEES GRANGE PARK OPERA

Simon Freakley Chair Joanna Barlow Tony Bugg Iain Burnside Sue Butcher Mary Creswell Sir David Davies Dame Vivien Duffield Jeremy Farr David Kershaw Keith Weed PIMLICO OPERA

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Wasfi Kani OBE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Helen Sennett EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Bernard Davies FINANCE MANAGER

Claire Imhofe Julia Parker assistant DATA MANAGER

Chris Campbell MARKETING MANAGER

Rebecca Thomas

John Derrick Chairman Fiona Maddocks Ian Maurice Dr Shirley Radcliffe George Meagher

PRODUCTION MANAGER

COMPANY SECRETARY

Daisy May Smeddle

Eleanor Cranmer

PRESS

AMERICAN FRIENDS

Annabel Larard Celia Bailey

Marie Veeder Rafaela Evans Lee Cervantes Milburn GPO APPEAL JOINT CHAIR

Sir David Davies Dame Vivien Duffield PATRONS

Joanna Lumley Sir Bryn Terfel //// SPECIAL THANKS TO

Richard Lewisohn Unilever Svetlana Spooner John & Victoria Salkeld Edward & Mandy Weston AND THE VOLUNTEERS TO WHOM WE ARE VERY GRATEFUL

////

Dan Franklin COMPANY MANAGER

Holly Wade ARTIST ADMINISTRATOR

BOX OFFICE

Charlotte Pomroy Manager Tabitha Moore Katy Chappell

2018

HEAD OF STAGE

Roslyn Moreton Maker Kate Johnston Maker DEPUTIES John Sherrard Additional Costume Makers Scott Darkins Elsa Threadgold Alexander Harris Darcy Clothing Roxy Cressy, Pauline Parker STAGE TECHNICIANS Richard Handscombe Isaac Marley Burrough Sara Hill, Sarah Ninot Amy Vandevelde Simon Woods, Jodie Taylor Les Woolford Mens Tailor Ethan Duffy, Emily Malherbe Clare Carter Dyeing Gabrielle Firth Dyeing CHIEF ELECTRICIAN Simon Dawes Hats Paul Hyland Mark Wheeler Masks LIGHTING PROGRAMMER Student sewers Paul Walmsley Eleanor Bronwyn Hughes STAGE ELECTRICIANS Sabastian Blue, Pip Walsh Deputy Carrie-Ann Stein Eden Thornton Deputy COSTUME HIRE Stephen Green Angels Costumes White Light Lighting Hire Bristol Costume Services OKLAHOMA! SOUND History in the Making Tim Rawlings Prod Engineer National Theatre Hire Ben Evans WARDROBE MISTRESS Lucy Williams Katie Griffin Orbital Sound Sound hire Assisted by Bek Palmer SETS

ARTISTIC CONSULTANT

Okla! Adrian Snell Production Services Scenic art Adam Cutts Ballo / R&J Harrogate Theatre Scenic Services Painters David Manners, Neil Sellman

Iain Burnside

PROPS SUPERVISOR

HEAD OF MUSIC

Philip White

Lisa Buckley Sam Harrison Assistant

ASS'T CONDUCTOR / REP

STAGE MANAGER

FUNDRAISING

Jack Rush Appeal Louise Alderton Trusts ////

Cat Beveridge Okla!

Erik a Alvarez R&J Edmund Whitehead Ballo Jeremy Cooke R&J David Doidge Okla!

COACHING

Matteo dalle Fratte Ballo Sonja Nerdrum R&J Emma Woodvine Okla!

Joyce Fieldsend ASSOC DESIGNER

Catherine Morgan Ballo CHAPERONE

Terry Cavanagh Edel Connelly Jackie Buckley Carrie Sutton

COSTUME WORKROOM

Declan Costello

Laura Deards Okla!

Wendy Griffin-Reid Ballo Katie Thackeray R&J DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER

Diane Norburn Okla!

Samantha Kerrison Ballo Jenny Hunter R&J ASM

Robert Perkins Okla!

Valeria Bettini Ballo Robyn Cross R&J //// COSTUME SUPERVISOR

Deborah Andrews Okla!

Megan Doyle deputy Caroline Hughes Ballo Ruth Young deputy Jackie Holt R&J Felicity Jones deputy

DRESSERS

Bethany Stephens, Sarah Leclère WIGS & MAKE-UP

Alice Townes Mistress Wayne Fitzimmons Assistant The Wig Room Ltd Darren & Pav Stalmach-Ware //// THE RESTAURANT

David Kearney Food Laurent-Perrier Champagne Lea & Sandermann Wine Fortnum & Mason Picnics SITE PREPARATION & HOSPITALITY

Helen Sennett Dir of Ops Holly Wade Head Usher Janet O'Hara Trudy Convey Katy Denham Martin O'Hara Michael Sennett Tent Keeper Sophie Yauner Kiosk Gloria Walsh SEASON PROGRAMME BOOK

Rebecca Thomas design Wasfi Kani & Jack Rush Cantate / John Good printing PROGRAMME COVER

Henk Helmantel (b 1945)

49

English National Opera Orchestra UN

BALLO IN MASCHERA and ROMÃ&#x2030;O ET JULIETTE

VIOLIN 1

VIOLA

Gonzalo Acosta Leader Richard Blayden Julia Rumley Jayne Walker Margaret Roseberry Jacqui Miles Catherine Haggo Simon Jackson Jeremy Allen Kolbrun Lovell

Delyth John Bryony Gibson-Cornish Terry Nettle James Hogg Samantha Hutchins Penelope Thompson

VIOLIN 2

Claire Sterling Elizabeth-Anne Neil Sophie Kostecki Susan Carvell Jonathan Newton Claire-Louise Sankey Naomi Mitchell David Spencer Glen Sheldon

CELLO

FLUTE

TRUMPET

Katie Bedford Silvija Scerbaviciute Ballo Anne-Claire Toussaint R&J

Colin Clague / Julian Brewer William O'Sullivan

OBOE

Becky Smith Martin Kelly

Lauren Sansom Ballo Amy McKean R&J Helen Vigurs

Tim Gill Ballo Jonathan Ayling R&J David Newby Caroline Gough David Perks Gillian Bragg

CLARINET

DOUBLE BASS

HORN

Hugh Sparrow Rupert Ring Andrew Jones Duncan Goode

Peter Sparks Robert Ault BASSOON

Simon Couzens Catherine Duckett

TROMBONE

BASS TROMBONE

Joe Arnold TUBA

Nicholas Hitchens TIMPANI

Dominic Hackett PERCUSSION

Michael Doran Giles Harrison

Corinne Bailey HARP Andrew Sutton Alison Martin Ballo Francisco Gomez-Ruiz Ballo Patrizia Meier R&J Sam Pearce R&J //// Elise Campbell MANAGER

Richard Meads

BBC Concert Orchestra OKLAHOMA! VIOLIN 1

Nathaniel Anderson-Frank Leader Charles Mutter Rebecca Turner Peter Bussereau Chereene Price Lucy Hartley Cormac Browne Juan Gonzalez Rustom Pomeroy Jamie Hutchinson VIOLIN 2

Michael Gray Matthew Elston Marcus Broome David Beaman Daniel Mullin Sarah Freestone Anna Ritchie Maria Ryan

VIOLA

FLUTE

TRUMPET

Timothy Welch Alex Koustas Nigel Goodwin Helen Knief Mike Briggs Judit Kelemen

Ileana Ruhemann

Catherine Moore David McCallum John Blackshaw

CELLO

Benjamin Hughes Helen Edgar Matthew Lee Josephine Abbott Ben Rogerson Miriam Lowbury DOUBLE BASS

Dominic Worsley Andrew Wood Stacey-Ann Miller Lachlan Radford

OBOE

Gareth Hulse CLARINET

Joseph Shiner Derek Hannigan BASSOON

John McDougall HORN

Richard Dilley Tom Rumsby

TROMBONE

Emma Hodgson Mike Lloyd TIMPANI / PERCUSSION

Alasdair Malloy Stephen Whibley HARP

Deian Rowlands GUITAR

Colin Green //// MANAGER

Andrew Connolly

The Menuhin Hall

The future of classical music on your doorstep

The Menuhin Hall Stoke d’Abernon Cobham Surrey KT11 3QQ themenuhinhall.co.uk

Join us for outstanding classical music by world-class performers, including the pupils of The Yehudi Menuhin School.

For your copy of the 2018 – 19 What’s On brochure (available late August) email boxoffice@menuhinschool.co.uk or call 08700 842020.

MEMBER ‘happenings’ Beyond the summer we like to stay in touch, holding member ‘happenings’ in special and secret venues you may not have thought to visit: delightful corners of London and Surrey ripe for exploration. Share these unique experiences by joining a School of Support and help to pay for a quarter of everything you see on stage. Here’s what our members have enjoyed this past year … and some of what’s to come: Dinner at St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club

Dinner at Drapers Hall

College of Arms Tour

Second Unilever Dinner

Theatre in the Woods, On Stage

Charterhouse, London Roméo et Juliette preview

Secret Mail Rail

From the Pit to the Attic Tours

An American in Paris, Dominion Theatre

Cowan Garden Party (Ripley)

First Unilever Dinner

AUTUMN HAPPENINGS INCLUDE

High Down Prison

Hamilton, Victoria Palace

Dinner for Worshipful Company of Actuaries

Immortals dinner

Charterhouse. London Oklahoma! preview

Dinner at Goldsmiths Company

Greenwich Royal Naval College, Ceiling Tour

London Mithraeum

Dinner at 67 Pall Mall

Westminster Abbey Tour & Reception

Rothschild & Co Sky Pavilion, Iain Burnside & GSMD, Swansong

Viva Verdi! Four day trip to Parma – a microcosm of everything beautiful about Italy – taking in Verdi’s homelands, private collections, culatello tasting, a gala dinner with the Marchesa di Rosa Prati, the Festival Verdi (Teatro Regio and Teatro Farnese) and more.

McLaren Technology Centre Victoria & Albert Museum Roméo et Juliette masterclass

53

Developing

Creative

Potential

Music is strong, valued and

highly praised by parents.

- Good Schools Guide

Our pupils are delighted to be performing in Oklahoma

Cranmore School Independent Preparatory School for girls and boys 2 ½ - 13

Music scholarships for year 3 entry

Cranmore actively promotes an enjoyment and love of music throughout the school for every level of ability.

www.cranmoreprep.co.uk 01483 280340 admissions@cranmoreprep.co.uk West Horsley, Surrey KT24 6AT

Join the Immortals

‘It is a blessing to give’

TEVYE, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

B

y including Grange Park Opera in your Will you are preserving the culture of music and opera. You are making a mark on the future.

In that way . . . you are IMMORTAL

ʻA music-bath is to the soul what a water-bath is to the body’ JOANNA LUMLEY, PATRON & IMMORTAL

But we also want it to be immediately enjoyable. So we are creating a jolly group THE IMMORTALS who will have an Annual Dinner sponsored by Michael & Hilary Cowan. The first dinner takes place on November 20.

Your gift will be recognised (if you so wish) for 20 years in the Programme Book and on the website.

The price of Immortality is not great given what is on offer. We are asking for a minimum pledge of £50,000 – but it costs you nothing in your lifetime. If you plan leaving a lesser amount, it will still help preserve the arts for future generations. You will be celebrated in a fitting way and be joined to . . . THE BELOVEDS. Jack Rush (jack@grangeparkopera.co.uk) is ready to explain. It is very easy to write a Letter of Wishes to append to your Will at any time.

Your gift will be deducted from your inheritance tax liability (IHT) which is normally 40%. If you give 10% of your estate to charity, IHT is reduced to 36%.

If in the past two years you have inherited and you pass part to a charity, it can reclaim the IHT.

IMMORTALS Joanna Lumley Bill Bougourd & Judith Thomas Tony Bugg William Charnley Hilary Cowan Michael Cowan Ms Jacqueline Crawley Niall FitzGerald

Simon Freakley Nerissa Guest David Gutman Dr Peter Harrison Wasfi Kani David Kershaw Sam Kirk Dr John Millbank Cathy Pearman Michael Pearman

Joanna Lumley, Patron and Immor tal at the Ellora Caves, India, dating from 2 nd century BCE

Georgina & Martin Van Tol & five anonymous donors

BELOVEDS Alison Baigrie Tom Baigrie David Lloyd Jones In memory of my husband Bill & three anonymous donors

55

Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II

OKLAHOMA!

Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) & Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960)

OKL AHOMA! Book & lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs First performance 31 March 1943, St. James Theatre, Broadway. London opening 30 April 1947 Original dances by Agnes de Mille. Presented by arrangement with R&H Theatricals Europe CONDUCTOR ∙ RICHARD BALCOMBE DIRECTOR ∙ JO DAVIES CHOREOGR APHY ∙ ANDREW WRIGHT SET DESIGN ∙ FRANCIS O'CONNOR COSTUME DESIGNER ∙ GABRIELLE DALTON LIGHTING DESIGN ∙ BRUNO POET SOUND DESIGN ∙ TOM MARSHALL FIGHT INSTRUCTOR ∙ ALISON DE BURGH CASTING ∙ STUART BURT

CDG

B BC CONC E RT ORC H E STR A leader Nathaniel Anderson-Frank

CURLY M c L AIN A cowboy in love with Laurey ∙ DEX LEE sponsor Oh what a beautiful mornin’ In memor y of Nigel Williams, ever y morning L AUREY WILLIAMS Aunt Eller’s niece ∙ KATIE HALL sponsor Hamish & Sophie Forsy th AUNT ELLER Laurey’s aunt, community leader ∙ CLAIRE MOORE JUD FRY A hired hand on Aunt Eller’s ranch ∙ PHILLIP RHODES ADO ANNIE CARNES A gullible young woman ∙ NATASHA COTTRIALL sponsor I’m just a girl who can’t say no Jackie & John Alexander WILL PARKER in love with Ado Annie ∙ LOUIS GAUNT sponsor Adam & Lucy Constable ALI HAKIM A Persian pedlar, f lir ting with Ado Annie ∙ STEVEN SERLIN ANDREW CARNES Ado Annie’s father ∙ NICOLAS COLICOS GERTIE CUMMINGS A farm girl, fond of Curly ∙ LAUREN HOOD IKE SKIDMORE ∙ LEE ORMSBY

THE WINDMILL sponsor Anonymous

K ATE ∙ NATASHA HOEBERIGS

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR ∙ OLLIE LAMFORD

CORD EL AM ∙ DERMOT CANAVAN

ASS’T CHOR’GR ∙ EMILY GOODENOUGH

OKL AHOMA! It's a beautiful morning and two farm-girls are overwhelmed with offers to escort them to the dance that evening. A rejected suitor picks a fight and almost turns that classic happy-ending into tragedy.

Act One FARMING HEARTLANDS OF AMERICA On a sun-kissed, early 20 th century morning a shy but handsome cowhand, Curly McLain, turns up at Aunt Eller’s yard to ask her niece, Laurey, to the box social dance – which includes the auction of lunch baskets prepared by local women to raise funds for a schoolhouse. The winner of each basket can share it with the woman who prepared it.

Curly promises to take her there in style but she plays hard to get. Attracted though she is to Curly, she capriciously agrees to go instead with Jud Fry, a rough hired hand whose sullen temper scares her. She wonders if she’s made the right decision.

Meanwhile, another girl is faced with a choice of suitors: Ado Annie Carnes. One of them is Will Parker, who was promised her hand in marriage if he had $50 to his name. Will is recently returned from Kansas City where he had won $50 at a fair – but he spent it all on presents for Ado Annie.

Ado Annie’s other suitor is a pedlar, Ali Hakim, who prefers flirtation to commitment. Ali would be only too pleased if Will Parker claimed Annie’s hand.

Gertie Cummings flirts with Curly (Laurey is annoyed – but shrugs it off ) and Andrew Carnes catches his Annie with Ali. Curly, disappointed, goes to have it out with Jud. A fight is narrowly averted. Ali Hakim takes the opportunity to sell some of his merchandise, persuading Laurey to buy what he calls an ancient remedy to clear the mind. (It is referred to as smelling salts but it is actually laudanum.) She dreams that Jud kills Curly and abducts her. Fakery or not, her mind is clearing.

LONG INTERVAL

Act Two THE BOX SOCIAL DANCE It’s the night of the dance, bringing farmers and cowhands together in uneasy friendship.

Laurey is there with Jud; Curly has taken Gertie. In an effort to rid himself of Ado Annie, Ali Hakim offers Will $50 for his Kansas souvenirs. Jud has his eye on one particular souvenir – the Little Wonder – in which is hidden a knife.

The auction is now under way. The foolish Will bids his justrecovered $50 for Annie’s box, and is only saved from losing his money yet again by a $51 bid from Ali. Curly and Jud enter a bidding war for Laurey’s box, which Curly wins by selling all his possessions. In revenge, Jud tries to get him to use the booby-trapped Little Wonder, but fails.

Eventually the two girls make the right choices: Laurey rejects the brutal Jud in favour of Curly, while Annie (somewhat reluctantly) says goodbye to Ali in favour of Will. Their lives seem sorted.

But not quite.

THREE WEEKS LATER . . .

A few weeks later it’s Laurey and Curly’s wedding day: the start of a new life. It is also the birth of a new state, Oklahoma, whch has been incorporated into the USA. Amid the optimism and good-natured banter, a drunken Jud turns up. He attacks Curly with a knife. There is a vicious brawl and Jud is accidentally killed.

Wedding day or not, Curly is obliged to give himself up to justice.

Aunt Eller leans on the lawyers to dispense justice on the spot and the judge, Andrew Carnes, declares a Not Guilty verdict.

Curly and Laurey can ride off into their joint future, on a very fine day – very like the one that launched the story.

CHILDREN ARCHIE SOLEY CHARLIE BARKLAM MONTY LEWIS CHARLIE ELSON CAITLIN WATKINS

59

THE 46TH STATE IN THE UNION

I

n 1948 the Shah of Persia paid a State Visit to Britain. While he was here, George VI and Queen Elizabeth took him to the theatre. Little Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II, was in the party. As they left Buckingham Palace, the Shah asked the King what they were going to see. “Annie Get your Gun,” the King replied. “An’ you get your gun,” said the Shah. “Damn! I left mine in the bedroom; will send my equerry to get it.” The evening may have turned out less dangerous than the Shah had imagined.

1907 Guymon residents gather as Oklahoma becomes the 46th state in the union

Had the Shah come a year earlier, he could have seen Oklahoma!, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s masterpiece, newly arrived from America. The original Broadway production had opened in March 1943, sixteen months after Pearl Harbour. It touched a home-loving nerve in Americans coming out of the Depression and into a savage World War. It kindled a dream of freedom associated with the pioneering work of settlers in virgin country; after all, in 1943 the state of Oklahoma was only 36 years old. The Indian Territory had become

a state in 1907, five years before Arizona and New Mexico joined the Union, the last of the contiguous states to do so.

Oklahoma! presents the lives of immigrants who have recently moved into wild unsettled land, the sedentary yeoman farmers mingling with the open-range cowboys. Oklahoma! was about home, family and communal affection: the farmer and the cowman should be friends – Territory folks should stick together. It was about the things which the Americans reckoned they were fighting for.

It was a favourite night out for servicemen on leave and ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances.

The musical is derived from Green Grow the Lilacs, by Lynn Riggs, a play with folk songs, about settlers in Oklahoma’s Indian Territory in 1906. Riggs, who took his title from the well-known Civil War song, was born on a farm near Claremore, the town in the play.

His father, William Grant Riggs, a cowboy, later became a bank president in Claremore.

His mother, known as Eller, was one-eighth

1931 Theatre Guild’s original Broadway production of Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs

Cherokee and died when Riggs was one. The boy couldn’t abide his father’s new wife and went to live with his aunt Mary. Welldisposed aunts, like Aunt Eller, feature importantly in several of Riggs’ best plays.

Hammerstein kept much of the dialogue of Riggs’ play and clearly enjoyed the language of Riggs’ exuberant stage directions. It is a radiant summer morning, several years ago, the kind of morning which, enveloping the shapes of the earth, men, cattle in a meadow, blades of the young corn, streams – makes them seem to exist now for the first time, their images giving off a golden emanation that is partly true and partly a trick of the imagination, focusing to keep alive a loveliness that may pass away. Longwinded as a stage direction, but admirable as the basis for an opening song.

Oh, what a beautiful mornin’ took people away from the war, off to an Oklahoma farm at the turn of the century where the biggest problem was whether Curly McLain could persuade Laurey Williams to go with him to the box social that night.

Riggs wished to retain the melodies of Oklahoma speech: I find it difficult to give up using that flavorous, that lustrous imagery, that beautiful rhythmic utterance. The main reason, of course, is that I know more about the people I knew in childhood and youth than any others. But it so happens that I knew mostly the dark ones, the unprivileged ones, the ones with the most desolate fields, the most dismal skies. And so it isn’t surprising that my plays concern themselves with poor farmers, forlorn wives, tortured youth, plow hands, peddlers, criminals, slaveys – with all the range of folk victimized by brutality, ignorance, superstition, and dread.

61

His people are the people of Oklahoma Territory, people who did not ordinarily receive much attention; he let them present themselves in their own rich drawling language, smacking of the dusty plains.

What the sugary gloss of the musical invites us to forget is what many Americans try to disavow: the fact the foundation of the state of Oklahoma was only possible because the land had been stolen from the Indians.

George Washington regarded the individual American Indian as the equal of the white man – we hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal. Indian society, however, Washington held to be inferior. Washington and Jefferson tried to civilize Indian communities. They hoped the Indians would accept the idea of private land ownership, build homes and schools, abandon their sometimes nomadic way of life, and embrace Christianity. In this way they could be fully accepted into white American society. The early presidents believed that a yeoman population, each man with a stake in the land, would lay the foundations of a stable, loyal society.

Washington and Jefferson’s plan included impartial justice towards Indians and the appointment of agents to live among them, and encourage them, through example, to live like whites, adopting yeoman farming practices, including the use of black slaves. The plan was most successful with the people whom Americans, and sometimes American Indians, called the Five Civilized Tribes, “civilized” because they seemed to be assimilating Anglo-American norms: education and therefore literacy, and intermarriage with white Americans. Nevertheless, the five tribes, the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole nations suffered sorely from the pressure of westward expansion of the white population. The 1830 Indian Removal Act forced them to relocate their homes, from East of the Mississippi to lands West of the river, subsequently known as Indian Territory, much of which was to become the state of Oklahoma.

These “Civilized Tribes” need to be contrasted with the Plains Indians, many of whom rejected white culture and the concept of private land ownership. They religiously believed the land to be a communally owned asset. The American bison was their primary resource, providing most of their everyday needs: food, clothing, drinking vessels, body ornaments. These tribes followed the seasonal grazing migrations of the buffalo. They adapted marvellously to the horses introduced into America by the Spanish conquistadores. From the time, around 1730, when they had enough horses for everyone, these tribes adopted a fully nomadic life, following the great herds of bison, living in tepees because they

63

1870 Buffalo skulls collected for fer tilizer; the rest of the body was left to rot

While their lands were being stolen, George Catlin was the first American to depict the indigenous tribes, living among the Mandan, Sioux, Blackfeet, Crow and other tribes in the summer months 1832â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1837

were quickly put up and taken down. It’s the Plains Indians, of course, who go tarryhooting about in John Wayne movies.

When they proved reluctant to move to reservations, the government tried to civilise these people by having General Custer murder their wives and children, and when they retaliated, encouraging sharpshooters to kill the buffalo. Colonel Dodge said in 1867, Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone. One is reminded of a percipient note by Henry Knox (Washington’s General of Artillery) to the President himself, which finished: it has been conceived to be impracticable to civilize the Indians of North America – This opinion is probably more convenient than just.

The white government, having pushed the civilized tribes out of their homes East of the Mississippi and into Indian Territory, next, to punish the Civilized Tribes for supporting the Confederacy, encouraged whites to steal land from the Indians within the Territory itself.

They did this by such measures as the 1862 Homestead Act. This was part of a collection of Yankee measures to subjugate the slaveowning Southern communities by encouraging ‘virtuous yeomen’ to set up a homestead, an area of public land (usually 160 acres) in the unclaimed West. Any US citizen over 21 who had never taken up arms against the US government, who settled on and farmed the land for at least five years, earned a right to ownership of the property.

The Homestead Act was part of the legal basis of the Oklahoma land rush of 1889, the first sizeable land rush into the unassigned lands. About two million acres of Indian Territory were declared available to homesteaders. On the opening day around 50,000 people flooded into the Territory.

The populations of the cities of Oklahoma and Guthrie each grew by 10,000 in a single day. By 1905, white Americans owned most of the land in Indian Territory – becoming known as Oklahoma Territory.

One commissioner wrote that the Indian police were vigilant and observant by nature and familiar with every footpath on the reservation but, even aided by US Marshals and town sheriffs, they couldn’t uphold the law in the face of this formidable influx.

The last years of the Indian Territory were open season for outlaws, bank robbers, and horse rustlers. Belle Starr, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the Dalton gang all operated in the Territory at that time (Wyatt Earp, famous lawman, gunfighter, and boxing referee, worked just outside, in Wichita, Kansas). The Dalton gang, several of whom had ceased being US Marshals when the service failed to pay their wages, planned to beat anything Jesse James ever did – rob two banks at once, in broad daylight. On 5 October 1892 they attempted this feat. They set out to rob the C M Condon & Co’s Bank and the First National Bank on opposite sides of the street in Coffeyville, Kansas. Their fake beards fooled nobody. The townsfolk tooled up while the gang robbed the banks, and shot all but one of the gang as they emerged.

Hammerstein kept much of the moral ambivalence of Riggs’ play. There is a strong undercurrent of lawlessness in Oklahoma!, blowing like a fresh wind to dispel any potential saccharine sweetness in the musical. We have refreshingly little sense of polarisation: Curly and Laurey behave as badly as the ostensible villain, the lonely obsessive, blunt ugly Jud, who keeps a gun, just like the cowboy, Curly.

Laurey, our supposed heroine, makes disgraceful use of Jud to excite jealousy in Curly. And Curly behaves shockingly too.

Case law after the Fourteenth amendment (1868) clearly established incitement to suicide as a crime, a crime of which Curly is guilty in the scene “Poor Jud is dead”. This scene sharpens the mutual dislike between Curly and Jud, already keen because of Jud’s feelings for Curly’s girl.

1892 The Dalton Gang after their ground-breaking raid

65

22 April 1889 from the McKlenny family album.

At noon, a captain from the 5th Cavalry gave the signal, the bugler blew the reveille and the Oklahoma Land Rush had begun. In a single day Oklahoma City had 10,000 inhabitants with 53 physicians, 97 lawyers, 47 barbers, 28 surveyors, 29 real estate agents and 11 dentists

1870s Kiowa village. The tipi is made from closely-stitched buffalo hides with the fur on the interior. Sheets of buffalo meat are drying on a rack. Photo William S Soule

Farmer and his two sons during a dust storm in Oklahoma (April 1936) Photo: Ar thur Rothstein (1915-1985)

We feel sympathy for Jud, in the face of this treatment, and in his wish for a ‘real woman’ as opposed to the ethereal women of his salacious pitchers or the unattainable Laurey who despises him while pretending to find him attractive.

In Riggs’ play the Jud figure carries his jealousy to the pitch of trying to murder Curly and Laurey by setting fire to the haystack where they’ve been sent in the shivaree, a much more dangerous ragging than the mild banter of the musical.

The play’s greater moral seriousness is shown by its treatment of Curly’s responsibility for Jud’s death. The musical displays shockingly summary justice, where in the play Curly is sent to prison awaiting trial; he shares his cell with some rustlers caught by the famous AHTA, the Anti-Horse-Thief Association, the private vigilante group, established in the Territories to catch rustlers.

Riggs’s play, written on the French Riviera after the author won a Guggenheim Fellowship, had a run of 64 performances on Broadway in early 1931. Hammerstein developed the character of Will Parker, and added the comic subplot involving Will’s need to raise $50 to marry Ado Annie. We shouldn’t underestimate the play, which loses dramatic impetus because of these musichall additions. The sense of proper pride in the new state, the direct earthy humour, Aunt Eller’s candour, jokes like the statement that Curly is so bow-legged from riding that he couldn’t stop a pig in the road, come straight from Riggs. Hammerstein also kept, happily, the uniting final theme of Curly, the cowboy, joining Laurey, the farmer, deciding to settle down and farm the land with her, thereby providing a solid foundation for children brought up in the new state. The farmer and the cowboy will be more than friends.

The success of the musical brought benefits to all associated with it. It gave Riggs a steady income for life.

Hammerstein used to tell a story of a farmer working on his estate who asked him for tickets for his son as a wedding present.

‘Sure,’ said Oscar. ‘When is the wedding?’

‘When you can get the tickets,’ the farmer replied.

MICHAEL FONTES has written for our programmes every year since our second festival in 1999. He was a don at Winchester College for for ty years, retiring in 2002.

He is now a Black Brother of St Cross.

67

THEY SAW IT FIRST

And now, we have Oklahoma! at the Theatre in the Woods. Yee Hah!!!! zarrina kurtz American musicals first came to London in a big way in the late 1940s. I was a teenager in the 50s and grew up around the corner from the King’s Theatre, Hammersmith where I went almost weekly to a full programme of plays, opera and music hall.

michael heseltine I did try to be musical from my earliest days. First it was the piano, followed soon after by the cornet. I found it hard to read at all, but to combine my mild dyslexia with a set of incomprehensible symbols, wandering up and down a set of parallel lines was quite beyond me. My passionate desire to emulate Louis Armstrong foundered through my inability to purse my lips effectively and failure to read music.

Such early deterrents might have proved fatal. Each instrument required a personal skill that patently was not present. However, my enthusiasm found a more collegiate opportunity. At school, all boys participated in the House Choir. In full voice, I belted out with the best of them. The Master seemed concerned. He made us open a gangway between ranks, so he could parade and listen to each participant. He stopped in front of me and shook his head. I am the only boy to be ejected from the House Choir. I can’t do it.

It is all the more surprising then, that I have witnessed such great musical experiences as Callas, Pavarotti, Domingo at Covent Garden with Anne, my wife, often as a guest of my old Oxford friend, Jeremy Isaacs. Evenings at our local, Garsington Opera, at the Wigmore Hall, carols at Kings College, Cambridge, spellbound at My Fair Lady (only 3 weeks after it opened) and West Side Story in the 1950’s.

It is the Morriston Orpheus Choir, singing There’ll be a welcome in the hillsides that brings tears to my eyes. I am proud to be their Patron.

I think the first West End production I saw was Carousel. It made a huge impression on me. I loved the music, the singing above all. I hummed and sang in my head When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high as a comfort and inspiration all through my angst-ridden young years. But as a young woman training to be a doctor I’m gonna wash that man right outa my hair from South Pacific was almost as powerful and helpful in encouraging the independence I needed to affirm in what was almost totally a man’s world. Anything you can do, I can do better (Annie Get Your Gun) was a feeling I wished I had – but did not believe could be true.

I saved up for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane to see these shows as often as I could. They brought to me – and to all of post-war dreary, grey, run-down London – such romance and colour, a joy of being alive. Oh, what a beautiful mornin, which opens Oklahoma!, embodies the sense of ease and expansiveness that we had begun to hope for then. And long for now. margaret lubbock Oklahoma! in 1947 was a blast of pure joy after the misery and greyness of wartime. I had only ever been to the cinema to see Bambi and Snow White, and I don’t think my mother would have taken me to Oklahoma! but we had a visitor from Jamaica, and he persuaded us. I was 13, so beginning to feel a bit grown-up. It was the start of those marvellous big musicals after the war, all from America – and we were starved for entertainment. We went up by train to Drury Lane and there was a great buzz in the theatre. The bit about poor Jud and his death puzzled me but I came out singing the tunes.

I think I can still sing all the songs.

FROM GUSTAV III TO ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA A timeline that takes in London life, our composers, Tokaji, the novelty of gaslighting, things we take for granted (like ice cream, voting, gun laws, telephones) and offers a context of the world into which the Duchess of Roxburghe was born. Her ashes are under the orchestra pit.

1756 Jan 27 Salzburg Mozart born Jun 20 Miltenberg am Main Joseph Kraus born 1757 Tokaji is the first wine region to be classified and ownership of a vineyard, a symbol of wealth. Catherine the Great has a Cossack detachment permanently stationed there to guard wines purchased for the Imperial Household 1766 Prince Nicolaus I Esterházy (b 1714) begins construction of a magnificent summer palace at Esterháza in Hungary’s Tokaji region.

He “inherits” Haydn who creates a stupendous opera company and orchestra. Servants (including musicians) receive a portion of their salary in goods including tallow for candles and 5 litres of wine / day 1771 Gustav III (b 1746) ascends the Swedish throne. Like Nicolaus, he loves music and Tokaji – he would drink no other wine. He bans coffee as a threat to public health. Miscreants are fined, their cups and dishes confiscated 1781 – 1786 Kraus, who has journeyed to Sweden looking for a court position, is appointed Kapellmeister to Gustav III who sends him to observe cultural trends in Europe. In 1783 Kraus arrives at Esterháza ‘In Haydn I got to know a right good soul, except for one point – money.

He simply couldn’t understand why I didn’t provide myself with a drawer full of compositions, so as to be able to plant them whenever necessary. I answered quite drily that I wasn’t cut out to be a Jewish salesman’

Joseph Mar tin Kraus (1756–1792)

Haydn declares Kraus ‘the first genius I have met’. There is no evidence that Kraus met Mozart, though he joined his masonic lodge in Vienna 1787 Writing the libretto for Don Giovanni to a tight deadline, Da Ponte drinks Tokaji to keep himself awake 1788-1790 Gustav III commands the Royal Swedish Opera’s head tailor to make Russian military uniforms and “stages” a skirmish on the Russo-Swedish border. Stockholm, outraged, declares a “defensive” war on Gustav III’s first cousin Catherine the Great 1790 Prince Nicolaus Esterházy dies; within two weeks his son Anton fires all musicians. Haydn goes to London 1791 Dec 5 Vienna Mozart dies and is buried in an unmarked plot as was usual practice at the time for common people (non–aristocracy)

Esterháza in late 18th century (probably)

1792 Mar 16 Gustav III is shot at a masked ball at the opera. Kraus writes for him a funeral cantata and Symphonie Funèbre Dec 15 Kraus dies of tuberculosis. His coffin is carried by torchlight over the frozen Brunnsviken Lake to Tivoli outside Stockholm and on his tomb is written ‘Here lie the earthly remains of Kraus; the heavenly lives in his music’ 1803-1809 Haydn has returned to Esterháza old and sick. He refuses the offer of a coach saying he would prefer the payment in Tokaji Napoleon III orders 30-40 barrels of Tokaji every year. Empress Eugene drinks two glasses each morning for her complexion

Sledge rides on Brunnsviken Lake, near Stockholm

1809 Covent Garden theatre

1808 Goethe’s Faust mentions Tokaji. Other Tokaji lovers include Liszt, Schubert, Heinrich Heine, Schiller, Johann Strauss II, Voltaire 1809 Sept 18 Second Covent Garden Theatre opens 1813 Oct 9 or 10 Roncole Verdi born 1817 Lyceum, Drury Lane and Covent Garden leave behind the gloom of tallow candles and gas lighting inaugurates an era of splendour. A central distribution gas table regulates and supplies gas to separate parts of the stage 1818 June 17 Paris Charles Francois Gounod born 1822 Paris L’Opèra stages Aladin ou la lampe merveilleuse. Gas lighting depicts paradise, lightning, burning castles, the dawn 1823 June An admirer sends Beethoven six bottles of Tokaji to help with his intestinal disorders

1809 A peep at gaslights in Pall Mall

1825 The new Tsar Nicholas I summons Pushkin 1831 Feb 18 Pushkin marries Natalya.

1833 Nov 13 Queen Victoria’s Journal (QVJ) ‘We went to Covent Garden to the opera of Gustavus the 3rd of Sweden’ (Auber’s opera) 1837 Feb 10 Pushkin dies after a duel with D’Anthes 1838 Oct Berlioz praises the young Gounod ‘The Agnus we find to be beautiful, very beautiful . . . novel and refined: melodic line, modulations and harmony . . . much can be expected of M Gounod’ Nov QVJ Gas lighting at Windsor Castle. ‘gas, to my horror, they have put in all the passages, upstairs and downstairs; Lord Melbourne has written to inquire how he could do it without previously asking me’ 1839 Nov Gounod hears Berlioz’ symphonie dramatique Roméo et Juliette in rehearsal – ‘strange, passionate, convulsive music which revealed to me new and colourful horizons . . . Berlioz was one of the greatest emotional influences of my youth.’

1840 Feb 10 Victoria and Albert marry

1813 The modest house in Roncole where Verdi was born

Jun 10 ca. 6pm Albert and pregnant Victoria take their customary evening ride in an open carriage. At Constitution Hill, Edward Oxford fires but misses – the first of eight assassination attempts Sep 16 Joseph Strutt donates land to create England’s first public park, Derby Arboretum Fenchurch Street station opens. For the first eight years, trains are hauled by cables 1842 May 30 Another assassination attempt on Victoria – very similar to the first Jun 13 QVJ ‘Albert went early with our Cousins, to bathe & swim in the Thames, which he had done for several days . . . At ½ p. 11, drove to the Slough Station . . . The saloon we travelled in, on the train was

1840 Edward Oxford shoots at Victoria & Alber t

very large & beautifully filled up. It took us exactly 30 minutes going to Paddington, the motion was very slight & much easier than a carriage, also no dust or great heat, — in fact, it was delightful, & so quick. We were at Buckingham Palace by 20 m. to 1.’

Jul 3 John Bean, a humpbacked boy, shoots at V+A as they travel along the Mall in their carriage

1840 Chemist Hugh Lee Pattinson’s daguerreotype of the Niagara Falls – the first known photograph of the Falls

1844 Nov 12 QVJ ‘A horrid wet morning. — Before 10, we set off . . . for the Euston Square Station, which is very fine & has a splendid entrance. Our train started directly, & we travelled in the same beautiful carriage we had last year, only that it has been improved.’

1846 Trouville Wagner baptised and received into the Catholic Church with Gounod as sponsor 1847 Jul 22 Verdi in London to conduct première of Masnadieri QVJ ‘the music is very inferior & common place.’

Swiss-Italian Carlo Gatti arrives in London selling waffles and chestnuts. In 1849 his café and restaurant, specialising in chocolate and ice cream, has a chocolate-making machine in the window to attract business. He takes ice from the shallow, slow-moving Regent’s Canal for restaurants and fishmongers and is the first to sell ice cream to the public

Ice cutters

1848 Jul 14 QVJ ‘At 10 I had received by electric telegraph the news that Albert had left York at ½ p. 8’ 1849 Paris L’Opéra uses electric arc-lights to create a sunrise and conflagration May 19 The Queen, alone in the royal carriage, is again fired at 1850 Mar 15 QVJ ‘to the new Houses of Parliament . . . Saw the new Frescoes in the Hse of Lds, which have a very brilliant effect, when the gas is lit’ 27 June ca. 6.20pm Victoria in her carriage with three children and her lady-in-waiting. As she enters the gates of Buckingham Palace, a respectably dressed man, Robert Pate, runs forward and strikes the Queen a sharp blow on the head with a small black cane

Gatti’s delivery business (blocks of ice)

Dec 9 QVJ ‘We drove to the Cattle Show in Baker Street . . . very well arranged . . . The Show was lit by gas light.’

1851 Gatti displays his chocolate-making machine at the Great Exhibition; he opens a stand near Charing Cross June QVJ ‘. . . to the Exhibition, & again saw most interesting things . . . machinery, not in motion, consisting chiefly of locomotives, — railway carriages of every kind & sort, constructed entirely of corrugated iron of teak wood, &c. — not painted; — new modes of shifting carriages from one rail to another; the great hydraulic lever, moved by one man, with which the great Tubular Bridge at Bangor was raised . . . ingenious contrivance for transferring mail tags on

The Euston Arch in the 1890s; demolished December 1961

The penguin-like great auk was 3’ long

1855 Mar Wagner in London; meets Victoria.

1856 Mar 5 Covent Garden catches fire again.

1857 Jul 1 QVJ ‘Such sad accounts from India — the mutiny amongst native troops spreading, sad murders of Europeans’ railways, going as full speed, they being caught by a machine & dropped into a sort of net, while the other is taken up. We likewise saw another very clever patent soda water machine, by which soda water can be made, in an incredibly short time, merely with gas, without any other chemical preparation’ 1851 Verdi moves to Villa Sant’Agata, outside of Busseto 1852 May 29 QVJ ‘Our Fleet in the China Seas has captured Rangoon & Martaban in the Burmese Empire.’

Newfoundland The last sighting of a great auk, hunted to death for its fat, feathers, meat, and oil

The Royal family (1846) Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805–73)

1854 Gatti’s stall burns down, but he is insured and builds a music hall. Three years later he builds an ice well near King’s Cross (site of the Canal Museum). He imports crystal clear ice from the Norwegian lakes – brought by sea to Limehouse and along the Regent’s Canal

Nov The censor objects to Verdi’s depiction of (i) a monarch on stage (ii) the monarch’s murder 1858 Jan 12 The Duchess of Roxburghe’s father is born May 8 3rd Covent Garden theatre opens 1859 Feb 17 Première of Un Ballo in Maschera, Rome Feb 17 French navy capture Saigon. 40 years later the French build an opera house Nov 24 Charles Darwin On the Origin of Species sells out 1861 Ballo staged in New York and then London Oct Book of Household Management edited by Mrs Isabella Beeton. 1st edition = 60,000+ copies; 2nd edition = 2m ‘What moved me . . . to attempt a work like this, was the discomfort and suffering which I had seen brought upon men & women by household mismanagement . . . there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife’s badly

cooked dinners & untidy ways. Men are now so well served out of doors and their clubs, well-ordered taverns, and dining-houses that, in order to compete with the attraction of these places, a mistress must be thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of cookery, as well as . . . the other arts of making and keeping a comfortable home’.

Dec 19 Albert has died. QVJ ‘Went down again to the Mausoleum, where everything was finished & in order. The gas light shone softly on the beloved features, as we gazed on them’

1860 St Peter’s Rome, waiting for the papal blessing

1862 Gatti sells his music hall to South Eastern Railway to build Charing Cross station. He builds a second ice well Victor Hugo Les Misérables describes the Elephant de Bastille, intended by Napoleon to be a bronze statue but only built in plaster. ‘It was falling into ruins; every season the plaster which detached itself from its sides formed hideous wounds upon it . . . There it stood in its corner, melancholy, sick, crumbling . . . soiled continually by drunken coachmen; cracks meandered athwart its belly, a lath projected from its tail, tall grass flourished between its legs; and, as the level of the place had been rising all around it for a space of thirty years, by that slow and continuous movement which insensibly elevates the soil of large towns, it stood in a hollow, and it looked as though the ground were giving way beneath it. It was unclean, despised, repulsive, and superbly ugly in the eyes of the bourgeois, melancholy in the eyes of the thinker.’

1865 April 15 Abraham Lincoln assassinated – the first of four US presidents to be killed, all by gunshot June 10 Première of Tristan; has a profound effect on Gounod 1867 Edward Oxford, Victoria’s assassin, walks free on condition he leaves for Australia. His new name is John Freeman Mar 16 Joseph Lister reports on antiseptic surgery in The Lancet Apr 27 Paris Première of Roméo et Juliette at Theatre-Lyrique, Paris July 11 R+J première in London Oct 27 Garibaldi’s troops march into Rome 1868 June Première of Meistersinger; Britain End of public hangings Aug 15 Verdi refuses to attend the opening of the new Busseto opera house (seating 300). His home town had shunned Giuseppina Strepponi with whom he lived, unmarried 1869 Sep 22 Opening of the Suez Canal. The Cairo opera house opens with Rigoletto. Verdi twice declines to write an opera. He is threatened that Charles Gounod will be asked instead; Verdi won’t budge. Then he is threatened the commission will go to Wagner. Verdi relents. He starts composing Aida in June 1870 1870 Sep 13 Paris was besieged by Germans; Gounod leaves; arrives in Liverpool; moves to Blackheath with his family Gun Licence Act. A person wishing to carry a gun outside his own property must buy a licence. No restrictions on buying 1870 Soprano Georgina Weldon and her husband lease Tavistock House,

1864 1st, 2nd and 3rd class carriages Honoré Daumier (1808–1879)

The Elephant de Bastille

Bloomsbury, which has a small theatre (added by Dickens). They fill the place with orphans 1871 Mar Georgina meets Gounod Nov Gounod moves into Tavistock House. It is unclear if Georgina and Gounod were lovers.

From 1863 to his death Mr Weldon had a young mistress

1865 Cambodia

1872 Feb 29 Earl Granville interrupts a Lords debate to announce ‘I have just been informed that a boy of 18 or 19 ran into the garden of Buckingham Palace as the Queen entered, followed the carriage to the door and presented an old-fashioned pistol within a foot of her Majesty’s head. The Queen bowed her head, and the boy was seized.’

May Laying of foundation stone of Bayreuth Festspielhaus 1873 Feb 25 Naples Enrico Caruso is born to Marcellino, a jutemaker, and Anna, a cleaner. Enrico is sent to work in the jute factory; aged 17 buys his first pair of shoes – the soles were made of cardboard. By the age of 40 he is opera’s first global superstar thanks to the gramophone

Palazzo Doria, Genoa

1873 Mar 18 QVJ ‘went to the white Drawing room to hear the celebrated composer Gounod sing & play. He was so “eurfiencé” that he thought at first he could not sing at all, but after entreaty on our part & his making some excuses he sang a few lovely things charmingly, though with but little voice . . . the Dss of Roxburghe, Ld Granville, the Dean of Westminster & Augusta Stanley dined. —’ 1874 June Gounod returns to his wife in Paris Sep Verdi takes an apartment for the winter in Palazzo Doria, Genoa. Boito was a guest: ‘the peaceful charm of that annual visit, the conversations of the master, the strictly ritual patriarchal table with the usual food, the sweetness of the air and the great Doria palace of which he was the Doge’ 1875 New Paris Opera ‘Its lighting system has more than 28 miles of gas piping, and its gas table has 88 stopcocks to control 960 gas jets.’

Astley’s Equestrian Amphitheatre (mentioned by Jane Austen and Dickens) had 200,000 gas jets. ‘Such a blaze of light and splendour has scarcely ever been witnessed, even in dreams.’

1878 Jan 14 QVJ ‘After dinner we went to the Council Room & saw the Telephone. A Professor Bell explained the whole process, which is most extraordinary.’

Mar 21 George Eliot ‘We went to the Telephone office to see the Telephone explained and demonstrated’ 1880 Georgina Weldon, having rid herself of Gounod, becomes a campaigner against the lunacy laws and takes a 100+ cases to court.

Her husband tries to have her taken by force to an asylum. She presses charges for assault and, though the magistrate is convinced she is sane, under Victorian law a married woman cannot instigate a civil suit against her husband

1881 Sep 19 US president James Garfield shot dead 1882 Sep 16 Munich Electricity exhibition includes a temporary theatre lit by Edison’s incandescent bulbs aiming to show theatre managers its advantages. The first theatres to use electricity were Bijou (Boston), Savoy in London, Brno. It was necessary to build a power station nearby Mar 2 ‘The train arrived at Windsor . . . as the Queen was entering her carriage, a man [Roderick McLean] in the station yard fired on her. He was seized at once by three or four police and taken to Windsor police station.’

1884 Representation of the People Act grants the vote to men paying £10pa rent or with land valued at £10, taking the UK electorate to 5.5m (though women and 40% of adult males are still without the vote) 1885 Feb 2 ‘Horsley and Ockham and Ripley’ station opens Chicago Home Insurance Building is the first skyscraper. Demolished 1931 1888 Nov 4 500 th performance of Faust conducted by Gounod, aged 70 1889 Apr 22 noon The Oklahoma Land Rush. 50,000 people dash to stake a claim. By sundown Oklahoma City has a population of 10,000, streets laid out and town lots staked off. Within a fortnight schools open and, within a month, there are five banks and six newspapers Jul 8 Verdi to Boito (as they prepare Falstaff) ‘What a joy! To be able to say to the Audience: “We are here again!! Come and see us!!”’

1892 Work starts on the Blackwall Tunnel 1893 Feb 9 La Scala, Milan Première Verdi’s Falstaff. Ticket prices 30 times greater than usual. Royalty, aristocracy, critics, leading figures from the world over are present Apr 20 Florence QVJ ‘At a few minutes past 8, started for the Palazzo Riccardi . . . to see “La Grande Fantasmagoria luminosa” given in honour of the Silver Wedding of the King & Queen of Italy. All scientific discoveries had their place: Telephones, printing photographic & lithographic machines being portrayed &c. for manufacturers an immense coffee service & a Tower of Nankin of fine porcelain’ Oct 17 Gounod dies. At his funeral at La Madeleine, Saint-Saëns plays the organ and Fauré conducts 1895 May 24 QVJ Osborne House ‘My poor old birthday, my 76!! . . . After looking at my presents, we breakfasted, & at ½ 11 the Trooping of the Colours took place in the Quadrangle. A family dinner, . . . Directly afterwards we went to the Waterloo Gallery, where Verdi’s old Opera “Il Trovatore” was given, which years ago I used to hear with Mario. Though the instrumentation is poor & not very dramatic, it is full of pretty & touching melodies — I was delighted to hear it again.’ On her birthday, Emperor Franz Joseph (1830–1916) would send Victoria a bottle of Tokaji for every month she had lived. Of the assassination of his nephew, Franz Ferdinand, he said ‘For me, it is a relief from a great worry.’

June 15 Nottinghamshire Guardian reports ‘The apprehension of a crazy

1897 Verdi

1885 Home Insurance Building. Chicago

Gatti’s Hungerford Palace of Varieties (1888) Walter Sickert (1860–1942)

youth with a loaded revolver on his way to Balmoral to obtain an interview with the Queen is the first incident of the kind that has occurred on Deeside. There her Majesty has been singularly free from annoyances, and has usually moved about without any guard or protection’ July 12 Oscar Hammerstein II born 1897 Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Jonathan Harker is served a bottle of Tokaji on his first night in Dracula’s castle 1898 June 27 Windsor Castle QVJ ‘— Punctually at 9 we went over to the Waterloo Gallery, where a performance of Gounod’s “Romeo & Juliet” was given. The music is heavenly especially that of the 2 last acts, but I can scarcely, which I admire most, this, or “Faust” ’ 27 Aug QVJ ‘Kun Saing the Sawbwa of the state of Thibaw, & his son & daughter. They are very small, & were dressed in satins with jewels & a sort of cap on their heads. When they came into the room, they all 3 knelt down & touched the ground with their heads several times. He presented me with a stone, which is very valuable’ (The Nga Mauk ruby?)

1900 FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino) factory opens with 35 staff and makes 24 cars Apr 23 Verdi’s last stay in Genoa ‘I’m not sick, and I’m not well: the legs do not hold up, the eyes do not see: the mind (?) goes wrong, and so life is very hard! Oh if I could work! Oh at least if I had good eyes and good legs! I would walk and read all day, and I would be happy despite the 87! I would

never have believed I had something like supreme happiness, two good legs!’

1901 Jan 11 Osborne House QVJ ‘A better night, but felt very tired. — Very fine & like spring. Felt so weary that I did not go out again in the afternoon, but slept for more than 2 hours.

— Afterwards Lenchen & Beatrice played duets to me, very pretty things, — Gounod’s Ballet music from “Faust”, &c.

Then dictated some letters to the former & signed. —’ Jan 21 Queen Victoria dies Jan 27 Verdi dies. 300,000 people line the streets for his funeral – the largest public gathering in the history of Italy.

Caruso sings at La Scala in a grand concert in his honour Apr Caruso is paid £100 by the Gramophone & Typewriter Company to make recordings. The discs are best-sellers.

Covent Garden signs him for eight operas in one season Sep 14 US president William McKinley shot dead 1902 June 28 Richard Rodgers born Sep 1 Méliès’ film A Trip to the Moon: a group of astronomers travel to the moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the surface, escape from lunar inhabitants, capture one and return to Earth. Méliès himself takes the main role, Professor Barbenfouillis. The hand-colored print was discovered in 1993 and restored in 2011. It is on YouTube 1903 The Pistols Act restricts the sale of firearms; UK speed limit increases to 20 mph

1904 Prague Caruso to Ada ‘I cannot wait to leave here because, although it is nice being famous, it can also be a great big nuisance’. Ada Giachetti bore Caruso four children during their 11 years together (1897–1908). Only two children survived infancy and Caruso did not maintain contact with them. He had a four year affair with Ada’s sister, Rina, and many other affairs. After all . . . he was a tenor Caruso sings for King Edward who sends him a brooch. Caruso to Ada ‘Everyone finds it beautiful but to me it looks like one of those cheap printed tin brooches’. He purchases the palatial Villa Bellosguardo, near Florence. In New York he has a suite at the Knickerbocker Hotel.

1902 film A Trip to the Moon Georges Méliès (1861–1938)

1905 July Caruso sings O Sole Mio at the Savoy for Wall Street financier George Kessler. The Savoy courtyard is flooded (doorways sealed with putty) and a silk-lined gondola with 12,000 carnations floats by.

A baby elephant appears with a cake 1906 Nov 16 Caruso is accused of pinching the bottom of a young woman in the Monkey House in Central Park Zoo and is arrested.

The judge finds Caruso guilty of disorderly conduct and fines him $10.

1908 Summer Ada elopes with their chauffeur to the French Riviera 1909 The Wreckers by Ethel Smyth (1858–1944). Studying in Leipzig she meets Brahms, Dvorák and Tchaikovsky. In 1910 she devotes herself to Votes for Women. She is visited in Holloway Prison by Beecham who finds her conducting imprisoned suffragettes from an upper window with a toothbrush. She was the lover of Virginia Woolf who said it was ‘like being caught by a giant crab’

1905 Kessler’s gondola par ty

1908 New York Italian immigrant

1912 Lilian Baylis obtains a license for The Royal Victoria Hall & Coffee Tavern (Old Vic). In 1916 she stages all of Shakespeare’s plays 1913 Henry Wood’s Queen’s Hall Orchestra hires women. ‘I do not like ladies playing the trombone or double bass, but they can play the violin, and they do.’

1915 Mar 23 Lady Mary Crewe-Milnes born (Duchess of Roxburghe) 1916 Nov 21 Emperor Franz Joseph dies of pneumonia at Schönbrunn Palace, where six-year-old Mozart had played to his great-great-grandmother, the Empress Maria Theresa. Franz Joseph had caught a cold whilst on a walk with the last king of Bavaria, Ludwig III 1918 Aug Caruso marries heiress Dorothy Park Benjamin (b 1893). She is disowned by her father who then adopts Dorothy’s governess, Anna Bolchi 1915 Saigon opera house

1921 Aug Caruso dies, aged 48 1922 Dorothy’s father dies. Each of his biological children is left $1 ‘Because of their long continued, persistent, undutiful and unfilial conduct . . . acting less as children more as parasites . . . they have defied me.’

Bolchi, the adopted governess, gets the bulk of the $500k. The children (including Dorothy) sue Bolchi who has married the lawyer who had drawn up the adoption papers and the Will 1925 Mar 25 John Logie Baird gives the first public demonstration of television at Harry Selfridge’s store 1928 Lilian Baylis hires a group of dancers (including Ninette de Valois) who evolve into the Royal Ballet

John Logie Baird and Stookey Bill on TV

1930 Philadelphia Orchestra hires a woman harpist 1931 Lilian opens the restored Sadlers Wells; her new company evolves into English National Opera 1943 Mar 31 Broadway première of Oklahoma!

1947 April 18 Oklahoma! opens (a day late) in Manchester after the ship carrying the cast and scenery runs aground on a sandbank off Southampton April 30 Oklahoma! opens at Drury Lane and runs for 1,543 performances POSTSCRIPT 1960 Aug 23 Oscar Hammerstein II dies 1961 May 13 A fire at Aldous Huxley’s (b1894) Hollywood home incinerates his library of 4,000 annotated books and his archive of manuscripts and letters. His wife’s Guarneri violin was saved. The fire spared a box of books Huxley had put out for charity and their stack of firewood. When asked how he felt about this loss, he replied “extraordinarily clean” 1963 Nov 22 Huxley dies on the same day as JFK and C S Lewis

left Huxley after the fire

1918 Caruso on the roof of Knickerbocker Hotel after his marriage to Dorothy

1922 Petrol station Euston Road

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NEX GROUP PLC IN THEIR FOURTEENTH YEAR OF SPONSORSHIP WITH DEEP GRATITUDE TO

Michael Spencer

Giuseppe Verdi

U N B A L LO I N M A SC H E R A

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) UN BALLO IN MASCHERA

OPER A IN THREE ACTS

Libretto by Antonio Somma based on Scribe’s libretto for Auber’s 1833 opera Gustave III, ou Le Bal Masqué First performance 17 February 1859, Teatro Apollo, Rome; British première 15 June 1861, Lyceum Theatre

CONDUCTOR ∙ GIANLUCA MARCIANO DIRECTOR ∙ STEPHEN MEDCALF SET DESIGN ∙ JAMIE VARTAN COSTUME DESIGNER ∙ NICKY SHAW LIGHTING DESIGN ∙ DAVID PLATER CHOREOGR APHY ∙ LYNNE HOCKNEY

E N G L I S H N AT I O N A L O P E R A O R C H E S T R A leader Gonzalo Acosta

RICCARDO governor of Boston ∙ VINCENZO COSTANZO sponsor Anthony & Carolyn Townsend RENATO Amelia’s husband, Riccardo’s friend & confidant ∙ ROLAND WOOD sponsor John L Pemberton sponsor Eri Tu Kevin Egan & Judith Lawless AMELIA wife of Renato, in love with Riccardo ∙ CLAIRE RUTTER sponsor Brian & Jennifer Ratner OSCAR Riccardo’s page ∙ TEREZA GEVORGYAN sponsor Sue Lawson ULRICA a for tune-teller ∙ ELISABETTA FIORILLO sponsor Ed & Lulu Siskind SAMUEL assassin ∙ MATTHEW BUSWELL TOM assassin ∙ MATTHEW STIFF

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sponsor Prof Martin Brown & Dr Sue Brown

THE JUDGE · LAWRENCE THACKERAY sponsor Mr John C Pearson SILVANO a sailor ∙ TREVOR BOWES AMELIA’S SERVANT ∙ PETER HARRIS

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UN

B A L LO

IN

M A SC H E R A

The murder of Gustav III of Sweden was the story Verdi wished to tell but the censor viewed the topic unsuitable.

Verdi kept the story but changed the setting – to Boston.

Riccardo, Boston’s governor, is in love with Amelia – the wife of his best friend, Renato. A fortune teller predicts Riccardo’s death at the hand of his best friend. This seems unthinkable until Renato stumbles on the betrayal. He is recruited by Riccardo’s enemies, Samuel and Tom.

Act One THE AUDIENCE CHAMBER Riccardo is in a difficult position. His enemies, Samuel and Tom are plotting against him. And, though he has a loyal friend in Renato, he nurses a love for Renato’s wife, Amelia.

Oscar, a page, announces to the assembly that Riccardo is ready to receive their petitions. Riccardo is overjoyed to see Amelia is on the guest-list for a forthcoming masked ball.

Renato notices his friend Riccardo is upset and imagines it is on account of threats to his life. Riccardo is confident in the love of his people. He is asked to approve the banishment of Ulrica, a fortune-teller accused of witchcraft. Oscar pleads on Ulrica’s behalf. Riccardo is intrigued and decides to investigate her powers by paying her a visit in disguise.

Samuel and Tom believe this could be the moment to strike.

ULRICA’S DWELLING Arriving at Ulrica’s hut dressed as a fisherman, Riccardo is amused by the fortune-teller. She predicts that Silvano will be rewarded for long years of service – and Riccardo makes the prophecy come true.

Amelia’s servant arrives to ask if Amelia might visit in secret.

Ulrica sends everyone away but Riccardo hides and overhears Amelia soliciting a cure for her guilty love of none other than Riccardo himself. Ulrica sends her off to make a potion out of

herbs gathered at midnight by a gallows-tree.

Riccardo steps forward to have his fortune told. Ulrica predicts he is to be murdered by the man who next shakes his hand. He laughs it off. The loyal Renato arrives – and clasps his hand in friendship.

to determine who will carry out Riccardo’s murder. Amelia must pick the name; in fulfilment of Ulrica’s prophecy, it is Renato’s.

Amelia hopes that Ulrica might help send a warning to Riccardo.

The conspirators agree a password: death.

Act Two THE GALLOWS

AN ANTECHAMBER

Amelia is at the gallows-tree searching for herbs when she is interrupted by Riccardo.

They declare their love for one another, he with ardour, she reluctantly; but there’s no time to act upon it.

Riccardo, ignorant of events, has decided on the honourable course of action and will distance himself from Amelia. Oscar arrives with a mysterious letter warning him that his life will be in danger at the ball. Riccardo decides to go – hopeful of seeing Amelia one last time.

Renato arrives to warn Riccardo of a conspiracy to kill him. Thrown into confusion, Amelia hides her face and Riccardo entrusts this now heavily veiled woman to the protection of her unknowing husband before making a hasty escape.

The conspirators outnumber Renato and Amelia’s face is revealed. Renato is appalled by his treacherous friend. In his shame, he curses Riccardo and decides to join the plot against him.

A MASKED BALL Initially the assassins believe that Riccardo is not present but Oscar discloses his costume and Renato tracks him down.

As he dies, Riccardo assures Renato of Amelia’s purity and pardons his act of predestined vengeance.

LONG INTERVAL Act Three RENATO’S STUDY Renato determines to kill Amelia for her unfaithfulness, but decides the blame lies with Riccardo.

Samuel and Tom arrive and are surprised that Renato will join their conspiracy. Oscar has arrived with the invitation to the masked ball and the three decide they should draw lots

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GUSTAV III by the Grace of God, of the Swedes, the Goths and the Vends,

D

King, Grand Prince of Finland, Duke of Pomerania, Prince of Rügen, Lord of Wismar

angerous business killing kings.

The French dealt savagely with regicides. In 1610, Ravillac, murderer of Henry IV of France, was torn in pieces by four horses, as was RobertFrançois Damiens after his failed attempt to murder Louis XV. The British, no less brutish, hanged, drew, and quartered their treasonous citizens. Guy Fawkes, having watched his fellow gunpowder plotters suffer this savage and disgusting punishment, contrived to ensure that the hanging killed him, before the knives came out.

After the Restoration the new government pursued the regicides of Charles I. Even to the grave: they disinterred Oliver Cromwell, hanged his remains on Tyburn Tree, and beheaded him. They placed his head on a spike at the end of Westminster Hall, facing the spot where Charles had been executed.

Major General Thomas Harrison, a prominent leader of the New Model Army,

was imprudent enough to be still alive in 1660, and proudly refused to flee to the continent like many of his fellows. He suffered the extensive torments of the prescribed retribution. He is said to have boxed the ears of the executioner who made the first incision, a detail missed by Pepys, aficionado of public executions: ‘I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major General Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. He was presently cut down, and his head and heart shown to the people, at which there was great shouts of joy.

It is said, that he said that he was sure to come shortly at the right hand of Christ to judge them that now had judged him; and that his wife do expect his coming again. Thus it was my chance to see the King beheaded at White Hall, and to see the first blood shed in revenge for the blood of the King at Charing Cross.’

To prevent people getting ideas, 19 th century governments tried to keep kings out of plays, and drew the line well this side of allowing them to be murdered on stage, as Verdi discovered to his irritation. Shakespeare has Duncan murdered behind the scenes, and Macbeth spells out the psychological pains of regicide: even venomous Lady Macbeth cannot wash her hands of their deed – who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him. Verdi’s librettist for Ballo in Maschera, Antonio Somma, had based his book on Eugène Scribe’s libretto for Daniel Auber’s 1833 opera, Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué, an account of the murder of Gustav III of Sweden.

As well as the murder, the censors objected to the idea of a king having an affair with his best friend’s wife. So, finding the two main elements of their opera challenged, Verdi and his librettist, to see the work performed, opted to keep their story but change the setting. The hero became an English colonial Left The censor admonishing Verdi for his choice of subject by Melchiorre Delfico (1825–1895), composer and caricaturist. He met Verdi shortly before Ballo and they became close friends

Gustavus III of Sweden (1777) Alexander Roslin (1718–1793)

governor, across the Atlantic in Boston, where such things as illicit love and murder were possible. The censors lifted their ban.

The subject of Verdi’s opera remained, of course, the famous murder of the Swedish king. At midnight on March 16, 1792, Gustav III was shot in the back by Captain Jacob Johan Anckarström at a masked ball held in the Stockholm opera house. The king died two weeks later.

Swedish monarchs carried eccentricity to its limits and beyond: Charles XII (1682–1718) was a military genius who said that he was happiest when at war. He frequently defeated Russian armies three times more numerous than his own, and seems not to have understood what ordinary mortals mean by pain. He once rode from Constantinople to Swedish Pomerania, a distance of 2,500 miles, in a fortnight, averaging 180 miles a day for 14 consecutive days.

Charles’ great-aunt Christina (1626–1669) was hairy and dressed like a man. She sat and rode and talked like a man, and liked eating and swearing with her soldiers. She was as foul-mouthed as Catherine the Great of Russia, who, when stirred, resorted to fluent Billingsgate in three languages. Christina turned Catholic, which meant abdicating, and subsequently travelled Europe with a train of 250 followers. At the court of Louis XIV she raised eyebrows by skinny dipping in the Seine with the prettiest of the royal princesses, and having her Italian equerry, the Marchese Monaldeschi, knifed to death in her presence in the Galerie des Cerfs of the Palace of Fontainebleau. He had failed to keep her correspondence secret. The murder turned into a particularly gory and excruciating affair, for Monaldeschi had anticipated Christina’s plans and donned chain mail under his court dress.

Gustav III, whose reign is still regarded as

a golden age by many Swedes, had his crotchets too; the opera alludes to several.

Verdi famously disliked trouser roles, and the importance of Oscar in Ballo points to the king’s supposed taste for young men. Certainly Gustav had great difficulty consummating his marriage, publicly declaring complete ignorance of the female anatomy, to the pitch that he called upon Count Munck, a friend and famous womaniser, for practical instruction. Munck’s own written account of this bizarre incident is preserved in the National Archive of Sweden. It led several courtiers to wonder whether the king was really father to the royal princes.

Both Gustav’s doctor and the Queen’s sister were convinced that he was gay. This renders absurd the motive for the murder in the opera. The real Gustav would not have courted Amelia. Verdi had already depicted a Doge, Simon Boccanegra, murdered for political reasons, and Gustav had many political enemies, so the real historical motive for the murder was not taboo to Verdi or in any sense improbable historically, and it would not have ruled out the electric idea of murder at a masked ball.

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King Gustavus III of Sweden and his brothers (1771) Alexander Roslin (1718–1793)

Although his reign was in many ways refreshing and enlightened, fate had dealt Gustav a poor hand politically. In 1771 he succeeded, at the age of 26, to a Swedish throne that had been subordinated to the Riksdag since 1720. He was not prepared to tolerate this position: a year into his reign, he established a new constitution which dramatically increased the crown’s powers at the expense of the Riksdag, then a four-chamber assembly: aristocrats, clergy, burghers, and yeomen. Gustav III saw himself as a philosopher king, on platonic lines: he forbade torture as a means of gaining confessions, he established freedom of the press, until it turned on him, strengthened the poor law, and gave civil rights to Jews

and Catholics. He built up the navy, removed customs barriers, and encouraged the reformation of the currency. Unwisely he taxed the peasants’ home-distilled strong liquor, which lost him much-needed votes in the lowest house of the Riksdag.

The great Russian 19 th century historian Sergey Mikhaylovich Solovyov explained the difficulties facing Gustav when he came to the throne: It was the dominating political position in those days for every great power to endeavour to maintain in each neighbouring state such a form of government as would enfeeble her the most. Thus the neighbours of Poland had long made it a standing article in policy to maintain the supremacy of the aristocracy in Poland; in the same way, Russia, Prussia, and Denmark

Gustav III’s ring in memory of the revolution of August 1772

had pledged each other to maintain in Sweden the constitution of 1720. Gustav’s abolition of that constitution was thus a source of dismay to his neighbours, particularly to Catherine in St Petersburg. The Swedish nobility found itself extensively bribed by the Russians to oppose Gustav.

The new constitution of 1772 imposed by Gustav converted a weak republic into a strong monarchy. Only the king could summon the estates. They couldn’t discuss matters other than those he put to them, and he could dismiss them when he wished. However, important checks on the monarch remained: he couldn’t impose a new law or abolish an old one without their consent. The estates retained the power to raise taxation and kept control over the central bank.

Gustav usually treated his Riksdag with extraordinary diplomacy, grace and eloquence: Swedish children today learn by heart some of his speeches, for the beauty of their language. But the nobility felt their loss of power and, receiving bribes from Russia and Denmark, had become openly mutinous by 1786 when the Riksdag was called. Accordingly Gustav determined to rule without them, insofar as he could, which turned out to be not very far.

He declared war against Russia in 1788, but a conspiracy of his officers led to open mutiny, the Conspiracy of Anjala, in the army. Gustav was saved by the outrage of the Swedish nation against the conduct of its own aristocratic army officers.

That they should accept pay for defending the fatherland in time of peace, but quit the service, and expect a pension when war broke out, abandoning their king on the field of battle, amounted to a betrayal of the martial traditions of the Swedish people.

So Gustav found that the three lower estates in the Riksdag had swung dramatically behind him and against the nobility.

He passed an Act of Union and Security, effectively giving himself a free hand in foreign affairs and in the management of the army. The nobility never forgave him.

Gustav’s court kept high ceremony and reflected the tastes of the theatrical king; a theatrical king who not only could act well, but was himself author of some of the finest dramas of Swedish theatre. He wrote, spoke, and conducted himself with exquisite delicacy, in his beautiful red French high-heeled shoes, and his court became a meeting place for Sweden’s great writers. He founded the Swedish Academy in 1786; he made generous gifts for the advancement of science to the

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University of Uppsala. He surrounded himself with ornate and charming flatterers, and welcomed every opportunity for pleasure and display. He rationalised his ostentation by positing a link between the enhancement of his own glory and the welfare of his subjects. Despite his overactive imagination he proved an able and fearless military leader: at the second battle of Svenksund, the greatest naval battle in history in terms of ships engaged, he defeated a much larger Russian fleet.

The Gustavian age saw the zenith of Swedish 18 th century taste in architecture, furniture and interior design. Many of Gustavâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s masquerades, plays, and tournaments took place in Drottningholm Palace whose Gustavian opera house remains one of the most perfect opera stages extant.

The Gustavian style is characterised on the outside by simple Palladian lines and subtle handling of levels. Interiors are full of light and of soft colours, uncomplicated and graceful.

The palace at Drottningholm. The opera house is the black-roofed building

Gustav also rebuilt the Stockholm Opera House, feeling a need to separate the Opera from the Theatre by giving each its own building. Construction of the Opera House began in 1775 and the building was inaugurated in September 1782. It became the setting for public masquerade balls, derived from

The opera house at Drottningholm

Surprisingly for such a widely read enlightenment figure and admirer of Voltaire, Gustav was profoundly superstitious.

Ulrica, the fortune-teller in the opera, was a well-known professional occultist working in Stockholm. Her name was Anna Ulrica Arfvidsson, and she was known to the Frenchspeaking court as Mamsell Arfvidsson. She operated down an obscure side-street in the capital, very discreet, and she had a wide net of informers among the aristocracy. Her main method was tasseography, reading coffee grounds; many members of the court went to her and she was said to be never wrong.

Anna Ulrica Arfvidsson

the famous opera-balls in Paris, open to anyone wearing a mask. Gustav was shot at such a ball.

Gustav consulted her several times; notably in 1786 when Ulrica warned him about a man with a sword: Beware of the man with a sword you will meet this evening, for he aspires to take your life. The King and his companion met no one suspicious on their way back to the palace, but the King refused to discount the ominous warning: she has told me so many other things that have already come true! Back inside they met on the stairs a man with a sword, Count Ribbing. Six years later Ribbing was one of the principal regicides, together with Horn and Anckarstrรถm.

Gustav III, philosopher king, modelled his court on Versailles, which he knew from his travels. Although brought up by his devious mother to duplicity, he combined charm of manner and wonderful eloquence with astonishing political generosity,

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to a dangerous degree: early revolutionaries found themselves not facing public castration, but locked in palace bedrooms and fed delicacies from the royal kitchens.

Gustav’s death mask The costume, with the Royal Order of the Seraphim, worn by Gustav for the fatal ball

The king’s generosity, together with his taste for spontaneous fantasy – he often seemed to be living in his own imaginary masked ball – were fatal. He knew that the nobility deeply resented their loss of power. He realised that the lamentable example of political events in France had excited the aristocratic opposition in Sweden, further inflamed by their king’s support for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette: Gustav had tried to assemble a combined army under an alliance of princes to rescue the French royal family. He knew what danger he was in.

Gustav at once deeply feared assassination and tried to live as though the threat could not exist. For the fatal masked ball he wore on his breast the star of the Royal Order of the Seraphim, realising that it would make him easily recognisable to the plotters. He received a letter of warning that very evening, but dismissed it, saying that he received so many.

As soon as the king entered the foyer of the opera house he was surrounded by the masked plotters. The shot was not immediately fatal, but the doctors couldn’t treat the wound and Gustav died of septicaemia a fortnight later.

The moment in the opera when the king, as he is dying, absolves the plotters, reflects the real King’s generosity of spirit towards Ankarström, his murderer. The dead King’s wishes were not observed, however. Gustav had been much loved. Ribbing and Horn were stripped of all civic status and exiled. The government cast Ankarström in irons for three days and had him publicly flogged. They cut off his right hand, decapitated him, and then quartered his corpse, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. The execution took place on 27 April 1792, five weeks after the murder.

If you find yourself feeling sorry for Ankarström, remember that he loaded his pistol with two balls, five shot, and six bent nails.

MICHAEL FONTES who has written for our programmes every year since our second festival in 1999, was a don at Winchester College for for ty years and retired in 2002. He is now a Black Brother of St Cross, the medieval almshouse in Winchester, founded between 1132 and 1136 by Henry of Blois, a grandson of William the Conqueror. He previously lived in Najac in South-West France, where he established and ran Les Orchidées de Najac, selling his photos of the wild orchids and butterflies of the area.

Verdi in un vortice di proposte di contratti e scritture per nuove composizioni musicali (Verdi in a vor tex of requests for new operas) Melchiorre Delfico (1825–1895) Verdi adopted a strategy of requesting exorbitant fees thinking it would put them off – but they would pay anything.

VERDI 1859

Fame had struck around 1843 and with it came requests for operas and annoying administration. His anchors were Giuseppina Strepponi and their refuge, the Villa Sant’Agata. Their Pomeranian Lulu played a key role in their happiness.

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Giuseppina Strepponi (1815–1897) ca. 1860 Karoly Gyurkovich (1810–1874) Soprano, Strepponi retired at 30 moving to Paris to teach. Around 1847 Verdi met her and they began a relationship in Paris. Two years later they moved to Verdi’s hometown Busseto and Strepponi was shunned for living openly in an unmarried state. In 1851 they moved outside town, to Villa Sant’Agata. In 1859 they married and remained together for the rest of their lives

1851 Verdi’s parents are acting caretakers at the recently-purchased Villa Sant’Agata.

To Dottore Balestra (lawyer) “From a reliable source, I have learned that my father goes around saying that things are arranged between you in one of the two following ways: namely, that I have assigned to him the administration of my property, or that I am going to lease it to him. I do not believe, Doctor, there can be any misunderstanding over this, nor do I believe that you proposed any of these things: nevertheless, I should like to repeat, mainly to reassure myself, that I do not agree to either of these suggestions.

I intend to be quite separate from my father both in domestic and in business affairs. I can only repeat what I said to you yesterday in person: to the outside world, Carlo Verdi must be one thing and Giuseppe Verdi another.”

The Maestro with his Pomerian, Lulu Melchiorre Delfico

1848 To Vincenzo Flauto (Naples opera house manager) “I am sorry to seem to you to be difficult or precious. I am extremely frank, decided, sometimes irascible, even savage if you like, but never difficult or precious.”

Verdi ca.1859, the year he wrote Ballo

1852 To Antonio Barezzi (ex-father-in-law, benefactor) “You live in a district that has the bad habit of interfering in other people’s affairs and disapproving of everything which does not conform to its own ideas . . . I have nothing to hide. In my house there lives a lady, free and independent, who, like myself, prefers a solitary life, and who has a fortune capable of satisfying all her needs.”

1855 England’s House of Lords decreed that there would be no copyright protection for an opera written by a foreigner, unless the composer himself supervised the production.

To Balestra (lawyer) “During my two visits to London, it was suggested that I should apply for citizenship . . . but I prefer to remain what I am, that is to say a peasant from Roncole, and I prefer to ask my Government to make an agreement with England.”

1857 To Cesare Vigna (friend) “I have not written to you before now because from morning till evening I am always in the fields, in the woods, with the farm-workers and the animals . . . the nicer ones are the four-legged.”

1859 June To impresario Jacovacci “You were wrong to defend Un Ballo in Maschera against Villa Sant’Agata as it looked in 1859 Verdi bought the house around 1849 to escape Busseto gossip, and continued to buy surrounding land, giving work to local contadine

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the attacks of the newspapers. You should have done as I always do: not read them . . .”

1859 July To Countess Maffei “Where is the longed-for hope and promised independence of Italy? What blood spilled for nothing.” Verdi bought rifles for the National Guard of Busseto 1861 Verdi stood and was elected to the new Parliament which he attended in Turin; he always voted with Cavour 1864 To critic Léon Escudier “Your last letter to me contained so many nice things that, although I have been rummaging in my little sack of amiability for a month, I haven’t been able to find anything to equal them.”

1867 Barezzi died. To Countess Maffei “You know I owe him everything, everything, everything. The day I finished my studies at school in Busseto, and my father declared he could not afford to maintain me at the University of Parma, I had decided to go back to the village I came from [Roncole]. That good old man [Barezzi] said to me ’You were born for something better than selling salt or working on the land. Ask the Monte di Pietà [pawnbrokers] for a small grant of 25 francs a month for four years and I’ll make up the rest. You can pay me back when you are able to.’ ” 1867 To Paolo Marenghi (foreman at Sant’Agata) “Why did you use the machine when I gave instruction it was not to be touched until my return? . . .The garden is to be closed: no one may enter, and no one from the house leave except for the coachman, for a short time, to exercise the horses. If anyone goes out, then he can stay out for ever. Please note that I am not joking, and from now on I intend to be the master in my own house”.

La Tribuna illustrata della Domenica, March 1900 clockwise: Verdi’s last portrait; the Roncole church where he was baptised; Villa Sant’Agata; Palazzo Doria, Genova where he rented an apartment; Teatro Verdi, Busseto (he refused to attend its opening because Busseto had been so horrid to Strepponi).

Published in Rome and founded in 1890 La Tribuna illustrata was a 16-page Sunday paper with first and last pages in colour.

It closed in 1969.

26 Feb 1901 A carriage drawn by six horses took the two coffins – Giuseppe’s and Giuseppina’s – to Casa di Riposa per Musicisti. 300,000 people lined the streets; the largest public gathering in the history of Italy Astonishingly, there is a video on YouTube

MODERN BRITISH & IRISH ART Wednesday 13 June 2018 New Bond Street, London

LAURENCE STEPHEN LOWRY R.A. (1887-1976) The Red Bridge signed and dated ‘L.S. Lowry 1959’ (lower right) oil on panel 33 x 30 cm. (13 x 11 3/4 in.)

bonhams.com/modernbritish

ENQUIRIES +44 (0) 20 7468 8295 britart@bonhams.com

SUPPORTED BY

Volga Gas, Viasat World and generous admirers of the great poet

Konstantin Boyarsky

PUSHKIN

Konstantin Boyarsky (b May 1976)

P U SH K I N

OPER A IN TWO ACTS

Libretto by Marita Phillips First performance (in concert) 4 February 2017, Novaya Opera, Moscow First staged performance 11 July 2018, Grange Park Opera, Theatre in the Woods, Surrey

CONDUCTOR ∙ JAN LATHAM-KOENIG

The Bronze Horseman (1905 edition) A N Benois (1870–1960) By kind permission of Pushkin Museum, St Petersburg

DIRECTOR ∙ IGOR USHAKOV COSTUME DESIGNER ∙ IRENE BELOUSOVA LIGHTING DESIGN ∙ TIMOFEY ERMOLIN CHOREOGR APHY ∙ SERGEY SATAROV CHOIRMASTER ∙ JULIA SENYUKOVA

O R C H E S T R A O F N O VAYA O P E R A , M O S C O W leader Elena Stepanova

ALEX ANDER SERGEYEVICH PUSHKIN ∙ PETER AUTY TSAR NICHOL AS I ∙ ARTYOM GARNOV NATALYA GONCHAROVA Pushkin's wife ∙ JULIETTA AVANESYAN CATHERINE Natalya's elder sister ∙ IRINA ROMISHEVSKAYA ALEX ANDRINE Natalya's elder sister ∙ ANNA SINITSYNA BARON HECKEREN Dutch Ambassador ∙ YAROSLAV ABAIMOV GEORGES D’ANTHÈS Heckeren's adopted son ∙ ANTON BOCHKARYOV GYPSY ∙ GAYANE BABADZHANYAN

C H O R U S O F N O VAYA O P E R A 97

PUSHKIN Pushkin has been in exile since 1820 for writing Ode to Liberty.

In December 1825, Alexander I died leaving no heir. His brother, Constantine, abdicated in favour of his younger brother, Nicholas, who accepted the throne.

High-rank officers and liberal aristocrats refused to sign allegiance to Nicholas and instead arranged an uprising in front of the Senate building in St Petersburg. Many of the rebels confessed the influence of Pushkin’s Ode to Liberty.

The Decembrist Uprising was severely suppressed. Five men were hung whilst others were sent to Siberia.

The action takes place over ten years.

Prologue A gypsy recites from the Ode to Liberty.

Act One Scene 1 the palace Tsar Nicholas is anguished by the bloodshed at the start of his reign. He has summoned Pushkin to question him. After 4 days’ travel the poet arrives disheveled and defiant. Their disagreements lead to mutual respect and Pushkin’s release from exile.

Scene 2 a gambling den Pushkin celebrates his freedom with his friends, boasting of his special relationship with the Tsar. A gypsy predicts an early death.

Scene 3 the goncharov house Natalya and her two sisters, Alexandrine and Catherine, discuss their hopes for marriage as they get ready for a party.

two years pass . . .

Scene 4 1828 pushkin’s house Pushkin is in love with Natalya. natalya’s house She isn’t sure what she feels and questions what love is. Pushkin asks her to marry him.

Scene 5 the palace The Tsar wants to use Pushkin’s genius to unify Russia and win over his people.

From top Pushkin, Natalya, D'Anthès, Nicholas I

Scene 6 pushkin’s house Pushkin is finding it an impossible task. He finally decides he can write The Bronze Horseman about his hero, Peter the Great, using him as a metaphor to glorify Nicholas.

Scene 7 the park 1834 Pushkin is with his wife and friends. He mercilessly goads the Dutch Ambassador, Heckeren, about the attractive young Frenchman, D’Anthès, whom the Ambassador has adopted as his son. D’Anthès challenges Pushkin. D’Anthès and Natalya are drawn to each other.

Scene 8 the palace Pushkin is summoned to explain The Bronze Horseman. The Tsar orders him to write it again. He refuses. The Tsar rips the manuscript to pieces.

LONG INTERVAL Act Two Scene 1 the palace Heckeren, despite his hatred of Pushkin, recites one of Pushkin’s poems to express his feelings for D’Anthès.

They meet with the Tsar and conspire how to bend Pushkin to the Tsar’s will. They decide D’Anthès should marry Natalya’s sister, Catherine.

Scene 2 pushkin’s house Natalya and her two sisters are discussing how to pay the bills.

D’Anthès and Natalya flirt. Pushkin arrives home and is overwhelmed by jealousy.

Scene 3 the palace The Tsar has made D’Anthès an officer in the Chevalier Guards.

Pushkin arrives to repay his debt to the Tsar having pawned Natalya’s jewels. The Tsar gives him a humiliating appointment – usually reserved for teenagers.

Scene 4 pushkin’s house Pushkin is out of his mind, imagining Natalya’s infidelity.

Scene 5 ballroom at the palace The Tsar flirts with Natalya; D’Anthès tries to get her to run away with him. Pushkin calls a duel.

Scene 6 outside Pushkin stands by the statue of The Bronze Horseman waiting for D’Anthès. He is at peace.

Scene 7 pushkin’s house Natalya and her two sisters are anxiously wondering where Pushkin and D’Anthès are. Pushkin is carried home mortally wounded. He tells Natalya she should marry again. The Tsar orders Pushkin to live but Pushkin dies. The Gypsy curses the House of Romanov . . .

“… you will be remembered only as the Tsar who lived at the time of Pushkin” The Romanov family (Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarina Alexandra and their five children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) were shot 100 years ago in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16-17 July 1918. Their bodies were burned and disposed of in the Koptyaki forest.

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HOW IT ALL BEGAN

M

ARITA PHILLIPS BEGINS:

“The creation of this opera has been a personal journey.

It was not until I grew up that I discovered the depth of adoration that Russians feel for Pushkin – quite unlike a British person’s relationship to Shakespeare. I needed to understand why.

The challenge was how to dramatise a writer’s life, who lived 200 years ago, in another country, and make it relevant. Like most geniuses (not a word to be used lightly) Pushkin’s personal weaknesses and flaws stood in stark contrast to the profound understanding and compassion for human nature and the human condition expressed in his writings. I came to believe that Pushkin’s death was not just a tragic mishap – it was more a death-wish. Nicholas was not an evil dictator. Natalya Goncharova was not merely an empty-headed beauty.

The society in which he lived then was no worse than today's thoughtless tweeters.

Yet a series of events, choices, characters, circumstances drove Pushkin to feel his life was untenable – he felt he could no longer write. Without a channel of expression the artist may as well be dead.

Pushkin represents the eternal creative: often at odds with authority, self-destructive, melancholic– yet possessing an unconscious which, regardless of life on the surface, sifts and hones to produce jewels of glittering purity, humour and truth.

COMPOSER KONSTANTIN BOYARSKY CONTINUES: “Everything related to Pushkin has always been and will always be sacred to me.

Since my childhood years growing up in the Northern Caucasus, close to where Pushkin was exiled, his work has had very profound, immense memories.

In the winter of 2012, the idea of the opera Pushkin leaped into my life when conductor Jan Latham-Koenig introduced me to Marita Phillips. As I read her libretto, I was amazed at her beautiful and musical use of the English language. I agreed with her that the dialogues would be in English, while quotes from Pushkin’s poems, naturally, in Russian.

I had not been to my native country for a great many years. However, it does not matter where a Russian soul lives – I always miss Russia, Moscow, the Caucasus where I was born, and these feelings are often reflected in my music.

There may be surprise at the lyrical tonality of the opera or its romantic style. I did not seek to create an ultramodern piece with surprisingly innovative sonority and effects.

When writing the opera, I pictured only its characters, their emotions and life.” ★ KONSTANTIN BOYARSKY is currently a Principal Violist at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Pushkin could never go against his own gods and demons. They had to express their own truth through him. That integrity, combined with his exceptional gift, ensures he is as alive today as ever.

His compositions include chamber work Mosaique Musicale (Radio France), two ballets Sleepers and Children of War (collaborations with Royal Ballet school; Sleepers featured on BBC South Bank Show) and many instrumental compositions and arrangements for viola.

The journey of this libretto has been a rich experience for me with many twists and turns, finally emerging as this opera, given life by the music of Konstantin Boyarsky.”

Born in 1976 in Kislovodsk (Northern Caucasus) into a family of musicians, Konstantin began playing the violin at the age of six. He attended The Music School affiliated to the Moscow

Konstantin Boyarsky and Marita Phillips

Tchaikovsky Conservatory. In 1990 his family left Russia and settled in the UK studying for four years at the Yehudi Menuhin School with his mother Natalia Boyarsky. He went on to the Royal College of Music winning many awards.

Konstantin gives solo and chamber music concerts in Europe, Asia, North, Central and South America and has appeared as soloist and chamber musician with many renowned artists including Menuhin, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutman, Nikolaj Znaider and Lang Lang.

One of the founders of the Belcea Quartet, Konstantin is also a guest professor at the Royal College of Music.

MARITA PHILLIPS was born in the UK and is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Alexander Pushkin and Tsar Nicholas. She is author of a children’s novel The Dream Dealer. As lyricist, her songs have been recorded by artists including Art Garfunkel, Peter Skellern, Demis Roussos and William Lovelady. She has written book & lyrics for two children’s musicals The Dream Dealer and Buzz – the Story of Glorybee.

Marita studied acting at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and ballet at the Nesta Brooking School before training as a mime with Adam Darius. With Darius she founded and ran The Mime Centre, London. She performed her onewoman mime show in the UK and abroad.

Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich (grandson of Tsar Nicholas I) Countess Sophie of Merenburg (granddaughter of Pushkin) with their child Anastasia de Torby, grandmother of Marita Phillips

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GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM

David & Amanda Leathers with

Sir Win & Lady Bischoff

Charles Gounod

RO M Ã&#x2030;O E T J U LI E T TE

Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

RO M ÉO E T J U L I E T T E

OPER A IN FIVE ACTS

Libretto by Jules Barbier & Michel Carré, based on the tragedy by William Shakespeare First performance 27 April 1867, Théâtre-Lyrique, Paris; British première 11 July 1867, Covent Garden

CONDUCTOR ∙ STEPHEN BARLOW sponsor Mr & Mrs Peter Nutting DIRECTOR ∙ PATRICK MASON DESIGNER ∙ FRANCIS O’CONNOR LIGHTING DESIGN ∙ DAVID PLATER MOVEMENT ∙ LYNNE HOCKNEY FIGHT INSTRUCTOR ∙ BILLY BILHAM

E N G L I S H N AT I O N A L O P E R A O R C H E S T R A leader Gonzalo Acosta

ROMÉO son to Montague ∙ DAVID JUNGHOON KIM sponsor Red Butter f ly Foundation sponsor Ah! Lêve-toi soleil David & Clare Kershaw JULIETTE daughter to Capulet ∙ OLENA TOKAR sponsor François Freyeisen & Shunichi Kubo sponsor Je Veux Vivre Mr & Mrs Grant Gordon FRÈRE L AURENT a Franciscan ∙ MATS ALMGREN sponsor Jeremy & Rosemar y Farr MERCUTIO Roméo’s friend ∙ GARY GRIFFITHS STEPHANO Roméo’s page ∙ ANNA GREVELIUS T YBALT cousin to Juliette ∙ ANTHONY FLAUM sponsor John & Carol Wates GERTRUDE Juliette’s nurse ∙ OLIVIA RAY COUNT CAPULET ∙ CLIVE BAYLEY GRÉGORIO Capulet’s ser vant ∙ STUART ORME FRÈRE JEAN ∙ ANDREW TINKLER PARIS ∙ PRZEMYSLAW BARANEK THE DUKE ∙ ARSHAK KUZIKYAN sponsor Noreen Doyle BENVOLIO ∙ ROBIN HORGAN sponsor Clive & Helena Butler 105

RO M ÉO

ET

J U LI E T TE

PROLOGUE The chorus outlines the story that is to follow: a deadly feud dividing Montagues and Capulets, the sudden love of Roméo and Juliette for one another, and the fate of their passion.

Act 1 CAPULET’S PALACE Count Paris is destined to marry Capulet’s daughter, Juliette; her cousin Tybalt points her out as she enters with her father.

Capulet welcomes his guests and presents Juliette to them.

He urges the company to enjoy themselves to celebrate his daughter’s birthday.

With foolhardy bravado Roméo – a Montague – arrives with Mercutio and other friends outside the palace despite the feud between the two families. Roméo has been worried by a dream and Mercutio makes fun of his superstition, and of his infatuation for a certain Rosaline.

Inside, Roméo sees Juliette with her nurse, Gertrude, and immediately falls in love. Juliette is not attracted to the idea of marrying Paris and sings of the joy of freedom. Her nurse is called away.

On meeting Roméo her heart is turned – until her cousin Tybalt steps in to expose Roméo as a member of the rival Montague family. A fight is imminent, but Capulet will not permit the laws of hospitality to be broken in his house. He orders the feast to continue.

Roméo makes a swift retreat.

Act 2 CAPULET’S GARDEN Roméo returns – pre-occupied with his love for Juliette. In the distance Mercutio and his companions are calling and deriding Roméo’s lovelorn state.

Juliette appears on her balcony, reflecting that the name

’Montague’ (which she should hate) has become dear to her. Her beloved Montague appears and they pledge undying love.

Gertrude is astonished to hear that the Montagues had been at a Capulet feast and calls Juliette to bed.

Act 3 FRIAR LAURENCE’S CELL Roméo has come to tell the Friar of his intention to marry Juliette when she appears and begs him to unite them in the sight of God. Despite misgivings, he agrees and presides over the marriage ceremony in the hope that it may reconcile the families.

NEAR CAPULET’S PALACE Roméo’s page, Stephano, taunts the Capulets and a street-fight breaks out. Mercutio is killed by Tybalt and Roméo, drawn reluctantly into the fray, fights and kills Tybalt. The dying Tybalt extracts a promise from Capulet that Juliette shall marry Count Paris.

His solution is to fake death simulated by a potion that will render Juliette lifeless. Her body will then be transported to a funeral vault where, the next day, she will recover and can fly to the arms of Roméo. Juliette follows this advice and falls ‘dead’ in the middle of her wedding.

Act 5 Friar Laurence has written to Roméo to explain the plan, but the letter has not been received. When Roméo learns that Juliette has died he has no reason to doubt it. Breaking into her tomb he takes poison, intending to die beside her.

Moments later she revives to see her dying lover but it is too late to save him.

Juliette stabs herself. They die together.

The Duke of Verona arrives and banishes Roméo from the city.

LONG INTERVAL Act 4 JULIETTE’S CHAMBER Roméo and Juliette have consumated their love. As dawn rises Roméo makes his escape.

Juliette is appalled to learn from her father that the promised marriage to Paris will take place without delay. She appeals to Friar Laurence for help.

Sketch for Roméo & Juliette mural Burgtheater, Vienna 1888 Gustav Klimt (1862–1918)

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A SIMPLE SOUL WHO TOLD IT STRAIGHT Whilst Wagner and Verdi were plumbing opera’s psychological depths, Gounod’s goal was far simpler. A N Wilson explains.

Probably there was a reason for this: the

essentially church-based origins of Gounod’s life as a musician. He was born in Paris in 1818, and having studied with Halévy and Le Sueur at the Conservatoire, he won the Prix de Rome aged 20. He contemplated studying for the priesthood, a path which he would have been able to follow with ease were he not overpoweringly attracted to women.

There were many affairs. In this respect one is reminded of the career of the Abbé Liszt, another musical genius in whom sacred and profane love were everlastingly at war, and in whose music the everlasting compulsions of lust and piety swirl to glorious effect: lust for God and piety about sex, of course.

Gounod was enraptured while in Rome by his discovery of Palestrina and of the 16th century polyphonic tradition. He composed several settings of the Mass of which the best known is Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile and the monistic requirements of any mass-setting probably influenced the way in which he confronted the problems of how to render drama musically on stage. The operas of Meyerbeer and Weber which enraptured early 19th century music were in no sense dramas. They made no effort to plumb psychological depths or to express the emotions or characteristics of the protagonists musically.

The Colosseum and remains of the Meta Sudans (Sweating Turning Post) as Gounod would have seen in the 1840s. ‘. . . the silent city, which at first had seemed so like a desert . . . the very silence ended by having it’s own charm’

C

harles Gounod for many of us is a Hundred-Best-Tunes sort of composer. His best-known work is his setting of the Ave Maria, and his bestknown opera is a bowdlerized version of Goethe’s Faust. But there is a melodic richness to his other work, gloriously on display in his operatic version of Shakespeare’s romantic tragi-comedy Romeo and Juliet. It is a work in which Gounod was at the height of his powers as a composer, written during the heyday of opera, when Wagner and Verdi were transforming the genre and giving it psychological depths which Weber and Meyerbeer could never plumb. In the French canon, his velvetty, colourful arias and duets, and the vivid plots of his best operas surely paved the way for Massenet (twenty years his junior) to bring us such powerful romantic drama as Manon. Lush and accessible they derive their strength from his ability to pare down the emotional complexities of the stories. Although the libretto retained much of the Shakespearean original, including the comedy of Juliet’s nurse, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette is really a series of love duets in which the Montague-Capulet feud provides background noise.

Roméo et Juliette (ca. 1870) Henri Picou (1824–1895)

While Gounod was maturing as a composer, Verdi was transforming and enriching the operatic repertoire with a prodigious series of works, with unforgettable melodies, rousing choruses, and vivid characterization. High points were Rigoletto (1851) and La Traviata (1853) both, as it happens, based on French novels, though performed in Italian in Venice. Here were two perfect examples of quite complex dramatic situations, finding their expression musically, rather than being simply, like early 19 th century operas, concerts loosely based on dramatic themes. (Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor is perhaps the high point of this type of opera, a glorious piece of musical nonsense which bears only accidental resemblance to Scott’s novel The Bride of Lammermoor on which it is based.)

Meanwhile, a completely different, indeed revolutionary, genius was at work transforming not merely the art of opera, but music, and indeed art itself as it would subsequently be understood: Richard Wagner. While Verdi was writing his tuneful operas, Wagner, having written the rousing work of his youth – Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Flying Dutchman – emerged with what he called a Business, a Handlung – a revolution in human sensibility entitled Tristan und Isolde. It had its first performance in 1865, and it had a profound effect on Gounod. Although he never tried to imitate Wagner’s masterpiece, he saw his task, when he came to write Roméo et Juliette two years later, as one of challenging simplicity: to depict the very essence of sexual and romantic love in music.

Wagner’s Tristan actually reproduced the movements, exhilaration, ecstasy, swooning madness of the sexual act itself in his music. He was in effect the inventor of what we now call modernism, for there is no attempt at realism either in Tristan or in the Ring cycle; the themes themselves dominate, which is why so many successful productions of these music dramas make no attempt to stage them as pseudo-medieval pageants – often dressing the protagonists in timeless spare costumes which allow the audience to enter more vividly into the psycho-roller-coaster which is the lifelong obsession of the Wagnerian.

Gounod could not go on any such journey. He was a simpler soul. In his church music he wanted to lift the hearer to pious rapture. In his operas, he wanted to tell a story, to tell it simply, and to send you home with unforgettable melodies ringing in your ears.

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The opera for which Charles Gounod will always be remembered is his Faust, a work which would surprise those who only knew the play(s) by Goethe on which it is based, but which was always a success with French audiences, and has been performed over 2,000 times at the Paris Opera. The adaptation would surprise readers of Goethe because it does not merely shift the emphasis, it changes the entire point of Goethe’s masterpiece.

Although he makes his famous bargain with the Devil, Goethe’s Faust, having ruined his Gretchen, is actually all but redeemed by the love of women, and even (more or less) outwits Satan at the end by the relentless pursuit of power – sexual, intellectual, financial. Gounod’s Faust is a sensualist, more at home in the Paris of the Belle Epoque than in the Weimar of the Napoleonic era. He is more of a French Catholic than he was a German rationalist. He becomes obsessed by an innocent, beautiful young woman. He seduces her. She has his baby; she and the child die; Faust is condemned to hell. This was probably the drama enacted inside Gounod’s head every time he went to confession. And so it was for the huge proportion of those who came out of the Paris Opera with Gounod’s Jewel Song ringing in their ears. Whereas Goethe, with his endless rewritings and reworkings of the Faust legend, utterly undermined its original Christian simplicity, Gounod restored that simplicity in a whole series of jolly tunes.

Naturally, the question which occurred at the Théâtre Lyrique Imperial du Chatelet, which had staged Faust, was how to reproduce the success. Gounod needed strong stories and lyrics before he could set to work. He had none of Wagner’s ability to refashion material himself, still less to write his own libretti. As a young man in Italy, he had been enraptured by Bellini’s lyrical version of Shakespeare’s play, and in Jules Barbier and Michel Carré he found lyricists who were able to write a strong drama, with a big cast, which served both box office and composer well. The Roméo et Juliette which resulted would guarantee an entertaining evening at the theatre while allowing Gounod – post Tristan – to explore the doomed love of the central pair, while allowing the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets to continue throughout the drama. He could also find good singing parts for Juliette’s nurse (Gertrude), for Roméo’s page (Stephano – who has one of the best arias in the piece), Frère Laurent and others.

A big, colourful stage, filled with costumed historical characters, and a theatre filled with rhythms and melodies which you could whistle on the way home, this was what the audiences wanted in the Paris of Napoleon III. Gounod gave it to them. But he could also concentrate on the lovers. The story-line of their love is carried on entirely by duets, and indeed the wonderful final act,

Gounod ca. 1855

Gounod’s snorting horse in the south of France

Gounod laments the loss of the Vetturino

The villa at St Raphael where Gounod wrote Roméo et Juliette

‘The good-natured old conveyance, which one stopped at will whenever one wanted to admire those beautiful bits of scenery, through or mayhap underneath which the snorting steam horse now whisks you like a parcel . . .

We are treated as a British merchant treats his merchandise, like fish sent by express train to make sure of its arriving fresh!’

‘There’s nothing more beautiful than this in Italy. It’s a purer version of Naples with quiet thrown in. It’s brilliant like the East and lonely as Rome . . . I know of nowhere that has more charm than this spot’ 2 May 1865 at half-past twelve ‘At last I have completed that devilish Act 4 duet . . . I read over it, I read it again, I listen to it with all my attention, I try to find it bad, I’m afraid of finding it good and being mistaken!

I BELIEVE IN IT . . . the violins turn passionate, Juliet clasping her lover, Romeo's anxiety, his delirious embraces . . .’

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Liebespaar (Lovers) (1907) Gustav Klimt (1862–1918)

introduced by the orchestral Le Sommeil de Juliette as she sleeps on the tomb, is a glorious climax to the drama.

Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, in mood and sense, bears about as much resemblance to Shakespeare as his Faust does to Goethe.

In both, the drama is heightened by a sex-obsessed Catholic piety which the original authors did not have. Gounod’s Roméo and Juliette both die with the prayers of Catholic penitents on their lips, hoping that they will not be punished either for the sins of fornication or of suicide. By the nature of things, they are mature human beings, and their love is that of grown-ups.

Shakespeare’s Juliet is just 13 when the play begins, and there are compilations of his plays which place Romeo and Juliet alongside the comedies since there is no tragic complexity in the piece.

The Elizabethan Juliet, a girl-child who would have been played by a little boy is loved by a teenage boy. The play would be

wrecked if we believed that Romeo and Juliet had ever, for example, actually had sex.

Georgina Weldon held hostage Gounod’s personal belongings, including the draft of a new opera Polyeucte, insisting he promised her the title role in the Paris première. She demanded he come to London in person. Gounod reconstructs the score and Georgina returns the original with her name scrawled diagonally across each page in crayon

The opera audiences of the Belle Epoque wanted something which more resembled their favourite novels. In one of his great late masterpieces, written when Gounod was in his twenties, Balzac suggested that respectable married women must often ask why their husbands are so irresistibly drawn to courtesans. It is, Balzac suggested, because what we call love is a combination of two contradictory impulses – on the one hand, it draws us to “the most noble facilities of soul” – and this is what makes people choose virtuous partners. It is also the overwhelming erotic demand. Few people – Balzac is politically incorrect enough to say few women – can satisfy both demands, which is why men can be nasty enough to keep a virtuous wife at home with his children and destroy their happiness by pursuing women who excite his sexual impulse.

This grown-up dichotomy is omnipresent in Gounod, as a composer, and as a haunter of the great, dark wooden confessionals where, in Paris churches, the queues of penitents would wait to be disburdened of their sexual natures. It thrills and sings through the duets of his Roméo et Juliette who are not star-crossed silly teenagers, as they are in Shakespeare, but grown-ups plunged into the muddle and ecstasy of bed, against a background of the family feud. Although the story-line of Shakespeare is followed fairly faithfully by Barbier and Carré, Gounod’s handling of it is very different. For while, in Shakespeare, there is universal lamentation for the two virginal young lovers who have died so unnecessarily, in Gounod’s version, the final act is for the lovers alone, who die, though in tomb-land, in what is unmistakably a world of grown-up sexual involvement.

Three years after the première of Roméo et Juliette, Paris was besieged by Germans, and after the catastrophic defeat of France at Sedan, Gounod’s world changed for ever. He escaped the Paris Commune and went to live in England for four years – a blue plaque marks 17 Morden Road, Blackheath, where he resided. Soon his life was dominated by an affair with Georgina Weldon which was every bit as tormented and theatrical as his Faust’s obsession with Marguerite.

It was a relief to return to France, where his popularity as a composer of songs and oratorios – La Redemption, Ave Maria and so forth – insured him a popular place in the French repertoire. Massenet, Fauré and Bizet all acknowledged him as their master, and if, in their very different ways, they can now be seen to have outsoared him, he still left behind a body of work which has endured and which we can enjoy today – among it, most decidedly, his Roméo et Juliette.

A N WILSON is a novelist, biographer and historian. Winnie and Wolf, his novel about the Wagner family‘s destiny in the 20 th century, reflects his fascination with the world of opera.

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Paris Advertising Company (three stalls), Paris VI

Square des Batignolles (one stall), Paris XVII

Chalet de nécessité, Place de la Madeleine, Paris VIII

Charles Marville, self-portrait ca. 1861

THE LOOS OF GOUNOD’S PA RIS

Chaussée de la Muette (two stalls), Paris XVI

Plateau French Theatre (six stalls), Paris I

Chaussée de la Muette (two stalls), Paris XVI

In spring 1830, Paris installed its first public urinals. The earliest had a simple cylindrical shape and were named Colonnes Rambuteau after Comte de Rambuteau. Later structures were multi-compartmented and became known as vespasiennes after the Roman emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus, who placed a tax on urine collected from public toilets for tanning.

Charles Marville (1813–1879) was official photographer of Paris and tasked with capturing Paris’ oldest quarters before they were destroyed by Baron Haussmann’s new building plan. Marville loved the ancient and the modern. He photographed elegant new gas lamps but also the old public toilets – many of which were round like our Lavatorium Rotundum. These photographs date from around the time of Roméo et Juliette.

A masonry Colonnes Rambuteau, Quai de l’Hotel de Ville, Paris IV

Marché aux Fleurs de la Cité, Paris 1V

Jardin de la Bourse (6 stalls), Paris II

In the 1930s there were more than 1,000 vespasiennes. Today there is but one: on Boulevard Arago in the wall of the Prison de la Santé.

Champs Elysees (eight stalls), Paris VIII

Jennings urinal system, Plateau de l’Ambigu, Paris X

Biographies

MATS ALMGREN Laurent Roméo et Juliette Swedish bass Mats Almgren begins the 2017/18 season with appearances as Simone Gianni Schicchi and Pimen Boris Godunov at Göteborg Opera where he has been a soloist since 1998. Other roles there include Claggart Billy Budd, Basilio Barbiere di Siviglia, König Marke Tristan, Timur Turandot, Boris Ismailov Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Hunding Walküre, Pimen Boris Godunov, Gremin Onegin, Grand Inquisitor Don Carlos, Sarastro Flute, Javert Les Misérables, Ramfis Aida, Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande, Guardiano Forza del Destino, Gurnemanz Parsifal and Sparafucile Rigoletto.

Recent guest appearances include Fafner and Hagen in Opera North’s Ring and in concert with Grange Park Opera as König Marke Tristan. For more than 20 years Mats has received training in the Japanese martial artform Aikido. He enjoys singing jazz and has released a CD with his two brothers who are jazz musicians.

RICHARD BALCOMBE Conductor Oklahoma!

Richard has conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra for more than 20 years and, since 2012, has conducted the Proms in the Park. He has appeared with Gothenburg Symphony, Orchestre National de Lille, Estonian National Symphony, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Prague Chamber Orchestra, LPO, RPO, RLPO, RSNO, CBSO, Halle, Bournemouth Symphony and Ulster Orchestras.

Opera credits include Gondoliers (ENO), Magic Flute (English Chamber Orchestra), Barber of Seville (Ulster Orchestra). In the West End he has been Music Director of Phantom, Carmen Jones, Aspects of Love, Sweet Charity, Guys & Dolls and Follies. As orchestrator / arranger he has collaborated with Sir Willard White, Michael Ball, Ruthie Henshall and Will Young. Richard enjoys country and hill walking, entertaining his grandchildren and watching all types of sport.

PRZEMYSLAW BARANEK Paris Roméo et Juliette / ensemble Born in Bydgoszcz, Poland where he studied, Przemyslaw then went to Milan where he worked with the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala. Roles include Scarpia Tosca (King’s Head Theatre), Alfonso Così fan tutte (Opera Holloway), Guglielmo Così, Leporello Don Giovanni (Opus Opera), Streshnev Khovanskygate (Birmingham Opera Company), Aeneas Dido & Aeneas, Dulcamara L’elisir d’amore (Opera Nova, PL). He covered the roles of Angelotti Tosca and Starek Jenufa at Grange Park Opera in 2017 and was a chorus member the previous year.

STEPHEN BARLOW Conductor Roméo et Juliette Stephen studied at Trinity‚ Cambridge and GSMD. He cofounded Opera 80 and is Artistic Director of the Buxton Festival where he has conducted Macbeth‚ Leonore‚ Lucia‚ Louise‚ Jacobin‚ La Princesse Jaune‚ La Colombe‚ Intermezzo and Barber of Baghdad. At Grange Park Opera, Stephen has conducted Walküre‚ Fanciulla del West‚ Capriccio‚ Rusalka‚ Tristan‚ Pique Dame‚ Dialogues des Carmélites‚ Peter Grimes‚ Falstaff and Norma. Recent and current projects include Cenerentola (Stuttgart)‚ Medeé and Koanga (Wexford Festival), Contes d’Hoffmann (Beijing)‚ Otello (Birmingham Opera Company), Rape of Lucretia‚ Owen Wingrave (Irish Youth Opera) and Midsummer Night’s Dream (GSMD). He has appeared at Glyndebourne, ROH, ENO, Scottish Opera and Opera North. He conducted his own opera King (Canterbury Cathedral), Rake’s Progress (Reisopera), Carmen, Faust, Nabucco (Australia) and Bluebeard’s Castle (Auckland Philharmonia). Recordings include Joseph James’ Requiem with Sumi Jo and his own composition Rainbow Bear with his wife‚ Joanna Lumley‚ as narrator.

CLIVE BAYLEY Capulet Roméo et Juliette Born in Manchester, Clive sings regularly with the major opera companies in a diverse repertoire.

Highlights of 2017/18 season include Peter Grimes (Frankfurt), title role Boris Goudnov (Gothenburg), Fafner Siegfried (Hallé Orchestra and repeated at the Edinburgh Festival). Appearances with Grange Park Opera include König Marke Tristan, title role Don Quichotte, Vodnik Rusalka, King Love for Three Oranges, Swallow Grimes, Philip II Don Carlos. Other notable appearances include Doctor Wozzeck (Metropolitan Opera), Astradamors Grand Macabre US première (San Francisco) and, at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande, Ulisse, Titurel Parsifal, Sylvano Calisto, Geronte Manon Lescaut and Achilla Giulio Cesare. In his spare time Clive enjoys listening to his record collection, reading, sport, wine and walking his Pom ‘Harvey’.

TREVOR BOWES Silvano Ballo / ensemble Trevor Bowes is a full-time member of English National Opera where he has performed and covered over a dozen roles.

He has performed with many leading UK companies including Opera North, Glyndebourne, London Handel Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, RSNO and in Russia, Germany and Canada. Upcoming appearances include Lackey Ariadne auf Naxos (OHP), Cappadocian Salome (ENO), and Trulove Rake’s Progress conducted by Barbara Hannigan.

MATTHEW BUSWELL Sam Un Ballo in Maschera Matthew trained at Royal College of Music where roles included L’arbre L’enfant et les Sortilèges, Superintendent Budd Albert Herring, Sarastro Zauberflöte, Il sonno Arianna in Creta and Licaone Giove in Argo. Recent appearances include Soldat Kreidekreis (Opéra de Lyon), English Eccentrics (British Youth Opera), Monterone Rigoletto (Devon Opera), Speaker / Priest / Armed Man Zauberflöte, Figaro Le Nozze di Figaro, Sacristan / Sciarrone Tosca and Luka The Bear (Mid Wales Opera). Plans include Seneca L’incoronazione di Poppea (Longborough). In his spare time, Matthew enjoys food and travelling.

NICOLAS COLICOS Andrew Carnes Oklahoma!

Theatre credits include Buffalo Bill Annie Get Your Gun (Crucible), Bones (original cast) Sister Act (Palladium), Franz Liebkind (original cast) The Producers (Drury Lane), Harrison Howell Kiss Me Kate (Victoria Palace), Bill (original cast) Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward), Darryl (original cast) Whistle Down the Wind (Aldwych), Cyrus Budge iii (original cast) By Jeeves (West End, Kennedy Centre, Washington), Manfred (original cast) Sunset Boulevard (Adelphi), Reuben (original cast) Joseph (Palladium), Warren Born Again (Chichester Festival), Soldier Sunday in the Park with George (National Theatre), Mitch Streetcar Named Desire (Bristol Old Vic), Curly Oklahoma! (UK tour), Wreck Wonderful Town (Queen’s Theatre).

VINCENZO COSTANZO Riccardo Un Ballo in Maschera Born in 1991, Vincenzo began singing aged six in the childrens' choir of Teatro San Carlo, Naples. He graduated at the conservatory and, in parallel, took a degree in Computer Engineering. Opera appearances have since included Alfredo Traviata (La Scala Milan, Guangzhou Opera House, China and Kazakhstan), Macbeth (Genoa), Rodolfo Bohème (Busseto), Luisa Miller (Piacenza, Ferrara, Ravenna), Pinkerton Butterfly (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Fenice Venice, and Teatro San Carlo Naples).

Recently he appeared in Butterfly (San Francisco), Traviata (Deutsche Oper), Macbeth (Amsterdam and Palermo), Rodolfo Bohème (Palermo), Luisa Miller (Teatro Real in Madrid), Nabucco (Reggia di Caserta), Ballo in Maschera (Piacenza, Modena). Upcoming engagements include Butterfly (Hamburg), Bohème (Berlin), Boccanegra (Liege).

NATASHA COTTRIALL Ado Annie Oklahoma!

Since graduating from Mountview, appearances have included Grantchester (ITV), Hairspray (Gordon Craig Theatre), Dancing in the Streets (UK tour), Future

Conditional (Old Vic), Into the Woods (Royal Exchange), The Buskers Opera (Park Theatre), Doctors (BBC1 – semi-regular role of Rosie Griffiths), Here Lie the Remains of Mercy (Theatre Delicatessen). Last year she made her West End debut in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Aldwych Theatre) followed by the role of Mary Lennox in the Theatre by the Lake’s production of The Secret Garden.

GABRIELLE DALTON Costume Designer Oklahoma!

Gabrielle studied drama at Middlesex Polytechnic. Opera costume credits include Dido & Aeneas, Cenerentola, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Trial by Jury, Le Nozze di Figaro, Fanciulla del West, Joshua, Ruddigore, Voix Humaine and Les Noces (Opera North), Turandot, Don Giovanni (Nederlandse Reisopera), Carmen (Salzburg Festival), Falstaff (Vienna State Opera), Fiddler on the Roof, Don Carlos, Idomeneo and Don Quichotte (Grange Park Opera), Barber of Seville (Savoy), Carmen (Opera North, Opera Vlaanderen). Theatre and dance includes Richard III (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Haunting of Hill House (Liverpool Everyman), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Young Vic), Doll’s House (Young Vic, West End and BAM New York) and Magical Night and Red Balloon (Linbury Theatre ROH).

JO DAVIES Director Oklahoma!

As director and associate director, Jo has worked at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse, West Yorkshire Playhouse, in the West End and on Broadway. Recent productions include Kiss Me Kate (Opera North/Welsh National Opera); The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich, The Roaring Girl (RSC); Twelfth Night (Royal Exchange); Don Carlos (Grange Park Opera); The Marriage of Figaro, Ruddigore (Opera North); Carousel (Opera North/ Barbican/Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris); Silly Kings (National Theatre Wales); The Two Widows (Angers Nantes Opera); The Country (Salisbury Playhouse); Aida (ENO, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera); La Vie Parisienne, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Rape of Lucretia, A Night at the Chinese Opera (Royal College of Music) and Fanciulla del West (Opera Holland Park).

ELISABETTA FIORILLO Ulrica Un Ballo in Maschera Born in Naples, Elisabetta studied under Virginio Profeta, Ettore Campogalliani and Carlo Bergonzi. It was in Verdi roles (Aida, Trovatore, Ballo, Falstaff ) that her career took off, with appearances throughout the world including Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, La Scala, Covent Garden, Salzburger Festspiele, Bregenz Festival,

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Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburg, Dresden, Barcelona’s Liceu, Parma, Lisbon, Torino, Rome, Firenze, Bologna, Venezia, Catania, Cagliari, Macerata, Palermo, Genova, Ravenna, Verona, Vienna, Frankfurt, Bilbao, Madrid, Oviedo, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Nice, Bratislava, Buenos Aires, Strasbourg, and Baden Baden.

Other roles include Santuzza Cavalleria Rusticana, Rosa Mamai L’arlesiana, Laura and Cieca Gioconda, Seymour Anna Bolena, Bouillon Adriana Lecouvreur, Zia Principessa Suor Angelica, Croissy Carmelites and Carmen. She has performed with leading conductors including Renzetti, Santi, Muti, Sinopoli, Oren, Viotti, Conlon, Pappano, Chailly and Abbado.

ANTHONY FLAUM Tybalt Roméo et Juliette Anthony began his professional life in banking and later graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio.

For Grange Park Opera he has appeared as Motel Fiddler on the Roof, Tchekalinsky Queen of Spades, Lensky Eugene Onegin (Rising Stars) and Valjean Les Misérables (Pimlico Opera).

Other credits include Borsa Rigoletto (English National Opera), Rodolfo Bohème (Iford Arts), Frederic Pirates of Penzance & Nanki-Poo Mikado (National G&S Company), Cover Bill Flight, Macduff Macbeth (Scottish Opera); Nemorino L’elisir (Northern Ireland Opera), Don José Carmen, Rodolfo Bohème (OperaUpClose). Plans include Pinkerton Butterfly (Iford Arts).

LOUIS GAUNT Will Parker Oklahoma!

As a child Louis believed his career would be in football, but as he reached the teenage years his love for dance and singing took hold. He will graduate from Performers College, Essex in summer 2018 and Oklahoma! marks Louis’ professional debut.

Whilst training, credits have included Dick Whittington (London Palladium), Ishq The Musical (Sadler’s Wells), Robinson Crusoe (Cliff ’s Pavilion) and Move It (ExCeL London). Television includes BBC Strictly Come Dancing and Ensemble Dancer/Vocalist in BBC The Entire Universe.

TEREZA GEVORGYAN Oscar Un Ballo in Maschera Armenian-born Tereza studied at the Royal Academy of Music and National Opera Studio.

Current and future engagements include Lisette Rondine (Opera Holland Park), Oscar Ballo in Maschera (Opera North), Simon’s Older Sister Push (Battle Festival / Glyndebourne), Girl Fire Ring (Arcola). Recent work include Lauretta Gianni Schicchi (Opera North), Norina Don Pasquale (Glyndebourne on Tour), Bat/Animal

L’enfant et les sortileges (Barbican Centre, BBC Symphony Orchestra), Musetta Bohème (Nevill Holt Opera), La Fée Cendrillon, Tatyana Onegin, First Witch Dido & Aeneas, Dalinda Ariodante, Maria Bertram Mansfield Park (Royal Academy of Music) and the title role in the Armenian opera Anoush (The Tabernacle, London). Tereza’s interests include reading, cooking, walking and yoga.

EMILY GOODENOUGH Assistant Choreographer/ Dance Captain Oklahoma!

Emily trained at Bird College.

Theatre credits include Follies (National Theatre), 42nd Street (Châtelet), Assistant Choreographer / Peggy in Sunny Afternoon (Hampstead Theatre), Kiss Me Kate (BBC Proms), Evita (UK tour), Wizard of Oz (London Palladium), Donna Dreamboats and Petticoats (UK tour).

ANNA GREVELIUS Stephano Roméo et Juliette Swedish mezzo Anna studied at GSMD, Royal College of Music and National Opera Studio.

Last season she made débuts as Zerlina (Théâtre des ChampsÉlysées) and Elvira (Nederlandse Reisopera). Other appearances include Elvira (Opera de Rouen, Royal Opera of Versailles); Annio Clemenza (Monnaie); Kitty Oppenheimer Dr. Atomic (Opéra National du Rhin); Rosina Barber of Seville, Siebel Faust, Nerone L’Incoronazione, Pitti-Sing Mikado and Fyodor Boris Godunov (ENO); Varvara Kátya Kabanová (ENO, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon); Cherubino Nozze di Figaro (Opera National de Paris, Göteborg, Garsington); Juno Platée with René Jacobs (Nederlandse Reisopera); 2nd Lady Magic Flute and 2nd Witch Dido & Aeneas (Aixen-Provence); Proserpina L’Orfeo (Drottningholms); water-nymph Rusalka (Grange Park Opera).

GARY GRIFFITHS Mercutio Roméo et Juliette Gary represented Wales in the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He studied at the GSMD, where he won the prestigious Gold Medal, and made his Royal Opera House debut in 2017 in the role of Solanio in Keith Warner’s WNO production of The Merchant of Venice. The same year he appeared at Teatro di San Carlo (Naples) in concert as Arthus Le Roi Arthus. Roles at Welsh National Opera include Guglielmo Così, Marcello & Schaunard Bohème, Cecil Maria Stuarda, Masetto Giovanni and Claudio Béatrice et Bénédict. He returns in 2019 as Nottingham in Roberto Devereaux. Other appearances include the Maggio Musicale in Florence, Grange Park Opera, Scottish Opera, Wiesbaden Opera and New Zealand Festival Opera. In his spare time Gary enjoys going to the gym and landscape photography.

KATIE HALL Laurey Oklahoma!

Katie trained with National Youth Music Theatre. Theatre credits include Hodel Fiddler on the Roof (Grange Park Opera and BBC Proms/Royal Albert Hall), Johanna Sweeney Todd opposite Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel (ENO); Maria West Side Story (UK tour), Christine Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre, 25th Anniversary at Royal Albert Hall and all-new production in a national tour), Cosette Les Misérables (Queen’s Theatre, international tour and 25th Anniversary Concert at O2 Arena). Katie’s recent concert work includes Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Cheltenham Music Festival. Television includes: Makeup Artist Josh (BBC 3), Finalist Eurovision: Your Country Needs You (BBC) and Boot Camp Finalist I’d Do Anything (BBC). Film includes Les Misérables (Working Title Films). Most recently Katie was directed by Trevor Nunn playing Maria Anne Miller in Stephen Schwartz’s Schikaneder (Vienna).

PETER HARRIS Servant Ballo / ensemble Irish tenor Peter is a Britten-Pears Young Artist. He studied Music at Oxford and graduated from the Royal Academy of Music. In 2017 Peter won the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Programme and Northern Ireland Opera Festival of Voice.

Recent solo engagements have been with English Baroque Soloists and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, The Dunedin Consort under John Butt and the Irish Baroque Orchestra. Before becoming a singer, Peter was a part-time lumberjack.

NATASHA HOEBERIGS Kate Oklahoma!

Australian-born Natasha is a graduate of Mountview Academy.

Theatre credits include Anita West Side Story (Future Stages, Manchester), Snow White Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (Qdos Pantomimes), Mother / Ensemble / cover Elphaba Wicked (Packemin Productions, Australia) and Roxie Hart Chicago (N.A.D. Productions, Japan).

LYNNE HOCKNEY Movement Roméo et Juliette Lynne trained at Royal Ballet School. Her choreographic career has encompassed opera‚ theatre‚ film and television with directors as diverse as James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Current and future engagements include her own production of Cenerentola (Erfurt), Sir Peter Hall’s Cenerentola (Glyndebourne and Berlin), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Glyndebourne), Otello (Castleton) – all as Revival

Director; Rosenkavalier (Bolshoi Theatre); Dead Man Walking (Royal Danish Theatre); Giulio Cesare (Erfurt); Rusalka, Traviata, Vie Parisienne (Magdeburg); Billy Budd (Opera North); Don Quichotte (Nederlandse Opera); Tancredi‚ Iolanta‚ Francesca da Rimini, Orfeo ed Euridice (Theater an der Wien); Otello (Korean National Opera); Otello, William Tell (Graz); Maiden in the Tower (Buxton Festival); Jenufa (Glyndebourne); Jenufa, Bohème, Fiddler on the Roof and A Little Night Music (Malmö) and Eugene Onegin (Opera de Lyon and Grange Park Opera). Her film credits include The Village‚ Titanic‚ True Lies‚ Town & Country‚ Wild Wild West and Rocky & Bullwinkle.

LAUREN HOOD Gertie Cummings Oklahoma!

Lauren trained at Kirkham Henry Performing Arts Centre in Malton, North Yorkshire before attending Mountview. She made her professional debut in the West End as Carrie Pipperidge Carousel for which she received a TMA award nomination. Other theatre credits include Oh What A Lovely War; Penny Pingleton Hairspray (UK tour), Frenchy Grease (UK tour), title role Little Voice, Gabriel Flint Street Nativity (Hull Truck); Laura Dreamboats & Petticoats (UK tour); Martha The Secret Garden (UK / international tour), Vera Mrs. Henderson Presents (Bath / West End / international tour). TV includes Victoria Wood’s Christmas Special. Lauren likes to travel and runs her own theatre workshops bringing the Arts to children.

DAVID JUNGHOON KIM Roméo Roméo et Juliette A graduate of Seoul National University, Korean-born David made his professional debut as Rodolfo Bohème before joining the Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artist Programme.

He graduated in 2017. During his time there he appeared as Italian Singer Rosenkavalier, Venditore Tabarro, Arturo Lucia di Lammermoor, Ruiz Trovatore, Flavio Norma, Nathanael Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Lamplighter Manon Lescaut, Gastone Traviata, Augustin Moser Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Count Lerma Don Carlos and Pong Turandot. This season Kim makes a series of role and house debuts: Alfredo Traviata (Oper Köln), Macduff Macbeth (Royal Opera House) and Leone de Casaldi in concert performances of the world première of Donizetti’s L’ange de Nisida with Sir Mark Elder at the Royal Opera House (also for release by Opera Rara). Plans include debuts with Opern Zurich and Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile.

ARSHAK KUZIKYAN Duke Roméo et Juliette / ensemble Armenian Arshak studied at the Yerevan State Conservatory, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Wales International Academy of Voice, under the tutelage of Dennis O’Neill.

Arshak is a Samling artist and a 119

Georg Solti Foundation scholarship holder, making his Wigmore Hall début in the Samling Showcase in 2015.

He is a winner of the Pavel Lisitian & Tatevik Sazandaryan Voice Competition (Armenia) and Les Azuriales Singing Competition (France).

DEX LEE Curly Oklahoma!

Dex trained at Morgan Aslanoff School of Dance and Arts Educational School.

Most recently he was Know Moe Five Guys Named Moe (Marble Arch Theatre) gaining a WhatsOnStage Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.

Theatre credits includes: Jackie The Wild Party (The Other Palace), Danny Zuko Grease (Curve, Leicester), Fourth/Odyssey Dog Father Comes Home from the Wars Parts 1, 2 & 3 (Royal Court), Benny In the Heights (King’s Cross Theatre – having played Jose in the original London cast at Southwark Playhouse), Seaweed Stubbs Hairspray (UK tour), Billy Carrie (Southwark Playhouse) and Charlie Weems/Victoria Price The Scottsboro Boys (Garrick Theatre) directed by Susan Stroman. Workshops include Pinocchio (NT Studio) directed by John Tiffany, Earl Victory, Jimmy Standing at the Sky’s Edge (Sheffield Theatre) directed by Matthew Dunster and Harold Nicholas Feelin’ In The Mood directed by Chet Walker.

GIANLUCA MARCIANO Conductor Un Ballo in Maschera Gianluca made his conducting début with Croatian National Opera in 2007. He is currently Principal Conductor of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, Serbia and Artistic Director of the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut. He is founder and Artistic Director of the Festival Suoni dal Golfo in Lerici and Principal Guest Conductor of the National Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus. Engagements in 2017-18 season include Andrea Chénier (Opera de Oviedo), Tosca (Festival Pucciniano, Torre del Lago) and Olimpiade (Teatro di San Carlo). Marcianò has worked widely in the UK, including at ENO (Bohème, Butterfly); Grange Park Opera (Don Carlos, Eugene Onegin, Samson et Dalila, Butterfly, Tosca, I Puritani, Queen of Spades and Traviata) and Longborough Festival (Zauberflöte, Nozze di Figaro, Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte and Traviata). Interests: good food and wine and, as every Italian, clothes and shoes.

TOM MARSHALL Sound Oklahoma!

Sound design credits include UK tours: An Officer & a Gentleman, The Jungle Book, Sunset Boulevard, Crazy for You, Flashdance, The Silver Sword, Tell Me on a Sunday, Nativity!, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Other credits include Project Polunin (Sadlers Wells, London Coliseum), Crazy for You, A Little Night Music, Oliver! (Watermill Theatre), Working

(Southwark Playhouse), The Life, Legally Blonde (Arts Ed School, London), Brass (Hackney Empire), Legally Blonde, Sweet Charity, Bugsy Malone (Curve, Leicester), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre, London), The Hired Man (St James, London), West Side Story (Victoria Warehouse, Manchester), My Favourite Year (Bridewell), The Tailor Made Man (Arts Theatre, London), Pushing up Poppies (Theatre 503, Battersea, London) and Oliver! (Grange Park Opera). As associate sound designer he worked on The Bodyguard, Gypsy & Mary Poppins. Tom worked on the 2012 Olympics and has toured with many artists including The Coral, The Bees, The Lightning Seeds, Elaine Paige, Lewis Taylor, Martina-Topley-Bird and PJ Harvey.

PATRICK MASON Director Roméo et Juliette Patrick has a long association with the Abbey and Gate Theatres, Dublin, serving two terms as Artistic Director of the Abbey.

He has directed new plays by many Irish writers such as Frank McGuinness, Marina Carr, Tom Murphy, Tom Kilroy and Brian Friel. His production of Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa won a Tony Award for Best Director on Broadway. His work in opera includes productions for ENO, Opera North, Wexford Opera Festival, Israeli Opera, Opera Zuid, Buxton Festival, WNO and Grange Park Opera. His Il Trittico for ENO was nominated for an Olivier Award.

For many years he was an Adjunct Professor at UCD and his contribution to Irish theatre, as director and teacher, has been marked by honorary degreees from UCD and TCD. He is a keen amateur pianist and concert-goer, and enjoys walking in the Wicklow Mountains.

STEPHEN MEDCALF Director Un Ballo in Maschera Stephen’s productions include Nozze di Figaro (Glyndebourne Festival/DVD), Aida (Royal Albert Hall/DVD); Pikovaya Dama (Teatro alla Scala); Manon Lescaut (Palau des Arts Valencia, Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro di Bari); Falstaff (Teatro Farnese Parma, ROH Muscat/DVD); Zauberflöte (Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari/DVD); Leonore (Buxton); Herculanum (Wexford); and Ariadne auf Naxos (Festspielhaus Salzburg). Past work includes new productions at Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, RAH, Opera North, Salzburger Landestheater, GFO, Teatro Regio di Parma, Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro Real Madrid and ROH. Stephen was Director of Productions at ETO and Head of Opera Production at GSMD. He earned the Premio Abbiati Italian critics’ prize Director of the Year (2005) and International Opera Award for Rediscovered Work Cristina di Svezia (2014). For Grange Park Opera, he has directed Magic Flute, Fanciulla del West, Capriccio, Eugene Onegin, Bohème and Die Walküre. Interests: cricket, rugby and West Ham. He enjoys walking in the Surrey hills, cycling and watching his children make music.

CLAIRE MOORE Aunt Eller Oklahoma!

Recent apperances include Crazy Coqs in cabaret The Sweetest Sounds of Rodgers & Hart and Rodgers & Hammerstein; Sondheim on Sondheim (Royal Festival Hall).

Theatre credits include The Girls (Leeds, Salford, West End – Best Actress in a musical Olivier nomination), London Road (Cottesloe and Olivier – What’s on Stage Award for Best Ensemble Performance); A Song Cycle For Soho (Soho Theatre), Fantine and Mme Thenardier Les Misérables (Palace Theatre, Queen’s Theatre), Sally Follies (Landor Theatre), Nora The Betrayal of Nora Blake (Jermyn St. Theatre), Anna Leonowens King & I (London Palladium), Nancy Oliver! (London Palladium), Ellen Miss Saigon (original company – Drury Lane), Christine Phantom of the Opera (original company – Her Majesty’s), Duchess of Malfi (Lyttelton), The Real Inspector Hound / The Critic (Olivier), Anya Cherry Orchard (Cottesloe), Audrey Little Shop of Horrors (Comedy Theatre), Nimue Camelot (Apollo Victoria) and Mrs. Darling Peter Pan (Festival Hall).

FRANCIS O’CONNOR Set Design Oklahoma! / Roméo et Juliette Francis trained at Wimbledon School of Art. Grange Park Opera credits include Tosca (opening the new opera house), Fanciulla del West, Eugene Onegin, Samson & Delila and Peter Grimes. Recent theatre includes Sive (Galway); Arabian Nights, The Weir (Lyceum, Edinburgh); King of the Castle (Druid, Galway & Dublin); Private Lives (Gate, Dublin); What’s in a Name (Birmingham); Beauty Queen of Leenane (Ireland, Los Angeles, New York); Romeo & Juliet (Singapore); Druid Shakespeare (Druid, Galway & Lincoln Centre, New York). Recent musical and opera includes: Figaro (Irish National Opera); Flight (Royal Academy of Music); Iolanthe (Biel, Switzerland); Magic Flute (Ekaterinburg, Russia); Angela’s Ashes (Dublin); Turco in Italia (Garsington); Farnace & Waiting for Godot (Spoleto Festival, Charleston); Don Giovanni (Nederlandse Reisopera); Wedding Singer (Leicester and national tour).

Other credits include national tours of Oklahoma! and High Society. Awards include three Irish Times Awards, Boston Globe and Critics Circle Awards. His designs for the opera Pinocchio were nominated for Germany’s Der Faust Prize. Francis is an enthusiastic, if unskilled, gardener and keeper of chickens. Advice and cuttings welcome!

LEE ORMSBY Ike Skidmore Oklahoma!

Lee trained at Mountview.

Theatre credits include: Lion King (UK tour & Switzerland), Phantom of the Opera (25th anniversary tour), She Loves Me (Chichester Festival), Oliver! (Larnaca, Cyprus), Night of 1000 Voices (Royal Albert Hall), Sunset Boulevard (UK Tour), Chess in Concert (Royal Albert Hall), Buddy The Buddy Holly Story (Duchess Theatre & UK tour).

DAVID PLATER Lighting Designer Roméo et Juliette / Un Ballo in Maschera David trained at RADA and was previously head of lighting at the Donmar Warehouse. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, and Drama Desk Awards for Best Lighting Design for Bring Up The Bodies (Winter Gardens Broadway, Aldwych), Knight of Illumination Award for Richard II (Best Play Lighting) and for This is My Family (Best Musical Lighting). He was the Off West End award winner in 2017 for Deathwatch (Printroom Coronet).

Previous credits for Grange Park Opera include Tosca, Walküre, Fanciulla del West and Oliver! Recent credits include The Divide (Old Vic and King’s Theatre Edinburgh), Room (Theatre Royal Stratford East, Abbey Theatre Dublin – nomination Off West End Award), Misalliance (Orange Tree), Ballet Black (Barbican). Hobbies include cinema, theatre, country walks.

BRUNO POET Lighting Designer Oklahoma!

Opera credits include: Marco Polo (Guangzhou Opera House); Carmen (Bregenzer Festspiele); Otello, Mahagonny, I Due Foscari, Don Giovanni, La Donna del Lago (ROH); Akhnaten, Aida, Carmen (ENO); Macbeth, Trovatore (Opera Monte Carlo). Theatre credits include: Tina the Musical (West End); Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre); St George & the Dragon, London Road, Timon of Athens, Treasure Island, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, From Morning to Midnight (National); Fortunes Fool, Sweet Bird of Youth (Old Vic); Coram Boy (Bristol Old Vic); Faith Healer (Donmar); Miss Saigon (Broadway/Japan/UK tour); Big Fish (Other Palace). Other work includes: Sigur Ros World Tours (Knight of Illumination award 2012-13), Fast & Furious (Live Arena Tour). Frankenstein (National) won an Olivier award & Knight of Illumination award. Interests include sunny winter walks on empty Cornish beaches, dinghy sailing and red wine.

OLIVIA RAY Gertrude Roméo et Juliette Olivia studied at the RNCM, GSMD and Aspen, Colorado.

Roles include Flora La Traviata, Enrichetta di Francia I Puritani, Soeur Mathilde Dialogues des Carmélites (Grange Park Opera); Mrs Noye Noyes Fludde (London Philharmonic Orchestra); Alisa Lucia di Lammermoor, Curra La Forza del Destino and Mrs Fox Fantastic Mr Fox (Opera Holland Park); Juno Orpheus in the Underworld, Olga Onegin (Scottish Opera) and Rosina Barber of Seville (Stanley Hall Opera). Away from the stage Olivia enjoys the fresh air of London’s playground with her husband and their three children, or better still, when time allows, around Britain’s coastline.

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PHILLIP RHODES Jud Fry Oklahoma!

Phillip works in opera and musicals. 2017-18 opera includes Alfio Cavalleria Rusticana, Silvio Pagliacci and Renato Un Ballo in Maschera (Opera North) and, in his native New Zealand, he recently appeared as Judge Turpin Sweeney Todd. Recent highlights include Mizgir The Snowmaiden and Peter/Father Hansel und Gretel (Opera North), Escamillo Carmen (TGF), Scarpia Tosca, Germont Traviata (Opera New Zealand).

Plans include Scarpia Tosca (Nederlandse Reisopera).

CLAIRE RUTTER Amelia Un Ballo in Maschera Born in South Shields, Claire began her career at Scottish Opera. She was nominated for the Maria Callas Award after her USA debut at Dallas Opera. She has a firm relationship with Grange Park Opera, for whom she has sung Elvira I Puritani, Norma, Minnie Fanciulla del West, Butterfly, Tosca, Traviata and Sieglinde Walküre. She has sung major roles with Opera Australia, Opera Flanders, Finnish National Opera, Opéra de Bordeaux, Opéra de Montpellier, Opéra de Rennes, Opéra National du Rhin, Norwegian Opera, Theater Basel, Florida Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera and Santa Fe Opera. Her Lucrezia Borgia at ENO was the first opera to be broadcast by Sky Arts. Recent engagements include Vanessa (Wexford Festival), Gioconda (Malmö), Tosca (Icelandic Opera and Welsh National Opera) and Turandot (Scottish Opera). Her recording of The Kingdom with the Hallé won a Gramophone Award.

STEVEN SERLIN Ali Hakim Oklahoma!

Steven’s theatre credits include Goldberg The Wild Party (Other Palace), Nightshade Jack and the Beanstalk (Salisbury Playhouse), Jerry Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Drury Lane), Vladimir I Can’t Sing (London Palladium), Rabbi The Infidel (Stratford East), Mr Kessel Mack & Mabel (Southwark Playhouse), Aaron/ Jan Imagine This (New London), Dentist Little Shop of Horrors (Kilworth House), David Company (Southwark Playhouse), Arsenic & Old Lace (Salisbury Playhouse), Chess the Concert (Royal Albert Hall and tour), Larry Stein Desperately Seeking Susan (West End), Monty Saturday Night Fever (West End and tour), Angelo Piaf (West End), Treasure Island (Lincoln Theatre Royal), Terry Boogie Nights (West End and tour), Sonny Grease (Dominion), Ken Hill’s Zorro (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Jesus Christ Superstar (25th anniversary tour). On tour he has appeared in Monkee Business, The Rocky Horror Show, Elvis the Musical, Our House, Scrooge The Musical, A Slice Of Saturday Night, Joseph Joseph and his Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat. TV includes: Frank Stubbs Promotes, Inspector Poirot, Casualty, the Royal Variety Show and Eugenius in the Short Film Musical Star.

NICKY SHAW Costume Design Ballo in Maschera Nicky trained at West Surrey and West Sussex colleges of Art & Design and works mainly in opera, but also in theatre, musical theatre and short film. Designing sets and costumes she has worked in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Ireland. Her design for Dancing Shadows (Opera Theatre, Seoul) was winner of five Korean Musical Awards including Best Musical. Recent engagements include Madama Butterfly (Glyndebourne Festival and tour); Semele (Garsington); Dead Man Walking (Royal Danish Opera – winner Best Opera, Reumart Awards); Jenufa (Royal Swedish Opera / Danish National Opera / Scottish Opera, winner UK Theatre Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre); Rossi’s Orfeo (Sam Wanamaker Theatre); Peter Pan – costumes (WNO / Komische Oper); Faust – costumes (Mariinsky); Norma (Teatro Lirico, Sardinia); Don Quichotte, Katya Kabanova (Danish National Opera); Nozze di Figaro – costumes (Polish National Opera); Rape of Lucretia, Viaggio a Reims, Il Prigioniero & Volo di notte, Cenerentola (Frankfurt Opera). Forthcoming engagements include Enchanted Island (BYO) and a new opera, City of Humanity, commissioned for Malta’s European Capital of Culture 2018. Nicky was a judge for the 2017/18 Linbury Prize for Stage Designers.

MATTHEW STIFF Tom Un Ballo in Maschera Matthew read music at Huddersfield University and went on to Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He has sung for Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Grange Park Opera, English Touring Opera, and Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Japan. Roles include Leporello Giovanni, Colline Bohème, Gremin Eugene Onegin, Polyphemus Acis & Galetea, title role Nozze di Figaro, Dulcamara L’elisir d’amore, Superintendant Budd Albert Herring, Doctor Traviata, Hobson Peter Grimes, Lord Walton I Puritani and Marquis de la Force Dialogues des Carmélites. He enjoys puzzles, the works of Sir Terry Pratchett and sampling bourbon whiskeys.

LAWRENCE THACKERAY Judge Ballo / ensemble Manchester-born Lawrence studied at the Dublin Conservatory before going on to the opera course at GSMD. His roles include Alfredo Traviata, Rodolfo Bohème, Tamino The Magic Flute, Lenski Eugene Onegin, Peter Quint The Turn of the Screw, Ruggero La Rondine, Rinuccio Gianni Schicchi, Fox Vixen and Gonsalve L’heure Espagnole. Later this summer he is Mr. Rushworth Mansfield Park in the inaugural Waterperry Opera Festival. He avidly follows Manchester United and is always hunting for new recipes for his slow cooker.

ANDREW TINKLER Frère Jean Roméo et Juliette / ensemble Andrew was born in Canada and began his musical training as a treble at Westminster Abbey.

He went on to study at the Royal College of Music. Since 1991 has been a member of the English National Opera where he has taken many roles. He has appeared with many ensembles and opera companies throughout the country.

OLENA TOKAR Juliette Roméo et Juliette Ukrainian soprano Olena is a member of Leipzig Opera where roles have included Röschen Sleeping Beauty, Die Stimme des Falken Frau ohne Schatten, Pamina Zauberflöte, Fünfte Magd Elektra, Zemina Die Feen, Antigona Admetus, King of Thessaly, 1st Flowermaiden Parsifal, Anna Nabucco, Marguerite Faust, Musetta Bohème and Norina Don Pasquale. She recently sang Marguerite Faust at Dresden Semperoper and made her debut as Mimi Bohème at the Verbier Festival.

Current and future engagements include Zauberflöte, Rusalka, Turandot and Nozze di Figaro and house débuts at Trondheim (Traviata) and Vilnius City Opera (Faust).

Die Walküre 2017

JAMIE VARTAN Designer Un Ballo in Maschera Jamie’s designs for opera include Walküre and Bohème (Grange Park Opera), Ariadne auf Naxos (Salzburg

Festspielhaus), Queen of Spades (La Scala), Death in Venice (Salzburg Landestheater), Manon Lescaut (Parma, Valencia), A Village Romeo & Juliet, Aida, Carmen (Cagliari), La Statira (Naples), Der Zwerg (Florence), Traviata (Malmö), Il Pirata (Marseille), L’isola disabitata (ROH), Carmen (Lisbon), Falstaff (Parma), The Last Hotel (Edinburgh Festival 2015 & St Ann’s Warehouse, NYC) Cristina di Svezia, Herculanum & A Village Romeo & Juliet (Wexford), The Second Violinist (Galway Festival 2017). Current work includes Eugene Onegin (Opera du Rhin) and Ariadne auf Naxos (La Scala).

Jamie supports the Poplar Blackwall & District Rowing club where his son rows early on Sunday mornings.

ROLAND WOOD Renato Un Ballo in Maschera Roland Wood studied at the RNCM and National Opera Studio. Representing England, he was a semi-finalist in 2003 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. He was Company Principal at Scottish Opera 2002–2004 where he sang Count di Luna Trovatore and Escamillo Carmen. His many roles for ENO include Almaviva Marriage of Figaro, Papageno Magic Flute, Paolo Albani Simon Boccanegra, Zurga Pearl Fishers, Bunyan/ Pilgrim Pilgrim’s Progress, Marcello Bohème and Oedipus in the world première of Julian Anderson’s Thebans. In 2015 he made his ROH début as Roucher Andrea Chenier, returning as Ford Falstaff. Other notable appearances are Nick Shadow Rake’s Progress (Glyndebourne Festival), Germont Traviata (Opera North), Renato Ballo in Maschera (Canadian Opera), Germont (Santa Fe), Renato, Germont and Enrico Lucia (Nederlandse Reisopera). In 2016/7 he sang a début Macbeth in St Louis, and Golaud Pelléas et Mélisande (Scottish Opera), Scarpia Tosca (Grange Park Opera) and Rigoletto (Michigan Opera). Plans include Germont (WNO début) and Rigoletto (St Louis).

ANDREW WRIGHT Choreographer Oklahoma!

Andrew was educated at Millfield School (2015 Old Millfieldian of the Year), trained with the NYMT and at Arts Ed. He is a double Olivier Award nominee and twice WhatsOnStage Award winner for best choreography. London credits include: Half A Sixpence (Noel Coward Theatre); Singin’ in the Rain (Palace Theatre); Guys & Dolls (Savoy and Phoenix Theatre); Mrs Henderson Presents (Noel Coward Theatre); Cinderella (London Palladium); The Showgirl Within (Garrick Theatre); Five Guys Named Moe (Marble Arch Theatre); Follies and Chess (Royal Albert Hall). National tours include Nativity, Saturday Night Fever, Betty Blue Eyes, Barnum, Singin’ in the Rain, Guys & Dolls, High Society, Wonderful Town and Happy Days. Regional theatre productions include 42nd Street, Oliver, Stepping Out and Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi.

His spare time is spent walking his cockapoo.

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Un Ballo in Maschera, Roméo et Juliette Company

HOLLY-MARIE BINGHAM Lancastrian-born Holly-Marie will join the International Opera School at the Royal College of Music later this year. Roles include: Suzuki, Irene Theodora, Hermia, SemiChorus Hamlet, (Glyndebourne Festival Opera and on tour). She performs regularly with the Academy of Ancient Music.

PHILIP CLIEVE Philip is originally from Lancashire and is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music where appearances included Paradise Moscow, L’Elisir and The Merry Widow. 2018 marks Philip’s third season with Grange Park Opera. In his spare time he enjoys attempting Airfix models and is an active member of CAMRA. CHRISTIE COOK Christie was born in Auckland NZ. Opera appearances have included Olga Onegin, Maddalena Rigoletto, Zia Principessa Suor Angelica, Cornelia Giulio Cesare, Popova The Bear, Orlofsky Fledermaus, Mrs Northwind, Old Woman Enchanted Pig, Miss Baggot The Little Sweep. Christie also sings with the Monteverdi Choir. She loves exploring the great outdoors and Ligurian cuisine.

MATTHEW COOPER Leicestershire-born Matthew read Classics at Bristol and then trained at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

He has worked at Longborough, Buxton Festival and Suffolk Opera.

Roles include Papageno Flute, Escamillo Carmen, Jailer Carmelites, Dandini Cenerentola, Dr Chillingworth All the King's Men and he created the role Ernest Jedermann Scoring a Century. Matt runs gastronomic and music courses in France.

JESSICA COSTELLOE Dublin-born Jessica is a graduate of Juilliard School of Music, NYC where roles included Zita Gianni Schicchi, Oberon Midsummer Night’s Dream, Genevieve The Long Christmas Dinner and Mrs. Todd The Old Maid and the Thief. Other roles include Larina Onegin, Carmen (Chautauqua Opera), Alma March Little Women (Banff ). This is her second season with Grange Park Opera. She is a Renaissance art enthusiast and enjoys cooking with creativity, photography and attempting to beat one of her six brothers in a weekly round of tennis.

BÉATRICE DUPUY Born in Avignon, Béatrice studied in Aix en Provence. Credits include: Sister Sofia Sound of Music, Lulu Verfügbar in Hell, Solo Woman Magdalena of Villa Lobos (Châtelet), Mademoiselle Lange Daughter of Madame Angot (Marseille), Secretary The Consul (Herblay), Ida Fledermaus, Suor Zelatrice Suor Angelica (Tours and Reims) and at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées she is one of the Carmelites directed by Olivier PY. STEPHEN FORT Stephen is from West Clandon and read Music at Cambridge before studying at the RNCM. His operatic roles include Superintendent Budd Albert Herring, Sarastro Zauberflöte, and Pistola Falstaff. He was in Opera North’s Extra Chorus for Billy Budd at the Aldeburgh Festival.

He enjoys reading, squash, rugby and running.

ELEANOR GARSIDE Eleanor is from Oldham and a graduate of RNCM. Her appearances include Helene Koanga (Wexford Festival), Jano Jenufa (Grange Park Opera), Belinda Dido, Yum-Yum Mikado, Miss Wordsworth Albert Herring (RNCM), Atalanta Xerxes, Mabel Pirates of Penzance (Silk Opera). Eleanor was a finalist in the 2017 Emmy Destinn Competition. She enjoys dress-making and gardening.

ROSANNA HARRIS British-Canadian Rosanna is a graduate of the RNCM. Roles include: Mab/Adelaide Enchanted Pig (HGO), chorus Raymond & Agnes (Retrospect Opera), Zerlina Giovanni (Opera Loki), Bianca La Rondine (OHP), Molly Brazen Beggar’s Opera (European Opera Centre). In her spare time, she enjoys bouldering, traveling and spending time with friends and family.

LIZZIE HOLMES Lizzie was born in Poole and trained at the Royal College of Music.

Credits include: Mimi & Musetta Bohème (King’s Head Theatre), Albert Herring (The Grange Festival), Despina Così (Devon Opera), Poppea Poppea (Ryedale Festival), Madame Giry Phantom (Her Majesty’s Theatre). In 2017 Lizzie co-created Debut Treehouse in the heart of Shoreditch to introduce new audiences to opera. She is an avid podcast– listener and recently signed up to run her first half marathon in aid of Arts 4 Dementia.

THOMAS HOPKINSON Thomas was born in Nottingham and is a recent graduate of the RNCM. Appearances include Monterone Rigoletto, Dulcamara L’elisir, Ferrando Trovatore. He has performed in the chorus with Opera North, Wexford Festival Opera and Longborough. Thomas enjoys dancing, gardening, swimming and long walks.

AMY LYDDON Amy was a choral scholar at Trinity before studying at the Royal College of Music. Her opera credits include: Pastuchyna Jenufa (Grange Park Opera), Dorabella Così (Dartington Hall), Nancy Albert Herring (Opera Holland Park and Shadwell Opera), Nicklausse (cover) The Tales of Hoffmann (English Touring Opera). Her pastimes include country walks.

MATTHEW HOWARD Matthew was born in Nottingham and graduated from Trinity College of Music. He has sung with ENO, GPO, Wexford Festival and is also an established consort singer. When he isn’t singing Matthew enjoys a varied sporting lifestyle, including Parkour, the UK’s newest official sport.

ALISON MANIFOLD Alison was born in Sydney and trained at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She recently performed the roles of Amelia and Lady Saphir Patience (English Touring Opera). In her spare time Alison loves all sorts of handicrafts including sewing, knitting, stitching and crochet.

TANYA HURST Following her Grange Park Opera début last year as Gerhilde Die Walküre, Melbourne-born Tanya is returning for her second season.

Later in the summer Tanya is an Iford Arts New Generation Artist and covering the role of Cio-Cio San Butterfly. She enjoys watching Barefoot Contessa in activewear.

JAMES HUTCHINGS James is from Bournemouth and a graduate of Trinity College of Music.

Opera includes Tamino Magic Flute, Ottavio Don Giovanni, Lensky Onegin and Don José Carmen.

He is a rock guitarist, keen on rugby and currently trying to write a book.

JONATHAN KENNEDY Scottish-born Jonathan is a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. He created the role Reverend Tregold in the world première of Louis Mander and Stephen Fry’s The Life to Come.

Jonathan has a keen interest in The American War of Independence, The Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War. AMY KERENZA SEDGWICK Amy studied at GSMD and is a member of the ENO chorus.

Roles include: Dorabella Cosi and Rosina Barber of Seville (SAC Opera); Kate Pinkerton Butterfly and Fox / Woodpecker Cunning Little Vixen (Grange Park Opera).

She currently resides with Rufus, an unruly Cairn terrier who offers his services as a critic.

LAWRENCE OLSWORTH-PETER

Lawrence was born in Sussex and trained at RAM. Credits include: Achante, Achante et Cephise (UCOpera), Almaviva Seville, Nemorino L’elisir, and Tamino Magic Flute (OperaUpClose).

Lawrence has a degree in Theology and Religious Studies and is a keen composer, writer and designer.

NICOLE OPPLER Roles include Mother Butterfly, Suzuki Butterfly and Annina Traviata (Grange Park Opera), Mrs Herring (cover) Albert Herring, Amneris Aida and Cherubino Figaro (Opera de Baugé). Before she became a singer Nicole was a zookeeper in Israel.

STUART ORME Gregorio Roméo et Juliette Stuart is a Samling Artist and trained at the RNCM. He stood in for Roderick Williams at the dress rehearsal of the BBC Battle of Passchendaele centenary accompanied by Iain Burnside. He loves the west coast of Canada, cooking Thai food, dogs, and impersonating movie scripts.

IRIA PERESTRELO Originally from Portugal, Iria studied at the GSMD. Opera credits include: Gingerbread Woman A Village Romeo & Juliet (Wexford Festival), Moth Midsummer Night’s Dream (Barbican). This will be her sixth season at Grange Park Opera. Iria is a coffee-lover and enjoys dancing and travelling.

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DAVID POWTON David graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama funded by Leverhulme and Manning scholarship prizes.

Recent performances include Alfred Fledermaus (Opera‘r Ddraig). David has helped build a medical centre in Kenya and had fruit thrown at him in the shower by monkeys.

MATTHEW THISTLETON Matthew is a graduate of the RNCM and returns for his fifth season with Grange Park Opera.

He has recently performed as Colline Boheme (Barefoot Opera), and sung in the chorus of Falstaff (European Opera Centre). Matthew is a keen baker and twice won the RNCM’s Bake Off competition.

JACK ROBERTS Born in Nottingham, Jack is currently studying at the GSMD. Credits include: Ottavio Don Giovanni (Opera Loki’s France / UK tour), Edmondo Manon Lescaut (Brent Opera), Dick Dauntless Ruddigore. Jack enjoys playing bass guitar in his band The Luxemburgs and brandishing the fire staff.

AMANDA WAGG Amanda grew up in Australia and moved to the UK in 2012 to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Since completing her studies she has performed with Finnish National Opera, Opera Holland Park and English Touring Opera.

ELEANOR SANDERSON-NASH Eleanor is from Haywards Heath and graduated from RCM. Previous engagements include: Opera Holland Park, British Youth Opera, London Handel Festival and Tête à Tête Opera. Eleanor enjoys cooking, reading, walking her dog, netball and yoga.

RICHARD SHAFFREY Richard was born in Dublin and is a recent graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, the Royal Academy of Music. He was a member of Northern Ireland Opera Young Artist’s Programme. His interests include performance art, cinema and rugby. This is Richard’s second season with Grange Park Opera.

ANNA SIDERIS Anna is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

In the last year she has performed Donna Elvira Don Giovanni (Opera Loki), Susanna Figaro (Merry Opera Company). Her spare time is spent in Pineapple Dance Studios practicing her pirouette.

HELEN STANLEY Helen studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

Recent appearances include Fidalma Il matrimonio segreto (Pop Up Opera) and as a soloist in Opera Galas with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

ANDREW WALTERS Andrew is from Southend-on-Sea and trained at TCM. He has sung with ROH, WNO, ENO, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Dutch Radio Choir and Terry Edwards’ London Voices. He has sung on various film soundtracks including Lord of the Rings. He is a keen devotee of musical theatre. Future plans include his conducting debut in a musical.

ROBERT WINSLADE ANDERSON Robert was born in Kingston, Jamaica and is a full time member of the chorus of English National Opera. Career highlights to date include Phillip II Don Carlo (Opera North), Ramphis Aida (ENO) and Shaklovity Khovanshchina (Birmingham Opera Company).

When he was time-rich (before his children were born) he enjoyed baking bread. Now he enjoys D I Y. LAUREN YOUNG Lauren was born in Stirling in Scotland and is currently studying at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. She will commence her studies at the Alexander Gibson Opera School next year. From a young age Lauren has been interested in extreme sports including racing quad bikes and Caterham cars with her father. In the summer months she enjoys kayaking around Scotland's lochs.

Oklahoma! Company

RHIANNE ALLEYNE Rhianne trained at Laine Theatre Arts. Theatre credits: Funny Girl (UK tour), Cinderella (Palladium), Ten Pieces Proms (RAH/BBC), Thursford Christmas Spectacular (Norfolk), Peter Pan (Dartford & Nottingham). Rhianne is also a trained TV, Film and Theatre hair and make-up artist.

LLOYD DAVIES Lloyd trained at Laine Theatre Arts. Theatre credits include: The Christmasaurus Live (Hammersmith Apollo), Ensemble / John Funny Girl (UK tour), Prince Michael Sleeping Beauty (Lichfield Garrick), Broadway to the Bay (Millennium Centre) and Follies in Concert (RAH).

WILLIAM ATKINSON William trained at the Millennium Performing Arts. Theatre credits include: Ensemble / Cover Prince Harry Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (Mayflower, Southampton), Kiss Me Kate (Leeds Grand, UK tour), Carousel (Barbican & UK tour). If William was stuck on a desert island he would take a jar of peanut butter and his caricature picture of an otter.

CONNOR EWING Connor is currently in training at Mountview and Oklahoma! is his professional debut. Appearances have included Spring Awakening, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a musical adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, and a member of the supporting company for Michael Ball and Alfie Boe at the O2 arena.

JOSHUA BAKER Josh is a recent graduate of Bird College. Credits include: Once-Ler Family/Ensemble The Lorax (Old Vic Theatre and Toronto), Dancer Alternative Hair Show (RAH), Billy Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace), Jimmy Holby City (BBC) and Dancer Dame Vera Lynn’s 100th Birthday (Palladium).

JONATHAN BOURNE Jonathan trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Theatre credits include: Reporter / Enemble Chess (Channel Island tour), soloist The West End Men (Vaudeville). Other credits: A Night of Anderson and Petty (Delfont Room, Prince of Wales Theatre).

DAISY BOYLES Daisy trained at Laine Theatre Arts. Theatre credits: Ensemble 42nd Street (Théâtre du Châtelet), Shprintze Fiddler on the Roof (Savoy), Ballet Girl Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace). Film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner Brothers). Daisy is a newly qualifi ed sports masseuse and a keen baker.

DERMOT CANAVAN Dermot trained at the Drama Studio London. Theatre credits include: Doc West Side Story (Kilworth House Theatre), Foster Wilson / Pawnee Bill Annie Get Your Gun (UK Tour), Wilbur and Edna Hairspray (Shaftesbury Theatre), Falstaff, The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Witch/Porter Macbeth (Oxford Shakespeare Company).

MILO HARRIES London-born Milo studied at the RCM. As a treble he was 3rd Boy Magic Flute (Glyndebourne). Recent appearances include Opera North's Whistle Stop Opera, which was part of the BBC #OperaPassion Day, Tosca and Jenufa (Grange Park Opera). He is an enthusiastic gardener (often plant-murderer).

MATTHEW HARVEY Matthew was born in Guildford and trained at Arts Educational Schools London. Since graduating he has appeared in Les Misérables (Queens Theatre) and Murder Ballad (Arts Theatre). A wildlife and nature enthusiast, Matthew bingewatches David Attenborough documentaries and has adopted a Pangolin. Other interests include comic books and cooking.

JOANNE HENRY Originally from Stafford, Jo's extensive theatre credits include: Lady Thiang The King & I (UK & Ireland), Teracita West Side Story (West End & UK tour), Zebulans Wife Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (UK tour).

Jo has has a great affection for bees and has trained as an Apiarist.

MORGAN JACKSON Morgan trained at SLP College.

Theatre credits: Mamma Mia! (UK tour), Gideon Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (UK tour), Peter Pan (Palace Theatre, Mansfield), Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (Belfast Grand Opera House), Jack and the Beanstalk (SECC Glasgow). When not on stage Morgan can usually be found at the gym.

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HELENA PIPE Helena has was born in Barking, London but raised in Bermuda.

In Canada and Bermuda credits include Church Lady Darlene The Color Purple (Troika), Neyssa In This World (Halifax Theatre For Young People), Sister Chantelle Bare A Pop Opera (Left of Center Productions). Hobbies include travelling, blogging, creating video content and theatre.

MIKEL SYLVANUS Mikel’s recent credits include: Porgy & Bess (Royal Danish Opera), Priest/Riot Policeman Jesus Christ Superstar (International Arena Tour), Night of a Thousand Stars (RAH), Tom Collins Rent (Greenwich Theatre), Henry South Pacific (Barbican Theatre and UK tour), The Wonderful World of Captain Beaky (The Royal Albert Hall).

ALEX TRANTER Alex was born in Ruislip Manor and trained at Italia Conti. Credits include Eugenius! (The Other Palace), Our House (UK tour), Rob An Evening of Dirty Dancing (UK tour / Norway), Ensemble / Dance Captain Glenn Miller Story (UK tour), Closer to Heaven (Union Theatre), Ensemble Copacabana (UK tour). Alex enjoys football and live music.

CHARLOTTE WILMOTT Charlotte was born in London and graduated from Urdang. Show / TV credits include: The Bodyguard, Illusionist Tour, Blues Brothers Tribute, Buttermilk commercial, The Voice, X-Factor, Brit Awards and Strictly Come Dancing. Music videos include Chase and Status (International tour), Jermain Jackman How Will I Know, Nick Brewer Talk to Me. Her hobbies are yoga, dancing and singing.

PIPPA WINSLOW Pippa was born in New York and trained at the University of California and the American Conservatory Theatre. Credits: Sound of Music (UK tour), 9 to 5 The Musical (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Sister Act (Gordon Craig), Hairspray (Gordon Craig and Macau Festival), Carlotta, Phantom (Rose & Crown), Follies and A Little Night Music (Yvonne Arnaud).

Jenufa 2017

MARIANNE PHILLIPS Marianne trained at the Arts Educational School.

Credits include: Bodyguard Das Musical (Musical Dome, Koln), We Will Rock You (Royal Caribbean Cruise), Kiss Me Kate (Opera North/UK tour), Dancer 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, Singin’ in the Rain (Broadway Studio Theatre). Choreography credits: Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (Bristol Hippodrome).

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