Programme 2021 by ifopera

OPERA OPERA 2021 2021

CON T E N TS

W E LCOM E

welcome 3

chroma and orchestra

mezzocav 4

pagliacci – new generation artists performance 20

mezzocav synopsis & cast list 5 pagliacci synopsis

on with the motley

verismo notes

pagliacci cast

pagliacci production team

if opera

patrons

the board and thanks

our operas

I remember when I was asked to come down to a picturesque town called Bradford on Avon to meet Iford Arts founder, Judy Eglington, back in 2005. At the time, I had just graduated from the Royal Opera House’s Young Artist Programme, keen to try out what I had learnt from the industry’s finest. Little did I know that sixteen seasons on, Iford Arts would play such a significant part in my musical and personal life. The reason I am still here, and the reason why our audiences have been so loyal, is that Iford Arts is more than just another summer opera company. For close to thirty years, Iford Arts has been an innovator, creating unique, distinct and intimate opera. Judy Eglington’s powerful belief that opera should be based on truth, free from ritualised gesture and artifice, has lived through all our productions. Her commitment to emerging artists, her passionate belief in the value of music education, and her real understanding of what makes a good festival a sense of improvisation, a sense of spontaneity and fun – has been critical to our longevity. We owe her a huge debt of gratitude. A central pillar in our evolution has been the work of three brilliant and loyal creatives. Jeff Clarke and Opera della Luna has been with us since La Belle Hélène in 2003, the start of the Offenbach odyssey. From Haydn to Verdi, via the hairy bikers of Daughter of the Regiment and the hilariously Heath Robinson-esque production of Il mondo della luna, the final mammoth collaboration was Bernstein’s Candide which unquestionably broadened and enriched the company’s profile and reputation. South Bank Award nominee Bruno Ravella also mounted a special series of nineteenth century Italian operas - most recently a Madama Butterfly of breathtaking simplicity and beauty. And then there is the baroque strand of our work with Christian Curnyn and his Early Opera Company. From such a brilliant interpreter, Curnyn makes the repertoire sound as if it had only been composed last week. It is a fitting coincidence that we have come full circle this year as we present Acis and Galatea, EOC’s first production for us back in 2000.

We owe so much to so many for being part of this journey, not least a ‘small, but perfectly formed’ office team, led by the indefatigable Debbie Heyden. Many of our stewards, volunteers and hosts have spoken to me of their admiration and gratitude for her dedication to the Festival. Her skill and enterprise in creating strong local networks has made a significant social difference to the lives of many in the area. I am also deeply indebted to our hosts, Paul and Caroline Weiland, for offering us their enchanting home for the past two seasons and I look forward to our association continuing with them long into the future. As for the next chapter, it is a bold and exciting one. On page 23, do take a moment to read about 'If Opera' and our vision for a new iteration of the company. As I reflect, I know that the heart of what we have created will continue to beat as we look to an exciting future. In many ways, our ‘nearly thirty year old’ will soon reach its prime! In the meantime, I hope that our performances this season will bring you the rollercoaster of emotions that only music and opera can offer: a moment to reflect, a moment to take a breath and an opportunity to share in what we all love – music and drama to stir the soul in the most extraordinary setting.

Oliver Gooch, Artistic Director, Iford Arts

SYNOPSIS

M E ZZOC AV CO M PA NY

Iford Arts presents

The sections in bold are being performed tonight

MEZZOCAV

The opera concerns four Sicilian peasants: Turiddu once engaged to Lola and conscripted for military service; Alfio the local carrier, who marries Lola while Turiddu is away, and Santuzza, a village girl whom Turiddu seduces. Turiddu’s mother Lucia completes the cast.

PRODUCTION santuzza

Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni Libretto by Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti and Guido Menasci Sung in Italian Conductor: Oliver Gooch Orchestra: CHROMA Our evening opens with a concert presentation of the most loved parts of Mascgani’s Cavalleria Rusticana (“Rustic Chivalry”) and some of the most beautiful melodies in the late Italian repertoire. Alongside the famous Intermezzo, we are delighted to welcome international British soprano, Susan Bullock who leads the cast and chorus in the most memorable parts of the opera, including the gloriously uplifting Easter Hymn.

turiddu alfio conductor

Susan Bullock Christopher Turner Paul Carey Jones Oliver Gooch

The opera starts with Turiddu singing a siciliana offstage.

orchestra

CHROMA

We learn that Lola, jealous of Santuzza, has agreed to become Turiddu’s mistress and he’s spent the night with her.

lighting design

Guy Jones

It’s Easter Day and the only person to feel no joy is Santuzza. She’s ostracised by the other villagers and banned from church. Lucia tells her that Turiddu is away, but Santuzza knows he was seen in the village only last night.

production manager

Alfio enters, bragging about Lola and his prosperous business. He asks Lucia for wine, but she’s run out, “Turiddu is buying more” she says, Alfio is surprised, “I saw him near my cottage this morning.” Santuzza signals frantically to the old woman to stop talking. An organ plays inside the church. The villagers sing their glorious Easter Hymn and everybody leaves for Mass. Lucia pauses to commiserate with Santuzza. She pours out the story of her seduction, Turiddu’s affair with Lola, and asks for the old lady’s prayers.

stage manager

Hannah Williams Ed Borgnis

CHORUS Fiona Finsbury, Thomas Kinch, Louis Hurst, Ryan Vaughan Davies, Dan D’Souza, Lauren McQuistin, Tamsin Birch, Annie Reilly, Gemma Morsley, Joshua Baxter, Laurie Slavin, Dafydd Allen, Michael Ronan *Chorus biographies can be found on pages 14 and 15 noctis Kirsten Mulcahy, Pippa Jackson, Molly Soo, Sami Cloves, Oliver Joseph, Alastair Comery, Michael Longden, Toby Lazenbury

Turiddu enters. Santuzza begs him to stay, but he turns on her and throws her to the ground. Santuzza curses him and, seeing Alfio swagger on, tells him that Turiddu is his wife’s lover. Alfio tears offstage, leaving Santuzza horrified at what she has done. There is a short intermezzo Mass is over and Turiddu invites his neighbours to drink his mother’s wine (she has mysteriously managed to fill up her casks after all). Alfio enters, refuses the wine and challenges Turiddu to a knife fight. The young man accepts the challenge, peasant fashion, by embracing Alfio and biting his ear. Alfio withdraws as Turiddu takes his mother aside. He makes light of his predicament, asks her to pray for him, look after Santuzza – and give him a kiss. 4

The last shocking sentence ends the show.

M E Z ZO C AV SUSAN BULLOCK Susan Bullock’s unique position as one of the world’s most sought-after dramatic sopranos was recognised by the award of a CBE in June 2014. Wagner’s Brünnhilde has garnered outstanding praise worldwide, leading her to become the first ever soprano to sing four consecutive cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen at Covent Garden under Antonio Pappano. Appearances as Richard Strauss’ Elektra at ROH, La Scala , the Metropolitan Opera, all over Europe and the USA have brought equal acclaim. In recent seasons, Susan has begun to explore new repertoire making debuts as Klytaemnestra (Elektra) for the Canadian Opera Company, and her acclaimed portrayal of Mother in Turnage’s Greek at BAM and the Edinburgh International Festival. Further debuts include Kostelnička (Jenůfa), both Gertrude and The Witch (Hänsel und Gretel), Mrs Lovett (Sweeney Todd), Mother in the European premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves also at the Edinburgh International Festival. She recently made her debut as an actor at the Grange Festival in Keith Warner’s staging of King Lear in which she played Goneril, and she returns to Opera Frankfurt in the autumn.

PAUL CAREY JONES Welsh-Irish heldenbaritone Paul Carey Jones was born in Cardiff and studied at The Queen’s College Oxford, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio, where he was winner of the National Eisteddfod of Wales’ premier award for young singers, the W Towyn Roberts Scholarship. In May 2013 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, and he was joint winner of the 2013 Wagner Society Singing Competition. His continuing exploration of the heldenbaritone repertoire is supported by The Mastersingers and the Carole Rees Award for Advanced Musical Studies, and his work during the current 6

Coronavirus crisis is supported by the Arts Council of Wales. Recent career highlights have included his Covent Garden debut in The Nose, Opera Holland Park as Lescaut in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, the title role in the Chinese premiere of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde in Beijing and Shanghai, the Scottish premiere of Philip Glass’ The Trial, the world premieres of John Metcalf’s Under Milk Wood: An Opera, Stephen McNeff’s The Burning Boy and Stuart MacRae’s Prometheus Symphony, and covering the roles of Wotan / Der Wanderer in the 2018 Ring Cycle at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

CHRISTOPHER TURNER Born in Birmingham, Christopher Turner read Music at the University of Hull, furthering his studies with Barbara Robotham at the Royal Northern College of Music and at the National Opera Studio, where he was sponsored by the Scottish Endowment Trust and The Friends of Covent Garden. He has received many prizes, including The Michael and Joyce Kennedy Prize for Singing Strauss, The Frederic Cox Prize, the Elizabeth Harwood Prize, and, most recently, a Countess of Munster ‘Young Star’ Award and the Sybil Tutton Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund. He was also a major scholar of the Sir Peter Moores Foundation.

M E Z ZO C AV OLIVER GOOCH A conductor of considerable versatility, Oliver has conducted many of the UK's leading orchestras including the LPO, Philharmonia, Hallé, BBCSO, RPO, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Northern Sinfonia. In growing demand internationally, he has made acclaimed debuts with the Queensland Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, New York Sinfonietta, and Orchestra i Pomeriggi Musicali. Recent opera work on three continents includes the US premiere of Šárka (New York), Die Zauberflöte (Milan) and L'isola disabitata (Australia), nominated for ‘Best Opera’ in the Helpmann Awards. Following the founding of Opera East Productions as Artistic Director (receiving a Sky Arts South Bank Award), he came to attention as the first Royal Opera House Associate Conductor (YAP) in a position specially created for him by Antonio Pappano. He was Music Director for Raymond Gubbay’s arena operas in the Royal Albert Hall (La bohème/Madama Butterfly) and with Iford Arts, he has been Music Director since 2005 and Artistic Director since 2019.

NOCTIS We are delighted to welcome for the first time Noctis, a semiprofessional, awardwinning chamber choir based in the beautiful city of Bath, UK. Founded and directed by Francis Faux, the group consists of musicians from a variety of musical backgrounds, many of which have studied or are studying at Royal Conservatoires and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. This rich tapestry of experience enables the choir to perform a wide range of material to a high choral and vocal standard. Their repertoire includes traditional choral music as well as contemporary arrangements of popular songs, film scores and jazz standards.

He balances his freelance engagements with the position of Director of the Blyth Centre for Music and Visual Arts at Imperial College London.

Recent seasons include Augusto in Leoncavallo’s Zazà with the BBC Syphony Orchestra at the Barbican (also recorded by Opera Rara), Tibrino in Cesti’s Orontea and Fabio in Handel’s Berenice with La Nuova Musica at the Wigmore Hall, Gluck’s Philemon e Baucis and Arne’s Judgment of Paris, and La Scala di Seta and later his debut as Rodolfo with Scottish Opera in 2017, and of course Macduff Macbeth for Iford Arts.

PAGLIACCI Opera Ensemble in association with Iford Arts Words and music by Ruggero Leoncavallo Sung in Italian First performed at the Teatro dal Verme, Milan on May 21 1892

SYNOPSIS A village in Calabria, Italy. 1860s A troupe of travelling players arrive to present a comic show. One of their number, Tonio, welcomes us with a Prologue, in which he tells us that tonight’s performances will deal with real flesh-and-blood characters. He asks us to remember that every artist is just another human who breathes the same air as his audience. The troupe is led by Canio, ‘the prince of comedians’. His wife and leading lady, Nedda, rejects the coarse advances of Tonio, a fellow actor. Tonio then spies on Nedda’s meeting with her lover, Silvio, with whom she plans to elope. In revenge, Tonio summons Canio. Silvio escapes, and Nedda refuses to reveal his identity, despite Canio’s threats. It’s time to prepare for the evening show. Alone in his dressing room, Canio contemplates his fate: he must make people laugh even though his heart is breaking. After an intermezzo, Act Two begins with the villagers assembling for the performance. Silvio is in the crowd, having arranged to meet Nedda later that night. The show is a classic piece of commedia dell'arte about marital infidelity, and for the disturbed (and inebriated) Canio, fiction becomes confused with reality. He breaks out of character and again demands to know the name of Nedda’s lover. Once again she defies him . . .

ON WITH THE MOTLEY Last autumn, in the depths of lockdown, I had a call from the soprano Elin Pritchard, with whom I’d worked very happily on Falstaff at The Grange Festival the previous summer. She suggested that we ring up some of our erstwhile colleagues with a view to putting on Pagliacci. We both agreed that we were quietly going up the wall in covid confinement and missing our old lives like crazy. But we also knew that opera, difficult enough at the best of times, is not an art form that lends itself to social distancing. However, Elin had connections with a church in Islington, and Pagliacci, an opera that many singers know by heart, is a tight single act – no need for an interval, with all its attendant danger of contamination. Would it be possible to direct a tale of love, lust, anger and revenge where nobody strays closer than two metres? Probably not, but that wasn’t going to stop us. ‘How quickly could we rehearse it?’ Elin wondered. Normally I’d have said two weeks at a push, but we were in the middle of a deadly pandemic and I found myself blithely agreeing not to two weeks, but two days – plus a couple of evenings (what luxury!) with the chorus. There was no budget whatsoever, and the church could only hold fifty people dotted parsimoniously among the pews, so we were never going to get rich on the proceeds. But who cares, we did it for the sheer pleasure of doing it, and when I heard the singers let rip, after months of lockdown silence, I knew it was worth the gamble. The absence of funds meant an absence of scenery, but we did have a splendid gothic altar, which stood in for Canio’s dressing table. It also meant no props, but they aren’t covid-safe anyway. And no wardrobe department either, so period costumes were out – modern dress it had to be.

Since our first (and only) night in Islington, with a tiny ensemble of instrumentalists, we’ve acquired a dynamic producer, Hamish Mackay, and even given ourselves a name – Opera Ensemble. We’ve taken the production to the Grange Festival and to Longborough, and now we’re thrilled to be performing with a chamber orchestra at Belcombe, under the baton of Oliver Gooch. In fact we’re starting to feel a bit like Canio’s merry troop, minus the emotional baggage (so far, anyway). If I were searching for a reason to perform this piece right now, I’d say that it shines a light on the tension between the private and public lives of performers – something that has become an issue for all freelance artists during the pandemic, when our very ‘viability’ has been brought into question. But now that theatres are tentatively reopening, it’s fair to say that, masks and social distance notwithstanding, we’re here for the same reason as our audience – to share our love of musicmaking, and to keep finding ways to do that even when the odds are stacked against us.

Christopher Luscombe August 2021

THE OPERA TWINS Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci – Cav and Pag – are joined at the hip. Almost always seen together, and for the very good reason that they come from the same stable. The winners of a highly successful marketing drive and talent competition run by Sonzogno, the Italian music publishers. Verdi and his publishers, Ricordi, had discovered how to make opera a lucrative business – by controlling the hiring rights to popular operas – and by the end of the century other publishers were equally hungry to make a profit. As were a new generation of young composers. And hungry is the point. Opera was still the only way a talented Italian composer could make money, and the young Mascagni and Leoncavallo, like the young Puccini, lived hand to mouth lives, playing in cafes (living on bags of rice in Puccini’s case) and waiting for a commission, a deadline, an opportunity to present their work. It’s almost impossible to throw off a masterpiece in a vacuum and when Sonzogno launched their opera competitions in 1883, the would-be successors to Verdi fell on it. Puccini, Giordano, Mascagni, submitted operas, and though Leoncavallo appears to have been too modest to offer his, his wife posted it without telling him. And a new genre was born – ‘Verismo’. Verismo – ‘Reality’ – is a loaded term. Every one has a different idea as to what ‘real life’ is like, especially on stage. It was in fact a literary genre, inspired by Zola’s naturalistic novels, and represented in Italy by a couple of Neapolitan dramatists, Giovanni Verga and Luigi Capuana (though neither writer liked the term). Verga’s plays featured the contemporary working class, living either in the back streets of big cities or the hovels of the Italian countryside. Lives that were nasty, brutish and short – and a world away from normal opera. Even Carmen (the nearest thing to verismo before Cav and Pag) has a beguiling Spanish setting, and Italian opera had, up until then, been set amongst the upper, or at least the picturesque classes. People in ruffs, who kill each other with rapiers.

of a particular time and place and eradicating any need for back stories, complicated subplots or subtle character development.’ And Leoncavallo and Mascagni responded with two short pieces which, though they used the typical opera tropes of passion, betrayal and jealousy, were stripped of their operatic extras. No rapiers, no noblemen, just a couple of peasants, or some second rate actors, slogging it out, in the midst of a poverty stricken, conventional, and rather stunted, community. The idea was to make a sensation – a sordid story line, a new brash sound, in fact a short opera that would win a competition. There was no idea they could make a career of this. None of the competitors reckoned on their competition pieces becoming part of the opera rep. And on the whole they didn’t. One act operas are notoriously difficult to sell – but the outstanding qualities of Cavalleria and Pagliacci were immediately obvious, and it is fortunate they go so well together. (Indeed recent productions at the ROH and ENO have run both shows together, the stories playing out in the same village over one appallingly traumatic Easter.) So what are we in for tonight? Well a slab of rustic life, in which the relationships are crude, and brief, and culminate in a gruesome crime of passion. Matched by violent music backing off from the ‘beautiful voice’ and at times blending singing with shouting. But so much more…

Mascagni turned verismo on its head even as he created it. The Sicilian setting, however down at heel, would have been thought picturesque by the Northerners in Milan (it wasn’t greeted with such approval in Naples), and the original production wasn’t as stark as all that. It’s set on Easter Sunday, the whole village are in their best clothes and singing Easter hymns. More than that, the opera deliberately turns its back on a certain strand of modernism. The numbers don’t flow into each other (as in late Verdi) but are ‘closed’, that is you get recitative, and a stand alone aria. The Easter hymn is a glorious operatic set piece, and both operas are full of great crescendos, full throated lyricism – and tender interludes, obviously inspired by the traditional music of the Italian countryside.

As we watch, the normal theatrical set up turns on its head. The characters are what they should be: the lovers, Harlequin and Columbine, and the third character who obstructs them – the father, guardian or husband – who is doomed to be outwitted. He’d be played by a character actor, Pantalone. And then there’s the clown, Pagliaccio, a slapstick comedian in his loose white costume. He’s there to be laughed at, and with Tonio, the company clown, verismo begins to bite. Because the clown often wore a hump, a deformity still mocked on the late 19th century Italian stage (in spite of Rigoletto). Tonio is referred to as a ‘monster’ by the indignant heroine, throughout the piece.

Pagliacci is similarly appealing. This time the lower classes are represented by a company of actors, a commedia dell’arte troupe. Italy has a long tradition of strolling players – actors who travel round the country putting on shows in barns, town squares, anywhere they can gather an audience. The shows they put on are fast paced comedies with a traditional plot and the barest minimum of text as the performers ad lib throughout. Pagliacci, ‘Clowns’ – you can almost imagine the first Italian audience settling down to this. They would be expecting some surprises, the actors are famous for throwing in extra jokes but not the lead actor improvising a double murder… Mascagni flanked by librettists What gives Pagliacci its uncomfortable edge is that Tonio has a natural hump, and a life of playing up to this misfortune has corroded him. In the prologue Tonio appears in his Clown costume and addresses the audience. He reminds them that actors are human beings, with human feelings, and that the show we’re about to see is real. It is in fact verismo…

However the competition practically demanded verismo. The competitors, as Alexandra Wilson says, ‘…were invited to submit a one-act work, a format that encouraged a broad brush, ‘slice of life’ approach, creating a snapshot

Things getting out of hand on stage

Rev. Sarah Lenton is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster on opera and ballet. She works for the Royal Opera House, ENO, and Garsington Opera and can be heard on BBC Radio 3 podcasts and broadcasts of opera. She is also a West End theatre chaplain.

Santuzza and Turiddu outside the church

P R I N C I PA L S PETER AUTY

ROBERT HAYWARD

ELIN PRITCHARD

Peter Auty (Canio) is established as one of Britain’s leading tenors. He made his professional debut at Opera North in 1998 and was a company principal of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1999 until 2002 where he had the opportunity of working with many of the world’s leading conductors. Peter has appeared regularly with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, English National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Opera Holland Park and Grange Park Opera. Abroad he has worked with several companies including Frankfurt Opera, Essen Opera, Malmö Opera and New Zealand Opera.

Bass-baritone Robert Hayward (Tonio) has performed at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Frankfurt Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera in a wide repertoire including Wotan The Ring, Amfortas Parsifal, Jokanaan Salome, the title roles in Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni, Mazeppa, Der Fliegende Holländer, Falstaff and Macbeth; Iago Otello, Scarpia Tosca, Marcello La bohème, Escamillo Carmen, Tomsky The Queen of Spades, Nick Shadow The Rake’s Progress, Mandryka Arabella, Golaud Pelleas et Melisande, Kurwenal Tristan, Prince Ivan Khovansky Khovanshchina, Simone in Zemlinsky’s Florentine Tragedy and Telramund Lohengrin. He recently performed Alberich Das Rheingold and Siegfried in concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Jurowski.

Welsh soprano Elin Pritchard (Nedda) has gained critical acclaim for her numerous operatic roles as a lyric soprano throughout the UK and Europe. Her repertoire includes Violetta, Lucia di Lammermoor, Tatyanna, Micaela, Tosca, Alice Falstaff, Miss Jessel, Anne Trulove, Manon Lescaut, Fiordiligi and Donna Elvira. She performs at English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Danish National Opera, and is also a regular at the UK summer festivals including The Grange Festival, Buxton Festival Opera and Opera Holland Park. On the concert platform Elin has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, RSNO, Manchester Camerata and the London Mozart Players.

ALED HALL South Wales-born Aled Hall (Beppe) has excelled in the character tenor repertoire with many leading international companies. Previous seasons’ highlights both in the UK and abroad have included Valzacchi Der Rosenkavalier (Royal Swedish Opera); Pang Turandot, Spoletta Tosca, the Dancing Master Manon Lescaut (Royal Opera House); Don Curzio Le nozze di Figaro (Aix-en-Provence, Tokyo, Baden Baden); Mr. Upfold Albert Herring (Salzburger Landestheater); Valzacchi Der Rosenkavalier, Maintop Billy Budd and Gherardo Gianni Schicchi (Opera North); Don Basilio/Don Curzio, Beadle Bamford, Monostatos, Scaramuccio, and Remendado (Welsh National Opera); Don Basilio, Bardolpho and Frisellino Le Pescatrici (Garsington Opera); Matteo Borsa Rigoletto and Almeric Iolanta (Scottish Opera); Messenger Aida (Bergen National Opera); and Lo Zio Vezinet Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, and Ippia Saffo, Danilowitz L’Etoile du Nord (Wexford Festival Opera/both recorded on the Marco Polo label).

NICHOLAS LESTER Nicholas Lester (Silvio) studied at Adelaide Conservatorium of Music and the National Opera Studio, London (sponsored by Glyndebourne Festival Opera). Recent and forthcoming roles include: Orphée by Philip Glass, Marcello La Bohème, Cascada The Merry Widow, (English National Opera); Eugene Onegin, Figaro The Barber of Seville (Welsh National Opera); Chou En Lai Nixon in China, Germano La Scala di Seta, Josef K The Trial by Philip Glass, Malatesta Don Pasquale, Ping Turandot (Scottish Opera); Guglielmo Così fan Tutte, Dandini La Cenerentola, Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia (Opera Holland Park); Lescaut Manon Lescaut, Ford Falstaff (Grange Festiva); Marcello La bohème (New Zealand Opera, State Opera of South Australia and Danish National Opera). For The Opera Story: DaddyBearPig Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs, Marco Pandora’s Box.

ENSEMBLE DAFYDD ALLEN

TAMSIN BIRCH

GEMMA MORSLEY

MICHAEL RONAN

Dafydd Allen is a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music studying with Brindley Sherratt and Caroline Dowdle. He is a Cuthbert Smith Scholar and is supported by the Josephine Baker Trust. He recently played the role of Masetto Don Giovanni for Opra Cymru, directed by Patrick Young. (2019). Opera Scenes at the RCM include Demetrius A Midsummer Night's Dream Britten and Dancaire Carmen Bizet. Dafydd was one of the Apostles in Elgar’s Apostles at the Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins. He has worked on Mahler songs with acclaimed musician Roger Vignoles culminating in a performance in RCM’s Britten Theatre. Dafydd was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary for young singers, and is a frequent prize winner in the Urdd and Welsh National Eisteddfod.

Tamsin Birch is a soprano scholar on the Opera Course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Wilma MacDougall and Duncan Williams. She is a member of the Live Music Now Scotland scheme. Tamsin completed both her BMus and MA degrees at the Royal Academy of Music as a Scholar studying with Nuccia Focile and Iain Ledingham. Full operatic roles include: Cleopatra Giulio Cesare RCS, Poppea L’Incoronazione di Poppea RCS, Contessa Le nozze di Figaro St Paul’s Opera and Poppea Agrippina Dartington. Tamsin will be performing Tina Flight at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2022.

Gemma Morsley’s operatic roles include Carmen (Opera South East), Grimgerde Die Walküre (Grange Park Opera), Flora La traviata (King’s Head), Maddalena Rigoletto (France and UK tour), Larina Eugene Onegin (OperaUpClose), Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro (Dartington International Festival), Dorabella Così fan tutte (Opera Chez Cartier & Jacksons Lane Theatre) La Ciesca and Zita Gianni Schicchi (Fulham Opera and Lunchbreak Opera respectively), Gertrude Romeo et Juliette (Arcadian Opera), Flowermaiden Parsifal (Elemental Opera), 2nd and 3rd Ladies Die Zauberflöte (Zeist Opera Festival, Netherlands, St John’s Smith Square & Riverside Studios) and ensemble in six tours of John Ramster’s staged Messiah. Music theatre roles include Mrs Sowerberry & Mrs Bedwin Oliver! and Fruma-Sarah Fiddler on the Roof (Grange Park Opera and BBC Proms), the White Witch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Creation Theatre, Oxford) and numerous performances from the G&S canon.

Michael Ronan is a postgraduate bassbaritone at the Royal Academy of Music where he currently studies with Mark Wildman and Iain Leadingham. He is generously supported in his studies by the ABRSM Scholarship, the George Drexler Foundation, and the Josephine Baker Trust. Michael has been awarded the Joan Chissell Schumann Lieder Prize, the Blyth-Buesst Opera Prize, and Second Prize in the Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award. Some recent performances include the role of John Proctor The Crucible Robert Ward at OPERNFEST, Berlin, Maesetto Don Giovanni with the Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra, and a recital of Clara Schumann lieder at the Wigmore Hall with the Academy Song Circle. Michael’s upcoming projects include the role of Quince Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Royal Academy Opera, a cover of the same role with the Grange Festival, Hampshire, and a recital at the Rhonefestival für Liedkunst in Naters, Switzerland alongside pianist Benjamin Mead.

JOSHUA BAXTER Tenor Joshua Baxter, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and has gone on to work with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, The Grange Festival and Festival d’Aixen-Provence. He was also part of the Serena Fenwick Programme with British Youth Opera. Away from opera, he has been a soloist on the concert stage, performing such works as Rossini’s Petite Messe Sollenelle & Mozart’s Requiem. Recent engagements: Chorus Manon Lescaut & My Fair Lady (The Grange Festival), Chorus I Pagliacci (Opera Ensemble), Hervey Anna Bolena (Caledonian Opera), Chorus Saul (Teatre du Chatelet), Private and other roles (cover) Scoring a Century (British Youth Opera).

ENSEMBLE

LAUREN MCQUISTIN Scottish soprano Lauren McQuistin studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland before moving to America to study with Carol Vaness at Indiana University, and then completed her studies at Yale University. McQuistin made her Scottish Opera/McOpera Collective debut as Marfa in Shostakovich’s Rothschild's Violin, and her IU principal debut in 2016 as the title role in Florencia en el Amazonas. Within this time she also performed Adriana Lecouvreur, Countess Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni and Antonia Les Contes des Hoffmann. At Yale she performed Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder, Mahler 4, and scenes from Lucrezia Borgia and Ariadne auf Naxos. She performed Erste Dame Die Zauberflöte at the Schubert Theatre as well as Central City Opera, where she was a studio artist. Her most recent performance was as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, for which she was the winner of the Phyllis Curtain Career Entry Prize.

LAURIE SLAVIN ANNIE REILLY Annie Reilly is an American mezzosoprano based in London where she was awarded a UK Exceptional Talent Visa and is an Alvarez Young Artist with Garsington Opera. She is a recent graduate of the Royal Academy Opera where her roles included Dorabella Così fan tutte, Zweite Dame Die Zauberflöte, & Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has sung as a soloist with the LA Philharmonic, the BBC (in collaboration with Barbican Hall & BBC Radio 3), and as a Young Artist with Nevill Holt Opera. Annie is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music (AdvDip, BMus) and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (MPerf).

Laurie Slavin, Scottish tenor studied Modern History & International Relations at the University of St Andrews before studying voice at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Adrian Thompson and John Evans. His operatic credits include Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Lensky; Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Acis; Britten’s Albert Herring, Albert; Gilbert & Sullivan’s Princess Ida, Hilarion; and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Pelléas. Laurie has performed with The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company; Longborough Festival Opera and Byre Opera. He was an Alvarez Young Artist with Garsington Opera and an inaugural member of British Youth Opera’s Serena Fenwick Programme.

C R E AT I V E T E A M BERRAK DYER (Pianist & Repetiteur) Berrak Dyer studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and then went on to study at the Solti Academy and the National Opera Studio. Berrak was the Musical Director for Pop Up Opera (20142018) and has worked with Winslow Hall Opera, University College Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera Holland Park, Buxton, and Royal Opera House. Last year Berrak returned to the Opera Story to conduct Robin Hood, to the Royal Opera House as repetiteur on Phaedra and assistant Musical Director on The Lost Thing and joined Buxton International Festival as répétiteur on Eugene Onegin. This year she worked with English Touring Opera as assistant conductor on Cosi fan Tutte, played on The Opera Story’s online series Episodes, and was due to return to Royal Opera House for She Described It To Death.

OLIVER GOOCH (Conductor) Oliver Gooch is a conductor of considerable versatility, Oliver has conducted many of the UK's leading orchestras including the LPO, Philharmonia, Hallé, BBCSO, RPO, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Northern Sinfonia. In growing demand internationally, he has made acclaimed debuts with the Queensland Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, New York Sinfonietta, and Orchestra i Pomeriggi Musicali. Recent opera work on three continents includes the US premiere of Šárka (New York), Die Zauberflöte (Milan) and L'isola disabitata (Australia), nominated for ‘Best Opera’ in the Helpmann Awards. Following the founding of Opera East Productions as Artistic Director (receiving a Sky Arts South Bank Award), he came to attention as the first Royal Opera House Associate Conductor (YAP) in a position specially created for him by Antonio Pappano. He was Music Director for Raymond Gubbay’s arena operas in the Royal Albert Hall (La bohème/ 16

Madama Butterfly) and with Iford Arts, he has been Music Director since 2005 and Artistic Director since 2019. He balances his freelance engagements with the position of Director of the Blyth Centre for Music and Visual Arts at Imperial College London.

GUY JONES (Associate Lighting Designer) Guy Jones has worked extensively as associate to Tim Mitchell on productions of Mame (Hope Mill Theatre), Pressure (Chichester Festival Theatre, UKTour/ West End), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK Tour), Hobson's Choice (West End), Guys and Dolls (Chichester Festival Theatre/ West End/UK Tour), Singin’ In The Rain (UKTours/Tokyo/International Tour/Moscow), The Rehearsal (Minerva, Chichester), Goodnight Mister Tom (West End/ UK Tours), Dirty Dancing (West End/Touring-UK, Germany, Australia, France, Italy), The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui (West End), Relative Values (West End), Yes, Prime Minister (UK Tours/West End). Guy has numerous credits as a lighting designer/associate to other designers/re-lighter and production electrician in the UK and world wide for theatre and live events of all kinds.

C R E AT I V E T E A M CHRISTOPHER LUSCOMBE

HAMISH MACKAY

(Director) Christopher Luscombe’s directing credits include Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Much Ado About Nothing and The Shakespeare Revue (Royal Shakespeare Company); Star Quality and The Madness of George III (Apollo); Home and Beauty (Lyric); Fascinating Aïda - Olivier Award nomination for Best Entertainment (Harold Pinter); The Comedy of Errors, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Nell Gwynn – Olivier Award for Best New Comedy (Shakespeare’s Globe); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park); Enjoy (Gielgud); Alphabetical Order (Hampstead); When We Are Married - Olivier Award nomination for Best Revival (Garrick); Travels With My Aunt (Menier Chocolate Factory); The Rocky Horror Show and Spamalot (Playhouse), Hay Fever (Minneapolis); Henry V (Chicago); Candide and Falstaff (Grange Festival); Sweeney Todd (Bergen) and The Winter’s Tale (Cincinnati). He is an Associate Artist of the RSC.

(Producer) Hamish Mackay is a freelance producer and artistic director of The Opera Story. Since finishing his studies at The Purcell School of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he co-founded The Opera Story, and has commissioned five operas (Snow, Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs, Robin Hood, Pandora’s Box, Beauty and The 7 Beasts) and two song cycles, all by young composers. As a producer, he has also worked with English National Opera, Second Movement, Opera Ensemble, and as a company manager for Nevill Holt Opera.

TIM MITCHELL (Lighting Designer) Tim Mitchell is an Associate Artist for Royal Shakespeare Company and Chichester Festival Theatre and a Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. In 2015 he won a Knight of Illumination Award for Taken At Midnight (Chichester). He was nominated for an Olivier Award for Henry IV Part 1 and 2 (RSC), Green Room award for Singin’ In The Rain (Australia) and Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Royal Lyceum). In 2018 he was nominated for Best Lighting Design in the 53rd Fleur Du Cap Awards for King Kong (Fugard Theatre). For Longborough Festival Opera: Don Giovanni, La Calisto. Recent credits: Upstart Crow (Gielgud Theatre), A Streetcar Named Desire (Nashville Ballet), The Snowman (Tour); The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety, Nativity (Tour), The Exorcist (Birmingham Rep); Me and My Girl (Chichester), Kinky Boots, West Side Story, King Kong (Fugard Cape Town), Funny Girl, Guys and Dolls (Théâtre Marigny, Paris), Curtains (West End), Nativity! (UK Tours), Suor Angelica (Den Norske Opera).

CHROMA Founded in 1997, CHROMA is a London-based collective of outstanding freelance musicians dedicated both to new music and to revisiting classic repertoire in fresh and exciting contexts, and involving audiences in compelling, inspirational experiences.

Glare and 4.48 Psychosis (revived in 2018), and The Firework-Maker’s Daughter (premiered with The Opera Group 2013 and revived by ROH in 2015) and The Wind in the Willows (also for two Christmas seasons in the West End).

CHROMA performs chamber concerts throughout the UK, from Devon to the Shetland Islands. Championing the imaginative and sympathetic programming of contemporary works, its own commissioning programme has recently included Freya Waley-Cohen, Rubens Askenar, David Bruce, Deborah Pritchard, Luke Bedford, David Gorton, Philip Cashian, Claudia Molitor, Raymond Yiu, Michael Zev Gordon and Michael Nyman.

CHROMA has been Associate Ensemble for Tête à Tête since 2006, premiering operas by Kerry Andrew, Laurence Osborn and Na’ama Zisser among many others.

CHROMA has collaborated on many contemporary works for the Royal Opera House, including the hyper-reality opera installation Current Rising (May 2021), the world premieres of Heart of Darkness, The Commission/Café Kafka, Through His Teeth,

CHROMA works with the Royal Philharmonic Society on workshops for women conductors and has ongoing programmes of work with student composers at Royal Holloway University of London, Royal Academy of Music and Oxford University. It also runs an annual programme in seven primary schools in Norwich. www.chromaensemble.co.uk

PA G L I A C C I CAST tonio, a strolling player canio, leader of the troupe beppe, another player

C O M PA N Y

PRODUCTION Robert Hayward Peter Auty Aled Hall

director conductor lighting designer

nedda, canio’s wife and the leading lady Elin Pritchard

associate lighting designer

silvio, a villager

producer

first villager

Nicholas Lester Michael Ronan

second villager

Laurie Slavin

other villagers

Dafydd Allen Joshua Baxter Annie Reilly Fiona Finsbury Lauren McQuistin Gemma Morsley

choreographer repetiteur

Oliver Gooch Tim Mitchell Guy Jones Hamish Mackay Ewan Jones Berrak Dyer

language coach

Alessandro Fisher

stage manager

Hannah Williams

production manager for iford arts

Ed Borgnis

CHROMA violin 1 (leader) violin 2

Caroline Balding Anna Biggin

viola

Bridget Carey

cello

Chris Allan

bass

Chris Kelly

flute

Julian Sperry

oboe

Emma Feilding

clarinet

Oliver Pashley

bassoon

Jo Turner

horn

Joseph Ryan

trumpet

Alex Caldon

trombone

Ryan Hume

percussion

Steve Gibson

harp organ producer for chroma

Christopher Luscombe

Alex Rider Berrak Dyer Claire Shovelton 19

I F O R D A RT S N E W G E N E R AT I O N COVER ARTISTS' P E R F O R M A N C E O F PA G L I A C C I Sunday 29 August, 2:30pm We are delighted to welcome you to our inaugural New Generation Artists performance of Leoncavallo’s masterpiece, Pagliacci. Alongside two popular returning young artists, Fiona Finsbury and Dan D'Souza as the lovers Nedda and Silvio, we are excited to introduce three more exciting artists: Welsh lyric tenor Thomas Kinch as the spurned husband Canio, Ryan Vaughan Davies as the troupe harlequin, and Louis Hurst as the Tonio. They have been put through their paces by renowned director, Christopher Luscombe and Artistic Director, Oliver Gooch, accompanied by members of CHROMA. In preparation, the emerging artists will benefit from a long-standing partnership with

Morag McLaren at Cooper Hall in Frome. It is an utterly idyllic place for our creatives to explore and develop their dramatic potential. They are stimulated, challenged, empowered and supported by Morag and her team and leave Cooper Hall not only with a raft of new skills but also with improved confidence. By supporting them, both musically and pastorally, we work hard to enhance and further unlock their creative potential as well as introduce the opera industry to many bright stars of the future.

PRODUCTION tonio, a strolling player

CHROMA CHAMBER ENSEBMLE violin Caroline Balding

canio, leader of the troupe beppe, another player nedda, canio’s wife and the leading lady silvio, a villager director conductor lighting design

Louis Hurst

cello

Chris Allan

Ryan Vaughan Davies

piano

Berrak Dyer

Fiona Finsbury Dan D'Souza Christopher Luscombe Oliver Gooch Tim Mitchell Hamish Mackay

repetiteur

Berrak Dyer

stage manager production manager

Hannah Williams Ed Borgnis

villagers Tamsin Birch, Annie Reilly, Michael Ronan, Laurie Slavin, Dafydd Allen, Joshua Baxter, Lauren McQuistin, Gemma Morsley 20

FIONA FINSBURY

Welsh tenor Ryan Vaughan Davies made his professional operatic debut as Second Priest in Longborough Festival Opera's production of Die Zauberflöte. He recently performed at the Grange Festival in their production of Precipice, an outdoors promenade production by Sinéad O'Neill as well as performances in 'Opera under the stars' at the Minnack theatre, Penzance. This year Ryan is working for Garsington Opera on their productions of Le Comte Ory and Eugene Onegin. Ryan will be studying at the Royal Academy of Music from September having accepted a place on their Opera Course.

Irish-British soprano Fiona Finsbury trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and The Royal Northern College of Music. Recent roles include Mother Lambs at The Royal Opera House Engender Festival, The Witch Hansel and Gretel at Opera Holland Park for British Youth Opera, and cover Miranda The Dancing Master at Buxton International Festival. Fiona created the role of Hanna in Adam Gorb’s The Path to Heaven, and before lockdown she was rehearsing the role of Euridice for the world premiere of Nmon Ford’s Orfeus at The Young Vic. In October she will sing Mavie in the world premiere of Andrew Synnott’s The 47th Saturday at Wexford Festival Opera.

DAN D'SOUZA

Thomas Kinch

producer

RYAN VAUGHAN DAVIS

L'elisir d'amore, 2019

Dan D’Souza studied at Cambridge University, Royal College of Music and Royal Academy Opera (RAO), and performed at Mumbai Opera House. Opera roles include Figaro Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno The Magic Flute, Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte, Conte Perrucchetto La fedeltà premiata, Le Baron Chérubin. Demetrius and Starveling A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sid Albert Herring and Aeneas Dido and Aeneas. He performed Riff West Side Story at Edinburgh International Festival and the High Priest Semele on tour and recording with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, both under John Eliot Gardiner. Dan is looking forward to playing Schaunard in a touring production of La bohème for Mid-Wales Opera.

LOUIS HURST Mancunian-born Louis gained his MMus at RNCM, where his studies were made possible by the generous support of Michael Oglesby, the Drapers Guild, and the Help Musicians. Louis has worked with English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Britten Sinfonia, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Grange Park Opera, Grimeborn, Zurcher Sing Akademie, Longborough Festival Opera, St. Endellion Summer Festival, and Saffron Opera Group.

THOMA S KINCH A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, tenor Thomas made his international debut in 2019 as Turiddu in Cavallaria Rusticana with Sri Lanka Opera. Recent engagements include Opera Up Close as Pinkerton in their production of Madame Butterfly, Turiddu with Edinburgh Grand Opera, Alfredo La Traviata and Nadir Les Pêcheurs de Perles with Opera Bohemia. In 2016 at 23 years old, Thomas reached the semi-finals of the 'Debut' competition in Schloss Weikersheim, where despite being the youngest competitor by at least four years, he progressed to the Top 16 out of 500 other seasoned professionals.

ABOUT IF Iford Arts is a small but quietly radical company that is known for its opera performances, proms and concerts in intimate and beautiful settings. This unique character, along with our young artists programme and educational and outreach work, has given Iford Arts national recognition and a renowned reputation for excellence.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FOR SALE AND SOLD

However, a global pandemic and a change in circumstances forced us to rethink everything and reimagine our work for a new world. Iford Arts core activity is producing opera, and over the last six months, we found ourselves asking ‘What If? What if our music was open to all? What if our productions went beyond the music? What if our productions were a force for good? We knew we could build back better, with a company that addressed the systemic issues and set important new principles for the industry. We wanted to challenge how things have always been done and make our work more creative, fair and relevant to society again.

Welcome to If Opera We’re excited about the future. If Opera is a company that blends the best of the old with the best and most exciting of the new. We’ll still be producing our fabulous picnic proms, concerts and operas in traditional and stunning locations but we’ll also pioneer new, startling and innovative stages. Our repertoire is varied and bold, providing experiences that range from the familiar to the unexpected, and everything in between. Our performers will be at the heart of everything we do, with a repertory ensemble rich in emerging and re-emerging talent. It’s going to take courage but we know we can make a change. Come with us on this exciting new chapter in our evolution and learn more about the benefits of becoming a patron and our membership options. Sign-up for news at ifopera.com

Michael Volpe OBE Executive Director

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE At Carter Jonas we pride ourselves on knowing our local area inside out. Whether it’s the class sizes of the schools or the best place to enjoy Sunday lunch, we’ve built our business around being one of the locals - wherever you find us. Time and time again, it’s the difference between ‘for sale’ and ‘sold’. Whether you’re selling, letting or buying, we can make the difference. 01225 747250 | david.mackenzie@carterjonas.co.uk | carterjonas.co.uk 22

PAT R O N A G E Many thanks to all our loyal supporters – Visionaries, Angels, Patrons, Friends, hosts, volunteers – for all that you have done and are continuing to do for us! We were very disappointed to have to cancel last year’s performances because of the pandemic but we are delighted now to be able to welcome you to our second season at Belcombe Court. Arrangements at Belcombe Court this year have been planned with the pandemic and the need for caution very much in mind. But we are pleased that we can offer a performance of Pagliacci in which the roles are taken by

VISIONARIES The Cobalt Trust (Stephen & Gitte Dawson) Mr and Mrs David Embleton Mrs Sheila McCormack Mr & Mrs David Moss Mr Trevor Osborne Mr and Mrs William Whiteley ANGELS Mrs A Harris Mr Marcel Schopman

P R I N C I PA L PAT R O N S Dr and Mrs Martin Clarke Mr Andrew Fletcher OBE Miss Jane Glaser Sheila & Stephen Hammerton Mary & James Henderson Lord and Lady Inchcape Mr and Mrs Matthew Kirk Mr and Mrs Nicholas Lewis Val Mason and Nigel Cockburn Mr & Mrs Anthony Pitt-Rivers Sue Rossiter Mr and Mrs RS Salter Philip and Sarah Stephenson Mr and Mrs Jeremy Stoke Peter Stormonth Darling Charitable Trust

our New Generation Artists and performances of Peter and the Wolf designed for family audiences, and also there are more tickets available at lower prices than in previous years, as well as free seats for under 18s. We also have exciting plans for the future of the company, which you can read about elsewhere in this programme. Your continued support will be vital for the success of these plans, and we look forward to it with confidence and gratitude! David Moss, Chairman

P AT R O N S Mr Frank Benyon Mr & Mrs Raymond Cornish Mr Bryan Coxson Liz Earle MBE Isabelle and Linda Ficker Professor and Mrs Flower Mr & Mrs Peter Holland Mr and Mrs Horn Jonathan & Sarah Howe Jenny Kerridge Mrs Gurli Klingenberg JP Jacobs Charitable Trust Mr & Mrs Rod Marlow Mr Nigel & Mrs Diana Morris Mr and Mrs Anthony Morton Mr and Mrs NE Pollard Mr and Mrs David Robinson

Mr and Mrs M W Rodd Richard & Sally Rosa Mr and Mrs Anthony Sutcliffe Mr and Mrs Andrew Teare Mrs Harriet Tupper Mr and Mrs Jean-Paul Vuillin Lady Bridget & Bob Wadey Mr James Wetz Mrs David Worskett

FRIENDS Mr and Mrs M Berlin Diana Beaumont Mr and Mrs Christopher Bromfield Mr H Brooke Mrs Michael Carter Mr N J F Cartwright Colin Chumbley Dr & Mrs Colin Davidson Mrs Dickson-Leach Mr Neil Dowdney Mr Paul Dowling Mr C H P Draper Mr and Mrs S Dyson Mrs P J Fitzpatrick Mr D J French Dr John Gibbs Mrs Gabrielle M Godwin Mr Philip Goulder Mr A J Gower Isaac Mrs Camille Greacen Mrs J Hodder-Williams Bridget Holden Mr David Hutt Mr H D Jones Mr and Mrs A Lee Tim Lewis Lt Gen & Mrs Lillywhite David & Denise Lynn-Nicholson Sheila Macdermot Mrs O Marchant Mrs Olive Marke Mrs J Marris Mr M Maude Mrs Sarah Neish

Mr John Norkett Kate Nottage Robert O'Farrell & Sally Pollitzer Mr Timothy E O’Keefe Dr Ann Pawley & John Hale Mrs Alison Pendle Andrea Phillips Mr Michael Pretty Stephen & Penny Ross Mr Thoss M H Shearer Mrs Genevieve Simpson Marilyn Stock Graham Beckett & Sharon Studer Mr and Mrs R Tavenor Mr & Mrs David Tidmarsh Mr and Mrs S J Tilley Ann Underwood Dr Brian Weaving John Weiss CB Mr & Mrs J Wyld B E N E FAC TO R S Mary Holmes Mr J H Senior VOLUNTEERS Rear Admiral & Mrs M Alabaster Mr & Mrs Asbury Simon Blacksell Dr Imogen Batterham Mr & Mrs J Baxter Noeline Beesley Mr & Mrs D Beeton

Mr D Beniston Mr & Mrs M Berlin Sheila Biles Anita Bligh Liz Booty Penny Bradley Mary Brooke Jacqui Bryan Asha & Steve Butt Mr & Mrs S Campbell Julian Chalk Mr R Coles Ann Marie Cooper Christine Cottrell Mr & Mrs P Courage Sue Crabtree Mr & Mrs A Eberlin Mr & Mrs D Embleton Harriet Feilding Freda Ferne Mrs Claire Firmstone Margaret Firth Julia Gibson Juliet and Chris Grainger Sarah Gregory Fiona Haser Bizony Mr & Mrs T Hawke Mrs Yvonne Hedley Jannina Henderson Anne Hill Clare Homfray Richard & Sue Horsley Caroline Hudson The Reverend Canon Richard and Mrs Jo Hunt Lady Sara Jocelyn

Mrs G Klingenberg Mike and Claire Lacey Hilary Latham Will and Belinda Lawrie Angela Le Grice Catherine le Grice Mack Sian Macdonald Michael Maude Ms C McNulty Anna Melluish Eleanor Milton Heather Moody Mrs Rosamund Moorhouse Peter Morley Heather Morris Sue Muir Maria Naughton Geraldine Ng Miss Bridget Norman Susie & Tom Nowell Kelley Joy Osborn Claire Phoenix Jeannie Pontet Deborah Robinson Mr & Mrs D Robinson Mrs C Sandford John and Annette Seekings John Shepherd Rebecca Skillman Mr & Mrs G Somerset Mrs R Stanhope Julie Targett and Ben Howison Mrs Rosemary Taylor Barbara Taylor Dee Way Nick Wells

With special thanks to Michael and Valerie Jackaman and Sheila McCormack, for their unwavering support over the last 13 years.

THE BOARD & THANKS

THE BOARD

SPECIAL THANKS TO

board of trustees

Paul and Caroline Weiland, owners of Belcombe Court

David Moss, Rear Admiral Martin Alabaster CBE, Dr Martin Clarke, Helen Hawkins, Deborah Meyer, Michael Stevens, Harriet Tupper, Chris Walker (Treasurer), David Worskett

Fiona Robinson for keeping everyone fed with her delicious catering and legendary baking

chairman David Moss executive director

Michael Volpe OBE

artistic director Oliver Gooch general manager Debbie Heyden

John Le Broq for the time he gave during lockdown to edit our Elixir of Love footage Martin Smith at Origin8 Design, for his input on our lockdown Gingerbread! project

artistic director emeritus

Judy Eglington

Steve Haskins and the team at So Design for our beautiful artwork and design

marketing, pr and sales manager

Julie Butterworth

Phil Courage for his support and barn of curiosities

administrator and production asst. Alex Pugh techincal and production manager Ed Borgnis front of house manager

Ellie Whitfield

advisory committee Suzy Digy Ashutosh Khandekar

Iford Arts is a gravity-defying organisation, supported by a raft of incredible hosts, stewards and volunteers. It is an absolute pleasure and privilege to be part of such a community of talented and caring people. If you would be interested in volunteering in 2022, please do get in touch. Thank you. Debbie Heyden debbieheyden@ifordarts.org.uk

OUR OPERAS List of operas performed – titles as commonly used 2019 L’Elisir d’amore Donizetti 2019 Die Fledermaus Strauss 2018 Candide Bernstein 2018 Partenope Handel 2018 Madam Butterfly Puccini 2018 Hansel & Gretel Humperdinck 2017 La bohème Puccini 2017 The Barber of Seville Rossini 2017 Jeptha Handel 2016 Macbeth Verdi 2016 The Magic Flute Mozart 2016 A Fairy Queen Purcell 2015 Un ballo in maschera Verdi 2015 Orpheus in the Underworld Offenbach 2015 Agrippina Handel 2014 La rondine Puccini 2014 Daughter of the Regiment Donizetti 2014 The Return of Ulysses Monteverdi 2013 La traviata Verdi 2013 La vie parisienne Offenbach 2013 Acis & Galatea Handel 2012 Die Entführung aus dem Serail Mozart 2012 Falstaff Verdi 2012 Susanna Handel 2011 Hansel & Gretel Humpderdinck 2011 Don Giovanni Mozart 2011 Rodelinda Handel 2010 La Cenerentola Rossini 2010 Xerxes Handel 2010 Rigoletto Verdi 2009 The Barber of Seville Rossini 2009 The Coronation of Poppea Monteverdi 2009 Eugene Onegin Tchaikovsky

2008 The Marriage of Figaro Mozart 2008 Giasone Cavalli 2008 Un Giorno di Regno Verdi 2007 The Rake’s Progress Stravinsky 2007 La Calisto Cavalli 2007 L’elisir d’amore Donizetti 2006 Il mondo della luna Haydn 2006 Lucia di Lammermoor Donizetti 2006 Orlando Handel 2005 The Tales of Hoffman Offenbach 2005 The Birds Hughes 2005 Flavio Handel 2005 Rusalka Dvořák 2004 Amadigi Handel 2004 Robinson Crusoe Offenbach 2004 Falstaff Verdi 2003 Ariodante Handel 2003 La belle Hélène Offenbach 2003 Così fan tutte Mozart 2002 Alcina Handel 2002 The Magic Flute Mozart 2002 Albert Herring Britten 2001 Dido & Aeneas Purcell 2001 La traviata Verdi 2001 Don Pasquale Donizetti 2000 Acis & Galatea Handel 2000 Tosca Puccini 2000 La Cenerentola Rossini 1999 Die Entführung aus dem Serail Mozart 1999 La bohème Puccini 1998 Don Giovanni Mozart 1998 The Barber of Seville Rossini 1997 The Marriage of Figaro Mozart 1996 Così fan tutte Mozart

Performance posters from 2016 27

iford arts ltd ltd, street, 15 market street bradford on avon avon, ba 15 1 ll t. 01225 868124 e. music @ ifordarts.org.uk w. www.ifordarts.org.uk

registered charity no. 1091312 registered in england no. 4352244 registered office: 15 market street, bradford on avon, ba 15 1 ll designed by so design consultants tel: +44(0)1179374004 web: so-design.co.uk

Programme 2021

Articles inside

mezzocav

on with the motley

pagliacci cast

mezzocav synopsis & cast list

pagliacci synopsis