The Grange Festival 2017 | Festival Programme by The Grange Festival

T H E G RA N G E F E S T I VA L 2017

I L R I TO R N O D’U L I S S E I N PAT R I A CL AU D IO MON T E V E R D I 7, 16, 18, 24 June—2 July 2017

CA R M E N G E O RG E S B I Z E T 11, 15, 17, 23, 28, 30 June—8 July

A L B E RT H E R R I N G BENJAMIN BR IT T EN 25, 29 June—1, 7, 9 July

M E S SA DA R E QU I E M GIUSEPPE V ER DI 9 June

A C E L E B R AT I O N O F

RO D G E R S & H A M M E R S T E I N A N D RO D G E R S & H A RT T H E J O H N W I L S ON O RCH E S T R A 10 June

Cover: Grange II ‘Arched Entrance’ – mixed media and etching by Deborah Gourlay

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Patron’s Foreword

I am delighted to be writing the foreword for this

Chief amongst these has been Sir Charles Haddon-

programme for the Opera performances of the

Cave, who has been a tireless source of wisdom and help

nineteenth consecutive season at The Grange and the

over the last difficult few years. As our relationship with

inaugural season produced by The Grange Festival.

the previous tenant deteriorated, Mark and I approached

The Grange Festival was formed to take over from the

him because I was sure he would be sympathetic to what

outgoing opera company and has recently entered into a

we were trying to achieve. I had met him at The Grange on

30-year arrangement with the Estate and English Heritage

several occasions. He thought things over, including how

(who hold guardianship of The Grange and its curtilage)

it could be fitted in with his work as a High Court Judge

to manage opera productions here. I am confident that

and came back to say yes, he would certainly help. We all

this will be the start of a new long term and collaborative

owe him, the other Trustees and Development Council

phase for opera at The Grange, which began originally

members a huge debt of gratitude for their participation.

with Wasfi Kani and Michael Moody’s inspired founding

A great deal of work has gone into getting the

of the opera festival in 1998 and the construction of

theatre up to scratch given the fact that so much of its

the current theatre in 2000. We must all be grateful to

contents – most obviously, seats, but also a mass of other

them for this. I could not have done it and without it we

equipment – were removed by the previous tenant. The

would not be holding the 19th Opera Festival this year.

shape of the space however is familiar – colours and other

Although The Grange Festival is a new entity, its staff

details will not b,e but will certainly make the place a new

are long on experience. The team have been involved here

experience. We are enormously grateful to Sir Cameron

for years – as well as Michael Moody, Rachel Pearson,

Mackintosh for donating the stalls seats for our theatre

Annabel Ross, Caroline Sheahan, Scott Cooper, Emma

which, with the generosity of our supporters we can

Neal decided to remain here. They are committed to

refurbish at a fraction of the cost of buying new seats.

building on the heritage of the past and are delighted to have been joined by Michael Chance as Artistic Director. Michael has had a very distinguished career in Opera

The cutting back of the undergrowth by the lake and the creation of the new drive from Northington Down, which the Estate has undertaken, mean that views to and

and other fields as a counter-tenor. He certainly brings

from The Grange are enormously improved and lift the

a huge knowledge of the Opera world and its singers,

Arcadian feel so commented on in the nineteenth century.

directors, producers and designers. His enthusiasm for

We are hoping to plant vines in the Park to complement

The Grange, which he had not known at all well before

our existing vineyard near Itchen Stoke and produce

we got him on board, has been very exciting for everyone

more grapes for our sparkling wine in future years.

on the team. I am delighted that he has decided that

My great-great-great-grandfather, Alexander

the festival should take on the legacy of the highly-

Baring, later Lord Ashburton, bought The Grange in

regarded Hampshire National Singing Competition and

1817 exactly two hundred years ago. In 1932, it passed

base it at The Grange. The September performances

out of my family’s hands and in 1964 I re-acquired it

of Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park opera, marking the

at a memorable auction in Winchester knowing that I

200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, are a further

wanted to live somewhere in the Park, close to the lake.

indication of his creative approach to programming.

This I now do and have done since 1987. Long term

Ensuring the continuation of what has become one

enterprises (certainly those including opera) inevitably

of Hampshire’s cultural jewels would also not have been

require a generous helping of luck, but the dedication and

possible without enormous support, encouragement and

commitment of the Festival’s staff and its focus on good

generosity from many volunteers, donors and supporters

governance and collaboration with the Estate make me

of opera at The Grange. To all of them I am deeply grateful.

optimistic about prospects for many decades to come. ASHBURTON

Welcome to a Night at the Opera

When I was young, a night at the opera meant only one

remarkable, and a testament to the determination, the

thing: Groucho, Harpo and Chico causing havoc while

ceaseless hard work, and the good-humoured resilience

the fat lady tried to sing. My first actual trip to a live

of a lot of people. It is an inspiring story, almost the plot

opera was to Sadler’s Wells in the 60s to see Let’s make

of an opera in itself. It was intoxicating to watch so many

an Opera by Benjamin Britten, taken by my inspirational

come on board so quickly, and with such passion and

music master. Becoming a singer and performing on the

enthusiasm: the incredible flow of very generous donations,

operatic stage were certainly not childhood dreams. In

the daily addition of names to our database, the arrival at

fact, like many performers, I have a secret fear of being

The Grange in the cold wet winter months of imaginative

found out, as if I didn’t really have a right to be there.

and substantial gifts of everything from pianos to fridges to

It’s quite a thing, as a singer, to be asked to cross

cutlery to furniture and so much more to equip backstage.

the threshold, to be admitted to the other side of the

The spirit of Grange one may call it – a call to arms

green baize door. Few of us are given the privilege. And

answered promptly and magnificently. The volunteers are at

a privilege it certainly is. I was frankly humbled by the

the heart of it all, the beating heart of The Grange Festival.

invitation and the trust placed in me. It is both a great

I am constantly thrilled to turn up here and see cleaning or

gift and a gratifying responsibility. I have to admit having

raking or tidying and so much else done by local friends,

been shockingly ignorant of the magic of The Grange and

just for the love of it. You know who you all are, and every

the extraordinary legacy of artistic excellence developed

audience member should be eternally grateful to you.

over nearly two decades. The first eighteen months

When you read this, you will already have arrived at

of my work as artistic director have been exhilarating,

The Grange and seen remarkable changes, and possibly

not least for the palpable warmth and enthusiasm of

sensed a slightly different feel to the place. A sense of the

so many living in the area, working on the estate, and

new has been part of our plans, but with a determination

especially those forming our closely knit and immensely

to preserve the best of the past. What you experience in

skilled management team. Our hosts and landlords here,

the theatre may also surprise you. Putting on an opera

Lord and Lady Ashburton, and Mark and Sophie Baring

is never less than high-risk. I am delighted that so many

are a formidable quartet, all blessed in abundance with

colleagues across the artistic spectrum have committed

charm, decency and creative energy. I am grateful to all of

to our first festival. A group of talented people, full of

them, and the seemingly endless line of their sisters (and

fantasy and a burning desire to communicate, getting

brothers) and cousins and aunts all offering support and

together to create something completely original and fill

enthusiasm for this great project. And the novel experience

your minds and hearts with passion and magic is what

of reporting to and working with a Board of successful,

this is all about. But as Puck reminds us at the end of A

committed luminaries has also been transformative.

Midsummer Night’s Dream, you the audience complete

The Grange Festival first started as a mere hope, a

the magic circle. None of it could happen without you.

possibility, in October 2015. There were countless voids

Thank you for coming. Thank you for supporting us

to fill and nothing of substance to fill them: no name, no

in so many ways and so generously. And I fervently

money, no supporters, no plans, just a few conversations.

hope that what you experience this evening will touch

The journey from then to now has been nothing short of

you so much that you want to return, many times. MICHAEL CHANCE CBE

Photo: Anneliese van der Wegt

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is

the orchestra for the final of the Singing

delighted to be partnering with The Grange

Competition and will also be working in

Festival in its first season, at the start of a new,

collaboration with BSO’s Conservatoire

long-term artistic collaboration. The Orchestra

Partner, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of

loves performing in the stunning setting of The

Music and Dance and The Grange Festival

Grange and we are excited for this season’s new

on the premiere of Jonathan Dove’s new

production of Carmen and also Verdi’s Requiem,

orchestration of Mansfield Park. With BSO’s

a true cultural masterpiece. The BSO shares

extensive links with local schools and colleges

a passion with Grange Festival for developing

we will enable an entirely new audience

artistic talent and I am thrilled that we will be

to experience this great new work. Dougie Scarfe Chief Executive

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

“Taking music beyond the concert hall lies at the heart of the BSO’s commitment to give back to the community” The BSO remains at the forefront of the UK

length and breadth of the UK, regularly appearing

orchestral scene since its foundation in 1893. A

at venues in Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, and

cultural beacon, it serves communities across the

London, including regular appearances at

South and South West and extends its influence

the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. The

across the whole of the UK and internationally

BSO has toured worldwide, having played at

with regular festival appearances, an extensive

Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center, New

catalogue of recordings and live broadcasts on

York; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Musikverein

BBC Radio 3. Taking its lead from founder Sir

and Konzerthaus, Vienna; Rudolfinum, Prague;

Dan Godfrey, the BSO is one of the UK’s most

and Philharmonie, Berlin. Recent visits have

dynamic and innovative symphony orchestras.

also included performances in Hong Kong,

He established a world class ensemble and

Hamburg, Bremen and Wilhelmshaven and

during his tenure not only did the Orchestra work

future plans include return trips to Dublin

with such illustrious figures as Bartók, Sibelius,

and Amsterdam next year as part of a number

Holst, Stravinsky, Elgar and Vaughan Williams,

of 125th anniversary celebrations.

Bournemouth was also the first orchestra to

Taking music beyond the concert hall lies

have performed all the Tchaikovsky symphonies

at the heart of the BSO’s commitment to give

in the UK and gave more premières than any

back to the community. BSO musicians take

other orchestra at the time. More recently

part in an extensive portfolio of learning and

composers who have worked with the BSO

community projects, from national curriculum

include Sir Michael Tippett, Sir John Tavener,

based workshops in schools, through to tea

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Rodion Shchedrin,

dances for the elderly, performing alongside

David Matthews and Mark Anthony Turnage.

enthusiastic amateur players, pioneering work

The BSO has a continuing relationship with

involving people living with dementia and 18

Stephen McNeff and James MacMillan.

Music Education Hubs across the region.

Kirill Karabits is the BSO’s Chief

The BSO has over 300 recordings to its

Conductor – a role which will see him lead the

name since pioneering beginnings in 1914.

Orchestra to its 125th Anniversary in 2018

Recent releases of Bernstein, Vaughan Williams,

and beyond. He continues the fine pedigree of

Finzi, Howells, Dvořák, Bartók, Weill, Mussorgsky,

esteemed past Principal Conductors including

Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian have all been

Sir Charles Groves, Constantin Silvestri,

highly acclaimed. The recent project with Onyx

Rudolf Schwarz, Paavo Berglund, Andrew

of recording all the symphonies of Prokofiev

Litton, Yakov Kreizberg and Marin Alsop.

with Kirill has received rave reviews. This will be

Each year the BSO performs upwards of

followed by a CD of the two Walton symphonies

140 public performances in its home region of

in the summer. The BSO also partnered Nicola

over 10,000 square miles – from full symphonic

Benedetti in her Decca CD The Silver Violin

concerts from its home base at Lighthouse,

which was the top-selling classical recording of

Poole to Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Exeter,

2012, whilst her CD of the Shostakovich and

Bristol, Basingstoke, Cheltenham, Brighton,

Glazunov violin concertos was released last

Truro, Torquay, Guildford and Winchester to a

year. In 2013 the BSO became Classic FM’s

variety of ensembles, including Kokoro, the BSO’s

Orchestra in the South of England and continues

new music group, which perform at smaller and

to give regular live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3.

more unusual venues across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire

For more details about Bournemouth

and Hampshire. The Orchestra also plays the

Symphony Orchestra visit bsolive.com

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

The Academy of Ancient Music

The Academy of Ancient Music is enormously

be continuing its artistic collaborations here

pleased to be one of two Orchestras in Residence

in 2018 with Handel’s Agrippina (directed

in The Grange Festival’s inaugural season. Opening

by Michael Chance and Robert Howarth),

with Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, in

and in 2019 with Mozart’s Figaro (directed

the 450th anniversary of the composer’s birth,

by AAM’s Music Director, Richard Egarr).

we’re delighted to be performing alongside The

Our thanks to Michael Chance, Michael

Division Lobby’s exceptional continuo team in

Moody, and all at The Grange Festival; to all

this iconic venue in the Hampshire countryside.

those onstage and backstage; and to you, the

Working with Michael Chance on this

audience – it is your enthusiasm and support

new musical venture at The Grange is exciting

that allows us to create and deliver programmes

for his strong vision, and rewarding for his

of artistic excellence in an inspiring and

artistic excellence; and the AAM is proud to

sublime setting such as this – thank you.

Alexander Van Ingen Chief Executive Academy of Ancient Music Photo: Marco Borggreve

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

“Compellingly original, uniformly outstanding … a triumph” Gramophone magazine

MUSIC

RECORDINGS

EDUCATION

The ground-breaking Academy of

The AAM has an incredible recording

In 2010 the AAM launched the

Ancient Music was formed in 1973

history, having built up a catalogue of

AAMplify education scheme, aiming to

by the renowned scholar-conductor

more than 300 CDs which have won

nurture the next generation of young

Christopher Hogwood. The orchestra

numerous accolades, including BRIT,

artists and audiences. Working with

revolutionised the musical world with

Gramophone, Edison and MIDEM

partners and associates around the

its historically-informed approach,

awards. As well as recording for all

country, AAMplify delivers inspiring

performing baroque and classical music

the major labels, the AAM now has

workshops, masterclasses and other

as it would have been heard in its

its own in-house record label, AAM

special projects to people of all ages

original time. Today the AAM, under the

Records. On this label, the AAM has

and backgrounds, in addition to valuable

leadership of Music Director Richard

released the original 1727 version of

training for young instrumentalists.

Egarr, continues to take inspiration from

J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion, dubbed

the composers themselves through

“a triumph” by Gramophone magazine,

Ensemble at London’s Barbican Centre,

meticulous research, performing

and most recently a stunning album of

Orchestra in Residence at the University

on authentic period instruments

instrumental works by Monteverdi’s

of Cambridge, and at The Grange Festival.

and using first edition scores.

contemporary, Dario Castello.

The AAM is proud to be Associate

Visit www.aam.co.uk to find out more .

“Blazing a trail followed by baroque ensembles everywhere”

“Glorious … every detail sharply defined”

The Independent

The Observer

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Arcadia in Hampshire

As you look out from the columns down to the

poets of Rome to the Florentine bankers of the

lake, the stillness is resonant. Swans drift on the

Renaissance; and from the Dilettante aristocrats

dark water and moorhens call from the banks.

of the English Enlightenment to the prosperous

With your head full of music (and champagne),

youth of 1960s Flower Power, the dream of

the simplicity of the landscape and the summer

Arcadia has been magnetic. It is a Utopia of

evening sounds give the opera space to settle.

gentle harmony with nature: cows in meadows,

Even peering out from the shelter of a tent in the

shepherds with flutes, birds and bees.

rain, the place has magic. The Grange is Arcadia. Hampshireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downland is an ancient landscape

The Grange is carefully sited at the confluence of valleys that flow towards the Candover Brook.

of gentle agriculture and comfortable settlement;

As early as 1673 a hunting lodge was built on

humans and nature have worked here side by

the site with avenues gridding out into the views

side for millennia. The skies are big and the

and drives. The lakes were formed a century later

rolling land is generous rather than dramatic. A

and the grounds evolved with the tastes of the

lazy buzzard, a slow cloud or a grazing cow can

times. Ownership passed from the Henleys to

take possession of the view. It is an Arcadia that

the Drummonds to the Barings. Even George,

the Augustan poet Virgil would appreciate; a

Prince of Wales, rented the Grange at the end of

tranquil landscape of food and contemplation.

the eighteenth century. The boldest move was

Arcadia was an invention of urban Romans;

to encase the seventeenth-century brick house

an imagined place of unhurried poetry and music.

in stone as a Doric temple at the beginning of

It represented a retreat to the mental calm of

the nineteenth century. The design was the work

otium â&#x20AC;&#x201C; peaceful thought in nature; an escape

of the Greek Revival architect William Wilkins,

from the white noise of city commerce â&#x20AC;&#x201C; neg-

who also designed the National Gallery in

otium. In times of great prosperity, the metropolis

London. An instinctive feel for the landscape had

often longs for this space, sensing an emptiness

positioned the house on the perfect spot while

in the life of commerce. From the Augustan

the natural topography determined the layout.

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

The powerful relationship between the

undergrowth to open the view to the lake. Arable

building and the land was captured in a series of

land is being returned to pasture that shows the

watercolours by Caroline Waldegrave in1825. Her

sinuous form of the valley landscape. And the

paintings, together with most of the illustrations at

restoration of the original entrance drive, laid out

the time, left out any reference to flower gardens

by Alexander Baring in the 1820s, opens huge

and showed the Grange on its knoll above the water,

views of the Hampshire landscape to the south

with bucolic pastoral scenes of cows and sheep

with framed glimpses to Northington church.

below. It was fashionable in the eighteenth century

The Arcadian landscape is as much about poetry

“…the dream of Arcadia has been magnetic. It is a Utopia of gentle harmony with nature: cows in meadows, shepherds with flutes, birds and bees.” to build small temples as eye-catchers at the end

as it is about appearance. It lets you dream about a

of vistas from the house. But it was radical and

pure and uncomplicated life of contemplation and

new to make the house itself into a grand temple

harmonious stewardship of the land. There is none

at the centre of the landscape; a landscape that the

of the later nineteenth-century drama of the sublime

architects Wilkins and Cockerell, who followed him,

picturesque here. Instead gently grazed meadows are

consciously modelled on a Greek pastoral idyll.

shepherded by honest humans who work hard but

In 1823 Cockerell wrote:

also have time to play the flute and think about the

‘…arrived abo:12 o’clock at Grange. clear, beautiful

simple beauties of being alive. Arcadia is about an

day. blue sunshine serene with a few cotton clouds,

ideal life in the landscape rather than merely a pretty

freshness in the air, verdure, flowers, tranquillity most

picture. The landscape is a living backcloth for the

exhilarating, a day in which one blessed oneself…

animated prospect – the movement of birds, beasts

strolled abo: in the garden, a steady sunshine upon the

and contented opera audiences across the scene.

building as clear a sky the lights & shades & reflections as in Greece. the rooks & jackdaws in the lime tree

Kim Wilkie

avenue sailing and cawing in the air brought home the recollections of the acropolis. the buzzing of the blue flies & the flowers something of the aromatic scent of thyme. nothing more satisfying than the line of terrace building terminated by two grand piers, the gravel walk beneath the sloping bank, the inclination to the water & the tufted trees finer & more luxuriant than ever grew on the banks of the Ilissus… Mr B. wants persuading of its charms, if it were his own child he would feel them more… there is nothing like it on this side of Arcadia’ The dramatic beauty of Wilkins’ house did not help its internal comfort, provoking the Drummonds and ultimately the Barings to sell the pile. When John Baring (Lord Ashburton) reacquired the estate in 1964, he began to demolish the empty and impractical house. The stringencies of the 60s and 70s put a strain on the estate, but the role of the ruined temple as the home of the Grange Festival in its Arcadian setting now gives the place a whole new life. The strong bones of the landscape are being revealed by stripping away

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THE DORSET OPERA

MMXVII

Country house opera with internationally-renowned soloists, a full orchestra and a chorus of 70. Marquee bar | Individual Picnics Formal Dining

Le Comte Ory (The Wicked Adventures of Count Ory) Gioachino Rossini

25, 27 July at 19:00 MatinĂŠe 29 July at 14:00 Sung in French with English surtitles

Faust Charles Gounod

26, 28, 29 July at 19:00 Sung in French with English surtitles

The Coade Theatre Bryanston Blandford Forum Dorset DT11 0PX

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2018 FESTIVAL JUNE – AUGUST RICHARD WAGNER

DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER ANTHONY NEGUS / THOMAS GUTHRIE –

GIUSEPPE VERDI

LA TRAVIATA THOMAS BLUNT / DAISY EVANS –

RICHARD STRAUSS

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CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI

L’INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA JEREMY SILVER / JENNY MILLER

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KIRKER MUSIC HOLIDAYS F O R D I S C E R N I N G T R AV E L L E R S Kirker Holidays offers an extensive range of independent and escorted music holidays, many with flights available from your local airport. Tours include leading festivals in Europe such as the Puccini Opera Festival in Torre del Lago, Grafenegg and the Verdi Festval in Parma, as well as Glyndebourne, Buxton and opera weekends in Vienna, Milan, Venice and New York. We also host our own exclusive music festivals on land and at sea, and arrange short breaks with opera, ballet or concert tickets, to all the great classical cities in Europe. OPERA AT LA FENICE, VENICE

LA SCALA, MILAN

FOUR NIGHT HOLIDAYS 10 SEPTEMBER & 23 OCTOBER 2017 La Fenice is one of the world’s most historic opera houses. It has twice burned down, in 1836 and again in 1996, reopening in 2003 restored to its original splendour. Performances in autumn 2017 include Verdi’s La traviata and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Our holiday will also include a series of walking tours taking in the finest churches and galleries in the city, including the jewel-like Santa Maria Miracoli, the Accademia, where we see works by the most important Venetian artists from the 14th to the 17th centuries and the more modern Peggy Guggenheim collection. We shall be based at the 4* Deluxe Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal for the duration of our holiday.

FOUR NIGHT HOLIDAYS 3 OCTOBER & 1 NOVEMBER 2017 La Scala, Milan opened in 1778 with an opera by Salieri and since then many of the greatest Italian operas have received their first performance on its hallowed stage. During autumn 2017 our holidays will include performances of Handel’s Tamerlano and Weber’s Der Freischütz. Based at the 4* Hotel de la Ville in the heart of Milan’s historic centre, our tour also includes visits to the city’s Duomo, Leonardo’s ‘The Last Supper’ at Santa Maria delle Grazie, and the wonderful La Scala Museum. We will also see the Basilica Sant’Ambrogio, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and the Casa Verdi, a residence founded by Giuseppe Verdi for retired musicians and singers.

Price from £1,797 per person for four nights including flights, transfers, accommodation with breakfast, two dinners, one first category opera ticket, all sightseeing, entrance fees and gratuities and the services of the Kirker Tour Leader.

Price from £1,698 per person for four nights including flights, transfers, accommodation with breakfast, two dinners, one opera ticket in the stalls at La Scala, all sightseeing, entrance fees and gratuities and the services of the Kirker Tour Leader.

OPERA & ART IN ROME

AUTUMN AT GLYNDEBOURNE

FOUR NIGHT HOLIDAYS 17 OCTOBER & 2 NOVEMBER 2017 The Eternal City forms the backdrop for Tosca, one of Puccini’s most powerful operas, and our new holiday will explore the real locations where much of the story is set – from the opening scenes in the church of Sant’ Andrea della Valle, to the finale at the Castel Sant’Angelo. During the October holiday the experience will be completed with a performance of Tosca itself at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, whilst our November holiday includes Verdi’s La Traviata. In addition we shall explore Rome’s hidden churches and exceptional art galleries including the Villa Borghese and the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, and there will be some free time for independent exploration as well.

THREE NIGHT HOLIDAYS 6, 12 & 26 OCTOBER 2017 The opening of the Glyndebourne tour heralds the beginning of autumn and provides an annual feast for opera lovers everywhere. Our 2017 holiday includes two classic Glyndebourne operas - Cosi fan tutte by Mozart and Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini. There will also be a chance to see an optional performance of Hamlet, a new opera by the Australian composer Brett Dean. We stay at Deans Place Hotel in the pretty and historic village of Alfriston in the South Downs, a perennially popular property with a cosy lounge bar and a restaurant. We dine twice at Glyndebourne and once at the hotel.

Price from £1,398 (October) or £1,278 (November) per person for four nights including flights, transfers, accommodation with breakfast, two dinners, one lunch, a first category opera ticket, all sightseeing, entrance fees and gratuities and the services of the Kirker Tour Lecturer.

Price from £787 per person for three nights including accommodation with breakfast, three dinners, transfers between the hotel and Glyndebourne, tickets for two operas, two talks on opera and the services of the Kirker Tour Leader.

Speak to an expert or request a brochure:

020 7593 2284 www.kirkerholidays.com

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opus

The partners at Opus wish the Grange Festival every Opus wish the Grange success with the 2017 The partners at inaugural season

Festival every success with the 2017 inaugural season Formed in 2006, Opus Corporate Finance is an independent, management-owned corporate finance advisory house which focuses on the UK and European mid-market.

Our professionals have a strong track record of success assisting their clients in achieving their strategic goals across a full range of corporate finance transactions, including:

● Mergers and acquisitions ● Corporate disposals ● Private equity and venture capital fund raising ● Management buy-outs/buy-ins Formed in 2006, Opus Corporate Finance is an independent, management-owned corpor ● Public company advisory nance advisory house which focuses on the UK and European mid-market. ● IPO advisory ● General strategic advice

Our professionals have a strong track record of success assisting their clients in achieving heir strategic goals across a full range of corporate finance transactions, including: We are active across most industry sectors with a particular focus on sustainable investment, financial services, real estate, technology and business services.

Mergers and acquisitions Corporate disposals Private equity and venture capital raising To contact us, please call fund 020 7025 3600 or email us at info@opuscf.com Management buy-outs/buy-ins Opus Corporate Finance LLP, 1 Carey Lane, London, EC2V 8AE. Opus Corporate Finance LLP Public company advisory is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority City Code takeover bids IPO advisory General strategic advice

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Founders of The Grange Festival The Grange Festival exists to bring world class opera, ballet and more to The Grange in Hampshire. The Festival Founders are essential to securing the brightest of futures for our theatre as we embark on this new artistic adventure. As a Founder you will make a big difference by supporting its evolution into a hub of cultural excellence. You will be invited to develop a bespoke and ongoing personal relationship with The Grange and its artistic activities. We hope you will join us and take this unique opportunity to be a part of our new company from the beginning.

SAMWELL FOUNDER

SMIRKE FOUNDER

In 1665 William Samwell is commissioned to design the original red brick mansion

1819 Greek Revival architect Robert Smirke designs the link between the house and the orangery.

£100,000 (with tax efﬁcient giving can cost the donor just £55,000)

£10,000 (with tax efﬁcient giving can cost the donor just £5,500)

WILKINS FOUNDER

COX FOUNDER

c1804 William Wilkins turns the Samwell house in to a Greek Temple.

1860s and 70s John Cox remodels The Grange interior and transforms the stables.

£50,000 (with tax efﬁcient giving can cost the donor just £27,500)

£5,000 (with tax efﬁcient giving can cost the donor just £2,750)

COCKERELL FOUNDER

If you would like to be a pioneer in helping us launch the Festival and secure your place in the history of this amazing Hampshire landmark, please get in touch with our Director of Development, Rachel Pearson on 01962 791020.

c1823 Charles Cockerell builds the orangery as a Greek Temple. £25,000 (with tax efﬁcient giving can cost the donor just £13,750)

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L F OU N D E R S SAMWELL FOUNDERS

SMIRKE FOUNDERS

Sarah and Tony Bolton Delfont Mackintosh Theatres The Linbury Trust

The Band Trust Anthony & Consuelo Brooke Buchler Family Rex and Sarah Chester Alastair and Robina Farley Peter and Judith Foy Anonymous Peter and Sue Holland George and Janette Hollingbery Owen and Jane Jonathan Tammy Lavarello James and Caroline Masterton Martin and Caroline Moore Anonymous Mr & Mrs Roger Phillimore Jonathan and Gillian Pickering Ernst & Elisabeth Piech Bianca & Stuart Roden Giles and Sue Schofield David and Alexandra Scholey Sophie Service Paul & Rita Skinner Peter Tilley Alan & Alison Titchmarsh Lucy and Michael Vaughan G H C Wakefield

WILKINS FOUNDERS Richard and Rosamund Bernays David & Simone Caukill Bernard and Caroline Cazenove Malcolm and Sarah Le May Joe and Minnie MacHale Richard and Chrissie Morse Tim and Thérèse Parker Sir Simon and Lady Robertson Richard & Cynthia Thompson Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement

COCKERELL FOUNDERS John and Claudia Arney Jamie and Carolyn Balfour Robin & Anne Baring Sophie and Mark Baring Glynne and Sarah Benge Daniel & Alison Benton Sophie Boden Simon and Sally Borrows Anonymous William and Kathryn Charnley Domenica Dunne Mr & Mrs James Fisher Tom and Sarah Floyd J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust Sir Charles and Lady Haddon-Cave James and Rhona Hatchley Sheelin & John Hemsley Charles and Catherine Hindson Roger and Kate Holmes Adrian Hope Andrew and Caroline Joy Simon & Nathalie Marshall-Lockyer Nigel & Anna McNair Scott Patrick Mitford-Slade Francheska & William Pattisson Michael and Cathy Pearman Mark and Rachel Pearson Lord and Lady Phillimore Graeme and Sue Sloan John and Erica Simpson Tim and Charlotte Syder The Stevenston Trust Anonymous Lou and John Verrill

COX FOUNDERS Anonymous Bill and Boo Andrewes Tony and Chris Ashford Isla Baring OAM Tom and Gay Bartlam David and Elizabeth Benson Beaulieu Beaufort Foundation Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation Simon and Rebecca Bladon Anonymous Simon and Julia Boadle Anthony and Sarah Boswood Michael & Belinda Boyd Britwell Trust Julian and Jenny Cazalet Julia Chute Anonymous Colwinston Charitable Trust Henrietta Corbett Corin and Richard Cotton Edward and Antona Cumming-Bruce The de Brye Charitable Trust Michael and Anthea Del Mar Gamlen Charitable Trust Anonymous The Golden Bottle Trust

Roger & Victoria Harrison Richard & Frances Hoare Lucy Holmes Anonymous Kay & Andrew Hunter Johnston Howard and Anne Hyman John & Sara Jervoise Max & Caroline Jonas Ralph & Patricia Kanter Morgan and Georgie Krone Anonymous Anonymous Alan & Virginia Lovell William & Felicity Mather Dr & Mrs Jonathan Moore Annette Oakes The Ogilvie Thompson Family Kevin Pakenham David & Sarah Parker Deborah and Clive Parritt The Countess of Portsmouth Richard and Iona Priestley The Tansy Trust The Hon M J Samuel Charitable Trust George & Veronique Seligman Rebecca Shelley Brian Spiby Fiona Squire and Geoff Squire obe Dr and Mrs Richard Staughton Robert & Tiggy Sutton Alison and Simon Taylor Mrs N G C Thompson

COR POR ATE FOUNDERS Accsys Group (manufacturers of Accoya® wood) Artemis Investment Management Cazenove Capital Country Life Hawksmoor Investment Management Hiscox Hunters Solictors Meggitt plc Norton Rose Fulbright llp The Zygos Partnership

OPEN DAY 2017 SPONSOR Danebury Vineyards

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Please become a Festival Friend

Our annual Festival Friends ensure the success of each festival and are essential to sustaining the high quality of our operas. Friends have access to priority booking and play an important part in making the Festival happen. Ticket income covers only half of the cost of each production, so we depend on our Friends’ generosity to fill the gap. Please spread the word – we can never have too many friends.

THE SWEET SPOT

THE ROSTRUM

Suggested donations from £5,000

£500

Every stage has that unique place that projects the voice perfectly and produces a quality of sound to tickle the hairs on the back of your neck.

The birds eye view and position of power guiding orchestra and singers with a flick of the wrist.

With this major gift you will develop a bespoke and personal relationship with the company, with invitations to events throughout the year. You can target your gift by joining a production syndicate, supporting a leading role or your chosen aspect of a production. Please contact Rachel Pearson to discuss, rachel@thegrangefestival.co.uk – 07881 630123

THE LIMELIGHT £2,500 Before electricity, theatres produced intense light by directing a flame at a cylinder of quicklime. You will receive an invitation for you and your guests to meet the cast after your visits to The Grange; an opportunity to target your gift to support a supporting role or an aspect of a production; an opportunity to attend a closed rehearsal or audition, and an invitation to all special events during the year.

You will receive an invitation to meet the cast after one of your visits to The Grange; and to one special event in Hampshire or London.

THE WINGS £250 It’s all happening here in the secret, silent world. Prop tables are ready, quick changes are prepared, the crew are primed, the cast are awaiting their cues. You will receive an invitation to one special event in Hampshire or London.

THE FOOTLIGHTS £25 The original theatre lighting: once upon a time as candles, now used as a special effect. Enjoy priority booking in February before booking opens to the public.

THE PROMPT CORNER

THE HIGH FLYERS

£1,000

Under 35s – £10

Every theatre needs one. Without this, it may not be alright on the night.

Traditional scenery operators worked on the fly walks high above the stage.

You will receive an invitation to meet the cast after every visit to The Grange; to attend a closed rehearsal, and an invitation to two special events in Hampshire and London during the year.

Enjoy priority booking in February before booking opens to the public; access to the sponsored ticket programme for every night of the season, and receive our Friends Newsletter. NB All the above levels receive priority booking and the Friends Newsletter. All levels except The Footlights and The High Flyers receive recognition in the Festival Programme

See the Festival Friends Application Form form on page 126

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L F R I E N D S SW EET SPOT

Maureen Goulden Herman & Claire Hintzen

LIM ELIGHT

Claire Bailey Fra’ Julian Chadwick Alun & Bridget Evans N O Hunter J S Hunter Anonymous James & Kate Plastow Michael Samuel Thomas & Phillis Sharpe Terence and Sian Sinclair Andrew & Tracy Wickham

PROM P T

Charles Alexander & Clare Mumby Lord and Lady Arbuthnot of Edrom Nigel & Christine Atkinson Nigel Beale & Anthony Lowrey Mrs Rupert Beaumont Peter Bedford David & Elizabeth Benson Julian & Jane Benson Anonymous Anthony Bird Jonathan & Karen Bourne-May Mark & Angela Bridges Tom Busher and Elizabeth Benson Anonymous Jane Countess of Clarendon Oliver & Cynthia Colman David & Nikki Cowley Tom Cross Brown The Dyers Company Pru de Lavison Simon & Noni de Zoete Anonymous Sir Vernon and Lady Ellis Lindsey Gardener Fergus & Clare Gilmour William Godfree Richard & Frances Hoare Anonymous Claire & Mark Katzenellenbogen Liz & Roger Kramers The Viscount Lifford Lord & Lady Lupton Sally Lykiardopulo John & Patricia Marden Anonymous Ian and Clare Maurice Anonymous Michael and Caroline McLaren Seamus and Annabel McLaughlin Colin Menzies Mr & Mrs Hallam Mills Malcolm & Kate Moir Colin Murray Guy & Sarah Norrie Lavinia & Nick Owen Anonymous Nicholas & Caroline Perry Dr Hugh Platt Richard & Rosemary Plincke Jim & Deidre Prower Merv & Fenella Rees Rupert & Charlotte Sebag-Montefiore Anonymous Chris & Lisa Spooner Panfilo Tarantelli Mark & Melissa Thistlethwayte

Mr and Mrs Robin Thorne Hugh and Ally Tidbury Sir Michael & Lady Turner Peter & Sarah Vey Marion Wake Edward & Katherine Wake Anonymous The Winship Foundation Mary Rose Wood

ROST RU M

David & Jane Anderson Mrs C Ashford Sue Baring Anonymous Geoffrey Barnett The Hon Robert & Fiona Boyle Viscount and Viscountess Bridgeman Mrs Charles H Brown Peter & Pamela Bulfield Sir Christopher & the Reverend Lady Clarke Peter & Jane Clarke Mr and Mrs John Colwell Lady Conran Dr Neville Conway Anthony Cooke Jonathan & Henrietta Cooke Martin and Rosie Copeland Diana Cornish Johnny & Liz Cowper-Coles Neil & Kate Cresswell Carl T. Cullingford Paul & Edwina Curtis Hayward Mr Despard Anonymous Jamie Dundas Christina & Andrew Dykes John Fairbairn Alys and Graham Ferguson Michael & Nicola Fitzgerald Mrs Marveen Flack Tim & Rosemary Forbes Lindsay & Robin Fox Rod & Marie Franks Geoffrey & Elizabeth Fuller Margaret & David Gawler William and Mary Knowles Jenny Gove Mr Robin & The Hon Mrs Greenwood Mr & Mrs Richard Haas Max & Catherine Hadfield Christine Hardwick Gordon and Francesca Horsfield Moira Hunter Nigel & Cathy Johnson-Hill David and Helen Jonathan Rupert & Anna Kellock Andrew & Susan Kennedy Stephen & Miriam Kramer Anonymous Jane and Peter Leaver Adam & Carola Lee Kristina Leroux-Harvey Mrs Roger Liddiard Anonymous Derek & Susie Lintott Ian & Jane Macnabb Alison & Antony Milford Julia Mitchell David & Angela Moss John & Lucy Muncey Tim Neill Simon & Rosianne Pack Peter & Sue Paice Dr & Mrs D G Paine John A Paine Erik & Lillemor Penser Mr & Mrs Robin Petherick

Mr & Mrs J Pinna-Griffith John & Elizabeth Platt Hugh & Caroline Priestley Neil & Julie Record Xavier and Alicia Robert Miles & Vivian Roberts Johnny and Caroline Robertson Alex & Caroline Roe Dr Angela Gallop CBE and Mr David Russell Ginny & Richard Salter Alicia Salter Charles & Caroline Scott Dr Anthony Smoker Marcus & Sarah Stanton Brian Stevens Nicholas & Sheila Stranks Fiona & Toby Stubbs Tom & Rosamond Sweet-Escott Sir Nigel & Lady Teare Sarah Thomas John & Pauline Tremlett Sir Tom & Lady Troubridge Kelsey and Rosemary van Musschenbroek Mr & Mrs Niko Vidovich Johanna Waterous CBE and Roger Parry CBE Kevin & Sonia Watson J Anthony Wechsler Barton and Rosie Wild Mark & Jane Williams Nicholas and Penny Wilson Jilly Wise Louise Woods

W I NGS

Philippa Abell Rick and Susie Abbott Stewart and Julia Abbott Mr and Mrs Trevor Adamson Daphne and John Alderson Christopher and Amanda Aldous Nicholas and Sarah Allan Anonymous Anonymous William Brett Allen Angela Anderson Charles and Susan Andrews Anonymous Daphne and John Alderson Clive Anscott Julian and Mary Ashby Mrs C Ashford Nick and Audrey Backhouse Simon and Elizabeth Bailey Phillip Arnold and Philip Baldwin Mrs Caroline Barber Val and Christopher Bateman Paul and Janet Batchelor Nicholas and Diana Baring Anne Beckwith-Smith Mike and Sarak Bignall Elisabeth and Bob Boas Hugh and Mary Boardman Annabel and Alverne Bolitho Graham Bourne Charles and Madeline Bracken Gay and Roger Bradley Douglas and Susan Bridgewater Mr and Mrs M Brindle Robin and Jill Broadley Adam and Sarah Broke Tony & Mo Brooking Hugh & Sue Brown George Brown & Alison Calver Peveril Bruce

Patrick Buckley Anthony Bunker Anonymous Martin & Sarah Burton Anonymous Richard Butler Adams Mrs Maurice Buxton Peter & Auriol Byrne Nick & Nicky Cambrook Peter & Katharine Campbell Livingstons, Carsons, Ridleys & Yeats-Browns Julian Chadwick Belinda & Jason Chaffer Belinda Neale-Chattey Suzanne Lady Chesham Julian & Josephine Chisholm Peter Chittick & Carolyn Fairbairn Ian Clarkson & Richard Morris Hugh & Katherine Cobbe John Coke & Suzanne Lemieux Jonathan Coles and Robert Allison Marianne & Harald Collet Professor Richard Collin Dr & Mrs Peter Collins Anonymous Christopher & Leonie Cooke Becka Cooper Robert G Cottam Jenefer Coulton John & Susan Curtis Lady Gillian Curtis Ingrid Dale Tineke Dales James & Annabel Dallas Antoni Daszewski Jerome Davidson Peter & Pamela Davidson Jane Davies Anthony Davis Anne & Jonathan Dawson Baron & Baroness De Styrcea Sir John & Lady de Trafford Anthony & Fiona Deal Mrs Elizabeth Dean Hugo Deschampsneufs Krystyna Deuss Teresa and Dominic Dinan Adrian and Tessa Dixon Robert & Caroline Dixon Dr Barbara DomayneHayman Katharine Dowson & James Colville Mrs Gill Drummond OBE DL Anonymous Ian Dussek Paul & Pauline Eaton Robert & Mary Elkington Hugh Elwes Dame Mary Fagan The Fischer Fund David Fitzherbert Andrew & Lucinda Fleming Mr and Mrs John Foster Jonathan and Tessa Gaisman Sarah & Paul Galloway Peter Gerrard Michael & Diane Gibbons David and Anne Giles Brett & Caroline Gill Martin & Jacky Gillie Charlie Goodall Anonymous Susie Grandfield Mrs Stephanie Gretton Richard & Marguerite Griffith-Jones Tim & Jenny Guerrier Judy & Richard Haes

Martin & The Hon Mrs Haitham Taylor Rachel & John Hannyngton Wendell & Andrea Harris Dr & Mrs Fred Haslam Maggie Heath Jill Hickson Wran Anonymous Will & Janine Hillary Mr & Mrs I F Hodgson Daniel & Diana Hodson H R Holland Mrs Richard Holmes Mrs Simon Holmes David & Mal Hope-Mason Billy & Heather Howard Mr Bear Stephen J Howis Minnie Hughes-Onslow Robert Hugill & David Hughes David & Sue Humphrey David & Wendy Hunter Juliet Huntley Barnabas & Campie Hurst-Bannister John and Susan Hyland Tim & Christine Ingram Clive Irvine Dr Phillip Kay and Ms Alexandra Kay Mr & Mrs Allan James Martin & Sandra Jay Philippa & Robert John Neil & Elizabeth Johnson Sally & Scot Johnston Geraint & Pauline Jones Guy Jordan Penelope Kellie John and Jenny Kelly Michael & Julia Kerby Gabrielle Knights Miranda Knowles Rear Admiral and Mrs John Lang Simon & Sarah Lavers Roger & Nathalie Lee Gareth & Rose Lewis Anthony & Fiona Littlejohn James & Susie Long Brigadier and Mrs Desmond Longfield Sue MacKenzie-Charrington Peter Macklin JJ & Victoria Macnamara Mr Strone and The Hon Mrs MacPherson William Main Ian and Mandy Maple The Marnhams Elizabeth Mason Nigel and Sue Masters Harry & Emma Matovu Alison Mayne Anthony & Sarah McWhirter Nigel and Maria Melville Mrs Christian Menzies-Wilson Anonymous David and Alison Moore-Gwyn Christopher Morcom QC & Diane Morcom Anonymous Ian & Jane Morrison Simon & Fiona Mortimore Sara Nangle Belinda Neale-Chattey Russell Neighbour Anthony & Jenny Newhouse Charles & Martie Nicholson Michael & Adeline Nolan Steve Norris John & Dianne Norton

Anonymous Dr John O’Dowd Hugh & Maggie Ogus Colin & Rosalind Osmer Jill Parker Lucy Pease Matthew & Philippa Pellereau Richard & Michelle Pelly Pl·cido Carrerotti Hayden and Laura Phillips David & Christina Pitman Sally Posgate Jane Poulter Anthony & Trish Proctor Tony and Etta Pullinger Douglas and Jane Rae Anonymous Anonymous The Hon Philip Remnant Judith Rich April, Lady Rivett-Carnac Mr & Mrs James Roberts James & Catharine Robertson Anne Robertson Rose Baring & Barnaby Rogerson Peter Rosenthal Dick & Mandy Russell Katherine Sellon Mr and Mrs H. Sergeant Anonymous Nigel Silby Caroline & Mark Silver Jock & Annie Slater Mrs Michael Smart Julian & Fiona Smith Lady Snyder David and Di Sommerville Ian & Pippa Southward David & Unni Spiller Mrs Judith St Quinton Jeremy & Phyllida Stoke John & Rosemarie Sturgis Tom & Jo Taylor Jeremy and Marika Taylor Bottega dei Sapori Mr and Mrs P M Thomas Jackie and Jack Thoms Caroline & Richard Thynne Sarah Tillie George & Lucinda Tindley Anonymous Rachel & David Townsend The Marquess & Marchioness Townshend Hon Mrs. Tufnell Clive and Tessa Tulloch Dr & Mrs Graham Tyrrell Keith and Sarah Jane Haydon Virgina & Hans van Celsing Piers and Sarah von Simson John and Alison Wakeham Paul & Sandra Walker Guy & Fizzy Warren Annie & Philip Watson Mr & Mrs Graham West Tony & Fiona White Peter and Alexandra White Penelope Williams Hamish and Elisabeth Williams Tom Wilson Craig & Frances Wilson William & Celia Witts Jane & Leslie Wood David and Vivienne Woolf Richard & Noely Worthington Nick & Georgina Wyatt

IL R I T O R N O Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;U L IS SE I N PAT R I A CL AU D IO MON T E V E R D I

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

I L R I TOR N O D’U L IS SE I N PAT R I A CL AU DIO MON T E V E R DI Libretto by Giacomo Badoaro | 7, 16, 18, 24 June—2 July 2017 | Sung in Italian with English surtitles

Musical Director Michael Chance

CA S T

Director Tim Supple Designer Sumant Jayakrishnan

Movement Director Debbie Fionn Barr

Lighting Designer Jackie Shemesh

Tempo Time Paul Whelan

Video Designer Ziggy Jacobs-Wyburn

Amore Love Physicalisation Durassie Kiangangu Nettuno Neptune Paul Whelan

Chitarrone, baroque guitar Paula Chateauneuf

Giove Jupiter Gwilym Bowen Minerva Emma Stannard

Harpsichord Robert Howarth Harp Frances Kelly Harpsichord and organ Giulia Nuti

T H E AC A D E M Y OF A NCI EN T M USIC R E S I D E N T O RC H E S T R A Ritornello String Band Violin Pavlo Beznosiuk

Violin Julia Bishop

Alto Viola Martin Kelly

Tenor Viola Rachel Stott Tenor Viola (3rd June) Emilia Benjamin Violone Richard Tunnicliffe

Musical Preparation Robert Howarth

Giulia Nuti

Ulisse Paul Nilon Penelope Anna Bonitatibus Ericlea Ulysses’ nurse Fiona Kimm Melanto Donna Bateman

Penelope’s personal attendant

Eurimaco Gwilym Bowen

Fortuna Fortune Donna Bateman Amore Love Lorena Paz Nieto

Continuo

Tempo Time Physicalisation Ludo Hélin Fortuna Fortune Physicalisation Rachel Ní Bhraonáin

T H E D I V I S I O N L O B BY

L’umana Fragilità Human Frailty Robin Blaze

companion to the suitors

Eumete Ulysses’ shepherd Nigel Robson Telemaco Thomas Elwin

Ulysses and Penelope’s son

Iro a hanger-on Ronald Samm Antinoo Suitor to Penelope Paul Whelan Anfinomo Suitor to Penelope Harry Nicoll Pisandro Suitor to Penelope Robin Blaze

Coro di Feaci Robin Blaze Harry Nicoll

Chorus of Phaeacians

Michael Rakotoarivony

Assistant Director Genevieve Raghu

Surtitle Text and Dramaturgy Katie Ebner-Landy

Production Manager Tom Nickson

Costume Supervisor Josie Thomas

All other ensemble roles will be played by members of the company

This production is proudly supported by

Performance sponsor Wed 7 June:

I L R I T O R N O D ’ U L I S S E I N PAT R I A

Synopsis

Set in Ithaca, an island in the Ionian Sea.

P RO L O G U E

then reveals her true identity to the astonished

Tempo (Time), Fortuna (Fortune)

fidelity, persistent suitors surround her. Minerva

and Amore (Love) pitilessly torment

transforms Ulisse into a white haired old beggar;

L’umana Fragilità (Human Frailty).

intending to lead him back to his home to wreak

Ulisse and warns him that despite Penelope’s

revenge on the unsuspecting suitors. Minerva

PA RT ON E

leaves to find Ulises’s son, Telemaco (Telemachus),

Penelope is waiting. She is waiting for the

is searching for his father. She tells Ulisse to

return of her husband, Ulisse, who left twenty

wait with Eumete, an old, faithful servant and

years ago to fight in the Trojan War and has

swineherd who will help him on the journey ahead.

and bring him home from Sparta, where he

never returned. Ulisse’s nurse has remained

Meanwhile, in Ulisse’s palace, Melanto

with Penelope, doing all she can to support

pleads with Penelope to accept that Ulisse

her. However, Penelope is relentlessly plagued

is dead and will never return. She begs her

by vying and debauched suitors. Penelope’s

Queen to let herself love the living while her

endurance is at its limit; the grief and ache of

beauty lasts. She urges her to believe that

Ulisse’s twenty years’ absence are becoming too

the delights of love will dispel her grief.

much for her and she begs with all her might that he comes home to her, before she dies. Penelope’s maid, Melanto decides to give

Surrounded by hills, fields and trees, Eumete revels in the way he has chosen to live his life, which, whilst rooted in poverty, is free from the

in to the pleasures of love with a young suitor,

miseries of life at the court. Eumete is mocked by

Eurimaco. They know that denying love to one

Iro, an infamous glutton and companion to the

that loves you is a crime. Eurimaco convinces

same suitors who are destroying Ulisse’s home and

Melanto to persuade Penelope to love again.

trying to ensnare his wife. Just as Eumete longs

Ulisse, fast asleep, is brought to shore by

for the absent Ulisse, he is approached by the

the Faeci (Phaeacian) sailors. Nettuno (Neptune)

old beggar. Little does he know that this is Ulisse

is furious with the sailors for bringing Ulisse

in disguise. Eumete offers the beggar hospitality

home safely against his clear decree, as Ulisse

and a safe resting place. The beggar reveals to the

was responsible for blinding Nettuno’s son, the

delighted Eumete that Ulisse will soon return.

cyclops Polyphemus. The great sea god complains

Minerva brings Telemaco to the disguised

to Giove (Jupiter) that he is too forgiving of

Ulisse, and Eumete tells him of Ulisse’s anticipated

mortal transgressions. Giove, while insisting

return. Telemaco sends Eumete to tell Penelope

that his policy of mercy is right, acknowledges

the news. Suddenly, a ray of fire strikes from

Nettuno’s right to punish whoever he wishes

the sky, and the earth beneath Ulisse’s feet

in his own realm. Nettuno transforms the

opens up, engulfing him. Telemaco fears that

carefree Faeci sailors and their ship into a rock.

the beggar has been punished for lying about

Ulisse wakes up not knowing where he is.

his father’s return and that Ulisse is in fact,

Assuming that they have broken their word, he

dead. But, this vision of death is immediately

curses the sailors who promised to bring him

transformed into one of life when Ulisse reappears

safely home to Ithaca. The goddess Minerva

in his true form. He explains that the disguise

appears disguised as a shepherd boy and

was Minerva’s creation, to ensure his safety.

informs Ulisse that he has reached Ithaca. She

After twenty years the two are reunited. Ulisse

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

sends Telemaco ahead to his mother whilst he,

Each of the suitors’ attempts are futile;

Synopsis Continued once again, is transformed into an old beggar.

they cannot string the bow. The beggar

Now, Ulisse can safely begin his route to the

steps forward and relinquishing any hope

kingdom, his identity concealed by his disguise.

of the prize, requests a chance to string the

In the palace the three suitors, Anfinomo

(Amphinomus), Pisandro (Peisandros)and Antinoo (Antinous), implore Penelope to love again but

bow himself. He succeeds with astonishing ease and massacres all the suitors. Tormented by the slaughter of the suitors

are unable to break down her resistance. To

who looked after him, Iro despairs for there

cheer her up, they decide to entertain Penelope To follow… with song and dance in the hope that she will

is now no one to feed him. Rather than be

then become more inclined to love. However,

defeated by hunger he resolves to kill himself. Melanto fails to rouse Penelope to punish

this plan is interrupted by Eumete who arrives

the beggar who has brought war and killing into

at the Palace with the news that Telemaco has

the palace. Whilst Penelope’s eyes feel great

returned and, furthermore, that he believes Ulisse

pity for what has taken place her heart remains

is alive. The suitors are alarmed to hear this and

numb, she is unable to feel any anger or pain.

resolve to kill Telemaco as a precaution against

Eumete and Telemaco try to convince

any vengeance they might face for their sins and

Penelope that the old man who slew the

debauched behaviour in Ulisse’s absence. They

suitors is really Ulisse, disguised and led to

decide they must sin again to save their lives. Just

the palace by Minerva. She does not believe

as they reach this conclusion, an eagle flies low

it, insisting that they are the gullible, foolish

over their heads and is interpreted by Eurimaco as

and blind playthings of the gods. She cannot

a warning from Giove. The suitors decide against

understand why she should trust the gods

murder and instead turn to a new tactic, to try

who have done nothing but deceive her and

and melt Penelope’s heart with the lure of gold.

subject her to so much pain and suffering. Ulisse’s nurse, Ericlea, is torn between

Interval

obedience and pity. She has a secret, which she knows may soon be discovered. She

PA RT T WO Telemaco tells his mother of Helen’s sublime

struggles with the dilemma of whether to reveal the secret herself or to stay silent. Ulisse appears to Penelope as himself: a

beauty and how Paris, having paid for his

lover, husband, mortal and survivor. Penelope

sins with his life, can be excused the carnage

dismisses him as an enchanter, falsifier,

that arose from his love. Penelope condemns

imposter and usurper. Ericlea reveals that whilst

the shameful passion and accuses her son

washing the man she believed to be a beggar,

of madness for sympathising with them. In

she recognised Ulisse’s old scar on the man’s

reply, Telemaco divulges Helen’s prophecy

body. Penelope is torn between wanting to

to his mother, that Ulisse will return home

believe her love has returned and fearing she

to Ithaca and slaughter her suitors.

may compromise her honour if she gives in

The suitors scold Eumete for inviting a filthy

to this belief. She insists that her chaste bed

beggar into the palace but Eumete insists that the

will only receive Ulisse. When Ulisse describes

beggar has been led there by Fortune. Antinoo

their silk bedspread, woven by Penelope with

is outraged by the presence of the beggar in the

the image of Diana, her doubts are finally

palace. The beggar challenges the suitors and Iro

laid to rest; no one else, except her husband,

tries to throw him out. They fight and everyone

could ever have known that. She asks for his

is amazed to see Iro defeated. Penelope rules

pardon and blames Amore for placing any

that the beggar should remain. The suitors offer

doubt in her mind. Ulisse urges Penelope to

Penelope their most valued possessions: power,

release a sigh and to speak to him of her joy

jewels and gold. Finally she yields and offers

that her husband, has finally returned home,

her kingdom and herself to whoever can string

to his wife and his country. Elated, Penelope

Ulisse’s powerful bow with the greatest skill.

rejoices. The waiting has ended and now

She is shocked and surprised that she uttered

she can live and love again. They accept and

these words. She believes that the gods must

delight in the fact that their day of pleasure

have intervened as the promise she has made

and joy seems to have finally arrived.

is at such odds with her heart. Telemaco is desperate for his father to return and intervene.

Genevieve Raghu

I L R I T O R N O D ’ U L I S S E I N PAT R I A

Ithaca, Venice, (not quite) Dublin; or, Ulysses goes home Jane Lightfoot

Ulysses — Greek Odysseus — was antiquity’s

second thoughts. Given the traditional nature of

most famous wanderer. After the razing of Troy,

its subject-matter and compositional technique,

he took ten years to get home, years in which

and the fraught question of when it, and its big

he was dogged by misfortune, foul weather, and

sister the Iliad, were first committed to writing, any

divine malice. Legend took him to North Africa,

demand for a definite date is asking for trouble.

Sicily, Italy, and the Adriatic coast. It did not carry

Let us just say some time in the seventh century

him to the lagoon at the furthest end of that sea,

bc. I will, however, aver that it was composed,

which was first penetrated (as the Roman historian

not by the Iliad poet, but by a bard who knew

Livy assures us) by the galleys of the exiled Trojan

and leaned heavily on the latter’s work.

prince Antenor. But two or three millennia later,

The majesty of the Iliad; the nobility born

Ulysses finally caught up. Antenor’s swampy

of simplicity and quiet understatement; the

descendants had by then been transformed

poignancy and bitterness of the poet’s vision of

into citizens of the Most Serene Republic,

human life; the heart-stopping control of narrative

and it was for the Venetian carnival season of

pace and dramatic tension — all these qualities of

1639–40 that Giacomo Badoaro turned Homer’s

the earlier poem are absent. For one ancient critic,

Odyssey into a libretto for Monteverdi’s opera.

the Odyssey was the work of Homer’s old age; like

Two or three millennia? Homer’s Odyssey?

the setting sun, ‘the magnitude remains without

What are we talking about? The Odyssey is one

its power’. In fact, the poet was trying to write a

of the two most famous Greek epics. It is the

sequel to the Iliad’s story of the closing days of the

product of an ancient poetic tradition, improvised

Trojan war (traditionally 1194–84 bc). It was to be

in performance in a complex metre by trained

a block-buster that bundled together the story of

bards. Its author was not ‘Homer’, though a single

Odysseus/Ulysses himself with as much material

creative intelligence underlies it; incoherencies

about other Greek war-heroes as his ingenuity

(which abound) may be explained as editorial

could contrive to include. He was impressed by

interference or as the bard’s imperfectly-realised

the Iliad poet’s technique, and intended a homage

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

which employs many of the same characters but

fellow man. The second of these isn’t particularly

steers clear of his territory. Instead of a lot of men

prominent in the poem, but the first is, and the last

cooped up in a small space for a limited period of

is one of its great themes. It is the hallmark of the

time, he focuses on a single individual travelling

Odyssey’s goodies, and its abuse that of their foes.

over wide spaces over a ten-year period. But the

Who were the Monteverdi’s first audiences?

inclusion of so much padding — foils for the hero,

Whom had Badoaro in mind? Anyone with

rip-roaring good stories in their own right, multiple

even a smattering of classical learning would

“In the Iliad, gods ignore humans or trip them up. The Odyssey offers a more positive view of human self-determination” narrative strands — mean that the devastating

have known the story. Knowledge of the poem

simplicity of the earlier epic is sacrificed.

would enhance enjoyment, and perhaps explain

Perhaps the biggest difference of all is in ethos

a few nips and tucks and unevennesses in the

and sensibility. The Odyssey, which combines epic,

librettist’s condensed version. But the story

folk-tale, and morality-tale, is far too complex to be

is comprehensible without it: the groundlings

called simply a story of virtue rewarded. Odysseus,

would not be baffled. It’s noticeable, too, that

and the gods, are much too chequered for that.

the librettist has not seen fit to produce a text

But it is underwritten by a reassuring moral

which rewrites or challenges or distorts or

vision in which human beings are fundamentally

‘subverts’ (that flayed-to-death modern critical

responsible for their own actions; that is a lesson

concept) the original. It is inevitable that he

propounded by the king of the gods, Zeus, right at

should depart from it. He does so, however, by

the opening. The Iliad’s heroes’ best efforts come

a process of stream-lining which excludes some

to nothing in a world where the gods are at best

of its complications, by a few rearrangements

undependable and at worst awful. The Odyssey,

which tend to underscore polarities of virtue

on the contrary, assures us that we come to grief

and vice, and through the importation of certain

through our own sin (the Christian word is not an

elements of a Renaissance world-view.

inappropriate rendering of the Greek, atasthalia)

First, stream-lining. The Odyssey has a

and that the gods do intervene to restore order,

complicated structure, with a prelude focusing

and even — eventually — justice. Of course, it isn’t

on Telemachus, followed by two main sections

as simple as that. But at least one of the stories

dealing respectively with Odysseus’ wanderings

the poet wants to tell is of homespun morality,

and his return to Ithaca. Badoaro has concentrated

which the ancient Greeks sometimes saw as

on the last of these, books thirteen to twenty-

resting on three principles — piety towards the

four of the ancient system of book-division. It is

gods, filial piety, and hospitality towards one’s

the most domestic section of the poem, and also

“As flies to wanton boys are we to th’gods They kill us for their sport” King Lear, V.1

I L R I T O R N O D ’ U L I S S E I N PAT R I A

“What? Is man merely a mistake of God’s? Or God merely a mistake of man’s?’” Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, 8 the most political, because it deals with kingly

Third, world-view. In the Iliad, gods ignore

authority challenged by a group of upstarts,

humans or trip them up. The Odyssey offers a more

against the background of an incipient organised

positive view of human self-determination, but

political community. We know that Odysseus has

the allegorical figures in Badoaro’s opening scene

been away wandering, but not exactly where,

run quite counter to the notion that man owns his

and by omitting the so-called Telemachy Badoaro

own destiny. The Odyssey is already remarkably

makes the circumstances of his son’s absence and

sententious, but Badoaro has extended and re-

sudden return rather obscure. He has reduced

pointed the moralising: gods and humans alike

the number of suitors from over a hundred to

sermonise about a Fate or Chance that neither can

three, and simplified their motives, which in the

control. Penelope views herself as Fate’s victim.

original poem are at least partly political, the

That isn’t quite right, for in practice the resolution

status of king apparently being enhanced or

depends on Minerva persuading Juno, Juno

even conferred by marriage with the queen.

Jupiter, and Jupiter the resentful Neptune. (This

Second, virtue and vice. Iro (Irus) and

chain of command is absent from the Odyssey,

Eumete (Eumaeus) are both Odyssean, but it

which also offers a more complex explanation for

is Badoaro who welds them into an antithesis,

Neptune’s anger; Badoaro’s truncated treatment

the coward-buffoon-parasite versus a shepherd

of the Phaeacians is not very satisfactory.) But

of stock pastoral virtue. (The original Eumaeus

even the gods speak fatalistically, of Destiny as

was a swine-herd, potentially a bit smelly and

an independent force. There is also a passing

indecorous.) So too Melanto, but here she is

reference to astrology, that darling aberration

pitched more obviously against Penelope as

of Renaissance and post-Renaissance minds.

the soubrette against her virtuously resistant

One of the most controversial parts of the

mistress. The Odyssean Penelope is an extremely

Odyssey is the ending. It is, frankly, a mess. How

complex, sometimes inscrutable, character,

much is original? One ancient view was that it

whether through design or the poet’s ineptitude.

should end with husband and wife retiring to bed;

Indeed, an alternative, promiscuous, Penelope was

the last book, with its inept to-ing and fro-ing

known to antiquity, one whose cavortings with

between Odysseus, his father, and the suitors’

the suitors resulted in the birth of the god Pan

aggrieved families, should be deleted. That is also

(‘All’). Badoaro of course has none of this, though

where Badoaro chooses to end — and so too,

he does give Penelope suggestive language (the

interestingly, James Joyce in his own retelling of

piece of metal caught between plural magnets)

the Odyssey. Both end with the personal rather

and inscrutable behaviour (why propose herself

than political, the restoration of husband and

as prize in the archery contest just when she

wife to their proper places. Alas, Joyce’s novel

has reason to hope for her husband’s return,

was already serialised before the first modern

yet before she has recognised the beggar?).

edition of Il Ritorno. But we cannot help being

The Odyssey poet constructs a Penelope who

struck by the coincidence when Penelope and

is a trickster to match her husband, and yet

Ulysses are reunited — ‘Sì, sì, vita! Sì, sì, core, sì,

— because he also wants to create suspense

sì!’ — and the radiant affirmative of the immortal

— frustratingly slow to recognise him. Trickery

Molly Bloom, ‘and yes I said yes I will Yes’.

disappears in Badoaro, but he retains Penelope’s self-protecting refusal to surrender too soon.

Jane Lightfoot Professor of Greek Literature New College, Oxford

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

The Art of Basso Continuo Paula Chateauneuf

Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria was written at a time

be recited in music, where the words were ‘the

when the development of opera was still in its

mistress of the harmony and not the servant’.

infancy and yet ranks amongst one of the greatest

This new flexible singing style demanded

ever composed. Monteverdi’s genius for setting

flexible accompaniment that could respond

dramatic narrative for the voice transformed what

instinctively to the wide range of sentiments

was an experiment into a monumental art form.

and split-second changes inherent in dramatic

What you will experience in this performance is

music. Accompaniment in the past had consisted

the intimate ‘continuo opera’ of his day, where

of playing verbatim as many parts as possible

singers interact with a group of chordal instrument

of a multi-voiced composition, the technical

players who extemporise an accompaniment

intricacies leaving little room for adaptability. The

for them and provide the main support for the

ingenious system of basso continuo was born out

piece. These basso continuo players are the

of the practical need for a précis of the harmony,

opera’s ‘chordal orchestra’, while a small string

written in a kind of musical code above the bass.

band plays a supporting role with short interludes

Only the fundament of the composition, the

that punctuate and comment on the action.

bass line, is written down complete; above are

The rediscovery and translation of

numbers and/or musical signs (‘figures’) which

ancient classical texts in seicento Italy sparked

indicate the sorts of harmonies which need to

a desire to recreate Greek musical oration.

be played above each bass note. But there are

But the multi-voiced compositions which had

no indications about exactly how many notes

dominated Renaissance music-making, with

might be in a chord, if the notes are played as an

their unyielding rhythmic structures bounded

arpeggio or simultaneously, whether the chord is

by strict theoretical conventions, provided little

loud, soft, long, short, sharp, serene, sensuous,

freedom for performers to convey the intense

angry, lamenting, or joyous. All these are

emotions of these texts. In an effort to break

improvised on the spot, with the players reacting

free from this straitjacket, the experiments of

intuitively and imaginatively to the singing

pioneering musical and academies gave rise to

and drama as it unfolds around them – this

a new dramatic form that united poetry, music

makes every performance completely unique.

and theatre: they created a new kind of recitar

The numbers and types of continuo

cantando by transcribing the rhythms of the Italian

instruments to be used were rarely specified,

language into musical notation so a text could

so the ‘orchestration’ is one of personal choice;

I L R I T O R N O D ’ U L I S S E I N PAT R I A

“The rediscovery and translation of ancient classical texts in seicento Italy sparked a desire to recreate Greek musical oration” in early 17th-century Italy they were generally

natural progression of musical events takes

organ, harpsichord, lute, chitarrone (a long-

place which actually liberates the performers:

necked lute), harp, guitar and lirone, without a

the singers take the lead from the text

bowed bass. The beauty of basso continuo is that

and the instrumentalists listen, react, and

because there is only one musical line to work

consequently continue and lead from there.

from, which is not specific to any one instrument, it can be used by any chordal instrument. So this is not music for singer and

As a continuo player, you enjoy the thrill of being able to participate directly in the action: you are the cloud on which the deities descend,

accompanist but for a duo, requiring almost

the agonising cries of the abandoned Ariadne, the

telepathic communication and calling for equal

ancient hymn which inspires Orpheus, the waves

commitment and invention from both. Very

which accompany Penelope’s lament, the clanging

unusually for a modern-day production of an

of swords, the western wind, the dawn, the sun.

early opera, this pioneering Grange Festival

This is visceral music with a ravishing sound

production will be led by the performers rather

world that invites, indeed demands, that the

than a conductor. Monteverdi constructed

performer engages emotionally, physically and

the piece in such a way that if the notation,

philosophically with the music and thus joins

with its highly specific rhythms and changes

the seminal movement which led to a century

of pace and colour, is observed faithfully, a

of experimentation and radical change. Paula Chateauneuf

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Monteverdi, Venice and Il ritorno d’Ulisse Iain Fenlon

For the carnival season of 1637, a company

and courtiers who had been present at the first

of musicians rented the Teatro San Cassiano

performances of Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Arianna at

in Venice and produced the first public opera.

the Mantuan court in 1607-8. But, in a number of

The following year they presented another, and

important ways, the Venetians had quite different

then in 1639 they transferred their activities to

musical and dramatic expectations. Firstly, the

the Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo, owned by the

earlier court operas, given just a handful of

patrician Grimani family, which had been hurriedly

times in private performances before an elite

renovated to accommodate performances

invited audience, were devised for small-scale

of opera. Meanwhile, a competing troupe of

performance. Orfeo, for example, which can be

musicians led by Monteverdi’s pupil Francesco

(and probably was) produced with a minimum of

Cavalli had set up a rival opera company

scenery that required changing only twice, was

elsewhere in the city. In the space of just two

given for the first time inside the ducal palace as a

years, the intensely competitive spirit which is

court entertainment. In the very different world of

so characteristic of the later history of the genre

public Venetian theatre, the audience demanded

had been firmly established, and the vogue for

spectacle and impressive effects, and for this

public opera, which was to sweep through the

scenery and stage machines were essential.

rest of Italy and then Europe, had started.

In this new atmosphere, the symbolic tales

Many reasons have been put forward to explain

from classical antiquity which had provided the

why the earliest Italian opera houses should

staple fare of early court opera were replaced with

have been opened in Venice. Certainly, there

historical dramas more concerned with characters

was a long tradition of public spectacle in the

drawn from the real world. The earliest operas,

city, from the annual blessing of the Adriatic by

written by Peri and Caccini in Florence, and a few

the doge to the innumerable processions and

years later by Monteverdi in Mantua, had dealt

rituals which filled the calendar, and visitors came

with the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice. These

from all parts of Europe to experience life in the

legends, familiar for an educated audience steeped

‘theatre of the world’. As we know from their

in classical literature, were eminently suitable for

diaries and letters, many of them also went to

musical elaboration since the theme of the fabled

the opera, as did the English writer John Evelyn

power of Greek music and its ability to move the

in 1646. In a buoyant economic atmosphere

hearts and minds of men was central. In Venice, it

stimulated by an early-seventeenth-century

became clear that audiences were now primarily

version of mass tourism, encouraged (in an age

interested in familiar human beings, recognisable

characterised by war and disruption) by the

both in their actions and emotional responses.

stability of the city, Venetian opera was to thrive.

It was an idea with which, as we know from his

It seems likely that Monteverdi would not have turned again to the composition of works

letters, Monteverdi had long been in sympathy. One important consequence of the changed

for the theatre had it not been for the notable

nature of the libretto, as opera moved from the

success of these new companies, and the

privacy of the court into the public realm, was to

economic viability of the public theatres (some

do with the number of characters and the nature

newly constructed, others adapted from existing

of the musical resources. Orfeo, which involves

buildings), in which they played. That he did so

only a handful of main characters, was given its

at the age of seventy is remarkable. In purely

first performances with just a few singers, with

social terms, the Venetian audience for opera was

other soloists drawn from the chorus (much in

probably not much different from the aristocrats

evidence in the opening scenes), and considerable

I L R I T O R N O D ’ U L I S S E I N PAT R I A

doubling of parts. Ulisse on the other hand requires

The story of Ulisse, taken by the librettist

no fewer than nineteen principal characters, while

Giacomo Badoaro from the later books of Homer’s

the role of the chorus is negligible. More than ever

epic, is characteristic of the new operatic fashions

before the emphasis was now upon the power of

in its approach to character representation. Ulysses

the voice and the virtuosity of the principal singers.

himself, his wife Penelope who has been waiting

Venetian audiences were attracted by the stars of

for his return, and his son Telemachus, are all united

the profession, and the ability of the impresarios who

in a tale of depressing familiarity and ordinariness.

ran the opera houses as commercial enterprises to

Onto this skeleton are grafted a number of episodes

attract the very best, was critical to their economic

involving classical deities; these are not essential to

success. The formula was to remain central to the

the main thread of the story, but are remnants of the

phenomenon of public opera throughout its history.

previous traditions of court opera, and were later

This change in audience expectations also had

sometimes incorporated to give an excuse for the

a number of important stylistic consequences. The

elaborate spectacles on which Venetian audiences

music in the Venetian operas of Monteverdi and

insisted. Neptune’s occasional appearances in Ulisse,

Cavalli, which effectively established the standard for

for example, provide opportunities for sea-machines,

the future, consists for the most part of recitative (or

a favourite device of theatre engineers, and the

better arioso) punctuated by self-contained closed

opera begins with a classical prologue in which the

forms such as arias and duets. In the course of the

figures of Human Frailty, Fortune and Love point out

seventeenth century the aria was to become the

the moral of the piece. Although the interventions of

more prominent element in opera composition, but

the gods, requiring much fussy stage business, may

in Ulisse it remains subservient to arioso writing of

seem to us to be a distraction from the simplicity

a highly flexible and at times lyrical kind. The score

of Homer’s story, they were an essential part of

also includes a large number of duets in a distinctly

the seventeenth-century operatic experience.

Monteverdian idiom, and some laments that are in a

It would be difficult to imagine a more

direct line of descent from the legendary ‘Lasciatemi

appropriate setting for a performance of

morire’, which stands at the dramatic heart of

Monteverdi’s Ulisse than The Grange at Northington,

Arianna. This was the piece by which Monteverdi

with its calculated evocation of ancient classical

was best known during his lifetime; writing in the

architecture. Although none of the early Venetian

1640, one writer claimed that there was not a

opera houses survive, some idea of the appearance

musical household in the whole of Italy that did not

of the Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo, can be gauged

possess a copy. As it also established the convention

from a late seventeenth-century drawing in the

of a strongly characterised set piece aria (whether

Soane Museum in London. This shows that the

prayer, incantation, or lament), which re-appears

theatre had a long U-shaped floor plan, five tiers

time and again in early opera, it is not surprising to

of boxes and an ample stage area; in other words,

detect its influence in Ulisse, above all in Penelope’s

the design was heavily indebted to the ancient

powerful lament from Act I, ‘Di misera regina’.

Roman ideal described by Vitruvius and illustrated

Since Ulisse has come down to us anonymously

in practice by Andrea Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico

and incomplete in just a single manuscript now in

in Vicenza. And although the Soane drawing

Vienna, where it was perhaps taken by an Italian

reveals nothing about machines, trap doors or

company performing at the Imperial court, a

lights, it does indicate that there was room for

number of writers have claimed that the evidence

them. While the sets of Ulisse are standard for

for the opera being by Monteverdi is weak. But

Venetian opera of the period, extravagant special

the style of the music places the authorship of

effects are also called for: Minerva is carried in

the opera beyond any reasonable doubt. No

an airborne chariot, and the Phaeacian ship turns

other composer writing at the time could have

to stone. The importance of spectacular staging

fashioned it out of such a range of contemporary

is perfectly in keeping with what is known about

styles and idioms, and while other hands may have

Venetian opera productions, grandiose spectacles

contributed to the surviving version (a common

in which the pursuit of the marvellous and the

practice), the music is substantially by Monteverdi.

importance of the idea of ‘wonder’ are paramount, not only in the music but also on the stage. Iain Fenlon Professor of Historical Musicology King’s College, Cambridge

CA R M E N G E O RG E S B I Z E T

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

CA R M E N G E ORG E S B I Z E T Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy | after the novella by Prosper Mérimée 11, 15, 17, 23, 28, 30 June—8 July | Sung in French with English surtitles

Conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud

Director & Movement Annabel Arden

Designer, Movement and Video Content Joanna Parker

Lighting Designer Peter Mumford

Video Designer Dick Straker

CA S T Commère Aicha Kossoko Compère Tonderai Munyevu

Moralès Toby Girling

Micaëla Shelley Jackson

Costume Co-Designer Ilona Karas

Sound Designer John Leonard

Don José Leonardo Capalbo

Zuniga Grigory Soloviov Fight Director Rachel Bown-Williams Carmen Na’ama Goldman and Ruth Cooper-Brown Frasquita Marianne Croux of RC Annie Dialogue Meredith Oakes

BOU R N EMOU T H S Y M P H O N Y O RC H E S T R A

Mercédès Filipa van Eck Escamillo Phillip Rhodes

Le Dancaïre Tiago Matos

Le Remendado Christophe Poncet de Solages

Leader Amyn Merchant

THE GR ANGE F E S T I VA L C H O RU S

Chorus Master Anthony Kraus

Assistant Conductor Harry Sever

Assistant Director & Surtitles* Sinéad O’Neill *adapted from originals by Simon Rees

Répétiteur Tom Primrose Language Coach Pierre-Maurice Barlier

Production Manager Tom Nickson

Costume Supervisor Ilona Karas

Assistant Designer Ming Lu Wang

Wigs Supervisor Darren Ware

First performed in 1875 at the Opéra Comique, Paris Published by Alkor-Edition Kassel, edited by Fritz Oeser, performed by arrangement with Faber Music Ltd, London Weekdays 5.00 pm start | Weekends 4.00 pm start

Main image: Carmen for The Grange Festival 2017 – Sketch by Joanna Parker

Performance sponsors 11 June:

15 June:

23 June:

28 June:

30 June:

8 July:

CA R M EN

Synopsis Seville in the 19th Century

AC T ON E

AC T T WO

A Square in Seville

Lillas Pastia’s club a month later

The soldiers are at ease outside a tobacco

A month has passed. The women amuse

factory in Seville, waiting for the changing of

themselves in Lillas Pastia’s club. Lieutenant

the guard. Micaëla, a stranger, arrives, looking

Zuniga tries to flirt with Carmen and lets her

for her lover, the corporal José. She can’t find

know that José has served his time and has been

him and just manages to escape the unwanted

released. There is an unexpected disturbance and

attentions of the soldiers. José, a Basque from

the famous bull fighter, Escamillo is welcomed

Navarre, must find his place in this unfamiliar

to the bar. He delights the crowd with tales of

city, and tries to establish relations with his

his successes in the bullring, and propositions

superior officers. The working women come out

Carmen, who is intrigued but keeps him guessing.

for a break. People call out for Carmen and she

Lillas Pastia closes up in a hurry as he knows

obliges with a song that captures everyone’s

his criminal clientele are on their way – the

attention, except for José, who keeps to himself.

smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado. They need

She notices him ignoring her, and throws

women to help with their latest illegal scheme.

him a spray of Cassia flower, an impulsive gesture

Frasquita and Mercedes agree but Carmen refuses,

which marks the beginning of their story.

deciding instead to wait for José. When he arrives,

Micaëla returns, bringing José a letter from

Carmen offers him hospitality: more, she dances

his mother urging him to come home soon

especially for him. They are interrupted by a bugle

and to marry, but before he can reply, a fight

call, the signal commanding José to return to the

breaks out in the factory between Carmen

barracks. Carmen mocks him furiously, leading

and another one of the working girls; Carmen

him to reveal his obsessive passion for her. She

has slashed the girl’s face. Lieutenant Zuniga

challenges him, saying that if he truly loved her,

sends José into the factory to arrest Carmen.

he would leave the army and embrace her life of

As soon as José and Carmen are

freedom. He refuses, defending his honour as a

alone together, she seduces him and

soldier. She tells him to leave – but just as he is

escapes. José is arrested and imprisoned

about to go, Lieutenant Zuniga enters, seeking

for negligence and dereliction of duty.

Carmen. Unable to control his jealousy, José threatens his superior, with fatal results. There is no going back for him now. He must leave the army and escape with Carmen after all. Interval

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

AC T T H R E E AC T F OU R Synopsis Continued The Mountains

A Square in Seville

José, Carmen and the smugglers are living

A crowd awaits the beginning of the bullfight.

in the mountains. José knows that he has

Carmen and Escamillo profess their love for

destroyed his career and Carmen is oppressed

each other, committing to a future together.

by his melancholic and jealous moods. She

As he leaves her to enter the arena, her friends

and her friends read the cards, but all she To follow…

warn her that José has returned and is not far

can see is death for herself and José.

The smugglers revel in the prospect of

away. She waits for him, ready to talk to him and end their relationship once and for all. He

cheating the customs officers and they leave,

begs Carmen to leave the country with him,

with José staying to keep guard. Micaëla

and professes undying love for her. Carmen

appears and tries to draw José back to her. A

insists that it is over, that she has never lied to

gunshot is heard, and she hides. The shot was

him, that she will never give up her freedom.

fired by José, and Escamillo is revealed. José

He cannot accept it and forces her to say

discovers that Escamillo has arrived to claim

that she loves Escamillo. The crowd cheer for the

Carmen as his own. They fight, and Carmen

bullfighter’s victory. Carmen returns José’s ring.

intervenes. Escamillo graciously invites everyone

He pronounces her to be damned and attacks her.

to attend one of his bullfights, and leaves. The smugglers discover Micaëla, and she begs José to leave with her. Carmen tells him to go – their way of life doesn’t suit him. José does not want to leave but is finally persuaded by the news that his mother is dying. However, he warns Carmen that he will return and that they are bound together forever.

CA R M EN

The Fall and Rise of Carmen Professor Hugh Macdonald

Despite common belief Carmen was never actually

Many members of the public were of course

a failure. At the first night, on 3 March 1875, Bizet

as outraged as the stuffed shirts who decided

was thoroughly depressed, the management was

artistic matters and would splutter with rage

alarmed, and many of the critics were outraged.

to their dinner guests. But the public could

But to be a failure it would have had to be taken

recognise a good tune when they heard one,

off after a single performance, a not uncommon

and they were pruriently delighted to watch

occurrence at the Opéra-Comique, or perhaps

cigarette girls smirking and smoking. Célestine

after three or four nights. In fact it ran for thirty-

Galli-Marié’s famous performance in the title role,

six performances before the end of the season,

sensuous from top to toe, was the talk of Tout-

more than most works played at that house,

Paris. Many of those who professed themselves

and reappeared for twelve more performances

shocked would nonetheless have sneaked a

the following season, a very respectable total.

visit to the theatre to see it for themselves.

A clear line could be drawn between the

The box office therefore tells a story of

movers and shakers of Parisian music – the

moderate success, not failure, from the first.

directors of theatres, government officials and

But although his friends rallied round, Bizet was

the press – on the one hand, and the public on

not easily consoled. He was badly hurt by the

the other. The former, almost to a man, resisted

critics, who were mostly deaf to the beauty and

the threat that Carmen posed to the traditions

subtlety of the score, being more exercised by

of the Opéra-Comique and would prefer to see

questions of decorum and taste which strike us

it disappear. The latter, on the whole, enjoyed

as curious now but which carried tremendous

the opera and wanted to see it again and again.

force in a world where the theatre was expected

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

“The silence with which the last act was greeted convinced Bizet that it was a flop, and he wandered the streets of Paris until dawn”

to lead public morality. Few critics had any sort

opera from him and his librettists, and the sorry

of musical expertise in those days. Napoleon’s

state of his marriage was no help. If he had lived,

rigid categorisation of French opera had been

he would not only have seen his work spread

relaxed ten years before, but there nonetheless

like wildfire across the globe, he might have

existed a strong presumption that the Opéra-

been able to prevent, or at least hold in check,

Comique offered acceptable (i.e. bland) family

the falsification and distortion that all his scores

entertainment and that it was safe to take your

suffered at the hands of publishers and theatre

daughters there any night of the week. Few critics

directors once his name was a household word.

even noticed the ingenuity of Bizet’s melodies,

The story of Carmen’s world success is

the originality of his scoring, or his lively evocation

contained in the phenomenal number of cities

of Spanish colour, so obsessed were they with

that wanted to mount the opera. Vienna was the

the morality of the libretto and the portrayal of

first, with performances at the Hofoper starting

a wicked woman on stage. In a different theatre,

in October 1875, then Brussels soon after, then

they suggested, it might have been acceptable,

Antwerp, Budapest, St Petersburg, Stockholm,

clearly thinking of the disreputable Parisian

London, Dublin, New York, Philadelphia,

theatres which they would never deign to enter.

Melbourne, and so on, all within a year or two.

The hostile reviews, some of them many

The total was approaching fifty cities, including

degrees beyond ludicrous, have been much

a number in the French provinces, before it was

quoted. Bizet’s tragic death three months later has

mounted again in Paris. For seven years the

been attributed by some writers to the severity

management of the Opéra-Comique resisted

of the critical consensus even. This may not

all proposals to revive the opera. The new

be clinically sound reasoning – and there were

director, Léon Carvalho, had been a staunch

critics who greatly admired the work – but it’s

supporter of Bizet in the 1860s, having put

not hard to imagine how his health might have

on Les Pêcheurs de perles and La Jolie Fille de

prospered on the wave of a thundering success.

Perth, both only moderately well received. But

He was understandably affected more by the

his resistance was now firmly entrenched; he

toils and troubles of the rehearsal period and

was unmoved by stories of galloping successes

by the constant needling he had had to put up

elsewhere. He didn’t care for the opera, didn’t

with from the theatre management. Both chorus

like Galli-Marié’s “realistic” acting, and that

and orchestra had found plenty to grumble at

was that. He said Lillas Pastia’s tavern in the

in the new score. The Don José could not stay

second act was nothing more than a brothel.

on pitch. The silence with which the last act was

In April 1883 he finally yielded and announced

greeted convinced Bizet that it was a flop, and he

a revival. His new Carmen, Adèle Isaac, was a

wandered the streets of Paris until dawn. One of

blameless blonde soprano with a voice that had

the singers later said that Bizet never returned to

suited the roles of Olympia and Antonia in Les

the theatre after that first performance. His mood

Contes d’Hoffmann but could never be described

was that of silent resignation, and he was unable

as a sultry mezzo. Carvalho skimped on rehearsals

to take heart from the continued performances or

and sets and deliberately scheduled the revival

from the theatre’s desire to commission another

to follow (and be overshadowed by) the première

CA R M EN

Stage Sketch by Joanna Parker

of Delibes’s Lakmé, or so it was rumoured. Ernest

In 1875 the word “Wagnerian” had crept

Chausson told d’Indy that he thought Carvalho

remorselessly into the critical vocabulary, an

was doing everything he could to sabotage the

unthinking synonym for modern, chromatic,

success of Carmen. The singing and acting was

daring, even different. At that time French critics

judged to be substandard. Don José dropped

might be excused for not knowing what Wagner

his knife twice in the final scene. Carmen,

sounded like, since not a note of his had been

instead of gripping the flower in her teeth wore

heard in Paris for a dozen years, but they cannot

it demurely as a corsage. It was, as the critics

be excused for using him as a stick with which

observed, an “embourgeoisement” of the opera.

to beat Bizet, for whom Wagner was of very

Many of the critics who had found the opera

little interest. Nietzsche was famously to use

indecent or unacceptable in 1875 were still there

Carmen as a stick with which to beat Wagner,

in 1883, and their task was either to eat their

seeing in Bizet’s score the antidote to everything

words or pretend they had liked it all along, since

he disliked in his former friend’s music. Brahms

the public was definitely ready to applaud. The

adored Carmen and went to hear it twenty times.

opera was shamefacedly acknowledged to be a

Tchaikovsky heard it in Paris in 1875 and declared

masterpiece, if only because Bizet was himself

it to be a “masterpiece in every sense of the

no longer there to be castigated for bad taste.

word”. He predicted, correctly, that it would one

The memory of Galli-Marié’s interpretation of

day be the most popular opera in the world.

the role of Carmen eventually forced Carvalho to

It reached its 500th performance at the

engage her when performances resumed in the

Opéra-Comique in 1891 and its 1000th in

autumn of 1883. She had sung the role over 350

1904, and it remained constantly in repertoire

times all over Europe and she now returned to

there until 1959 when the opera was taken over

triumph at the theatre where it all began. Ernest

by the larger house down the road, the Palais

Reyer, critic of the Journal des Débats, wrote:

Garnier. No other opera can boast a popular

“After Vienna, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, London

following as wide as Carmen, no other opera

and Edinburgh, Birmingham and Dublin, Havana

has tunes as familiar as these, no other opera

and Lisbon, New York and Mexico, and a hundred

has been so frequently sung, hummed, whistled,

other cities, Paris has just enjoyed the immense,

adapted, borrowed, arranged – and so loved.

brilliant success of Carmen and declared it to be a masterpiece. At least we’re ahead of Pekin!”

Professor Hugh Macdonald

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Unveiling Carmen Catherine Boyle

CA R M EN

At the beginning of Prosper Mérimée’s Carmen

written for her and she accepts it, almost like a

(1845) the narrator, a scholar in pursuit of

man, into whose territory she has transgressed.

evidence to prove his conjectures on the Battle

Carmen is man-made. Can she be woman-made?

of Munda in 45BC, halts his academic work to

Carmen is a projection of a shared

tell a ‘little story. At this point he leaves History

imagination. This sets her in the subjectivity of her

behind and embarks on the entirely more

author’s creativity and also in the context from

seductive story of Carmen, told largely through

which he writes, which is broadly the northern

her lover and murderer, Don José. Mérimée, it

European Romantic notion of Spain, especially of

seems, is setting up an ironic commentary on the

Andalusia. There is an almost feverish imagining

academic or ‘scientific’ search for the determining

of the fluid and uncontainable darkness of Spain,

fact that will define a career. Since the narrator

which so attracted the Romantics and which feels

never returns to this particular question, we are

as if it could only find expression in a nomadic

left stranded, but we are not to fret. He assures

female body. Carmen, like this representation of

his reader that the other story ‘will in no way

historic Andalusia, has no boundaries. She wanders

prejudice the fascinating question of the true

freely in a frontier land and, as an ‘Andalusian’

site of Munda’, perhaps lest we ourselves fall

and a ‘Gypsy’, she is located between Europe,

into futile academic quests for links between the

Africa and the East. She is constantly defined

opening scene and the main story. In this way, we

by her race, her gender, her nationality, but

happily leave the world of science and knowledge

she lives as if there are no borders and carries

for one of sensuality, seduction and barbarity.

these multiple identities with her, ready to adopt

As we translate and adapt, we return to stories that demand our involvement, that draw

whichever one is needed at any given time. Almost as soon as we are introduced to

us into asking questions of them. Each reinvention

Carmen, we become aware that she speaks a

will turn on how we, from our place in time and

number of languages, mainly Romany, Spanish

history, from our cultural rooting and from our

and Basque. This is her danger. Here is someone

ideological position read and retell the story.

whose belief in her command of different

These acts of reinvention are then multiplied in

languages and ways of being allows her to travel

the audience, as we receive one more Carmen:

through society, duping and defrauding, mocking

no, this is not how she is; here is how she is; here

and plotting. In command. From the beginning of

is how she has been ‘done’. Yet we tell the story

Mérimée’s story it is notable how unfixed Carmen

again because we are seduced by a persistent

is: she is all movement and fluidity, present one

unknowability that prompts the questions of the

moment gone the next, living an apparently

new age and of her new makers. We retell the

singular nomadic existence across southern Spain.

story, aware that this is Carmen’s story and not

She is named by Don José as the de facto leader

the story of the man who is awaiting execution

of the gang of outlaws, using her wits, her animal

for her murder, a murder that for both Mérimée

instincts and her womanly gifts (not to forget

and Bizet was her due for damning the soul of a

her management skills) to the advantage of their

good man and not redeeming him through her

criminal work. She weaves her way through the

renewed love and devotion to life within the law.

gaps in society, leaving little trace of her presence

In their Carmen’s mouth, this fate was always

and living a seemingly ‘modern’ life of sexual

1 Prosper Mérimée, Carmen, translated by Andrew Brown, with a foreword by Philip Pullman (London: Hesperus Press, 2004)

Opposite: Spain. Pamplona. Antonio Ordonez getting ready to go out to fight a corrida. 1954 © Inge Morath © The Inge Morath Foundation/Magnum Photos

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

liberation, determined, according to Mérimée, by

from every country on the world’ in Gibraltar,

her and her race’s need for freedom above all.

where he can go no more than ‘ten steps in a

Nobody can follow Carmen’s trail because

street without hearing as many languages’ and

she conjures it as she goes, out of her life

where Carmen deceives her almost monolingual

experience, belonging to many cultures and

English Lord by giving José instructions in Spanish

beliefs and to none recognisable to a northern

and Basque, her duplicity hiding in plain sight

European imagination. She is part of a nomadic

of all. It is perhaps in this Gibraltar that we see

community in which each one creates these

Carmen most at home, or least exceptional.

unfathomable mixes of languages and cultural

At the beginning of the Mérimée story,

acquisition, uncontainable in the emerging

Carmen is arrested by Don José (at that moment,

nation states of the nineteenth century. For

a decent soldier with prospects) for slicing the face

Don José, Carmen is at home midst the ‘scum

of another tobacco factory worker. As she is taken

“Nobody can follow Carmen’s trail because she conjures it as she goes, out of her life experience, belonging to many cultures and beliefs and to none recognisable…”

CA R M EN

away, before she persuades Don José to allow

So here is what happens: like Mérimée’s

her to escape, Carmen covers her head with her

scholar, I alight on an aspect of the story of

mantilla, or shawl, ‘in such a way that only one of

Carmen that animates my knowledge. I find a

her two big eyes showed’. On one level this is a

gap and in I go! Why? Because the question

mere detail, an action in the scene. But Carmen

remains, as Carmen is reawakened by women:

is taking on another guise at her disposal, that

can Carmen be women-made? The challenge

of the cobijada or tapada, the covered woman.

is making the character move between the

These were women in Andalusia and then

community into which she was written and the

in the New World, especially Lima, who wore

one into which she is being re-written. Don José

ankle length skirts, and shawls that they arranged

says that his murder of Carmen is ‘the fault of

in such a way as to show only one eye. The

the Calé for having brought her up like that’, and

origin of the tradition is complex and multiple,

through acceptance of his own execution he

one trail leading to the Castilian court of the

seeks to redeem himself in the society that had

sixteenth century, and another to the legacy

brought him up. It’s so easy to be drawn into the

of Muslim Spain. In Peru there were a number

obvious readings of battles between national

of attempts to outlaw the practice, which took

identities, belonging and otherness, masculinity

root around the 1560s. Far from promoting

and femininity, civilisation versus barbarism, for

modesty and decorum that protected the

these are all inevitably in the narrative. But in the

honour or families, la tapada was seen to have

midst of all this successive wondering about who

a perfect outfit for unmediated coquetry and

Carmen is there has to be a possible recreation

seduction, for occupying the public domain and

of a woman who knows that her ‘unique selling

for engaging in social and even political activity

point’ (so to speak) – the exotic sensuality of

without being recognised. It is interesting that

the alien seductive temptress – is at the service

the practice, whose immediate antecedent was

of her community. It is a commodity to be

the frontier territory of Andalusia, persisted in

traded, by will or by force, and in that she is not

the frontier territory of Lima. Peruvian historian

singular; she is one of many, then and now.

Norma Isabel Barúa Lanchippa sees the tapadas

In many ways Carmen must remain

as skilfully sharing and negotiating complex and

Mérimée’s and Bizet’s, perhaps more of the

often dangerous social spaces from behind their

nineteenth century than of the twenty-first, yet

veils. In Lima the successive prohibitions did

she is readable now with language that is at my

not manage to stop the practice, which bowed

particular community’s disposal: as multi-lingual,

out to new French fashions in the 1860s. And

outlawed, borderless, nomadic, a sex worker, a

in Spain, in the town of Vejer de la Frontera in

survivor, clear-headed about a fate that is more

Cadiz, las cobijadas still exist after different periods

than likely written for her. But, as that other

of abeyance in the practice. Carmen covers all

academic and narrator reminds us, the stories of

but one of her eyes as Carmen and as a woman

history do not always oblige our contemporary

schooled in the skills of veiling and unveiling.

needs, and our role is one of faulty remaking. Catherine Boyle Professor of Spanish and Latin American Cultural Studies, King’s College London

A L BE RT H E R R I N G B E N JA M I N B R I T T E N

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

A L B E RT H E R R I N G BENJAM IN BR IT T EN Libretto by Eric Crozier, freely adapted from a story of Guy de Maupassant | 25, 29 June, 1, 7, 9 July | Sung in English with surtitles

Conductor Steuart Bedford

CA S T

Director John Copley

Set Designer Tim Reed

Costume Designer Prue Handley

Lighting Designer Kevin Treacy

Lady Billows Orla Boylan

Florence Pike Clarissa Meek

Miss Wordsworth Anna Gillingham

Mr Gedge Alexander Robin-Baker

AU RO R A O RC H E S T R A Leader Jamie Campbell

Mr Upfold Adrian Thompson Superintendent Budd Andri Björn Róbertsson

Sid Timothy Nelson

Nancy Kitty Whately

Assistant Director William Edelsten Répétiteur Mark Austin Production Manager Tom Nickson

Costume Supervisor Kate Lyons

Mrs Herring Kathleen Wilkinson

Emmie Emily Vine

Assistant Conductor John Andrews

Albert Herring Richard Pinkstone

Cis Catriona Hewitson

Harry (25 June, 1, 9 July) Jack Stone Harry (29 June, 7 July) Hector Taggart

Wigs Supervisor Darren Ware

First performed in 1947 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Albert Herring is performed by permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited.

This production is proudly supported by

The Linbury Trust Sir Vernon and Lady Ellis Performance sponsor Sat 25 June:

A L B E RT H E R R I N G

Synopsis

Set in Loxford a small, fictional market town in Suffolk. It is spring and the May Day Festival is fast approaching.

AC T ON E

AC T T WO

Scene One

Lady Billows has a significant responsibility on

A marquee has been set up in the vicarage gardens

her hands. She must decide who to crown as

to celebrate the crowning of the May King. Sid

the May Queen; an essential part of the May

and Nancy who are helping with the preparations

Day celebrations. The individual selected must,

decide to trick Albert into drinking some alcohol

however, be worthy of the title and be the very

by slipping rum into his lemonade. At the party,

emblem of good behaviour and virtue. The trouble

Albert is called to deliver a speech but overcome

she faces is that each girl suggested comes with

by his timidity, he finds himself tongue-tied and

a catalogue of complications or a seedy past,

only manages to utter a few, unimpressive words.

and there is not one suitable candidate. The local

He reaches for his drink and after unknowingly

dignitaries can see that Lady Billows is on the

consuming the alcohol he falls into a fit of

verge of giving up, so they throw a new idea into

hiccups. This meek and mild young man also

the ring. Instead of a May Queen why not have

begins to develop a newfound confidence.

a May King. The young man suggested is Albert Herring, a hard worker, a respectful son with never

Scene Two

a bad word to say about anyone who consistently

A tipsy Albert returns to his mother’s greengrocers.

exhibits exquisite behaviour. The decision is

He overhears Sid and Nancy talking about him

made. Together they head to the greengrocers to

in the street and discovers that they put rum

inform Albert and his mother of the good news.

in his drink. They mock him, they pity him and they even call him the ‘village simpleton’. Albert

Scene Two

hears every word. All this is too much for the

Albert is hard at work at the greengrocer’s but

frustrated Albert and he decides to take his prize

is interrupted by Sid, the Butcher’s boy. Sid

money and to venture off alone for a night on the

teases and mocks Albert for being under his

town. Mrs. Herring returns home and is worried

mother’s thumb. Nancy, the Baker’s daughter,

when she realises that Albert is not there.

enters the shop and Sid flirts with her right under Albert’s nose. Albert cannot help but watch and wonder what life would be like if he was more adventurous and less cautious. Bursting in upon the scene comes Lady Billows and the committee announcing that Albert has been elected as May King. Albert recoils from this title but is pressured to accept it by his mother who has her eye on the 25-sovereign reward attached to winning the title. Interval

Costume designs by Prue Handley

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

AC T T H R E E Synopsis Continued Scene One

By the following afternoon, Albert has still not come home. Members of the village gather in Mrs. Herring’s shop, concerned

about where Albert has gone. When the wreath of orange blossoms with which Albert was crowned To follow… is found, crushed under a cart, Mrs. Herring is devastated and fears the worst. Grief stricken, they all join together to mourn the likely loss of Albert. Just at that moment, Albert walks through the door and startles them all. He announces to them that he has been out drinking, getting into fights, and having a night like he has never had before... He makes sure to thank the committee for funding this night out! Appalled by this revelation, the committee strip him of his title as May King. Albert blames his mother for being too protective of him, reining him in to the point where he simply had to break free. The committee scolds him, but Sid and Nancy watch on enjoying Albert’s new found liberation. Albert returns to work a changed and happier man. Genevieve Raghu

Costume designs by Prue Handley

A L B E RT H E R R I N G

Albert the Good Paul Kildea In La Parure, Guy de Maupassant’s short story from 1884, Madame Loisel borrows an extravagant diamond necklace from an apparently wealthy friend, which she loses in the course of the society party she was so desperate to attend. Horrified, she finds a replacement, borrows at high interest the 36,000 francs needed to buy it, and is thus able to ‘return’ her friend’s jewellery, after which the two women drift apart. When ten years later they run into each other, Madame Loisel reveals what took place, how the aspirations and repercussions of that single evening led to her destitution. Her mortified friend says in response that the original necklace was paste, worth no more than 500 francs. Maupassant loved these twist endings: they come from nowhere and make bleak stories worse. In Le Rosier de Madame Husson (1887) the virtuous young Isidore (‘tall, awkward, slow and timid’), crowned Rose King when a girl of comparable character cannot be found in the French town of Gisors, skips off to Paris to spend his prize money in a series of bars. Adolescent virtuousness is overnight exchanged for lifelong degeneracy, and Isidore later dies from alcoholism. Eric Crozier, who in 1945 directed the first production of Peter Grimes, suggested Le Rosier de Madame Husson when in 1946 Britten was scrambling around for a story.The fault lines in the Glyndebourne English Opera Company he had founded with the patrician John Christie had that same year become all too apparent; Britten, Crozier, and the artist John Piper had quickly formed a new group and now needed suitable repertory. On to his third opera company in as many years, and wrought by the harrowing Peter Grimes and its equally bleak follow-up, The Rape of Lucretia, Britten leaped on Crozier’s suggestion; once the two of them had tweaked the Maupassant original, Britten would be composing a largely comic opera, a most welcome shift. Some of these tweaks were straightforward. Crozier updated the story to 1900, and relocated it to the market town of Loxford, based on the film-set village of Yoxford, eight miles from Britten’s home in Snape. Both men were acquainted with the rhythms and rituals of this part of East Suffolk: the May Day parades; the village fairs; an agrarian calendar shaped by crops and harvests, calving and lambing. They knew the people too, or at least their types: the dowager widow in the manor-house just outside town; the local bobby, whose father before him had policed the same streets; the nervous young school teacher on her first posting; the apprentices and shop boys who had been her pupils until they turned thirteen and were put to work. Though a comedy, the customs and characters in Albert Herring do not balance out Britten’s largely unforgiving picture of village life and mores in Peter Grimes. The townsfolk in Herring are given better suits and frocks to wear, and the crippling poverty of Grimes

is missing, but few characters come out of the piece well. Partly this is because in changing the setting from Normandy to Suffolk, Crozier was forced to confront the entrenched ghastliness of the English class system. George Orwell thought war would put an end to it, to the condescension and inequality, predicting in 1941: ‘The Stock Exchange will be pulled down, the horse plough will give way to the tractor, the country houses will be turned into children’s holiday camps, the Eton and Harrow match will be forgotten.’ And it did, in a way: war gave working-class men and women social and sexual freedom on a scale they could never have imagined, yet many still slotted back into their former lives – or a version of them – once it was over. It took a foreigner to spot the class component of Albert Herring. The émigré Carl Ebert, Glyndebourne’s artistic director, told Crozier the production must be true to the social criticism inherent in the story, that they must not shy away from the ‘mendacious prudery’ of the characters. ‘Now I must write a long letter back in words of one syllable,’ Crozier told his future wife Nancy Evans, ‘explaining that this isn’t an Expressionist or Trotskyist attack on the upper classes of a decadent England, but a simple lyrical comedy.’ Yet Ebert had trained under the theatrical wizard Max Reinhardt at Berlin’s School of Dramatic Art and thereafter worked throughout Germany, not least on pieces by Brecht and Weill; he knew a piece of dialectical theatre when he saw it.

Guy de Maupassant

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Britten knew it too, and Herring is yet another product of his strange, strained relationship with England’s ruling class. He was sensitive to the degree to which his homosexuality and pacifism placed him outside English society, and as a consequence furiously over-compensated. Thus after the war he could befriend the future Queen’s cousin, the Earl of Harewood, and, in the following decade, take tea at the palace with her mother. He could accept an Order of Merit – the exclusive gift of the monarch – but nothing so common as a knighthood. He would write an opera for the new Queen (Gloriana), but only if it were an official commission, part of the coronation celebrations. W H Auden, Britten’s close friend and collaborator in the 1930s (before his didactic and overbearing personality became too much for the thin-skinned composer), called this over-compensation for what it was. ‘Ben’s lack of daring, his desire to be The Establishment… playing it safe, settling for amiability as guard against his queerity, but insisting on the innocence of adolescence as if this was a courageous attitude.’ In the mid-1950s the American sociologist Edward Shils excoriated British artists and intellectuals of a certain age for exactly the same thing, pointing out that the political fire in their 1930s bellies

“…he was capable of holding contradictory views and desires, of writing works of both comedy and moral significance” had been quenched over time by too much good port. ‘Outside the China of the Mandarins, no great society has ever had a body of intellectuals so integrated with, and so congenial to, its ruling class.’ Yet occasionally this congenial rapport seemed either to spook or disgust Britten. His portrait of Elizabeth I in Gloriana is brilliantly nuanced – a study of power, lust and decline (and this from a man whose female characters could sometimes be cardboard thin), which was deemed inappropriate at the start of a new Elizabethan age. His War Requiem is a searing indictment of the Establishment thinking that led to the muddy slaughter of young men of Albert Herring’s generation, a topic Britten returned to ten years later in Owen Wingrave. He echoed Mozart in this regard, which he inadvertently touched on in a conversation with Crozier in these years. ‘I feel that with Mozart, for instance, that

Children dance around the village maypole, East Hanney, Oxfordshire – undated © Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Yoxford, east of Suffolk, England, pre-1900

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he is writing about Figaro and his relationship with Susanna and the Countess, and is not always quite clear of the tremendous moral significance that these pieces are going to have for us.’ So he was capable of holding contradictory views and desires, of writing works of both comedy and moral significance. And, pace Auden, he didn’t play it safe, not in his music: his entire body of work is infused with complex strains of human psychology, of variations on the theme of betrayal. In Herring this complexity is revealed in Albert’s soliloquy following his return from the lunch in his honour – ‘decently squiffy’ (as the Lord Chamberlain’s report on the opera puts it) on the rum the butcher’s shop-boy Sid slipped into his punch, dressed in his virginal white suit and with orange blossom wreathed around his straw hat – and decides to escape his domineering mother and cloistered life. When he does not return the next morning, when the blossom crown is found on the road to Campsey Ash, crushed by a cart, the town assumes the worst. The subsequent threnody, a funeral dirge in which each character sings of his or her response to Albert’s death (which provides a snapshot of turn-of-the-century English hopes and values), turns from pathos to black comedy only when Albert turns up at the end of it, nonplussed by the grief-stricken entourage in his mother’s shop. Britten wrote it all at such speed, an aspect of his talent that did not always serve him well. But in Herring the urgency in its composition translated into a frenetic energy in the score. Britten was writing for only thirteen singers and the same number of instrumentalists, but through doublings – the flautist also on piccolo and alto flute, the clarinettist on bass clarinet as well – and a great ear for timbre, he created an exquisite sound world. Britten and Crozier shied away from the twist in Maupassant’s tale. After telling the horrified assembly of his night of ‘drunkenness, dirt and worse’, Albert puts on his apron and resumes work. But he has been changed by his night away – not as irreparably as Isidore is, but it is clear he will not remain under his mother’s thumb. Britten even introduces a slight frisson between Albert and Nancy: Albert’s liberation is evidently also sexual. In a nice stroke of irony, John Christie – the ‘mischievous old mad-man’, as Britten called him – who had agreed to host Britten’s new company at Glyndebourne in summer 1947 but had missed both the comedy and the pathos at the opera’s heart (and was somewhat embarrassed by the raucous laughter that greeted it), was heard telling his well-healed guests at the first performance, ‘This isn’t our kind of thing, you know.’ After years of deprivation and war and personal tragedy, audiences found it a relief to laugh along. But over time the more serious aspects of this morality tale revealed themselves, much to the opera’s advantage. The inhabitants of Loxford are different from those in Grimes’s Borough, only twelve miles down the road. But not that different.

Paul Kildea Paul Kildea is a writer and conductor. In 2013 Penguin published his biography of Benjamin Britten and will next year release Chopin’s Piano: A Path through the Romantic Century.

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Rooted in These Parts: Suffolk and Britten, the past and the present Humphrey Burton

Botanical image: Yale Center for British Art

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Photo: Stan Pritchard / Alamy Stock Photo

As with Beethoven, who was by no means his favourite composer, you can divide Benjamin Britten’s musical life into three periods. The first would be his precocious youth and would include his pre-war work in London for the BBC and the GPO Film Unit, and his self-imposed exile in the USA. I would call the two decades from Peter Grimes to the War Requiem his second period, the years of undisputed, broad-appeal masterpieces. The final 14 years are his dark “late” period, marred by illness and ended by premature death in 1976. Albert Herring comes near the beginning of the middle period, but the year of the opera’s completion and premiere, 1947, was of particular significance because Herring was the last work Britten composed while living at The Old Mill in Snape, a village five miles from Aldeburgh. Snape is famous now as the home of the Maltings concert hall but was then a modest village with only a remarkable complex of Victorian buildings dedicated to the brewing industry to mark it out from hundreds of other Suffolk parishes. Britten was born thirty miles further up the coast in Lowestoft, but in his twenties, he often stayed with his sister Beth in Peasenhall, much closer to Snape, and in 1938 he moved into an old disused windmill which he bought and renovated with money left him by his mother, who from his infancy intended him to be a musical genius. Although for work purposes he kept a flat in London, he had always felt “rooted” in Suffolk and never more so than when living in Snape: it was here that he composed his two Suffolk operas Peter Grimes and Albert Herring. The transfer of Maupassant’s short story to a Suffolk background may have been Eric Crozier’s suggestion but it suited Britten perfectly. By the time he came to compose his comic opera he had lived in these parts for four years and he revelled in the creation of local characters such as the ridiculously bossy Lady Billows, the pompous Mayor, Mr Upfold, and the twittering schoolteacher Miss Wordsworth. Local jokes were worked in, too, such as the naming of Albert’s village as Loxford (there is a real Yoxford close to Peasenhall) and the discovery of Albert’s mud-bedraggled May King wreath crushed by a cart “on the road to Campsey Ash” which is just a few miles down the road from Britten’s mill. Albert Herring is Britten’s love-letter to his beloved Suffolk. And, I submit, it marks the end of the composer’s private life. Within a year of the opera’s premiere at Glyndebourne he and Peter Pears had moved to a bigger house on the sea front at Aldeburgh, where they immediately created an annual festival of music and the

arts, an intimate affair to be performed by themselves and their friends. In the first year it ran for eight days of chamber music and song, plus lectures by E M Forster and Kenneth Clark; three performances of Albert Herring were squeezed into the Jubilee Hall. As planner and performer (he was good at both) Britten was inevitably transformed into a public personality, a shy but effective impresario and a well-known figure in the town; curious visitors strolling down the promenade known as Crag Path could look right into his garden and maybe catch a glimpse of him on his way to take a dip in what before the first world war had been known as the German Ocean: in the summer, when the sea was not too terrifyingly cold, he would go swimming as many as five times a day, the final outing being a skinny-dip in the moonlight. The blue plaque on the wall of his house reminds us that Britten lived in the town for a decade. From his bedroom he had a view of the sea to match the one from his nursery window when he was growing up in Lowestoft. This new home would have been perfect but for the tourists; eventually he escaped their intrusive gawping by moving out to The Red House, a mile away on Golf Lane. This is where I first met him, in 1963, when for BBC TV I directed a celebratory tribute for his 50th birthday. He took some persuading. “I’m too young for this sort of thing” he protested: “it feels like an obituary; can’t you come back when I’m 80?” Since Britten died at the age of only 63, it was fortunate that I won him round to the project and thereafter to many other television programmes for the BBC; its priceless archive includes productions of the operas Peter Grimes and Owen Wingrave taped at Snape and now available on DVD, as are Albert Herring, from Glyndebourne, and many other Britten compositions such as a delightfully informal song recital and Tony Palmer’s major documentary produced in 1967 to mark the 20th festival and the inauguration of the magnificent 800-seat Snape Maltings Concert Hall. Opened by the Queen in 1967 and re-opened by her three years later after a disastrous fire had burnt the place to the ground on the eve of the 1969 festival, the new hall inevitably shifted the festival’s centre of gravity out of Aldeburgh and down to Snape; associated with the expansion were a host of worries which probably shortened Britten’s life. Little did I think as I narrated the BBC’s obituary that a quarter of a century later I would re-locate my own life to Aldeburgh – but that’s what my wife and I did when I hit seventy (in 2001) and I have never regretted it.

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Of course the place has changed a good deal since Britten’s time. We have lost our only petrol pump but we do have a Tesco. And a second Co-op. (Waitrose is a mere ten minutes drive away in Saxmundham.) The branch railway line to Aldeburgh was closed in Britten’s lifetime, in the same decade that saw the construction of the nuclear power station a few miles north at Sizewell, a sight which must have disturbed the beach walks Britten liked to take with his dog while thinking out his next composition. But I doubt whether he would have been upset by the moon-like disc of the second reactor, Sizewell B, which went into service twenty years after Britten’s death and in the evening sunlight looks mysterious and poetic, but he would surely have opposed the worrying plans for yet another nuclear installation on the same site. However, he would have relished the fact that Snape Maltings is now a year-round hub of musical activity for professionals, students and talented children, not to mention the shoppers who throng the site every

a 50th anniversary performance of The Building of the House, composed for the opening of the Maltings. But were Britten to return to Crag Path today, what he would appreciate most would be something invisible: the absence of noise. Throughout the Cold War the American air force leased nearby RAF Bentwaters air field. Suffolk was on the front line and Aldeburgh was on the flight path. Thankfully, missions were suspended during the festival but for the rest of the year US planes swept in low on their final approach: the racket was intolerable, disrupting school lessons and recording sessions alike. In search of peace and quiet, Britten eventually retreated to a composing cottage twenty miles inland. With the collapse of the Soviet Union military flights ended. The airbase was closed in 1994, Today Aldeburgh and Snape are still full of “noises” but, as Caliban puts it in The Tempest, they are “Sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.” Aldeburgh has been a popular seaside resort since

“Britten was inevitably transformed into a public personality, a shy but effective impresario and a well-known figure” day of the year day. (Controversy looms as to where the ever-increasing number of cars should be parked.) Britten would also enjoy the innovation of a bandstand on Aldeburgh beach for free concerts during the festival and the presence of a thriving café where the now defunct festival club was located in his lifetime: I vividly remember having a drink with him there back in the 60s when he confided that there were times when (shock horror!) he preferred Prokofiev to Shostakovitch. Down the road Britten and Pears regularly hosted meetings of the Aldeburgh Music Club in their sea-front house and Ben would be glad, I’m sure, to see the club’s choir, nowadays a hundred strong, singing three public concerts every season in everything from Messiah to Carmina Burana and participating at this year’s main festival in

the 18th century and it’s my impression that after hostility in some quarters the town has absorbed Britten and the music-loving punters he attracted to this small town. It is not a shrine like Mozart’s Salzburg, and lots of people come here for the yachting or the golf or simply to hang out with their kids on the stony beach and eat fish and chips on the sea wall, ideally after a brisk walk to the Martello tower to the south or Maggi Hambling’s Scallop sculpture to the north. But Britten’s continuing presence – I should mention here his simple gravestone in the churchyard and the lovely John Piper stained glass memorial window in the church’s north wall – helps to define the way people think about the town and the area. Steuart Bedford, The Grange Festival’s inspired choice as the conductor of Albert Herring, has close

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connections with Britten and Suffolk. He lives now in Yoxford but when he was a child he spent summer holidays in a family cottage in Snape: his mother sang in Britten’s own mini-opera company and the composer was a much-loved family friend. So it comes as no surprise to learn that Steuart made his conducting debut in Albert Herring – a bold choice for a student! A decade later he enjoyed international success conducting the world premiere of Britten’s last opera Death in Venice. “Britten trusted me” he explained: “he was impressed that I had sought his advice a few years earlier, before I conducted his version of The Beggar’s Opera. He gave me such helpful advice.” In a busy professional career, he has since conducted all Britten’s operas, most memorably for me on the beach at Aldeburgh for the celebrated centenary production of Peter Grimes in 2013 which was sung live in a howling gale on a specially built stage overlooking the sea. Steuart was concealed in a dug out in front of the stage from where he could hear the sound of the pre-recorded orchestra on his headphones and conduct the cast “live”. It was a technical and artistic feat of the highest order.

Tonight’s director John Copley has connections with Britten that go back even further than Steuart’s. He started training as a ballet dancer but Ninette de Valois told him he was hopeless and got him a job in the opera company at Covent Garden. He was only a teenager when he played the (silent) role of the doomed boy apprentice in a production of Peter Grimes and he was still in his twenties when he went to work at the Aldeburgh Festival; his first job was collaborating with the choreographer John Cranko on the direction of Britten’s delightful Shakespeare opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He worked for six years at the festival until he blotted his copybook with an unwise reference to Dudley Moore’s wicked parody of Peter Pears singing Little Miss Muffet: he was summarily banished from the Britten court. John is famous in the profession for his ability to cope with prodigious work loads and to do so with good humour and outrageously camp observations. For many decades, he directed as many as a dozen operas a year – forty in his time at Covent Garden and nearly thirty with Australian Opera in Sydney. He makes his directing debut at The Grange Festival aged 83 but has done Albert Herring several times elsewhere and loves the way Britten reveals the characters through his music. Copley told me something I’ve not seen mentioned in any opera guide, that the part of Lady Billows was directly inspired by the soprano Joan Cross, a feisty lady who was the war-time director of the touring Sadler’s Wells opera company: Cross was the original Ellen Orford in Grimes and like the imperious Lady Billows in Albert Herring she had a maid named Florence. I’ve already noted that Britten’s librettist Eric Crozier did a wonderful job with Albert Herring. When he was working on it at the Old Mill, I suppose he must have known that a family named Herring lived down the road. There have been Herrings in East Suffolk for well over a century. Mr Tom Herring of Blaxhall (two miles from Snape) currently runs a pioneering garlic farm and the same village is listed as the home of Mr Ray Herring, leader, since 2002, of Suffolk Coastal District Council. It must have been their great-grandfather who owned the local greengrocer’s shop in … Loxford.

Humphrey Burton Writer and Broadcaster, President of Aldeburgh Music Club

Costume designs by Prue Handley

M E S SA DA R E Q U I E M GIUSEPPE V ER DI

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M E S SA DA R E QU I E M G I U SE PP E V E R DI 9 June

Conductor Francesco Cilluffo Soprano Vlada Borovko Mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon Tenor Leonardo Capalbo Bass Jongmin Park

BOU R N EMOU T H S Y M P H O N Y O RC H E S T R A Leader Amyn Merchant

BOU R N EMOU T H S Y M P H O N Y C H O RU S

Chorus Master Gavin Carr

Accompanist Christopher Dowie

THE GR ANGE F E S T I VA L C H O RU S

Chorus Master Anthony Kraus

Répétiteur Tom Primrose

This production is proudly supported by

M E S S A DA R E Q U I E M

T E X T / T R A N S L AT ION I. R EQU I EM AND KYRIE

I. R EQU I EM AND KYRIE

Chorus:

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine;

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord;

et lux perpetua

and may perpetual light

luceat eis.

shine upon them.

Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,

A hymn in Zion befits you, O God,

et tibi reddetur

and a debt will be paid to

votum in Jerusalem.

you in Jerusalem.

Solo Quartet and Chorus:

Rex tremendae majestatis,

King of dreadful majesty.

qui salvandos salvas gratis:

who freely saves the redeemed ones,

salva me, fons pietas.

save me, O font of pity.

Soprano and Mezzo-soprano:

Recordare, Jesu pie,

Recall, merciful Jesus,

quod sum causa tuae viae:

that I was the reason for your journey:

ne me perdas illa die.

do not destroy me on that day.

Quaerens me, sedisti lassus;

In seeking me, you sat down wearily;

redemisti crucem pacem:

enduring the Cross, you redeemed me:

tantus labor

do not let these pains to

Exaudi orationem meam:

Hear my prayer:

ad te omnis caro veniet.

all earthly flesh will come to you.

Quartet and Chorus:

Juste judex ultionis:

Just Judge of punishment:

Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

donum fac remissionis

give me the gift of redemption

Christe eleison.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

ante diem rationis.

before the day of reckoning.

Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Tenor:

Ingemisco tamquam reus,

I groan as a guilty one, and my face blushes with guilt;

non sit causas.

have been in vain.

I I. SEQU ENCE

culpa rubet vultus meus;

Chorus:

supplicanti parce, Deus.

spare the supplicant, O God.

Dies irae, dies illa,

The day of wrath, that day will

Qui Mariam absolvisti,

You, who absolved Mary Magdalen,

solvet saeclum in favilla,

dissolve the world in ashes,

et latronem exaudisti,

and heard the prayer of the thief,

teste David cum Sibylla.

as David and the Sibyl prophesied.

mihi quoque spem dedisti.

have given me hope, as well.

Quantus tremor est futurus,

How great will be the terror,

Preces meae non sunt digne,

My prayers are not worthy,

quando judex est venturus,

when the Judge comes

sed tu, bonus, fac benigne,

but show mercy, O benevolent one,

cuncta stricte discussurus!

who will smash everything completely!

ne perenni cremer igne.

lest I burn forever in fire.

Tuba mirum

The trumpet, scattering a

Inter oves locum praesta,

Give me a place among the sheep,

et ab haedis me sequestra,

and separate me from the goats,

statuens in parte dextra.

placing me on your right hand.

spargens sonum,

marvelous sound

per sepulcra regionem,

through the tombs of every land,

coget omnes ante thronum.

will gather all before the throne.

Bass and Chorus:

Bass:

Confutatis maledictis,

When the damned are silenced,

Mors stupebit et natura,

Death and Nature shall stand amazed,

flammis acribus addictis,

and given to the fierce flames,

cum resurget creatura,

when all Creation rises again

voca me cum benedictis.

call me with the blessed ones.

judicanti responsura.

to answer to the Judge.

Oro supplex et acclinis,

I pray, suppliant and kneeling,

cor contritum quasi cinis:

with a heart contrite as ashes:

Mezzo-soprano and Chorus:

gere curam mei finis.

take my ending into your care.

Liber scriptus proferetur,

A written book will be brought forth,

in quo totum continetur,

which contains everything

Chorus:

unde mundus judicetur.

for which the world will be judged.

Dies irae, dies illa,

The day of wrath, that day will

Judex ergo

Therefore when the Judge

solvet saeclum in favilla,

dissolve the world in ashes,

teste David cum Sibylla.

as David and the Sibyl prophesied.

Solo Quartet and Chorus:

Lacrymosa dies illa,

That day is one of weeping,

qua resurget ex favilla,

on which shall rise from the ashes

judicandus homo reus.

the guilty man, to be judged. Therefore, spare this one, O God.

cum sedebit,

takes His seat,

quidquid latet apparebit:

whatever is hidden will be revealed:

nil inultum remanebit.

nothing shall remain unavenged.

Dies irae, dies illa,

The day of wrath, that day will

solvet saeclum in favilla,

dissolve the world in ashes,

teste David cum Sibylla.

as David and the Sibyl prophesied.

Huic ergo parce, Deus.

Soprano, Mezzo-soprano and Tenor:

Pie Jesu Domine:

Merciful Lord Jesus:

dona eis requiem.

grant them peace.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?

What can a wretch like me say?

Quem patronum rogaturus,

Whom shall I ask to intercede for me,

Amen.

cum vix justus sit securus?

when even the just ones are unsafe?

Interval (100 minutes)

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I I I . O F F E RT ToO follow… R IO

I I I . O F F E RT O R I O

V I . LU X A E T E R N A

Quartet:

Mezzo-soprano, Tenor and Bass:

Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae:

O Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory:

Lux aeterna luceat

Let eternal light shine upon

libera animas omnium fidelum

deliver the souls of all the faithful

defunctorum de poenis inferni

dead from the pains of hell and from the

et profondo lacu; libera

deep pit; deliver them from

eas de ore leonis;

the mouth of the lion;

eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternam; quia pius es. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,

ne absorbeat eas tartarus,

that hell may not swallow them, and

et lux perpetua luceat eis,

ne cadant in obscurum.

that they may not fall into darkness.

cum sanctis tuis in aeternam;

Sed signifer sanctus Michael

But may the holy standard-

repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam. Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus. Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus. Tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam facimus. Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus. Libera animas omnium

bearer Michael

VII. LIBER A ME

Soprano and Chorus:

Libera me, Domine, de morte

Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal

Abraham and his descendents. We offer to you, O Lord, sacrifices and prayers. Receive them on behalf of those souls whom we commemorate today. Grant, O Lord, that they might pass from death into that life which you once promised to Abraham and his descendents. Deliver the souls of all the pains of hell; Grant that they might pass from death into that life.

I V. SA N C T U S

Double Chorus:

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus,

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Heaven and earth are filled with your glory.

Hosanna in excelsis!

Hosanna in the highest!

Benedictus qui venit in

Blessed is he that comes in

nomini Domini.

the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in excelsis!

Hosanna in the highest!

V. AG N U S D E I

Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, and Chorus:

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata

Lamb of God, who takes away the

mundi, dona eis requiem. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata

for you are merciful.

VII. LIBER A ME

the faithful dead from

Dominus Deus Sabaoth.

may perpetual light shine upon them with your saints forever;

which you once promised to

de poenis inferni; transire ad vitam.

you are merciful. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and

show them the holy light;

fidelum defunctorum fac eas de morte

quia pius es.

them, O Lord, with your saints forever; for

sins of the world, grant them rest. Lamb of God, who takes away

mundi, dona eis

the sins of the world, grant

requiem sempiternam.

them rest everlasting.

aeterna in die illa tremenda; quando coeli movendi sunt et terra: dum veneris judicare sae clum per ignem. Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum discussio venerit atque ventura irae, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra. Dies irae, dies illa calamitatis et miseriae; dies magna et amara valde. Requiem aeternam, dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda. Libera me, Domine, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra; dum veneris judicare saeclum per ignem. Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda. Libera me.

death on that awful day, when the heavens and the earth shall be moved: when you will come to judge the world by fire. I tremble, and I fear the judgment and the wrath to come, when the heavens and the earth shall be moved. The day of wrath, that day of calamity and misery; a great and bitter day, indeed. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death on that awful day. Deliver me, O Lord, when the heavens and the earth shall be moved; when you will come to judge the world by fire. Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death on that awful day. Deliver me.

M E S S A DA R E Q U I E M

Verdi and the Messa da Requiem Roger Parker

Verdi’s Aida was premiered in 1871 and seemed

But surely the most serious obstacle to

to many merely the latest stage in a magnificent

continued creative activity was Verdi’s increasing

and continuing operatic career, one that had

sense of disenchantment with the newly-

begun in the late 1830s in Milan and from

cosmopolitan direction of the fledgling Italian

there conquered the world. True, after the great

state. Early in the 1870s he was asked for advice

“trilogy” of the early 185os (Rigoletto, Il trovatore

about a revised curriculum for the reformed

and La traviata) Verdi’s operatic progress had

Italian conservatories. His suggestions were

stuttered somewhat, never regaining the furious

austere in the extreme: students should submit

momentum of the early years; there was, though,

to daily doses of fugue and study only the old

little reason to believe Aida would prove any

Italian masters; budding composers ‘must attend

kind of terminus. But then came operatic silence:

few performances of modern operas, and avoid

the 1870s and early 80s, years in which Verdi

becoming fascinated either by their many beauties

might have been imagined reaching the height

of harmony and orchestration or by the diminished

of his creative powers, saw no new operas. The

seventh chord’. With increasing stridency as

reasons for this silence are of course complex.

the years rolled on, he voiced discontent at the

The composer’s increasing financial security

direction Italian music was taking, in particular

made work no longer a necessity for him; more

its love-affair with French opera of various

of his energies went into the development of

kinds, and – worse still – its newer fascination

substantial land holdings, and – increasingly –

with the Germanic and the symphonic.

into various charitable causes. He also spent

It is easy to see how such attitudes further

a great deal of time supervising and directing

fuelled the reluctance to compose that Verdi had

performances of Aida around Europe, and set

intermittently shown in the 1860s. But then,

to work revising both Simon Boccanegra and

somewhat against the tide, the post-Aida period

Don Carlos, in the process making them more

saw the emergence of a major new work: not an

suitable for the modern stage. At the same time,

opera, but, of all things, a Messa da Requiem.

and perhaps not unrelated to the European

In the circumstances, it is small surprise that,

travels, his personal life underwent an upheaval,

enwrapped within this strange, anomalous piece

causing much private anguish between him and

in his oeuvre, we can find many of the obsessions

his partner Giuseppina Strepponi. The reason was

and insecurities that blighted his maturity.

his relationship with the soprano Teresa Stolz,

Indeed, the fact that Verdi could fashion such

who had been the first Leonora in the 1869

a magnificent work from such circumstances

version of La forza del destino and then the

is, as well as eloquent testimony to his energy

first Aida in the Milanese premiere of that opera

and creativity, a good illustration of the way in

(1872). Matters between Strepponi, Verdi and

which adversity can – sometimes – prove the

Stolz came to a crisis in 1876, and even spilled

most stimulating of artistic circumstances.

out into the newspapers; but eventually the

The Requiem began in 1868 with Verdi’s

matter was resolved with the status quo intact,

suggestion for a multi-author religious festival

Stolz remaining a close friend of Verdi, perhaps

composition in honour of Rossini, to be written

also of Strepponi, for the rest of their lives.

by ‘the most distinguished Italian composers’.

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

This was from the start, and in obvious harmony

made public: the German conductor Hans von

with his general mood at the time, a staunchly

Bülow, who was in Milan around the time of the

conservative, nationalistic project. Verdi’s

premiere in May 1874, famously and disparagingly

idea was for this composite Requiem to be a

referred to it as an ‘Oper in Kirchengewande’

celebration of Italian art and artists during a

(opera in ecclesiastical dress). Von Bülow has

period he deemed one of cultural crisis: as he

himself been much disparaged for his comment;

said in his first letter about the project, ‘I would

but his sentiments would only have been

“More operatic still is the manner in which the soloists occasionally take on what can only be called ‘personalities’” like no foreign hand, no hand alien to art, no

strengthened by the knowledge that a duet for

matter how powerful, to lend his assistance. In

Carlos and Philip, discarded from Don Carlos

this case, I would withdraw at once from the

during rehearsals for the Parisian premiere in

project’. The fact that this was to be a religious

1867, formed the basis of the ‘Lacrymosa’ section

piece was surely also significant: to Verdi’s mind,

of the ‘Dies irae’. More operatic still is the manner

the sacred genre would recall the glory days of

in which the soloists occasionally take on what

Italian artistic production in the sixteenth century,

can only be called ‘personalities’. This is most

a period in which the country had unequivocally

noticeable in the final ‘Libera me’, in which the

led the world. The entire Requiem for Rossini

soprano, isolated from the other soloists, seems

was duly assembled, but bureaucratic wrangling

in active dialogue with both the chorus and the

meant that plans to perform the piece came to

orchestra, for all the world like a beleaguered

nothing. In April 1873 Verdi’s contribution, the

heroine trying finally to make sense of the world

‘Libera me’ movement, was returned to him,

in which she has been cast. In this context, it

and soon afterwards he decided to complete

may well have been of significance that the

the entire piece himself, this time using the

soprano part of the Requiem was conceived for

recent death of the famed novelist Alessandro

and premiered by none other than Teresa Stolz.

Manzoni as the monumental raison d’être. In the circumstances, it is probably inevitable

But we should not exaggerate the Requiem’s operatic leanings. The main theme of ‘Lacrymosa’

that the theatrical nature of the Requiem was a

may have originated in an opera, but it develops

principal matter of debate when the work was

in a markedly different fashion, without the vocal

M E S S A DA R E Q U I E M

contrasts that almost invariably fuel Verdian

singing or playing of instruments. I do not want

musical drama. Indeed, none of the ensemble

my death to be accompanied by any of the usual

scenes or choruses (of which there is an un-

forms of expression’. His dying wishes could not

operatic preponderance) remotely resembles

be clearer: no pomp, no celebration, above all

the texture of their operatic equivalents, in

no ritual forms. As his final librettist and devoted

particular by their frequent employment of

friend Arrigo Boito described it, he demanded a

contrapuntal writing and by (the soprano an

funeral of one priest, one candle, one cross. In

exception) the relative lack of differentiation

life and in death, Verdi insisted on freedom from

between individuals. What is more, the levels

outside interference: for him to ask for help from a

of purely musical connection within numbers

priest, perhaps even from God, would have been

(particularly in the developmental play of motivic

a sign of weakness, of the kind of dependence he

and harmonic gestures) are far greater than Verdi

struggled so hard all his life to avoid. The sheer

would have deemed appropriate in a staged

obstinacy and power of the Messa da Requiem,

drama, where contrast and tension between

its sense of struggle against the inexorable

characters are so important a part of the effect.

tide, is a testament both to the composer and

In the end, the Requiem is like no other piece,

the troubled times from which it emerged.

either in Verdi’s output or in the nineteenthcentury as a whole. It is far distant in mood from

Roger Parker

those ‘autumnal’ Requiems of gentle religious

Thurston Dart Professor of Music King’s College, London

nostalgia (by Brahms, by Fauré) that seem more characteristic of the age. Although there are moments that suggest the possibility of reconciliation, the Requiem is most famous for

its tremendous apocalyptic visions (the opening of the ‘Dies irae’ is the locus classicus here): for its sense that humankind must ‘rage against the dying of the light’ rather than drift gently into the hereafter. This also fits in with what we know of Verdi’s own religious beliefs. By this stage in his life he was – at least in private – declaring himself an atheist; and so he seems to have remained until the end. His last will and testament ends with a stern injunction: ‘I order that my funeral shall be extremely modest and that it shall take place at daybreak, or at the evening Ave Maria, without

A CE L E B R AT I ON OF RO DG E RS & H A M M E RST E I N A N D RO D GE RS & H A RT T H E J O H N W I L S ON O RCH E S T R A

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

A CE L E B R AT ION O F

ROD G E R S & H A M M E R S T E I N A N D ROD G E R S & H A RT T H E J OH N W I L S ON ORCH E S T R A 10 June

CON DUCTOR

John Wilson SINGERS Kim Criswell Scarlett Strallen Nadim Naaman Morgan Pearse

This production is proudly supported by

Bianca and Stuart Roden

RO D G E R S & H A M M E R S T E I N A N D RO D G E R S & H A RT

Double your pleasure… David Benedict

“There are no second acts in American lives.” So

simple-minded sentimentality tied to easily

said F Scott Fitzgerald, but he didn’t live long

guessable melodies, most of the shows in which

enough to witness the full musical flowering of

they first appeared – with titles like Lido Lady,

Richard Rodgers. His career with lyricist Oscar

Simple Simon, Chee-Chee and Winkle Town – have

Hammerstein II that began in 1943 with Oklahoma!

been forgotten. Why? Because back then, when

and bowed out in 1959 with The Sound of Music

musicals were called musical comedies, everything

– not to mention seven further stage musicals

aspired to the condition of froth. Wildly expensive,

along the way, almost all of which were also big-

elaborate excuses to show off vast casts of leggy

screen hits – would be more than enough for most

chorus girls, they featured idiotic romances often

composers. But this was Rodgers’ second career.

written by PG Wodehouse and were peopled by

The first one began in 1919 which was quite

characters with balloons for brains who indulged

some year. It saw the signing of the Versailles

in star-turns, comedy skits and happy endings.

peace treaty officially ending World War One, the confirmation of Einstein’s theory of relativity,

Yet although Rodgers and Hart’s shows were gradually growing more adventurous –

mothers gave birth to Margot Fonteyn, Howard

notably On Your Toes which had a plot about

Keel, Sir Edmund Hillary and Liberace and the

ballet vs. tap that climaxed with the dramatic

song “Any Old Place With You” was interpolated

dance number “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” –

into the musical A Lonely Romeo. Its authors?

behind the scenes, the team was in trouble.

Step forward 16-year-old Richard “Dick”

Larry’s unhappiness, excessive drinking and

Rodgers and 23-year-old Lorenz “Larry” Hart.

subsequent vanishing acts made him volatile

An overnight sensation? No: the show closed

and Dick increasingly exasperated. A couple of

after just seven weeks. It was, however, the

years before his death, Larry was unwilling to

beginning of a two-decade-long collaboration.

work and rejected Rodgers’ idea of turning Lynn

If you want to know just how successful

Riggs’ play Green Grow the Lilacs into a musical.

these two were, look at the figures.

In search of a new writing partner for lyrics

Between 1936 and 1940 alone, they wrote

and script, Rodgers turned to someone who’d

the music and lyrics for eight Broadway

had nothing but flops for ten years. The man in

musicals, seven of which were runaway

question was Oscar Hammerstein and the show

hits. At a point when a smart Chevrolet

they wrote together was titled Away We Go! until,

cost $560 and the income for an average

at the last minute, they changed it to Oklahoma!.

American family was around $1700, they were earning over $100,000 a year. Each. But although the hundreds of enduringly

In a genre routinely regarded as safe and reactionary, it was revolutionary. Kissing goodbye to vaudeville and empty-

witty, deliciously sophisticated songs they wrote

headed display, Oklahoma! was the first truly

together put an end to nineteenth century

sustained, fully-fledged musical play.

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Everything was tethered to the script,

Those two shows secured Rodgers and

known as “the book”. Out went clunky

Hammerstein’s place in cultural history, but there

song-cues and meaningless, interchangeable

were more. Allegro and Flower Drum Song are less

numbers; in came coherent, properly

well-known but even those shows have some

tense, dramatic plots determined by three-

marvellous music and lyrics. And even people

dimensional characters. The thoughts,

who never go to see musicals in the theatre

fears, needs and wishes of those characters

know South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound

“There are no second acts in American lives” drove the individually tailored songs they sang. Rodgers welded melodies,

of Music because of the beloved screen versions. Not only was South Pacific the highest grossing

rhythms and appropriate musical styles to

film of 1958, its soundtrack was the best-selling

Hammerstein’s realistic yet poetic lyrics.

LP of the second half of the 1950s, staying in

Not only was this show a complete game-

the charts for an astounding 262 weeks: that’s

changer, it was a runaway success, so much

more than five years. The Sound of Music proved

so that they could have just sat back for the

to be an even bigger blockbuster. Adjusted for

rest of their lives and merely counted their

inflation, it’s third in the list of all-time box-office

royalties. But within two years of Oklahoma!

grossers behind Gone With The Wind and Star

opening they had written and opened their

Wars. No other musical even comes close.

film State Fair and another Broadway musical,

After Hammerstein died in 1960, Rodgers

Carousel. The latter took the brand-new

wrote another five shows, none of which met

form they had so recently invented and

with anything approaching the same degree of

deepened, darkened and perfected it. As

success. In retrospect, those last shows served

Hammerstein’s most famous pupil Stephen

to prove that his work with Hammerstein wasn’t

Sondheim put it, “Oklahoma! is about a

just about a lyricist and a composer in agreement:

picnic; Carousel is about life and death.”

the two of them forged an inventive, imaginative

He’s not exaggerating. Carousel is still shocking for its dramatic depiction of love,

whole infinitely greater than the sum of its parts. Most artistic radicals take years before they

marriage, responsibility, fatherhood, even wife-

influence anyone else. Van Gogh, now universally

beating. And, musically, there are innovations

admired, painted for the ten years before he died

too, not least in the overture in which Rodgers

and during that time he made around 900 paintings.

abandoned the typical knitting together

How many of those did he manage to sell? One.

of hoped-for hits placed at the top of the

Before Rodgers and Hammerstein came along,

show to breed familiarity. Instead, he wrote

Broadway’s longest runner played just eighteen

a whirligig waltz theme, which no-one in the

months of performances. Oklahoma!, their very first

show ever sings, and develops it over seven

outing, smashed that record, ran for five-and-a-

minutes as an introduction to situation and

half years and influenced everyone around them.

character. No-one had ever done that before.

Their partnership changed Broadway forever. David Benedict David Benedict is a writer and broadcaster. He is currently writing the authorised biography of Stephen Sondheim.

RO D G E R S & H A M M E R S T E I N A N D RO D G E R S & H A RT

To follow…

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

M A NSF I E L D PA R K J ONAT H A N D OV E 16 & 17 September 2017

Composer Jonathan Dove Librettist Alasdair Middleton Adapted from the novel by Jane Austen

Commissioned by Heritage Opera

Orchestral version commissioned by The Grange Festival Conductor David Parry

Director Martin Lloyd-Evans Designer Dick Bird

Lighting Designer Howard Hudson

BOU R N EMOU T H SY M PHON Y O RC H E S T R A WITH

T R I N I T Y L A B A N C O N S E RVAT O I R E O F M U S I C & DA N C E

CA S T

Fanny Price Martha Jones Lady Bertram Sarah Pring Sir Thomas Bertram Grant Doyle Maria Bertram Emily Vine Julia Bertram Angharad Lyddon Edmund Bertram Henry Neill Aunt Norris Jeni Bern Mary Crawford Elizabeth Cragg Henry Crawford Nick Pritchard Mr Rushworth Oliver Johnston

Licensed by arrangement with Peters Edition Limited, London

M A N S F I E L D PA R K

Mansfield Park in Conversation with Jonathan Dove and Alasdair Middleton

LF: What made you think Mansfield Park would

work as an opera?

Is it bonnets and bodices or have you modernised it? AM: What’s interesting is the social restraint. I think

JD: It was a strange obsession of mine and it

it would be very difficult and entirely pointless to

didn’t happen with any of the other Jane

transpose it to another time when you would then

Austen novels. With Mansfield Park, I particularly

have to make a whole set of other rules.

remember hearing music in the Wilderness scene where Fanny is sitting alone. She hears very little but feels a great deal which makes her interesting for opera. AM: I think we both think it would be utterly

horrible to see an opera of any other Jane Austen novel. I can’t think of anything more hideous than hearing Pride and Prejudice sung. Fanny is the most controversial of all Jane Austen’s heroines.

Do you write the music or words first? Do you work together – please explain the process? JD: Alasdair did all the heavy lifting about which

scenes are crucial and what you have to leave out in order to tell a full-length novel in a single evening. AM: Jonathan knew that there were definitely a

couple of scenes that he wanted in there and we could only have 10 singers so I had to cut Miss

What makes her an operatic heroine is that her

Austen’s cloth accordingly…

life is internal.

JD: In this piece Alasdair had written absolutely

JD: A couple of friends worked for Pavilion

all of the libretto before I wrote the first note.

Opera which put on operas in stately homes

Is the orchestrated version a carbon copy of

with a piano. The combination of these made sense for staging Mansfield Park. In 2011, the first performance took place in a very grand stately home, Boughton House known as the English Versailles. How much Jane Austen is there in the libretto? AM: As it goes through it gets less and less. I

would say about a third is direct quotation and then the rest is just made up stuff. JD: But you can’t tell when Austen ends and the

Middleton begins so it feels as if Jane Austen wrote the whole libretto. Were you musically influenced? JD: You could say it’s an affectionate homage to

the Rake’s Progress, not in the storytelling but just in the idea of making a piece that evokes the classical period.

the piano one? JD: The singers sing exactly the same notes. If you

like the piano version is the black and white original and this is the coloured in expensive edition. The orchestration does include a piano because that was a very important part of the texture of the original. Why is Fanny a mezzo? JD: I wanted Fanny Price to be a mezzo because I

think of her as an inward character. I think of the soprano particularly with coloratura as the extravert character and that’s Mary Crawford. This is your sixth opera together – do you second guess each other? JD: Alasdair has an uncanny understanding of the

kinds of scenes, situations and even words which interest me for music, which are likely to inspire, excite and make me want to write a scene…

Louise Flind

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

DA N C E@T H E G R A N G E ™ Premiere Season 7,8 June 2018 | A partnership with Studio Wayne McGregor and Royal Ballet Exclusive evenings of dance at The Grange Festival 2018

“I would like to create an evening that places seminal pieces of our heritage repertory with newly created work” The Grange is a wonderful venue for dance, and

and opens the audiences’ eyes to the diversity

audiences will be able to experience the power

and thrill of the human form. An evening then

and visceral nature of the performers so close

of immersive expression, passion and virtuosity,

up. I’m delighted to be the Director of DANCE@

seen through the lens of the dancing body and

THEGRANGE™ and look forward to sharing uniquely

its relationship to excellent music, all performed

made performances especially for the festival.

by elite dancers at the very top of their game.

It has been a long-held dream of mine to curate

In this first year, I have invited Edward

an evening of iconic classical and modern ballet

Watson – Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet to

alongside incredible contemporary dance whilst

co-curate the evening with me. He will steer the

at the same time trying to avoid the traditional

classical repertory choice and perform himself.

‘gala’ format. I would like to create an evening that

I have chosen Ed, because he is a phenomenal

places seminal pieces of our heritage repertory

dancer, and incredible artist and has an enquiring

with newly created work of innovative intensity

mind. We have worked together for over 16 years

where physicality flows seamlessly together and

and this project seems like a perfect moment

where each of the works is individually distinct

to join forces and explore a new direction.

Wayne McGregor Photo by Nick Mead

DAN C E @ T H E G RAN G E

Edward Watson Photo: Rick Guest

Edward Watson

CO-CURATOR OF DANCE@THEGRANGE

Edward Watson is a Principal of The Royal Ballet.

Tear and Multiverse, and for Wheeldon Lewis

His repertory with the Company includes major

Carroll/The White Rabbit (Alice’s Adventures in

roles in works by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth

Wonderland), Leontes (The Winter’s Tale) and

MacMillan, and numerous role creations for

John Singer Sargent (Strapless). Watson has

choreographers including Wayne McGregor,

worked with numerous other choreographers,

Christopher Wheeldon and Alexei Ratmansky.

including Siobhan Davies, David Dawson,

Watson was born in Bromley, South

Javier De Frutos, Alastair Marriott, Cathy

London. He trained at The Royal Ballet School and graduated into The Royal Ballet in 1994

Marston, Ashley Page and Arthur Pita. His numerous awards include the 2012

and was promoted to Principal in 2005. His

Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement

many role creations for McGregor include in

in Dance, the 2015 Benois de la danse and

Symbiont(s), Qualia, Chroma, Infra, Limen, Carbon

Critics’ Circle Awards in 2001 and 2008.

Life, Raven Girl, Tetractys, Woolf Works, Obsidian

He was awarded an MBE in 2015.

Ballet patrons The Grange Festival ballet committee came

of dance with some of the world’s great ballet

about when a handful of ballet nuts made

dancers and suggested Ed Watson as his

an approach to The Grange Festival. Why is

co-curator. The Ballet Committee was formed

it that ballet can’t get some of the attention

and DANCE@THEGRANGE™ was born.

opera gets at the country house scene? Why

We are looking for Founders of DANCE@

can’t you enjoy dance at country house venues

THEGRANGE™ to support our vision to create

as well? Following some head scratching, a

world-class performance at The Grange Festival

meeting with Wayne McGregor took place.

and join us at the very beginning of this exciting

Wayne agreed and suggested working with

collaboration for the 2018 festival. For more

an iconic piece from the classical ballet rep as

information and to keep in touch with plans for

the start point to creating a couture evening

2018 contact info@thegrangefestival.co.uk

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

The International Singing Competition Richard Wagner’s epic comedy, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, is all about a singing competition. The first offering of the eventual winner, Walther von Stolzing, gets severely marked down by the referee of the Guild of Mastersingers, Sixtus Beckmesser. There is an agreed set of rules, refined over time, which must be observed. The rules are concerned with the setting of the text, the musical underlay, the style, the content, and much more. Singing here is considered a craft. Secretly helped by the most revered of all the mastersingers, Hans Sachs, Walther

Let a Singer have a Fund of Knowledge sufficient to perform readily any of the most difficult Compositions; let him have, besides, an excellent Voice, and know how to use it artfully. Poets, Painters, Sculptors, and even Composers of Musick, before they expose their Works to the Publick, have all the Time requisite to mend and polish them; but the Singer that commits an Error has no Remedy; for the Fault is committed, and past Correction.

von Stolzing triumphantly breaks these rules, and subverts

It is a laboriously detailed and comprehensive guide from

and redefines the craft, in the process becoming an artist.

an internationally successful castrato singer, including

When Dame Felicity Palmer joyously agreed to be the Patron of

warnings about mixing with the wrong people:

the new Grange Festival International Singing Competition, she and I talked about what it should exist to celebrate, and what we thought good singing is about. Early in my tenure as Artistic

Let him shun low and disreputable Company, but, above all, such as abandon themselves to scandalous Liberties.

Director of the Festival, I received a visit from two great champions of music in the south-east, Louise Woods of Friends of Music in Winchester, and Louisa Portal of the Hampshire National Singing

The mind boggles! And here is one of the famous singing teachers at

Competition. They made me a generous and very trusting offer

the start of the 20th century, Sarah Robinson-Duff, the

of this competition, and the substantial accumulated funds they

teacher of Debussy’s Mélisande, Mary Garden no less:

had raised for its future. There was no doubt in my mind that this was a wonderful opportunity. But why? Competitions abound in all areas of the performing arts, but they don’t necessarily reveal the best, or help the cause of the entrants. And there are other very well-established singing competitions. What would our judges look for, or rather listen for? And isn’t a competition the antithesis of art, a clumsy and necessarily subjective process to discover talent? And, indeed, is singing a craft, 90% technique and 10% inspiration, or an art, God-given and free of rules? There are, of course, no easy answers to these questions, but the asking of them is helpful in defining our goals. Dame Felicity and I agreed that good singing is really about powerful communication. Intention and meaning are as important as voice and volume. There are elusive but crucial characteristics which enable one performer to make an audience sit up and take notice, and reduce us to tears, and another performer to send us rather quickly to sleep. These need to be identified and used as benchmarks when judging the entrants in the competition. The first substantial treatise on singing was by Pier Francesco Tosi, published in Italian in 1723, and in English in 1743:

As one of the great old Italian masters says, to produce a beautiful singing voice there are three essentials; “breath, again breath, and still again more breath”. There are no chances in singing – you must know what you do and why you do it. It is based upon inviolable laws. Relaxed mind, relaxed body and cheerful heart, these are the remedies I would recommend to a beginner. Strip away all the non-essentials in opera and what are you left with? Singing. Singing is the core of opera and the ultimate reason why we all go to a performance. The first Grange Festival International Singing Competition will be held in September, on Sunday 10th for the semi-final with piano, and on Sunday 24th for the final with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Nearly 150 young singers have applied to enter, from 28 countries. It will truly be an international celebration of great singing, a public showcase for the fruits of immensely hard work and God-given talent. MICHAEL CHANCE

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L I N T E R NAT IONA L S I N G I N G COM P E T I T ION 2017 The first biennial Grange Festival Singing Competition takes over from the Hampshire National Singing Competition last held in 2013. Sunday 10 September 5pm: Semi-Final on stage at The Grange with piano Sunday 24 September 3pm: Final at The Grange with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Robinson

PRIZE £7,500

PRIZE £5,000

PRIZE £2,500

PLUS The offer of a role in The Grange Festival

All other finalists PRIZE £1,000

Song Prize The Michael Steen Audience Prize PRIZE £2,500 PRIZE £2,000 Bournemouth Symphony Wayneflete Orchestra Prize Singers Prize

J U RY

Michael Chance

Scott Cooper

John Copley

Heather Duncan

Artistic Director, The Grange Festival (Chairman)

Director of Artistic Administration, The Grange Festival

Director

Head of Concerts & Programming, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

David Gowland

Jonathan Groves

Felicity Palmer

Peter Robinson

Roger Vignoles

Artistic Director, Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, Royal Opera House

Managing Director, Groves Artists

Patron

Conductor

Pianist

AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S

F O R T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L BOA R D OF T RUST EES

DEV ELOPM ENT COU NCI L

The Hon Sir Charles Haddon-Cave (Chairman) The Hon Mark Baring Daniel Benton Rosamund Horwood-Smart QC Sam Jackson Owen Jonathan Malcolm Le May Richard Morse Tim Parker Rebecca Shelley Alan Titchmarsh

Malcolm Le May (Chairman) Sophie Boden Peter Foy Sophie Grenville (Vice-Chair) Kate Holmes Andrew Joy The Countess of Portsmouth Peter Ralls QC Christopher Tennant John Trueman Louise Verrill

DA NCE@ T H EGR A NGE COM M IT T EE Louise Verrill (Chair) Michael Chance Diana Ellis Robina Farley Judith Foy Amanda Haddon-Cave Michael Moody Andrew Morison Rachel Pearson

COM PA N Y Artistic Director Michael Chance CBE

Trusts & Foundations Kate Lewis

General Manager Michael Moody

Director of Dance Wayne McGregor

Director of Development Rachel Pearson

Events & Regional Engagement Emma Neal

Finance Officer & Company Secretary Annabel Ross

Office Assistant Amy Pattison

Office Assistant Alice Blincoe Director of Artistic Administration Scott Cooper

DA NCE@ T H EGR A NGE WAY N E McGR EGOR ST U DIO Director Wayne McGregor Co-Curator Edward Watson Executive Director Rebecca Marshall

Box Office Manager Caroline Sheahan Project Manager Bridget Shegog Company Manager Nicholas Simpson

WA R DROBE Head of Wardrobe Kat Smith Deputy Head of Wardrobe Louise Curwen Dresser Emma Hughes Dresser Mea Warburton Wigs Mistress Helen Keelan

CH AM PAGN E Gosset Will Oatley Guy Nightingale Exton Park Vineyard and Kit Ellen for English Sparkling WINE Stone, Vine and Sun Simon Taylor DR ESSI NG ROOMS REFURBISHMENT The Opera-tives John Waterworth

Assistant wigs Mistress Becky Rungen Assistant Costume Supervisor Megan Doyle Ulysses and Albert Herring

Assistant Costume Supervisor Fiona McIntosh Carmen

Alteration assistant Rebecca Hopkins

Costume makers: Ulysses Ass. To Sumant Jayakrishnan Surbhi Prajapati Costume Team Coordinator Urvashi Bhargava Costume Team Arjun Saluja Aparna Jagdhari Sanddeep Kumar Fahaad Maggie Campbell Eve Oakley Yuening Jian Quin Sotelo Tanaya Paradkar Jus Gunstek

BOX OF F ICE, CH AM PAGN E BA R A N D GR EET I NG T EM PLE

SHOP

GROU N DS A N D LAW NS

M A RQU EES A N D T ENTS John M Carter Ltd Phil Heather

Lady Ashburton Emma Neal

Richard Loader CLEA N I NG HOUSE A N D AU DITOR IU M E&E Services Eva & Tom

Special thanks to Midhurst Surplus Army Store Clarks Discount Warehouse The unique traders on Woolwich market Woolwich high street

Costume makers: Carmen Becky Graham Roxane Cressy Pauline Cheney Astrid Schultz Lauren Butler Leah Curtis Break down and dyeing costumes Arantza Vilas Jess Chan Janet Spriggs Suits supplier David Saxby Wardrobe alterations Rebecca Hopkins

Costume makers: Albert Herring Leslie Woolford Pat Farmer Claire Emerson Hats made by Jennifer Levet Wigs supplied and dressed by Darren Ware Assisted by Pav Stalmach-Ware Hires Cosprop Khakki Devils Bristol Costume Services Props Galore Props Supervisor Robyn Hardy

THE OPER A-T IV ES Roses Bridget Grande Nichy Richardson Carpets Eddol’s Painting Annabel Blake Curtains Tricia Neri

VOLU NT EERS Anne Bevan Judy Bishop Annabel Blake Sue Brown Hugh Brown Jan Burgess Marie-Caroline Burgess Nicky Cambrook Henrietta Cooke Celia Cox Pru de Lavison Janie Deal Christine Dyne Julia Ewens Jules Flory Martin Gillie Jacky Gillie Anne Glyn Jenny Gove Shelley Grimwood Andrea Harris Carol Hawkins Lizzie Holmes Inge Hunter Paul Jackson Charmian Jones Lynwen Jones-Thomas

Penelope Kellie Angela Larard Catherine Lee Natalie Lee Roger Lee Derek Lintott Susie Lintott Catherine Maddock Carolyn Martin Judith Mezger Belinda Mitchell Tricia Neri Linda Nightingale Sue Paice Peter Paice Diana Peisley Steve Penn Caroline Perry Jane Powlett Hugh Powlett Clare Read Jo Seligman Katherine Sellon John Theophilus Di Threlfall Sarah Tillie Sarah Vey Emmy Watt

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

CHORUS Chorus Master Anthony Kraus SOPR A NOS Jennifer Clark Stephanie Edwards Lizzie Holmes Frances Israel Jenny Stafford Cally Youdell

M EZZOSOPR A NOS

BASS

Rebecca Barry Caroline Daggett Elizabeth Humphries Elspeth Marrow Rhiain Taylor Leila Zanette

Dominic Bowe Brain McAlea Jevan McAuley Tim Murphy Alistair Ollerenshaw Michael Rakotoarivony

T ENORS

PHYSICA L

Roberto Abate David Douglas Alex Haigh Gethin Lewis Ranald McCusker William Smith

Ludo Hélin Durassie Kiangangu Rachel Ní Bhraonáin

STAGE M A NAGEM ENT I L R ITOR NO D’U LISSE I N PAT R I A Stage Manager Rosina Kent Deputy Stage Manager Tanith Mackenzie Assistant Stage Manager Rebecca Gee

CA R M EN Stage Manager Lisa Ganley Deputy Stage Manager Checca Ponsonby Assistant Stage Manager Eve Machin

A LBERT H ER R I NG Stage Manager Ellen Dawson Deputy Stage Manager Fiona Findlater

STAGE

SCEN ERY

LIGHT I NG

Head of Stage Drew Turner

Ulysses TBC

Chief Electrician Mike Smith

Deputy Head of Stage Rob Pearce

Carmen Scott Fleary

Crew Samantha Allen Zoe Cotton Jack Fitches Nick Hughes Tim Turnbull

Albert Herring Visual Scene

Deputy Chief Electrician Emily Irish Lighting Programmer David Ayton Electrics crew Helen Trow Surtitle Operator Angus Robinson Lighting Supplied by White Light Dan Last

F LOOR PA I NT I NG A N D F IT-OU T The Grange and Auditorium John Waterworth WA LLPA PER I NG Peregrine Crewe

Assistant Stage Manager Claudia HodgsonRodriguez

CH A N DELI ER The Grange and Auditorium Nick Dale | Ziggy JacobsWyburn DEKI Design Ltd THE R ESTAU R A NT The Wild Fork Oliver Shute Chris Williams

PROGRAM M E DESIGN & PR I NT I NG Cantate / John Good Graphic Design Jon Ashby Advert Design Luke Dent-Jones Picture Research Monica Vondrasek-Price Account Manager Till H Siegers

B O U R N E M O U T H S Y M P H O N Y O RC H E S T R A 1ST V IOLI N

V IOLA

F LU T E

HOR N

T IM PA N I

Amyn Merchant (Leader) Mark Derudder Edward Brenton Kate Turnbull Karen Leach Magdalena Gruca-Broadbent Jennifer Curiel Tim Fisher Julie Gillett-Smith Kate Hawes Laura Kernohan Joan Martinez

Tom Beer Raquel Lopez Bolivar Jacoba Gale Eva Malmbom Liam Buckley Nigel Giles John Murphy Judith Preston

Anna Pyne Jenny Doyne

Nicolas Fleury Edward Lockwood Robert Harris Kevin Pritchard Jocelyn Lightfoot

Geoff Prentice

2N D V IOLI N Carol Paige Jens Lynen Penny Tweed Vicky Berry Lara Carter Rebecca Clark Agnieszka Gesler Ines Montero Fuentes Janice Thorgilson Amelia Conway-Jones

CELLO Jesper Svedberg Naomi Watts Garry Stevens Auriol Evans Hannah Innes Kate Keats DOU BLE BASS David Daly Nicole Boyesen David Kenihan Nickie Dixon Jane Ferns

PICCOLO Owain Bailey OBOE Edward Kay Holly Randall CLA R I N ET Kevin Banks Liz Drew BASSOON Tammy Thorn Emma Selby Kim Murphy Ruth Rosales

T RU M PET Chris Avison Peter Turnbull Rebecca Crawshaw Paul Bosworth OF F-STAGE T RU M PETS (Verdi) Angela Whelan Kate Moore Ross Brown Robert Farley T U BA Andy Cresci

T ROMBON E

BSO M A NAGEM ENT Chief Executive Dougie Scarfe

Kevin Morgan Robb Tooley

Head of Concerts & Programming Heather Duncan

BASS T ROMBON E Kevin Smith

Head of BSO Participate Lisa Tregale

PERCUSSION

Head of Marketing Anthony Brown

Matt King Ben Lewis Alastair Marshallsay HARP Eluned Pierce

Orchestra Manager Adam Glynn Senior Stage Manager Scott Caines Stage Manager Esther Robinson Orchestra list correct at time of going to press

AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S

T H E J O H N W I L S O N O RC H E S T R A V IOLI NS

CELLOS

BASSOON

T RU M PETS

DRU M K IT

John Mills (Leader) Francesca Barritt Paul Barritt Marcy Buta Peter Graham Anna Harpham Charis Jenson Cerys Jones Jenny King Dunja Lavrova Greg Lawson Ciaran McCabe Katarina Nazarova Ruth Rogers Roberto Ruisi Michael Trainor Steven Wilkie

Jonathan Aasgaard (Principal) James Barralet Rowena Calvert Pierre Doumenge Jessie Ann Richardson Benedict Rogerson

Paul Boyes

Michael Lovatt Russell Bennett Toby Coles Andrew Gathercole

Matt Skelton

V IOLAS Matthew Quenby (Principal) Ann Beilby Carol Ella Lydia LowndesNorthcott Ben Newton Hannah Strijbos

BASSES Laurence Ungless (Principal) Jamie Kenny Simon Oliver Simo Vaisanen F LU T ES Cormac Henry Fiona Fulton OBOES Vincent Tizon Rosie Jenkins CLA R I N ET

SA XOPHON ES First Alto Saxophone Howard McGill Second Alto Saxophone Colin Skinner First Tenor Saxophone Luke Annesley Second Tenor Saxophone Mark Crooks Baritone Saxophone Jay Craig HOR NS Jonathan Barrett Kathryn Saunders Paul Gardham Nicholas Hougham

T ROMBON ES Gordon Campbell Jonathan Stokes Liam Kirkman Peter North T U BA David Kendall T IM PA N I Jeremy Cornes

HARP Hugh Webb PI A NOS/ CELESTA Ian Buckle Matthew Regan GU ITA R Colin Oxley R HY T HM BASS Jeremy Brown

JOH N W I LSON ORCH EST R A M A NAGEM ENT Manager Tom Croxon Orchestra assistant Patrick McEntee Stage Manager Chris Wicks Transport Manager Brian McCartney Orchestral Administrator Jeanne Croxon Legal Counsel David Gentle Orchestra list correct at time of going to press

PERCUSSION Tom Edwards Toby Kearny Paul Stoneman

James Burke

THE DIV ISION L O B BY

THE AC A D E M Y O F A NCI EN T M USIC

BOU R N EMOU T H SY M PHON Y C H O RU S

CH ITA R RON E, BA ROQU E GU ITA R

V IOLI N

SOPR A NOS

A LTOS

T ENORS

Ruth Arnold Penny Bellars Margaret Burdett Su Dunnett Lynne Enness Emma Fisher Nicola Hoar Angela Lamb Jacky Legg Julia Liddell Sally Ann Marshall Rosemary McDonald Sally Smith Wendy Southam Christina Thomas Julie Vidler Judith Waker Jill White

Sue Cobb Rosemary Allen Sue Braunton Sheila Brooks Judy Coplan Rebecca Dodman Rhona Floate Joyce Hatchard Amanda Hubbard Elizabeth Hutchings Mary Ingram Lorna Milne Liz Nayler Christine Nicholson Maya Pieris Elisabeth Potter Joyce Rhoden Heather Waldsax

Malcolm Gathercole Bernie Brooks Christopher Heaslip Paul Heaslip Jim Kirk Nigel McDonald Andrew Parrish Derek Pilling Jon Ross Julian Stevens

Paula Chateauneuf

Pavlo Beznosiuk (Leader) Julia Bishop

H A R PSICHOR D

A LTO V IOLA

Robert Howarth

Martin Kelly

HARP

T ENOR V IOLA

Frances Kelly

Rachel Stott/ Emelia Benjamin (3rd June)

H A R PSICHOR D & ORGA N Giulia Nuti

V IOLON E Richard Tunnicliffe

T DL M A NAGEM ENT Artistic adviser and administration Paula Chateauneuf

A AM M A NAGEM ENT Chief Executive Alexander Van Ingen General Manager Anthony Brice Head of Concerts and Planning ChloÃ« Wennersten Head of Participation and Learning Kathryn Rowland Librarian Adrian Horsewood

BASS Tim Arnold Andrew Bellars Alan Braunton Gavin Carr Chris Cherrington Paul Clements Clive Erskine Ben Gautier Peter Leete Graham Luker John Martindale Paul Sepping Alastair Smith John Turpin

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

F O R T H E P RO D U C T I O N S U LISSE Musical Director Michael Chance Director Tim Supple

CA R M EN L’umana fragilità / Pisandro / Coro di Feaci Robin Blaze

Ulisse Paul Nilon

Conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud

Dialogue Meredith Oakes

Moralès Toby Girling

Penelope Anna Bonitatibus

Director Annabel Arden

Chorus Master Anthony Kraus

Micaëla Shelley Jackson

Ericlea Fiona Kimm

Designer, Movement and Video Content Joanna Parker

Assistant Conductor Harry Sever

Don José Leonardo Capalbo

Assistant Director & Surtitles Sinéad O’Neill

Zuniga Grigory Soloviov

Designer Sumant Jayakrishnan

Tempo / Nettuno / Antinoo Paul Whelan

Movement Director Debbie Fionn Barr

Tempo Physicalisation Ludo Hélin

Eumete Nigel Robson

Lighting Designer Jackie Shemesh

Fortuna / Melanto Donna Bateman

Iro Ronald Samm

Video Designer Ziggy Jacobs-Wyburn

Fortuna Rachel Ní Bhraonáin

Telemaco Thomas Elwin

Assistant Director Genevieve Raghu

Amore Lorena Paz Nieto

Anfinomo / Coro di Feaci Harry Nicoll

Amore Physicalisation Durassie Kiangangu Eurimaco / Giove Gwilym Bowen

Coro di Feaci Michael Rakotoarivony

Minerva Emma Stannard

A LBERT H ER R I NG

Lighting Designer Peter Mumford Video Designer Dick Straker Costume Co-Designer Ilona Karas Sound Designer John Leonard Fight Directors Rachel BownWilliams & Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC Annie Limited

Lady Billows Orla Boylan

Sid Tim Nelson

Conductor Francesco Cilluffo

Director John Copley

Florence Pike Clarissa Meek

Albert Herring Richard Pinkstone

Soprano Vlada Borovko

Set Designer Tim Reed

Miss Wordsworth Anna Gillingham

Nancy Kitty Whately

Mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon

Costume Designer Prue Handley

Mr Gedge Alexander Robin Baker

Mrs Herring Kathleen Wilkinson

Tenor Leonardo Capalbo

Emmie Emily Vine

Bass Jongmin Park

Assistant Conductor John Andrews Assistant Director William Edelsten

Répétiteur Tom Primrose Language Coach Pierre-Maurice Barlier Commère Aicha Kossoko Compère Tonderai Munyevu

Carmen Na’ama Goldman Frasquita Marianne Croux Mercédès Filipa van Eck Escamillo Phillip Rhodes Deborah M Sanders Le Dancaïre Tiago Matos Le Remendado Christophe Poncet de Solages

V ER DI R EQU I EM

Conductor Steuart Bedford

Lighting Designer Kevin Treacy

Adapted from originals by Simon Rees

Mr Upfold Adrian Thompson Superintendent Budd Andri Björn Róbertsson

Cis Catriona Hewitson Harry Hector Taggart Jack Stone

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I L R I TO R N O D’U L I S S E I N PAT R I A A RT I S T IC B IO G R A P H I E S

Michael Chance

Sumant Jayakrishnan

Michael Chance is Artistic Director of the Grange Festival. He has established a worldwide reputation as one of the foremost exponents of the male alto voice in all areas of the classical repertoire. His oratorio and recital performances have included Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Musikverein, and Wigmore Hall, with programmes ranging from Elizabethan lute songs to world premieres commissioned including works by Richard Rodney Bennett, Alexander Goehr, Tan Dun, Anthony Powers, John Tavener and Elvis Costello. In opera, he has worked at La Scala in Milan, Sydney Opera House, New York, Lisbon, Oviedo, Leipzig, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, ROH, Glyndebourne and ENO. His appearances include the title roles of Orfeo (Gluck), Rinaldo, Ascanio in Alba and Solomon, Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare. He premiered Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs Kong (Orpheus) and Weir’s A Night at the Chinese Opera (Military Governor). He has an extensive discography, including many Bach and Monteverdi recordings with John Eliot Gardiner; and Handel’s Semele for Deutsche Grammophon, for which he received a Grammy Award. He was awarded the CBE in 2009.

Sumant Jayakrishnan is a scenographer, designer, installation artist and theatre practitioner based in New Delhi. Trained in visual communication at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, he also studied theatre design and scenic techniques at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London, on a Charles Wallace Award. He received a Fulbright Arts Fellowship as a visiting scholar to New York University in 2002. His work spans the entire spectrum of design today, from contemporary theatre and dance to exhibition, fashion, art direction for film and international events.

MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Tim Supple DIRECTOR

Tim Supple has created theatre throughout the UK and in Europe, North and South America, Australia, India, North Africa, and the Near and Far East. He has worked regularly with the National Theatre and the RSC and, during the 1990s, he was artistic director of the Young Vic Theatre in London. He has been described as “the leading storyteller in British Theatre” (Financial Times). In 2005, he founded Dash Arts with Josephine Burton to create new performance in collaboration with artists from abroad. His multilingual A Midsummer Night’s Dream, created in India for Dash Arts in 2006, was a worldwide success and acclaimed as “the most life-enhancing production of Shakespeare’s play since Peter Brook’s”. (Guardian).

DESIGNER

Debbie Fionn Barr MOVEMENT DIRECTOR

Irish choreographer Debbie Fionn Barr has been making work with diverse communities for over three decades. Collaborators have included the Queen’s Gurkha Regiment, Mathmos lighting company, Anglo-Brazilian theatre performers, and professional classical Indian and contemporary dancers. Debbie trained at Trinity Laban and has toured independent and commissioned productions as associate artist at the Lighthouse, Poole, and with her company the Fionnbarr Factory. Debbie’s investigation into the use of body in narrative performance has been impacted by a 20-year collaborative relationship with Bharata natyam company Sankalpam. Debbie has held senior academic posts at three UK universities and is currently completing her doctoral studies at Coventry University.

Jackie Shemesh LIGHTING DESIGN

Jackie graduated from the Jerusalem School of Visual Theatre. He is now based in London and works internationally designing lighting for dance, theatre and opera. Jackie is interested in a collaborative approach to the creation of work, and his inventive use of light and lighting creates striking environments to complement contemporary performance across the small, middle and large scales. Works in opera include: Sante (LSO at St Luke’s, London, 2006); The Medium and The Telephone (Jerusalem Academy for

Music); La Cenerentola (ABAO, Bilbao); Werther and Madam Butterfly (the Tel Aviv Opera – lightning revival) and Don Giovanni (the Opera Workshop, Tel Aviv).

Ziggy Jacobs-Wyburn VIDEO DESIGNER

Ziggy trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Based in Bristol, she specializes in lighting and video design and the creation of new bespoke technology for performance. Ziggy is passionate about bringing open-source content creation to the arts through collaborative design techniques, and her technology creation has been featured in film, television and live performance worldwide. Design credits include: Giovanni (Beijing Music Festival, Silent Opera); The Last Dance (Chris Keller Films); Heartfelt (Sacconi Quartet); A Mendip Winterreise (Cedars Hall, Wells); L’incoronazione di Poppea (Aldeburgh Music) and Cathy Come Home (the Barbican Hall, Cardboard Citizens).

CAST Robin Blaze

PISANDRO / L'UMANA FRAGILITÀ / CORO DI FEACI

Robin Blaze is now established in the front rank of interpreters of Purcell, Bach and Handel, and his career has taken him to concert halls and festivals in Europe, North and South America, Japan and Australia. His opera engagements have included: Athamas in Semele at Covent Garden; Didymus in Theodora (Glyndebourne Festival Opera); Arsamenes in Xerxes, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamor in Jephtha (English National Opera) and Bertarido in Rodelinda (Göttingen Handel Festival). He works with many distinguished conductors in the early music field: Harry Christophers, Emmanuelle Haïm, Philippe Herreweghe, Christopher Hogwood, Ton Koopman, Paul Goodwin, Gustav Leonhardt, Robert King, Nicholas Kraemer, Sir Charles Mackerras, Trevor Pinnock and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. His work with Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan has been particularly praised by critics: the two latest CD releases, Bach’s B-minor Mass and the three solo countertenor cantatas, have been described as “heartstopping” in Gramophone.

Paul Whelan

NETTUNO / TEMPO / ANTINOO In recent seasons, bass-baritone Paul Whelan added the role of Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte to his repertoire which he sang at Hawaii Opera Theatre; in Geneva he joined the Grand Theatre for their new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Quince, and he appeared at Gothenburg Opera for the role of Claudio Hamlet in a new production by Stephen Langridge for which he won sterling reviews. Recent highlights include: Daland in Der fliegende Holländer at Hawaii Opera Theatre and New Zealand Opera; Giorgio in I Puritani at Boston Lyric Opera and Victorian Opera; and his role debuts as Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress for New Zealand Opera; Banco in Macbeth at Opera North in the UK, and Titurel in Parsifal with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons. Other past successes include: the artist’s return to Opera Australia as Ramfis in Aida, and an appearance at Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago for Beethoven’s Mass in C. He sang Jesus in fully staged performances of the St Matthew Passion in Brisbane, and appeared as Seneca in a new production of L’incoronazione di Poppea in Lille and Dijon. Other notable appearances include: Theseus in the new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for English National Opera; Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia for Opera Norway, as well as Bach’s St Matthew Passion for the Leeds International Concert season. Additionally, he appeared at Glyndebourne in two other roles: Claggart in their new production of Billy Budd and Alidoro in La Cenerentola. He sang his first Wotan in Das Rheingold with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra to critical acclaim.

Donna Bateman

FORTUNA / MELANTO

Donna is an award-winning soprano who has been honoured as an associate of the Royal Academy of Music. She sang her first major role, Marzelline, in BOC’s award-winning production of Fidelio and has returned to sing Cunégonde in Candide, Zerbinetta in the prologue of Ariadne auf Naxos and Elettra in Idomeneo. Her expertise in contemporary operatic repertoire has earned her several major premieres, including her debut for the Royal

A RT I S T I C B I O G R A P H I E S

Opera House’s ROH2 as Miranda in The Gentle Giant; the role of Estella in Life Is a Dream by Jonathan Dove and the title role in Neuwirth’s American Lulu/Berg for the Opera Group, Young Vic, Scottish Opera and Bregenz Festspiele co-production. Concert highlights include: La Cuisinière in Le Rossignol with the CBSO, conducted by Sakari Oramo; and Bernstein’s Mass with the LSO, conducted by Marin Alsop.

Lorena Paz Nieto AMORE

Spanish soprano Lorena Paz Nieto is with Royal Academy Opera, under the tuition of Philip Doghan and Audrey Hyland. She holds an MA in PrepOpera at RAM, achieving distinction, and a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital. She graduated with first-class BMus (hons) from GSMD. Operatic roles include: Morgana in Handel’s Alcina; Diana in Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers at the Hackney Empire; Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea at Shoreditch Town Hall; Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro at Hackney Empire; Pannochka in Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night at Ambika P3 and Cis in Albert Herring at GSMD. Concert performances include recitals at St John’s Smith Square and the Oxford Lieder Festival; BBC Radio 3 broadcast Total Immersion: Villa-Lobos at Milton Court, and Tyondai Braxton’s Central Market with BBCSO at Barbican’s Music Hall and with the London Sinfonietta at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Lorena has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and choral societies across the UK. She has given recitals in Belgium, Spain, England, Wales, Scotland, Italy and France. Recent oratorio repertoire includes: Handel’s Messiah, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time and Orff’s Carmina Burana. She recently won the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Award (2016) and the Ludmilla Andrew Russian Song Prize. Lorena is a Carr–Gregory scholar, and is grateful for the support of the Matthew and Sally Ferrey Scholarship, the Leverhulme Trust Postgraduate Scholarship, the Help Musicians UK Tutton Award and the Josephine Baker Trust.

Anna Bonitatibus PENELOPE

Supported by Herman and Claire Hintzen

Anna Bonitatibus grew up in the Basilicata region of Italy and began studying music at the age of nine. She received diplomas with honours for both piano and voice and won several international competitions, after which she decided to pursue the study of vocal technique, focussing on the bel canto repertory. She now performs in the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls, and has collaborated with such conductors as Ivor Bolton, William Christie, Myung-Whun Chung, Alan Curtis, Ottavio Dantone, René Jacobs, Nicola Luisotti, Lorin Maazel, Charles Mackerras, Marc Minkowski, Riccardo Muti, Antonio Pappano, Jeffrey Tate, Marcello Viotti and Franz Welser-Möst. She has sung roles in more than 50 operas in a wide repertory that includes baroque and bel canto operas; works by Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti; and in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Massenet’s Werther and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges. She has worked with directors such as David Alden, Pierre Audi, Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Peter Brook, Robert Carsen, Jürgen Flimm, Dario Fo, Kasper Holten, Jonathan Miller, Laurent Pelly, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Luca Ronconi, Emilio Sagi, Jérôme Savary, Robert DeSimone and Bartlett Sher.

Fiona Kimm ERICLEA

Fiona Kimm has performed throughout the UK, Europe and North America in an extensive operatic, oratorio and concert repertoire. Her repertoire has included: Mrs Herring in Albert Herring, Mrs Sedley in Peter Grimes, Rosa Mamai in L’Arlesiana, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice, Jezibaba in Rusalka, Julie in Show Boat, Kabanicha in Kátya Kabanová, Ericlea in Il ritorno d’Ulisse, Nurse in Boris Godunov, Sextus in La clemenza di Tito, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Clairon in Capriccio, Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress, Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin, Wife/Sphinx/Doreen in Greek, Mlle Arvidson in Un ballo in maschera, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, Azucena in Il trovatore, the Old Crone/Mrs Chin in A Night at the Chinese Opera and Fricka in Der Ring des Nibelungen.

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T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Gwilym Bowen EURIMACO / GIOVE

Born in Hereford, Gwilym Bowen was a choral scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in music, subsequently studying at the Royal Academy of Music. On the operatic stage, his diverse repertoire has included Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande, multiple roles in L’incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria with the Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican Hall, in Venice and in Bucharest; Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, Davey in Jonathan Dove’s Siren Song, Dwight/God in Jerry Springer – the Opera, Sailor in Dido and Aeneas, Intelletto in Emilio de’ Cavalieri’s Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Aldeburgh.

Paul Nilon ULISSE

Supported by Terence and Sian Sinclair

Paul Nilon is established as one of Europe’s outstanding lyric tenors in a wide repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Britten. He has worked with many leading orchestras and ensembles in the UK and Europe. In opera, he has worked for most of the major British opera companies. Companies abroad include the Bayerische Staatsoper, Netherlands Opera, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, San Francisco Opera and Dallas Opera. Recent and future operatic engagements include: the title role in a new production of Idomeneo for ENO; Chartkov in Weinberg’s The Portrait, Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Case and the title role of La clemenza di Tito (Opera North); Sultan in Vivaldi’s La verità in cimento, Paolo in Maometto II and Aschenbach’s Death in Venice (Garsington Opera); the title role of Idomeneo (Gothenburg Opera); Grimoaldo Rodelinda (Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow); Paolo in Maometto II and Ermione (Volkstheater, Rostov); the world premiere of Life Is a Dream by Jonathan Dove and Scribe in Khovanshchina (Birmingham Opera Company). Concert engagements include: Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with the BBC Philharmonic;

Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 with Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Elgar’s The Kingdom in Worcester Cathedral; Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Rachmaninov’s The Bells and The Dream of Gerontius at Three Choirs Festival; the world premiere of Blackford’s Not in Our Time with Bournemouth Symphony Chorus in Bremen; Mozart’s Requiem with the ORTVE in Madrid, and Stanford’s Stabat Mater with Huddersfield Choral Society.

Emma Stannard MINERVA

Cumbrian mezzo-soprano Emma Stannard has recently completed her studies with Royal Academy Opera, under the tuition of Yvonne Howard and Joseph Middleton. This summer, Emma will be a Britten-Pears Young Artist at the Aldeburgh Festival. For RAO Emma has performed the roles of Ruggiero, Alcina, Junon, Orfée aux enfers, Hanna, May Night and Poppea, L’incoronazione di Poppea as well as Selene, Berenice for the London Handel Festival. For the Glyndebourne Festival Opera Chorus Emma has appeared in Carmen, Poliuto, Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni and La Traviata. Emma was awarded the ‘Audrey Strange Memorial Award’ for her performance in the final of the Royal Oversea’s Leaugue vocal competition (2016), the ‘Amanda Von Lobb Award’ for her performances for RAO and was very highly commended at the Elena Gerhardt Lieder Prize. In 2017 she was also a finalist in the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform. An alumni of Georg Solti Accademia, Italy, Emma has represented the academy in a concert at the Victoria Hall, Geneva with the L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève. She appears regularly on the concert platform recently travelling to China for an Opera Gala with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra. Closer to home, Emma gave a recital at the Leeds Lieder Festival this season with duo partner Keval Shah as part of their involvement with the Royal Academy Song Circle. They look forward to performing a recital of English Song at the ‘Lewes Festival of Song’ in July. Emma’s second year with RAO has been supported by the George Drexler Trust and the Howard de Waldon Estates. She is also a recipient of funding from the Help Musicians UK Tutton Trust and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.

Nigel Robson EUMETE

Nigel Robson was born in Argyleshire, studied at York and then RNCM in Manchester with Alexander Young. Notable events in his singing life have been singing Madwoman in Britten’s Curlew River with Opera Factory; Monteverdi with John Eliot Gardiner, including 1610 Vespers at St Mark’s, Venice; Handel’s Tamerlano and Jephtha, and his performances of Vere in Billy Budd and Death in Venice by Britten. The Tenor Man’s Story was premiered in 2005, opening the Enschede Festival, and featured an unusual crossing of styles and theatre. In 2010, he enjoyed a huge success in Idomeneo for La Monnaie; with English Touring Opera in the premiere of Goehr’s Promised End and also performed in a notable staging of Bernstein’s Mass in Munich. In September 2014, he stepped in at very short notice to sing Bajazet in Tamerlano for the Theater an der Wien; recently, a production of Ulysses for English National Opera at the Young Vic in London; and Sacerdote in Idomeneo for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Arbace in Idomeneo and Chaplin in Dialogues des Carmélites for Grange Park Opera. He will sing in a new opera at the Holland Festival by Huba de Graaff, entitled The Naked Shit Songs, based on an interview with artists Gilbert and George in 1996. In the retro-opera, Nigel will play George to his brother Christopher’s Gilbert.

Ronald Samm IRO

Ronald Samm was born in Port of Spain, the younger son of two head teachers. Early musical training began at St Mary’s College, where he was a regular prizewinner in the island-wide biennial music festival. He studied voice and piano with Noelle Barker and Ian Kennedy at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and won a scholarship from the Peter Moores/Lord Pitt Foundation to pursue postgraduate study with Nicholas Powell at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Operatic roles have included: First Armed Man and Second Priest in Die Zauberflöte (Opera North); an evening

A RT I S T I C B I O G R A P H I E S

of contemporary opera at the Linbury Theatre, Covent Garden; Canio in I Pagliacci (Welsh National Opera and English Pocket Opera) and Otello for Children’s Music Workshop, a role he has also covered for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Recent engagements include: Bardolph in Falstaff (English Touring Opera) and Spoletta in Tosca, Canio in I Pagliacci and Laca in Jenůfa, all for English Touring Opera; the Dancing Master in Birmingham Opera Company’s production of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos (Prologue only); Siegmund in Die Walküre in Lisbon; Florestan in Fidelio (Festival Burgarena in Austria) and Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess (Opéra de Lyon) and in concert for the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Sardinia.

Thomas Elwin TELEMACO

Supported by an Anonymous Donor

Born in London, tenor Thomas Elwin studied at the Royal Academy of Music. An alumnus of the Solti Accademia Bel Canto and the Verbier Academy, Thomas was a member of the opera studio at Oper Stuttgart for the 2014/15 season, where roles included: Officer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Kuska in Khovanshchina, Adballo in Nabucco and Borsa in Rigoletto. Recent engagements include: Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Nathanael in Les Contes d’Hoffman, Kuska in Khovanshchina and Borsa in Rigoletto, all for Staatstheater Stuttgart; Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail in a new production by Sigrid Herzog at the Vorarlberger Landestheater and Ferrando for Diva Opera. Highlights in 2016/17 include: Ferrando in Così fan tutte for Oper Stuttgart; cover and singing Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni for English National Opera; Messiah with the Odense Symphony Orchestra in Odense, Denmark; Alfredo in The Mountebanks by Cellier in a world-premiere recording with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Telemaco in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria for the Grange Festival. On the concert platform, Thomas has performed extensively as a soloist across Europe. Previous seasons performances include: Bach Passions (both arias and as Evangelist) in St Alban’s Abbey, at the LutherKirche in Bad Cannstatt and in Zaragoza; Messiah with the International Bachakademie, Stuttgart, in Manchester Cathedral and at the Leith Hill Festival; Britten’s Serenade at Kings Place, London, and in the Duke’s Hall with Royal

Academy Symphony Orchestra; and performances of Messa di Gloria (Puccini), Jephtha (Handel), Nocturne (Britten), Elijah (Mendelssohn) and The Creation (Haydn). Thomas has an extensive recital repertoire and has appeared at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Song in the City, with the Royal Academy Song Circle and a solo recital as part of the Masters series at the Gresham Centre. Future plans include: a debut recital recording of Bellini and Donizetti songs and a second recording featuring songs by Hahn, Duparc and Liszt.

Harry Nicoll

ANFINOMO / CORO DI FEACI

Scottish tenor Harry Nicoll has become one of the UK’s leading character tenors, appearing with all the major UK companies, as well as widely across Europe. Harry has sung for English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne on Tour, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Oper Köln, the Vlaamse Opera, Opéra de Nantes, Teatro La Fenice, New Israeli Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Théâtre du Châtelet. He appears regularly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Recent engagements include: Missail in Boris Godunov for the Royal Opera House and at the BBC Proms; Don Basilio/Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro for Longborough Festival Opera; Pirelli in Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the Nederlandse Reisopera; Rev Horace Adams in Peter Grimes in his debut with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano, and Idiot in Wozzeck for the Philharmonia Orchestra on tour in Europe and the USA under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Next season, Harry returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Erster Priester in David McVicar’s classic production of Die Zauberflöte.

Durassie Kiangangu ACTOR

Durassie is a London-based actor and physical performer. After graduating from a three-year course, he toured with a Londonbased physical theatre company, performing at international festivals in Belgium, Romania, France, Sweden and the UK.

In 2012, he was among the cast of opera Aida, produced by Raymond Gubbay at the Royal Albert Hall, and in November 2016 finished a northern English tour of renowned opera Der Rosenkavalier (Opera North) that was earlier this year awarded as Best Opera Revival. Film work includes: the short film The Ellington Kid, directed by Dan Sully, which was screened at the BFI London Film Festival and featured on VICE Shorts, gaining over one million views online. Feature films include: Northern Soul, directed by BAFTAnominated director Elaine Constantine; and Pusher, starring Agyness Deyn and Richard Coyle, and directed by Luis Prieto. Being bilingual, he has featured in various voice-over projects in both Swedish and English, lending his voice to Swedish-language learning apps.

Ludo Hélin ACTOR

I always loved running, climbing, monkeying around and travelling, which led me in some mysterious way to discover dance and circus. That was instant love! After a few years of training in France, I came to London and graduated from the National Centre for Circus Arts in 2009, with specialist skills in aerial rope and hand balancing, as well as a love of physical theatre and movement. Since then, I have been performing and teaching all over the world, from cabaret to theatre, festivals to high-end corporate events.

Rachel Ní Bhraonáin ACTOR

Rachel began acting, Irish dancing and ballet at a young age. She moved to London to complete her BA in Theatre Dance at London Studio Centre – specialising in contemporary dance – but has since gone on to find a passion for Aerial movement. She has been a physical performer in music videos, on stage, on the side of buildings, suspended from a crane and with intimate, immersive, multidisciplinary shows. Since graduating Rachel has worked with The Vaults festival, Unfinished Business, Scarabeus Aerial Theatre and Fidget Feet Aerial Dance.

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CA R M E N A RT I S T IC B IO G R A P H I E S

Jean-Luc Tingaud

Joanna Parker

Jean-Luc Tingaud was born in 1969 and studied with Manuel Rosenthal, himself a pupil of Maurice Ravel. Notable opera engagements have included: Sapho, Pénélope and Le Roi malgré lui (Wexford Festival); Roméo et Juliette (Lisbon); Werther (Martina Franca); La damnation de Faust (Reims); Pelléas et Mélisande and Carmen (Toulon); Le siège de Corinthe (Bad Wildbad Rossini Festival); Faust (Macerata); The Turn of the Screw (Lille); Dialogues des Carmélites and Madama Butterfly (Pittsburgh); Pelléas et Mélisande (Prague); Roméo et Juliette (Arena di Verona); La fille du régiment (Madrid) and The Pearl Fishers (English National Opera).

Joanna Parker is a theatre, opera and dance designer and movement director. She has worked extensively for companies including Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne and Theatre de Complicité. Originally trained in dance and choreography, her early theatre work was based on movement. She is now a tutor on the MA Scenography course at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Designs for opera include: Il barbiere di Siviglia for Glyndebourne; a forthcoming Turandot in spring 2017 and Andrea Chénier for Opera North; The Commission and Café Kafka, both co-productions between Aldeburgh, ROH and Opera North; and Smetana’s The Two Widows for L’Opéra d’Angers-Nantes. For English Touring Opera, she designed productions of Flavio, Eugene Onegin, Falstaff, Alcina, The Marriage of Figaro, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Cunning Little Vixen (also Brno). Joanna designed costumes for Friend of the People at Scottish Opera; The Kiss and Handel’s Flavio in Dublin and on European tour; set and costumes for Handel’s Giulio Cesare for the Royal Opera House; and a site-specific design for an ROH community project, Heroes Don’t Dance. For Theatre de Complicité, with the Emerson String Quartet, she designed The Noise of Time, seen in New York, London and at European festivals. Other designs include: Martin Crimp’s version of The Misanthrope; American Buffalo at the Young Vic; The Robbers at the Gate; Nabokov’s Gloves and After Darwin at Hampstead, and The Sarajevo Story at the Lyric Hammersmith. Dance designs have included: Phantasmaton and Hinterland (Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company) and Pastorale for Cholmondeleys.

Tannhäuser, Falstaff, Eugene Onegin, Kátya Kabanová, Fidelio and Andrea Chénier (Opera North); Passion (Minnesota Opera); La traviata and La Cenerentola (Glyndebourne); Il trovatore (Paris); Fidelio, The Two Widows, Don Giovanni and The Ring (Scottish Opera); The Midsummer Marriage (Chicago Lyric Opera) and The Bartered Bride and Eugene Onegin (ROH). Peter has directed and designed concert stagings of The Ring Cycle and The Flying Dutchman for Opera North. In November, he will direct and design a concert staging of Fidelio for Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. Recent ballet lighting designs: Carmen (Royal Ballet and Texas Ballet Theater – choreographed by Carlos Acosta); The King Dances, Faster, E=mc2 and Take Five (Birmingham Royal Ballet); Carmen (also set design, Miami City Ballet – choreographed by Richard Alston) and Ein Reigen (Vienna State Ballet). Recent theatre lighting designs: A Christmas Carol, Mr Foote’s Other Leg and Top Hat (West End); Stepping Out (Bath/ UK tour); Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Bristol Old Vic); Little Eyolf and Bakkhai (Almeida); High Society (Old Vic); The Merchant of Venice (RSC); King Kong (Global Creatures/Australia); Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Donkey Heart and Top Hat (West End); Ghosts (Almeida/ BAM); Bull (Young Vic/Sheffield/59E59 Theaters, New York); Dying City (also set design), Love and Information, Escaped Alone and The Wolf at the Door (Royal Court); Scenes From an Execution (National Theatre); Wild and Wonderland (Hampstead Theatre) and The BFG (Birmingham Rep). Awards include: Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for The Glass Blew In and Fearful Symmetries (Royal Ballet); Olivier Award for Best Lighting for The Bacchai (National Theatre); Knight of Illumination Award for Sucker Punch (Royal Court) and the Helpmann and Green Room awards for King Kong – the Musical in Melbourne.

Peter Mumford

Dick Straker

Opera lighting designs include: Manon Lescaut, Werther, Butterfly, Faust, Carmen and Peter Grimes (New York Met); The Damnation of Faust, Faust, Lucrezia Borgia and Madame Butterfly (ENO); Pélleas et Mélisande (Mariinsky); The Soldier’s Tale and Pierrot Lunaire (Chicago Symphony); Werther, Butterfly, Faust, Carmen and Peter Grimes (New York Met); Eugene Onegin (LA Opera/ ROH); The Return of Ulysses, Luisa Miller,

Dick Straker has designed for many of the UK’s most distinguished stages. His numerous theatre and opera credits include: Love’s Sacrifice for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Roots at the Donmar Warehouse; Going Dark at the Fuel Theatre; Tiger Country at the Hampstead Theatre; Paper Dolls and Seize the Day for the Tricycle Theatre; Tales of Ballycumber at the Abbey Theatre; The Mountaintop for Trafalgar Studios; Rushes for

CONDUCTOR

Annabel Arden DIRECTOR

In the 2015/16 season, Annabel Arden directed an acclaimed new production of Andrea Chénier for Opera North, and the first new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Glyndebourne Festival in over 30 years, of which The Independent wrote: “With the aid of a posse of India rubber mime artists, and drawing on her physical-theatre background with Complicité, she pulls off trick after trick with such speed and deftness that the eye is constantly delighted and dazzled, but it’s all in the service of a convincing reading of the text and a triumphant celebration of Rossini’s musical genius.” This season, Annabel will direct a new production of Carmen for the inaugural Grange Festival; return to Welsh National Opera for La bohème – a production which will also be seen at the Dubai Opera – and she will create a new semi-staging of Turandot for Opera North, before returning to the company for a new production in the 2017/18 season. Annabel has created productions for the ROH, Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino, Opera di Firenze and for the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona; and she has directed plays for the National Theatre, Almeida Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, the BBC and the Sydney Theatre Company. Annabel was a co-founder of the renowned British theatre company Theatre de Complicité in 1983.

DESIGNER

LIGHTING DESIGNER

VIDEO DESIGNER

the Royal Ballet; Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Royal Opera House; Hitchcock Blonde at the Royal Court Theatre; Julius Caesar at the Barbican; Richard II at the Old Vic; The Woman in White at the Palace Theatre in London and the Marquis Theatre in New York; and Henry V, The Coast of Utopia, Jumpers and The PowerBook at the National Theatre in London. Straker has also designed for fashion, commercial and architectural projection events and is the founder of the Mesmer Company, a collaboration of video and projection designers.

John Leonard

SOUND DESIGNER

John Leonard started work in theatre sound 45 years ago, during which time he has provided soundtracks for theatres all over the world. He has written an acclaimed guide to theatre sound, is the recipient of Drama Desk, LDI Sound Designer Of The Year and USITT Distinguished Career Awards and is a Fellow of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and an Honorary Fellow of The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. His most recent theatre includes: All Our Children, at the Jermyn Street Theatre; Consent, Waste, Detroit, Grief, Untold Stories-Cocktail Sticks, 2000 Years, England People Very Nice, Much Ado About Nothing, London Assurance and Rocket to the Moon at the National Theatre; The Heresy Of Love at The Royal Shakespeare Company; The Dark Earth and The Light Sky, The Master Builder, Little Eyolf and Ghosts (also West End and New York) at the Almeida; Long Day’s Journey Into Night at Bristol Old Vic; Into The Woods at The Royal Exchange, Manchester; The BFG at Birmingham Rep.; Birthday and Tribes at The Royal Court; Stevie, Farewell To The Theatre, Lawrence After Arabia, Ken and Mr. Foote’s Other Leg (also West End) at Hampstead; Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe; The Libertine, Dead Funny, Hand To God, The Duck House, Just Jim Dale, Firebird and McQueen (West End).

Ilona Karas

COSTUME CO-DESIGNER

Ilona Karas was born in Czech Republic where she started her carrier as a Costume Maker. She studied Costume design (BA Theatre Practice at the Centre School of Speech and Drama) in London. Since then she has worked as a Costume Designer and Supervisor for Theatre, Opera, Dance and

A RT I S T I C B I O G R A P H I E S

Circus in United Kingdom and Europe. Her costume design work includes: Rigoletto (Nevill Holt Opera), My Fair Lady (Staatstheatre Karlsruhe), Alcina (Staatstheatre Cottbus), L'elisir D' Amore (Northern Ireland Opera),Les Miserables (Pimlico Opera), West side story (Pimlico Opera) Until Now (Mimbre), The Bridge (Mimbre). She has worked as an assistant costume designer to Antony McDonald on Marriage of Figaro for Teatro alla Scala, assisted and supervised Powder Her Face (NI opera), La Finta Giardiniera (Glyndebourne) Lohengrin (Welsh National Opera, Warsaw National Opera), L’enfant et les Sortileges, (Bolshoi Theatre), The Importance of Being Ernest (Northern Ireland Opera) and Queen of Spades (Grange Park Opera). Her recent supervising includes Don Juan in Soho (Playful productions), Don Giovanni (Ni Opera), Barber of Seville (Glyndebourne), Don Giovanni (English Touring Opera), Iphigenie an Tauride (English Touring Opera)Poliuto (Glyndebourne), Salome (Northern Ireland Opera) John (DV8 Physical theatre).

Hand, A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes, Paper Dolls and Red Velvet at the Tricycle; Soul at the Royal & Derngate and Hackney Empire; The Nap, Playing for Time and Blasted at Sheffield Crucible; Deathtrap at Salisbury Playhouse; Around the World in 80 Days at the St James Theatre; Peter Pan: The Never Ending Story Arena Tour at Music Hall, Belgium; The Mentalists for Old Vic Productions at Wyndham’s; Brave New World for the Royal & Derngate and Theatre Consortium; The Gift and Larksong at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme; King John at the Royal & Derngate and Shakespeare’s Globe; Way Up Stream at Chichester; Blasted at The Other Room; The Merchant of Venice and King Charles III at the Almeida; Peter Pan at Polka; Kill Johnny Glendenning at Edinburgh Royal Lyceum; Bakersfield Mist and Mojo for Sonia Friedman Productions. Opera work includes Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House; and Wildman of the West Indies and Jason for English Touring Opera. Film includes Heretiks, Genesis, Arthur and Merlin, Howl, The Seasoning House, City Slacker, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, Deviation and iLL Manors.

Rachel BownWilliams & Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC-Annie Limited

Meredith Oakes

FIGHT DIRECTORS

RC-ANNIE Ltd was established in 2005 by Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth CooperBrown. Work in theatre includes: Common, Ugly Lies the Bone, Peter Pan, The Threepenny Opera, The James Plays (co-production with National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh International Festival) and Cleansed at the National Theatre; Salome, Snow in Midsummer, The Famous Victories of Henry V and Girl Fights at the RSC; Woyzeck at the Old Vic; East is East at Northern Stage; My Brilliant Friend at The Rose Theatre, Kingston; The Boys in the Band and Dead Funny at the Vaudeville; The White Devil, Comus and Imogen at Shakespeare’s Globe; The Boys in the Band at Park Theatre and on UK tour; Insignificance, Jumpy, My People, All My Sons, Aristocrats and Salt, Root and Roe at Theatr Clwyd; Punkplay at Southwark Playhouse; Boys will be Boys at the Bush; Barnbow Canaries, Great Expectations and Richard III at West Yorkshire Playhouse; The Invisible

DIALOGUE

Meredith Oakes is a playwright, librettist, translator and writer on music, born in Sydney and living in London. She has written libretti for Gerald Barry’s The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit (Channel 4, Largo CD, Aldeburgh Festival and Berlin Festwochen, etc); Thomas Ades’ The Tempest (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Metropolitan Opera, New York, etc) and Francisco Coll’s Café Kafka (Aldeburgh, Linbury Studios, Covent Garden and Opera North in 2014 and Valencia in 2016). She is currently working on Eucalyptus with Jonathan Mills and on another commission with Francisco Coll, based on a play by Lope de Vega. Her plays include: The Neighbour (National Theatre); The Editing Process (Royal Court Theatre); Faith (Royal Court Theatre); Her Mother and Bartók (Hampstead Theatre); Shadowmouth (Sheffield Crucible Studio) and Scenes From the Back of Beyond (Royal Court Theatre). She has made translations of new and classic German and French plays, including Goethe’s Iphigenie auf Tauris, and Werner Schwab’s Die Präsidentinnen and Endlich Tot, Endlich Keine Luft Mehr. She is published by Oberon Books.

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T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Anthony Kraus CHORUS MASTER

Anthony was educated at St Paul’s School and read Music at Bristol University, where he was also University Organ Scholar. Further studies followed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won the Ricordi Conducting Prize, and the National Opera Studio. As a conductor, chorus master and accompanist he has worked throughout the UK and Europe. He has worked for many British and European opera companies, including English Touring Opera, English National Opera, The Opera Project, Opéra National du Rhin (Strasbourg), Rossini Festival (Pesaro), and was also Organist of St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge. From 2003 until 2017 he was on the staff of Opera North, initially as Chorus Master, and subsequently as Acting Head of Music and Assistant Head of Music. While on the music staff there he conducted several productions, including The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, Cautionary Tales! (Errolyn Wallen), The Bartered Bride, The Adventures of Pinocchio (Jonathan Dove), Ruddigore and Joshua. He has also appeared with the Orchestra of Opera North and Sinfonia Viva in concert, and is Music Director of the British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, and Associate Music Director, Sinfonia of Leeds. He has also worked with the Leeds Festival Chorus, Huddersfield Choral Society and Sheffield Philharmonic Choir. Future plans include Madama Butterfly for Opera North, and Hansel & Gretel for the Royal Northern School of Music.

CAST Toby Girling MORALÈS

Toby is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and continues to study with Robert Dean. He was a member of the Glyndebourne Opera Festival Chorus in the Michael Grandage production of Billy Budd, in which he also sang the role of Arthur Jones and covered the role of Donald. His most current and future engagements include: Nicomedes in Der König Kandaules and Pallante in Agrippina (De Vlaamse Opera); Belcore in L’elisir d’amore (Scottish Opera); Angelo in Das Liebesverbot (Chelsea Opera Group at Cadogan Hall) and Sam in Trouble in Tahiti (Oper Leipzig on tour in Bolzano), a role which he also sang with the Wexford Festival.

Shelley Jackson MICAËLA

Supported by Mr and Mrs Jonathan Moseley

Possessing a voice described by Opéra magazine as one that “offers a balance of exciting sureness and incredible force”, Soprano Shelley Jackson has established herself as a quickly rising artist at international opera houses in both Europe and the US. The 2016–2017 season sees Ms Jackson’s role and house debut as Mimi in La bohème at the Salzburger Landestheater, conducted by Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, as well as her house debut at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy, as Micaëla in the Calixto Bieito production of Carmen. Last season saw Ms Jackson’s final year with the International Opera Studio of Opernhaus Zürich, where she made role debuts as Musetta in a new production of La bohème and Micaëla in Carmen. She also returned to Santa Fe Opera as the Italian Singer in Capriccio, directed by Tim Albery, and to cover the role of Juliette in Roméo et Juliette. Additional highlights as a studio member at Opernhaus Zürich include: the leading role of Song-Lian in the world-premiere production of Rote Laterne by Christian Jost; the covers of Cecilia Bartoli as Countess Adele in Le comte Ory, Diana Damrau as Adina in L’elisir d’amore and Giulietta in a new production of I Capuleti e i Montecchi led by Fabio Luisi, as well as Maid Marian in Robin Hood and die Vertraute in Elektra.

Leonardo Capalbo DON JOSÉ

Supported by an Anonymous Donor

A trainee of the Juilliard School of Music, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and L’Académie Musicale de Villecroze, Capalbo worked under the guidance of the legendary Marilyn Horne. He made his operatic debut in 2004 as Paco in de Falla’s La vida breve for Opera North. Further engagements with the company included: Ismaele in Nabucco, later released on Chandos; Romeo in Roméo et Juliette, Narraboth in Salome and Juan in Weill’s Der Kuhhandel. Last season, Capalbo made two important house debuts: La Monnaie, with Mariusz Trelinski’s Powder Her Face, and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Ismaele in Nabucco. Other important debuts included: his first Cavaradossi in Tosca at Minnesota Opera; Don José in Carmen at Palm Beach Opera, which he reprised at the Greek National Opera; and Arturo in La straniera at the Concertgebouw, part of the prestigious Saturday Matinee series.

Grigory Soloviov ZUNIGA

Before completing his studies with the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program in 2009, Russian-American bass Grigory Soloviov attended the prestigious Moscow State Conservatory. Mr Soloviov has won or been placed as a finalist in many prestigious vocal competitions globally, including the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions in Washington DC, the XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition and the Giulio Gari Foundation Competition. Mr Soloviov performed on numerous stages across the world, among which are the Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatro La Fenice, the Washington National Opera, Bolshoi Academic State Theatre, Helikon-Opera, the Dallas Opera, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Opéra National de Lyon, Opéra de Tours, Opéra de Montréal, the Palm Beach Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. His concert work includes appearances with such orchestras as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco. Between appearances on Russian stages, Mr Soloviov is also in great demand as a judge for vocal competitions held across the nation.

Marianne Croux FRASQUITA

The French-Belgian soprano Marianne made her debut at the Lyon's National Opera House as the Fifth Maid in Elektra by Strauss in a production staged by Ruth Berghaus and conducted by Hartmut Haenchen. Winner of the first prize at the Dexia Classics competition at 18 years old, she instantly fell in love with the stage, performing in several major concert halls of Belgium including the Théâtre de la Monnaie. Then she was performing Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Constance in Poulenc’s The dialogues of Carmelites, Louise de Vilmorin in Hahn’s La Carmélite as well as Sophia Schliemann for the creation of the contempory opera Iliade l'amour by Betsy Jolas. She also created the role of Calypso in Les Constellations, une théorie composed by Josephine Stephenson. She collaborated with David Reiland, Hartmut Haenchen for opera productions, with Raphaël Pichon for Bach and Buxtehude’s cantatas, with Emmanuelle Haïm for Lully’s air de cour. Under the direction of Cornelius Meister, she performed at the Paris’ Philharmonie as The first Elf in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by F Mendelssohn. She started her musical education with piano and violin and chose to dedicate herself to a career of singer when she was fifteen. In 2011 Marianne joined The Conservatoire National Supérieur de Danse et de Musique of Paris in Chantal Mathias' class. She graduated in June 2016 and got her Masters with the highest mention and unanimous congratulations of the jury. At the beginning of 2015, she had the opportunity to be part of a student exchange at the Manhattan School of Music in New York where she studied with the mezzo-soprano Mignon Dunn. Marianne was a member of the opera studio of Lyon's National Opera House and will be part next season of the Atelier Lyrique at the Paris’ National Opera House.

Filipa van Eck MERCÉDÈS

South African/Portuguese soprano Filipa van Eck studied at the Royal College of Music International Opera School as the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa scholar. Her recent and future engagements include the Opera Highlights tour with Scottish Opera; Maria in West Side Story in a revival and tour for Cape Town Opera; her debut at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon; and Anna in Intermezzo in concert performance at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

A RT I S T I C B I O G R A P H I E S On the operatic stage, Filipa has performed the title role of The Cunning Little Vixen, Maria in West Side Story, Corinna in Il viaggio a Reims and Valencienne in Die lustige Witwe for Cape Town Opera; Sabine in Adriano in Siria for the Classical Opera Company; Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Lisetta in La gazzetta, Gabrielle in La Vie Parisienne and L’Enfant in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the RCM; the title role of Arianna in Creta and Rosmene in Imeneo for the London Handel Festival; Barbarina in The Little Green Swallow by Jonathan Dove for British Youth Opera and Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea for English Touring Opera.

Na’ama Goldman CARMEN

Supported by Maureen Goulden

Born in Israel, she stepped in at very short notice to sing the title role of Carmen at the Masada Festival in 2012 under Daniel Oren, making such a big impression that she was immediately engaged for leading roles by Israeli Opera. These comprise Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Fenena in Nabucco, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Maddalena in Rigoletto and Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette. Among other important engagements are the title role of La Cenerentola at Israeli Opera; the title role of Mariotte’s Salomé at the Wexford Festival; Dorabella in Così fan tutte for Ópera de Tenerife; Cornelia in Giulio Cesare at the Shanghai Baroque Festival and Marchesa Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro. She also appeared at the Wiener Konzerthaus in Haydn’s cantata Arianna a Naxos and was engaged by the Glyndebourne Festival Opera to cover both the title role of Carmen and Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict. Whilst a member of the Meitar Opera Studio, Na’ama Goldman performed many roles including: Charlotte in Werther, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus and Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte. Among the notable conductors with whom she has appeared are David Angus, Frédéric Chaslin, Carlo Goldstein, Luciano di Martino, Daniel Oren, George Pehlivanian, David Stern, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Alberto Zedda and Nicola Berloffa. Directors with whom she has collaborated include: Nicola Berloffa, Kirsten Harms, Jean-Louis Grinda, Giancarlo del Monaco, Alessandro Talevi, Mariusz Treliński and Andrejs Žagars. Future plans include: Carmen for Ópera de Tenerife; Siébel in Faust and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Israeli Opera.

Phillip Rhodes ESCAMILLO

Supported by Nicholas and Jeremy Hunter

UK-based baritone Phillip Rhodes begins the 2016-17 season in his native country, New Zealand, where he appears as Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and covering the title role. He returns to his home in the UK to appear as Mizgir in The Snowmaiden and as Peter/Father in Hansel and Gretel, both for Opera North (UK). He participates in the inauguration of the new festival at the Grange with his portrayal of Escamillo in Carmen, his role debut. Recent highlights include two roles at Opera New Zealand: as Scarpia in Tosca in a new production and his debut as Père Germont in La traviata. He won exceptional reviews for his performance as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at Auckland Opera Studio, and joined the artist roster at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, to cover the role under the aegis of a special grant provided by the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. Phillip acknowledges with gratitude the ongoing support of the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, and the professional guidance of Dame Kiri.

Tiago Matos LE DANCAÏRE

Portuguese baritone Tiago Matos was a member of the Atelier Lyrique at the Opéra national de Paris; he made his debut as Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia in a production by Damiano Michieletto, conducted by Carlo Montanaro; at the theatre, he has also appeared as Un Chevalier in Le Roi Arthus (Chausson) and, most recently, as Ceprano in a new production of Rigoletto, directed by Claus Guth and conducted by Nicola Luisotti. Tiago recently sang Le Chanteur de Sèrènades in Les Caprices de Marianne (Sauguet) – this production has just won Le Grand Prix Claude Rostand du Meilleur Spectacle Lyrique en Region, after some successful performances in the Opéra de Reims, Opéra de Massy, Opéra d’Avignon, Opéra de Marseille, Opéra National de Bordeaux and Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, among other French theatres. Tiago made his debut at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos as Janino in O Basculho de Chaminé, and was a member of the São Carlos Opera Studio in 2011. Tiago’s engagements this season include: Dancaire in Calixto Bieito’s production of Carmen at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos; the Charpentier Te Deum for the Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, and he will return to the Opéra National de Paris for a variety of engagements over the coming seasons.

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Christophe Poncet de Solages LE REMENDADO

Christophe Poncet de Solages graduated from the Conservatory in Amsterdam and later on improved his skills in France with Polish soprano Maria Sartova and French bass Lionel Sarrazin. A guest soloist with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, he has had the opportunity to sing Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium and the role of Ein junger Hirt in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at Salle Pleyel in Paris. He has also appeared as Bert II in Zoran Juranić’s opera Posljednji ljetni cvijet and Oedipus in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex during the 2013 Armel Opera Festival in Szeged, Hungary. His vast repertoire comprises works by Britten, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky and Janáček. He has performed Chevalier de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Mozart’s Tamino and Belmonte, Monteverdi’s and Haydn’s Orfeo, as well as Pâris in Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène, Simpleton in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and has recorded in French the part of Alfredo in La traviata. Recent and forthcoming projects include: among others, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with Le Choeur de Chambre de Versailles, the role of Orphée in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers, Pomponnet in La Fille de Madame Angot by Lecocq and Camille de Rosillon in Lehár’s The Merry Widow.

Aicha Kossoko

Tonderai Munyevu

Aicha Kossoko’s theatre work includes: The Vote at the Donmar Warehouse; Antony and Cleopatra at Chichester Festival Theatre and Liverpool Playhouse; The Taming of the Shrew at RSC, Stratford; Welcome to Thebes and The Observer at the National Theatre; La Dispute at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Yours Abundantly, From Zimbabwe for Gillian Plowman Productions; Richard III for Southwark Playhouse; Blithe Spirit for Watford Palace; The Evocation of Papa Mas for Told by an Idiot; The Magic Carpet at the Lyric Hammersmith; Celestina at Birmingham Rep/Edinburgh International Festival; Signes de vie with the Igi Theatre Company; The Vagina Monologues at the Arts Theatre; Monkey at the Young Vic; A Wedding Story at the Soho Theatre; the title role in Andromache with Living Pictures; Macbeth and Yerma at BAC; The Old Curiosity Shop at the Southwark Playhouse; The Cherry Orchard, Demons and Dybbuks, The Black Dahlia and Buried Alive with Method and Madness; The Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Globe; Antony and Cleopatra at the Riverside Studios; Julius Caesar at the Alley Theatre, Houston, and Inheritance with Eastern Angles. Recent films: The Fever and Claude Chabrol’s La comédie du pouvoir. Numerous television dramas and series include: Skins, In Deep, Coronation Street, Casualty, EastEnders, Doctors and Kingmakers. Various productions for BBC Radio/World Service include: The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and Today.

Credits include: Treasure Island (Birmingham Rep); Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (Young Vic in 2013 and 2014); DEvine Comedy (David Glass Ensemble); The Man Who Almost Killed Himself (Hibrow/BBC Arts); ZHE: [Noun] Undefined (Soho Theatre); The Two Gentlemen of Verona, or Vakomana Vaviri Ve Zimbabwe (Shakespeare’s Globe/international tour); Kupenga Kwa Hamlet (Ovalhouse Theatre/international tour); Othello (Watermill/Rose) and Magetsi (international tour). On-screen: Doctors (BBC); the films The Day of the Triffids (BBC/HBO) and Something Nice From London (Latimer). Radio: Boniface and Me, Mandida’s Shoes, When the Laughter Stops and King Solomon’s Mines, all for BBC Radio 4. As a writer: Harare Files (international tour); ZHE [noun] Undefined (Soho Theatre) and A Tranquil Mind (BBC Radio 4).

COMMÈRE

COMPÈRE

A L B E RT H E R R I N G A RT I S T IC B IO G R A P H I E S

Steuart Bedford CONDUCTOR

Recognised as one of today’s leading Britten experts as a result of his long collaboration with the composer, Steuart Bedford has conducted Britten’s operas in the most important houses including the world premiere of Death in Venice at Aldeburgh. He conducted an innovative production of Peter Grimes at the Aldeburgh Festival that has since been released in cinemas, on DVD and on CD to critical acclaim. In recent seasons, he conducted highly praised productions of Death in Venice at Garsington Opera; Don Giovanni at Vancouver Opera; Albert Herring with BBC Symphony Orchestra at London’s Barbican Centre; The Turn of the Screw in the first ever Britten opera presented by Opera Holland Park, and returned to the Royal Academy of Music in a production of The Rape of Lucretia.

John Copley DIRECTOR

John Copley first appeared with the Royal Opera at the age of 15 as an actor and later became their principal resident director. He has directed opera throughout the world during a career that spans over 50 years. John has worked with all the great singers and conductors and continues to share his expertise with young singers in his productions for the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music.

Tim Reed TIM REED

Tim Reed has an international reputation as an opera and theatre designer. Opera includes: the Paris Opera premiere of Docteur Faustus; LʼOrmindo for Netherlands Opera; Verdi’s Macbeth in Madrid; La traviata, The Turn of the Screw and Hänsel und Gretel in Israel; and in Dublin, Così fan tutte, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Fledermaus and La traviata. He has worked extensively in Sweden, designing Lʼelisir dʼamore for

Gothenburg Opera and The Coronation of Poppea and The Marriage of Figaro for Norrlands Opera in Umeå. Theatre work includes: The York Mystery Cycle with Steven Pimlott; The Beaux’ Stratagem and The Field for the Abbey; Exit, Entrance and The Shadow of a Gunman for the Peacock; and Happy Days and The House of Bernarda Alba for the Gate Theatre, Dublin.

Prue Handley

COSTUME DESIGNER

Prue Handley studied theatre design at the Central School of Art and Design. She worked as a costume designer in commercial television and for the BBC from 1958 to 1992, designing for major drama, dance, music and comedy programmes. She won the BAFTA Award for costume design in 1979 for Testament of Youth. She has worked with John Copley on a number of productions at the conservatoires since 1994, including Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte and Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, all conducted by Sir Colin Davis, and Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring.

Kevin Treacy

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Kevin designs for opera, theatre and dance. Opera designs include: Salome, directed by Oliver Mears; Carmen (Nevill Holt – directed by internationally acclaimed choreographer Ashley Page OBE); L’Enfant et les sortilèges (Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra – conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen); Macbeth, The Bear, The Flying Dutchman, Tosca and L’elisir d’amore (NI Opera/Opera Theatre Company); Agrippina (IYT); five one-act operas, part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad (MAC, Belfast); The Turn of the Screw (NI Opera and Buxton Festival, 2012/Kolobov Novaya Theatre, Moscow, 2014); Orpheus in the Underworld (NI Opera/ Scottish Opera); L’Enfant et les sortilèges (Philharmonia Orchestra/ Royal Festival Hall – directed by Irina Brown); Faramondo (Handel Festspiele, Göttingen – directed by Paul Curran); La bohème and The Turn of the Screw (Nevill Holt – directed by Oliver Mears and Ashley Page) and Orango (Royal Festival Hall – directed by Irina Brown and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen).

CAST Richard Pinkstone ALBERT HERRING

Supported by Thomas and Phillis Sharpe

Born in Northumberland, Richard Pinkstone graduated from the University of York, where he read music and sang Damon in Acis and Galatea and Tamino in The Magic Flute. He is currently studying for a Master’s in Vocal Performance at the Royal College of Music, where he is under the tutelage of Timothy Evans-Jones and Christopher Middleton. His studies at the Royal College of Music are supported by a Richard Carne Scholarship. At the Royal College of Music, he has sung the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel, directed by Liam Steel; and Alfred in Die Fledermaus, directed by John Copley.

Orla Boylan LADY BILLOWS

Supported by Alun and Bridget Evans

In recent seasons, Irish soprano Orla Boylan has made a number of important debuts, including Gutrune in Götterdämmerung (Opera North) and Chrysothemis in Elektra (West Australian Opera), as well as her La Scala debut in Giorgio Battistelli’s CO2. Her performances as Senta in Der fliegende Holländer have brought her notable international success in recent seasons, both onstage and in concert. Most recent and future plans include: Turandot (Opera North); Senta (Royal Danish Opera) and Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder (RTÉ Symphony Orchestra). A series of title roles for Garsington Opera (Arabella‚ Ariadne auf Naxos and the British stage premiere of Die Liebe der Danae) established Boylan as a respected interpreter of the music of Richard Strauss. She is also a leading interpreter of Britten’s operas, in which her roles include: Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes‚ Governess in The Turn of the Screw and Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia. She recently made her role debuts as Miss Wingrave in Owen Wingrave (Opéra National de Lorraine) and as Lady Billows (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino).

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Clarissa Meek

Anna Gillingham

Praised for her “excellent, firm, and clear rich sound”, British mezzo-soprano Clarissa Meek has performed throughout the UK and Europe and in a broad range of repertoire. Over the last decade, she has been a regular at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, singing and covering roles such as Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, Sphinx in Oedipe, Xenia’s Nurse and Hostess of the Inn in Boris Godunov, Virgie Anna Nicole, Zita and Frugola in Il trittico, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, and Lady Essex Gloriana, Second Squire and Heavenly Voice in Parsifal. Previous seasons have seen her sing Mrs Herring in Albert Herring, Frugola and Zita in Il trittico, Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte and the Nurse in King Priam (English Touring Opera); Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, mezzo soloist in Les Noces, and Second Maid in Elektra (Opera North); Katisha in The Mikado and Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw (Grange Park Opera); Alcmene in Die Liebe der Danae and Mayor’s Sister in May Night (Garsington Opera); Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen (Opera Theatre Company/Czech Republic) and Virtu/Pallade in L’incoronazione di Poppea (De Nederlandse Opera/New York). Recipient of the Glyndebourne Erich Vietheer Memorial Award, her further roles include: Katharina Schratt in Mayerling (Royal Ballet, Covent Garden) and the Hostess in Bake for One Hour (English National Opera). With a broad and varied repertoire, the concert hall has always played an important part in Ms Meek’s career; engagements have taken her throughout Britain and Europe, most notably as Xenia’s Nurse in Boris Godunov (Royal Opera House/ BBC Proms); Ursule in Béatrice et Bénédict (BBC Symphony Orchestra/BBC Radio 3); Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Royal Scottish National Orchestra); Elgar’s Sea Pictures (Symphony Hall, Birmingham); The Dream of Gerontius (St Asaph’s Cathedral); Haydn’s Stabat Mater (Aldeburgh); Verdi’s Requiem (Paisley Abbey); Handel’s Messiah (Glyndebourne/ Hannover); Berlioz Les Nuits d’été (Flanders Symphony Orchestra) and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Bamberger Symphoniker).

After graduating from Queens’ College, Cambridge with double first honours in Music, young British soprano Anna Gillingham joined the prestigious opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where her outstanding talent was quickly recognised. In repertoire as diverse as Donizetti’s unknown opera Francesca di Foix, in which she sang the title role, Stradella’s oratorio San Giovanni Battista and Britten’s Owen Wingrave, Anna has been acclaimed for the beauty of her voice and the magnetism of her stage presence. Anna made her international operatic debut in 2015 as Britten’s Governess in The Turn of the Screw at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Benedetto Sicca’s new production. She returned last season in her debut as Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring and is reinvited to Opera di Firenze this season for Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, a role she debuted at Theater Basel last season under Christoph Altstaedt. Elsewhere this season, Anna makes her house debut at the inaugural season of The Grange Festival as Miss Wordsworth under Steuart Bedford. Next season, Anna Gillingham will join the Jungesensemble at the Theater an der Wien, where her key roles will include Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and the title role in Porpora’s Arianna in Nasso. On the concert stage, Anna recently made her debut as Frasquita in performances of Carmen with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Lan Shui, and has performed n recital in some of London’s most prestigious venues including Wigmore Hall, Barbican Concert Hall, Purcell Room, Milton Court Concert Hall and LSO St. Luke’s. In addition to performing on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, Anna Gillingham has appeared at the Oxford Lieder, City of London and Cheltenham festivals and recently joined Martin Fröst at his acclaimed Vinterfest in Dalarna in Schubert’s chamber work Der Hirt auf dem Felsen alongside Gabriela Montero. This season Anna gives her debut recital at the Warsaw Philharmonic.

FLORENCE PIKE

MISS WORDSWORTH

Kitty Whately NANCY

Supported by Andrew and Tracy Wickham

Kitty Whately trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal College of Music International Opera School. She is a winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the Royal Overseas League Award and was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2013 to 2015. Kitty’s opera roles include: Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Stewardess in Jonathan Dove’s Flight (Opera Holland Park); Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bergen National Opera); Kate in Owen Wingrave (Opéra National de Lorraine); Dorabella in Così fan tutte (English Touring Opera); Ippolita/Pallade in Cavalli’s Elena (Aix-enProvence Festival) and Eurydice in Orfeo with English National Opera at Bristol Old Vic Theatre, as well as the world premiere of Vasco Mendonça’s The House Taken Over. Her extensive concert repertoire includes: Duruflé’s Requiem and Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s B-minor Mass, Beethoven’s Mass in C major, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Bach’s Magnificat and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has appeared at the BBC Proms and with several of the BBC orchestras. This season, Kitty performs Mozart’s Requiem at the Bridgewater Hall, and appears with the Dunedin Consort in Oslo, at the Three Choirs Festival and the Ludlow English Song Weekend. Recent performances include: Don Ettore in La Canterina (Classical Opera) and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Aix-enProvence at Beijing Music Festival).

Tim Nelson SID

Born in London, Timothy Nelson gained a BSc in Physiology from Cardiff University. In 2015, he graduated from the Royal College of Music International Opera School, where he studied with Peter Savidge and was awarded the McCulloch Prize for Opera. He was the winner of the Bruce Millar Gulliver Prize, the RCM Joan Chissell Schumann Competition and the Gerald Moore Award Singers Prize, is a Jerwood Young Artist at the 2015 Glyndebourne Festival and is a recipient of an Independent Opera at Postgraduate Voice Fellowship. His studies were generously supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the H R Taylor Trust.

A RT I S T I C B I O G R A P H I E S

Alexander Robin-Baker

Kathleen Wilkinson

Catriona Hewitson

Winner of Second Prize at the 2008 Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Competition, Alexander Robin-Baker graduated from the National Opera Studio in summer of 2012. Born in Epsom, Surrey, he was a music scholar at the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, and graduated in July 2007 with a first-class BMus (hons) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating from the postgraduate vocal studies course under the tuition of David Pollard. He made his debut with English National Opera as Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and has returned as Gizmo in The Way Back Home, Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, Happy in The Girl of the Golden West and Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance.

Born in Lancashire of Irish descent, Kathleen Wilkinson studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she won a Peter Moores Foundation Scholarship and the Webster Booth Competition. She made her debut at the Royal Opera, London, as She-Ancient in The Midsummer Marriage, and has returned as Anna in Maria Stuarda, Brigitta in Die tote Stadt, Third Maid in Elektra, Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress and Filippyevna in Eugene Onegin.

Edinburgh-born soprano Catriona Hewitson started at the City of Edinburgh Music School, and then received a BA from the RNCM and a Master’s from the RCM, studying with Janis Kelly. Most recently, she was a graduate of the ENO Opera Works training programme. She has won several prizes, including the Chris Petty English Song Competition, the Cuthbert Smith Prize and was a finalist at the Wigmore Hall in the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards. Opera highlights include: cover Sophie in Werther and cover Yniold in Pelléas et Mélisande (ETO); Monica in The Medium and Musetta in La bohème (Magnetic Opera); Ida in Die Fledermaus and Emmie in Albert Herring (RCMIOS); Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice and Harry in Albert Herring (RNCM); cover First Young Tree in Paul Bunyan (BYO); ensemble in Giove in Argo (London Handel Festival/RCMIOS) and chorus and Iris in La bohème and The Queen of Spades (OHP). Highlights in concert include: performing at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Bridgewater Hall and touring with the Ulster Orchestra. In September this year, Catriona will be returning to the RCM International Opera School to continue her studies. Catriona was an RCM scholar supported by the Emma Rose Memorial Award and has also been generously supported by the Hope Scott Trust, James Caird Travelling Fund, Cross Trust and PS.

MR GEDGE

Andri Björn Róbertsson

SUPERINTENDENT BUDD

Bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson hails from Reykjavik in Iceland. Having completed a postgraduate course and opera course at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he joined the National Opera Studio as a trainee in September 2013. He was a member of the International Opera Studio in Zürich, Switzerland, for the 2014/15 season, where his roles included Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte. He was named a HSBC Academy Laureate of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence for 2014 following his performance in Trauernacht – a staged performance based on J S Bach’s sacred cantata. This season, he joins ENO’s Harewood Artists and made his debut with the company this season as Angelotti in Tosca. Andri is also a keen recitalist, having performed at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Icelandic Opera.

MRS HERRING

Adrian Thompson MR UPFOLD

Adrian is one of Britain’s leading operatic character tenors, long established on the stages of Covent Garden, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival and Garsington Festival, and has made guest appearances at La Scala, Milan, Geneva Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Nederlandse Reisopera, Aix-en-Provence Festival and has sung in concert with all the leading orchestras of the UK and abroad. Over his career, Adrian has long established a specific relationship with the music of Britten and Elgar, for which he is much in demand on both the concert platform and recording studio.

Emily Vine EMMIE

Born in Surrey, Emily studied at the Royal Academy of Music, first achieving an MA with distinction and, most recently, a DipRAM from the prestigious Royal Academy Opera, where she learned with Elizabeth Ritchie. Opera roles include: Strawberry Seller in Death in Venice (Garsington Opera under Steuart Bedford); Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, La Fée in Cendrillon, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica (Royal Academy Opera) and Fido in Paul Bunyan (British Youth Opera).

CIS

Jack Stone HARRY

Jack is a pupil at Twyford School where he sings in the Junior Choir. His dancing credits include Alice in Wonderland with the Integr8 dance company. His singing/ acting credits include the trio in Rainbow. Jack also enjoys playing the drums.

Hector Taggart HARRY

Hector is a member of the Junior Choir at Twyford School. He has performed in Oliver! (Grange Park Opera 2016) and in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

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Francesco Cilluffo CONDUCTOR

Francesco Cilluffo’s future engagements include: Tosca (Tulsa Opera – US debut); Nabucco and La bohème (Israeli Opera); Risurrezione (Wexford Festival) and L’italiana in Algeri (Opera Toulon). Recent operatic engagements include: an all-Italian symphonic programme concert with the Bremer Philharmoniker; Roméo et Juliette and Madama Butterfly (Israeli Opera); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona, Reggio Emilia and Opera Lombardia – Como, Brescia, Pavia); Rigoletto (Israeli Opera); La traviata (Opéra Royal de Wallonie); Il barbiere di Siviglia (Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa); Wolf-Ferrari’s Il campiello (Opera di Firenze and Teatro Verdi di Trieste); L’elisir d’amore (Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Comunale di Modena and New Israeli Opera); Tutino’s Le braci (world premiere – Festival della Valle d’Itria, Martina Franca and Opera di Firenze); Nabucco (Theater Kiel) and Mascagni’s Guglielmo Ratcliff (Wexford Festival – broadcast on BBC Radio 3). Born in Turin, he received his BA in Conducting and Composition from the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi and graduated in musicology from Turin University. He continued his studies in London, where he was awarded Master in Composition (with distinction) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a PhD in Composition from King’s College, London.

SINGERS Vlada Borovko SOPRANO

Russian soprano Vlada Borovko became a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the start of the 2015/16 season, immediately upon her graduation from the Kazan State Conservatory. Shortly after her joining the programme, she made an impressive debut as Violetta Valéry on the main stage of Royal Opera House, when she was called at the last moment to step in for an ailing colleague. The event marked not only her debut in the role but also her stage debut in a leading role.

In her 2016/17 season with the Royal Opera House, Borovko will sing Clotilde in Norma, Ermione in Oreste, Mlle Jouvenot in Adriana Lecouvreur, Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore, as well as covering Leonora in Il trovatore, Aspasia in Mitridate, re di Ponto, and will continue to cover Violetta in La traviata. Borovko initially went on to study foreign languages at the Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod. Upon her graduation, she enrolled at the Kazan State Conservatory, where she studied under the guidance of Galina Lastovka. While still a student, she was invited to take part in the world premieres of two contemporary works and sang Stephano in Roméo et Juliette in Kazan. She made her professional opera debut as Mércèdes in Carmen at Tatar State Opera and Ballet Theatre, and sang Annie and Strawberry Woman in Porgy and Bess with Marco Boemi at the International Shalyapin Opera Festival. Last season, alongside her debut as Violetta, other roles with the Royal Opera House included: Frasquita in Carmen; Xenia in a new production of Boris Godunov, which was also presented at the BBC Proms; Anna in Nabucco; and a venture into another Verdi role, Leonora in Il trovatore, which she covered over the summer.

Patricia Bardon MEZZO-SOPRANO

Irish mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon is the youngest ever prizewinner of the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and is in demand for repertoire ranging from the baroque through to Rossini and Wagner. Her distinguished career has brought numerous opportunities to collaborate in both opera and concert with a wide range of conductors, such as James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Bernard Haitink, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Mark Elder, Christophe Rousset, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Alberto Zedda, Fabio Luisi, Harry Bicket, Ivor Bolton, Christoph Eschenbach, William Christie, Pinchas Zukerman, Ingo Metzmacher, Sir Charles Mackerras and René Jacobs. Having studied in Dublin with Dr Veronica Dunne, Bardon’s career embraces an impressive diversity of roles: Erda in the Grammy Award-winning production of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Metropolitan Opera (DVD/Deutsche Grammophon); La Nourrice in Ariane et Barbe-bleu for Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona (DVD/Opus

Arte); her highly acclaimed interpretation of Azucena in Il trovatore at Welsh National Opera; her creation of the title role in Saariaho’s Adriana Mater for Opera National de Paris; her glowing reviews last season for Carmen in Los Angeles, conducted by Plácido Domingo – a role she has recorded for Chandos – and her Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Maurya in Riders to the Sea at ENO are all testament to an exceptional artistic versatility. An acclaimed baroque and bel canto singer, highlights have included: the title roles in Giulio Cesare at the Liceu in Barcelona; Orlando for the Opéra National de Paris (CD/Erato); Rinaldo for Oper Köln; as well as Cornelia in Giulio Cesare for Bayerische Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, ENO and Glyndebourne Festival Opera (DVD/Opus Arte). She has sung Rosmira in Partenope for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Theater an der Wien and ENO (Olivier nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera); Andronico in Tamerlano in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Amsterdam and Madrid; Bradamante in Alcina in Drottingholm and Moscow; Penelope in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria for Maggio Musicale Florence, Amsterdam, Berlin Staatsoper and Athens; Ruggiero in Alcina for Trieste and Montpellier; Amastras in Xerxes for Montpellier, Dresden and Munich Staatsoper (DVD Opus Arte); Juno in Semele for ENO and Innsbrook; Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea in Oslo (DVD/ EuroArts) and, most recently, Zenobia in Radamisto for Theater an der Wien and at Carnegie Hall. Bel canto highlights include: Tancredi and Arsace in Semiramide for La Fenice; Calbo in Il Maometto secondo for Santa Fe Opera; Smeaton in Anna Bolena for San Francisco Opera; title role in La Cenerentola for La Monnaie; Andromache in Ermione (Festival Hall/CD/Opera Rara) and Malcolm in La donna del Lago for the Edinburgh International Festival (CD/Opera Rara). Enjoying an ongoing relationship with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bardon has appeared there in productions of Guillaume Tell, Mefistofele, Rigoletto, Moise in Egitto, The Rake’s Progress (earning an Olivier nomination) and, most recently, in Richard Jones’ acclaimed staging of Britten’s Gloriana (DVD). Bardon has extensive concert experience and has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras including: the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, St Louis Symphony Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Les Arts Florissants, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Köln, Academy

of Ancient Music, Les Talens Lyriques, the Hallé Orchestra, Le Concert Spirituel, English Chamber Orchestra, RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the English Concert, Filarmonica della Scala, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra de RAI and Orchestra de Paris, in repertoire including the Bach Passions, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Verdi Messa da Requiem, Handel oratorios, Wagner Wesendonck Lieder and the Mahler symphonies. Highlights for the 2015–2016 season include: the title role in Agrippina at Theater an der Wien; title role in Porporo’s Germanico in Germania at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music; Mary in John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary in Strasbourg with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic; Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Mahler’s Symphony No 2 with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra; and Handel’s Messiah with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Le Concert Spirituel and RLPO.

Leonardo Capalbo TENOR

Italian-American tenor Leonardo Capalbo has garnered international acclaim for his performances throughout the United States and Europe. Lauded for his rich, lyric voice and dramatic intensity, Capalbo has received acclaim at houses such as Berliner Staatsoper, Teatro Real Madrid, Glyndebourne Festival, L’Opéra de Lyon, Teatro Regio di Torino, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Semperoper Dresden, Grand Théâtre de Genève, New York City Opera and Welsh National Opera, amongst others. In 16/17, Capalbo will return the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, to perform the title role in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman. Other engagements include: Don José in Carmen in Sevilla; Duca in Rigoletto (Wichita Opera) and Alfredo in La traviata (Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa in Warsaw. A trainee of the Juilliard School of Music, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and L’Académie Musicale de Villecroze, Capalbo worked under the guidance of the legendary Marilyn Horne. He made his operatic debut in 2004 as Paco in de Falla’s La vida breve for Opera North. Further engagements with the company included: Ismaele in Nabucco, later released on Chandos; Romeo in Roméo et Juliette, Narraboth in Salome

A RT I S T I C B I O G R A P H I E S

and Juan in Weill’s Der Kuhhandel. Last season, Capalbo made two important house debuts: La Monnaie, with Mariusz Trelinski’s Powder Her Face, and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Ismaele in Nabucco. Other important debuts included: his first Cavaradossi in Tosca at Minnesota Opera; Don José in Carmen at Palm Beach Opera, which he reprised at the Greek National Opera; and Arturo in La straniera at the Concertgebouw, part of the prestigious Saturday Matinee series.

Jongmin Park

Jongmin studied singing at the Korea National University of Arts. As a member of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, he was guided by Mirella Freni, Luciana Serra, Luigi Alva and Renato Bruson and, during the 2010–2013 seasons, he was a member of the ensemble at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, where he sang leading roles such as Sarastro, Colline and Sparafucile. In 2013, he was invited to join the ensemble at the Wiener Staatsoper, where he has performed the roles of Sir Giorgio in I Puritani, Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Vodník in Rusalka, Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos.

BASS

Jongmin Park was the Song Prizewinner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2015, and is currently a member of the ensemble at Wiener Staatsoper, where in the 2016–17 season he stars in operas such as La bohème, Macbeth, Il trovatore, Don Giovanni, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Don Carlo. In the 2016/17 season, in addition to his operatic engagements in Vienna, he will make his Wigmore Hall recital debut; in concert, he performs Verdi’s Messa da Requiem at the Wiener Konzerthaus and also at the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia and Edward Gardner, and he will perform in Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 with the NHK Orchestra in Japan, under Herbert Blomstedt. Looking ahead, Jongmin will make his Scandinavian opera debut at Bergen Nasjonale Opera, singing Otello (Lodovico). Recent highlights include: his debut at the ROH, Covent Garden, as Colline in La bohème; appearances at the BBC Proms in London and at the City of London Festival 2014. In addition to the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2015, other prizes and competitions he has won include: the International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Birgit Nilsson Prize at the Operalia. His concert engagements have included: Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 with the London Symphony Orchestra; Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore at Teatro alla Scala’s annual Christmas concert; Mozart’s Requiem at the Lech Classic Festival; Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the KBS Symphony in Seoul, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo. He has performed solo recitals in Munich and Frankfurt, as well as the Musikverein in Vienna.

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A CE L E B R AT ION O F RO D G E R S & H A M M E R S T E I N A N D RO D G E R S & H A RT A RT I S T IC B IO G R A P H I E S

John Wilson CONDUCTOR

A charismatic figure on the concert stage, John Wilson is known for the vivid nature of his interpretations and is applauded repeatedly for the rich and colourful sounds that he draws from orchestras in repertoire ranging from the core classical through to the twentieth century. An outstanding communicator and a recognised builder of audiences, Wilson has developed long-term affiliations with many of the UK’s major orchestras and is working increasingly further afield, most recently with the Sydney Symphony. In 16/17 he took up his new position as Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of Wilson’s 2016/17 season include debuts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in an all-Bernstein programme, with the London Symphony Orchestra performing Rachmaninov Symphony No 2 and the UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Hakan, and with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in a programme celebrating the great Hollywood classics. As Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony, Wilson will conduct Korngold’s Symphony in F sharp Major and Elgar/Payne Symphony No 3 amongst other works, with the BBC Philharmonic he returns to the recording studio to continue his series of critically acclaimed recordings for Chandos and he returns several times to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for various different programmes of British music. He also returned to the Royal Festival Hall with the National Youth Orchestra and with the Philharmonia Orchestra, continuing his Vaughan Williams cycle with a performance of A Sea Symphony. In opera, Wilson made his debut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera in Autumn 2016 to great critical acclaim, conducting the theatre’s first ever Madama Butterfly for their autumn tour in a new production directed by Annilese Miskimmon. Previous opera productions include critically acclaimed concert performances of Léhar’s The Merry Widow and Strauss’s Die Fledermaus with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore at

Opera North. Wilson has also collaborated with many of the world’s finest singers, including Sir Thomas Allen, Joyce DiDonato, Simon Keenlyside and Renée Fleming. In 1994, Wilson formed his own orchestra, the John Wilson Orchestra, dedicated to performing film music of Hollywood’s golden age. As well as making regular and extensive tours of the UK with them, he appears annually with the orchestra at the BBC Proms, in 2015 with a Bernstein retrospective and in 2016 celebrating the music of Gershwin. John Wilson and the John Wilson Orchestra record exclusively for Warner Classics (formerly EMI Classics) and their performances are broadcast regularly on radio and television. Wilson has a catalogue of over 40 recordings the most recent of which is a disc of symphonies by Copland with the BBC Philharmonic on Chandos, released in September 2016, which received superb reviews. Born in Gateshead, England, John Wilson studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music, where he was taught by Joseph Horovitz and Neil Thomson and where he won all the major conducting prizes, and in 2011 was made a Fellow.

SINGERS Kim Criswell

Kim Criswell arrived in London in 1992 to play Annie in Annie Get Your Gun in the West End, having spent the 80s on Broadway in Nine, Baby, The Threepenny Opera, and in Cats in LA, among others. Other UK shows include: Dames at Sea, Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, Slow Drag and Into the Woods. Recent roles include: Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Royal Exchange); the Old Lady in Candide (La Scala and Châtelet); Mrs Castellari in Hysteria (film); the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music (Châtelet); Lalume in Kismet (Vienna Volksoper) and Carrie’s crazy mom in Carrie (Southwark Playhouse). Kim has recorded more than 40 albums, mostly of classic musical theatre, including four solo albums, and has an extensive international concert career. This has taken her to venues ranging from London’s Albert, Wigmore, Barbican, Festival

and Queen Elizabeth halls to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Berlin’s Konzerthaus and Philharmoniker, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Stockholm’s Globe Arena, the Bregenz Festival’s floating stage, Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, and multiple other venues across Italy and Europe. Conductors include: Wayne Marshall, Simon Rattle, John Wilson, John McGlinn, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Yutaka Sado and Kristjan Järvi. She is delighted to return to the Grange, where she played Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes in 2002.

Scarlett Strallen

Scarlett Strallen appears internationally in concert. In September 2016, Scarlett made her German debut at the Philharmonie in Berlin with the John Wilson Orchestra in A Celebration of the MGM Film Musicals. Recent productions include: I Love Musicals (arena tour of Sweden with Peter Jöback); Cole Porter in Hollywood (UK tour with the John Wilson Orchestra, broadcast on Sky Television from the Royal Albert Hall in London) and Bernstein Stage and Screen at the BBC Proms with the John Wilson Orchestra, which was broadcast on BBC Television: “Most arresting of all was Scarlett Strallen, who donned a sparkly close-fitting number for ‘Glitter and Be Gay’ (Candide), in which her coloratura was no less stunning than her stage presence. She duly brought the house down” – Barry Millington, the Evening Standard. Scarlett has recorded with Simon Keenlyside Something’s Gotta Give for Chandos, conducted by David Charles Abell. In 2006, Scarlett was nominated for an Olivier Award for her portrayal of Josephine in HMS Pinafore at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and, in 2012, received an Olivier Award nomination for her role in Singin’ in the Rain. In 2014, Scarlett received the WhatsOnStage Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for A Chorus Line at the London Palladium and Candide at the Menier. Theatre credits include: The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage); She Loves Me at the Menier Chocolate Factory; The New Yorkers at City Center, NYC; the role of Sibella Hallward in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway, directed by Darko Tresnjak; Lady Macduff in Macbeth on

Broadway, directed by Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford; Cunégonde in Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory; Cassie in A Chorus Line at the London Palladium; Kathy Selden in Singin’ in the Rain at Chichester Festival Theatre and the Palace Theatre, London (Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical); Clara in Passion at Donmar Warehouse; and the title role in Mary Poppins on Broadway, a role she also played in the West End and, most recently, at the Capitol Theatre, Sydney. Other productions at Regent’s Park include: Cymbeline and Twelfth Night; Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Palladium) and original casts of Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward); The Witches of Eastwick (Theatre Royal Drury Lane) and Peggy Sue Got Married (Shaftesbury).

Nadim Naaman

Nadim was recently appointed an Associate of The Royal Academy of Music, where he trained in Musical Theatre. Prior to this, he read Drama at The University of Warwick. He is currently starring as Raoul in the 30th Anniversary cast of The Phantom of The Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), prior to which he played Anthony in Tooting Arts Club’s Sweeney Todd (Harrington’s Pie & Mash Shop, Shaftesbury Avenue). Other West End credits include: One Man, Two Guvnors (NT at The Theatre Royal, Haymarket) and The Sound of Music (The Palladium). Other theatre includes: Titanic (Princess of Wales, Toronto and Southwark Playhouse), Cinderella (The Harlington), Chess (Union), Marguerite (Tabard), Thirteen Days (Arcola), Knight Crew (Glyndebourne), James and The Giant Peach (Watermill) and The Last Five Years (Pleasance). Concert work includes: The Broadway Sound (The John Wilson Orchestra), Leonard Bernstein: On Stage and Screen (RT É Concert Orchestra and John Wilson), How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (Guildhall, City of London Festival), A Little Night Music (The Palace and Yvonne Arnaud), An Arabian Interlude (Kensington Palace), West End Showstoppers (The Harlington), The Phantom of The Opera 25th Anniversary Concert (Royal Albert Hall), Rod Steward – European Tour 2007 (Twickenham) and Concert For Diana with Sir Elton John (Wembley).

A RT I S T I C B I O G R A P H I E S

Nadim has recorded two studio albums; most recently Sides (2016), which topped the iTunes UK Vocal Chart, and We All Want The Same (2013). Both are available on iTunes, Amazon Music and via Auburn Jam Music.

Morgan Pearse

Morgan Pearse from Sydney, Australia is already widely recognised as one of the most exciting and talented baritones of his generation. During the 2014/15 season, whilst a member of the renowned Houston studio programme, Morgan performed the roles of Papageno in The Magic Flute, Yamadori in Madame Butterfly and Anthony in Sweeney Todd as well as covering Guglielmo in Così fan Tutte and singing scenes as Malatesta in Don Pasquale. He went on to perform the role of Figaro in The Ghosts of Versailles for Wolf Trap Opera. He was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2013. In the 2013/14 season, Morgan performed the title role of Owen in Owen Wingrave for Sydney Chamber Opera, Pompeo in Benvenuto Cellini for English National Opera and Minos in Arianna in Creta for the London Handel Festival. In previous seasons, he has performed the title role of Imeneo in Imeneo with the London Handel Festival, Apollo in L’Orfeo in an Australian national tour of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Principal Baritone in Dioclesian with Pinchgut Opera and the world premiere of Underground Man in Notes from Underground with Sydney Chamber Opera. Morgan Pearse made his English National Opera début in 2015/16 singing Figaro/The Barber of Seville and returns to sing the role again at the beginning of the 2017/18 season. Other recent and future opera engagements include the title role in the Verbier Festival Opera Academy production of Don Giovanni, Valens in Theodora, the title role of Le nozze di Figaro and Papageno / Die Zauberflöte for the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, covering the title role in Billy Budd for the Bolshoi Theatre, Sid / Albert Herring for the Buxton Festival, Nero / Octavia for the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music and Belcore /

L’Elisir d’Amore for New Zealand Opera. Morgan’s previous concert engagements have included the first performance of Schubert’s Winterreise in Sydney in 20 years, Fauré’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah in the Sydney Opera House, performances of Britten’s War Requiem throughout Poland and Mozart’s Requiem with the English Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Melbourne Recital Hall, Hamer Hall, Copenhagen’s Konserthuset, Sydney Opera House, St John’s Smith Square, Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, as well as the Edinburgh Fringe, Gower and Newbury Spring Festivals. Recent and future concert engagements include a solo recital at the Wigmore Hall, appearances with the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra, RTVE Madrid, Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevillia, Huddersfield Choral Society, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, King’s College Choir Cambridge, the Cheltenham Bach Choir and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at the Newbury Festival. Morgan was the gold medallist in the Royal Overseas League’s Music Competition in 2013 and won the prestigious Lies Askonas prize in 2014. He has also won the John Warner Recital Competition, the RCM’s Schumann Competition, is a Samling Artist, an awardee from the Australian Music Foundation, the Tate Foundation, the Cook Society and the Josephine Baker Trust. In August 2016 he won the prestigious 7th Cesti Competition. In 2014, Morgan became a graduate of the Royal College of Music’s International Opera School where he earned his Masters’ in Music and Artist Diploma in Opera. Roles for the RCMIOS included Lord Ellington in La Vie Parisienne, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Il Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro and the world premiere of James in I Remember the Ship. He is extremely grateful for the continual support of the Hon. Ros Kelly, Old Sydneians’ Union, Mr. Peter Hutchinson, John Hosier Trust, Opera and Arts Support Group, Ian Potter Cultural Trust and Sir Robert Askin Travelling Operatic Scholarship.

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S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

The Garden Gallery

C O N T E M P O R A RY S C U L P T U R E AT T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

The majestic Arcadian landscape surrounding The Grange, and the ethereal, derelict interior of the mansion, are atmospheric settings for sculpture. The drama of Jon Buck’s and Salvatore Anselmo’s pieces, and the organic nature of Peter Randall-Page’s stone sculpture, respond to the sense of theatre, both real and imagined, at The Grange. Charlotte Mayer’s sensitive bronzes, Shelley Robzen’s playful pieces, and sparkling glass sculpture by Sally Fawkes and Richard Jackson, complement and enliven the dreamlike interior. The Garden Gallery is delighted to be contributing to The Grange Festival – visual and performance art in harmony.

1) Largo

Charlotte Mayer FRBS (Bronze, edition of 6, ht. 75 cms, photo Steve Russell courtesy Gallery Pangolin) £10,000

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T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

2) Singular Moment

Sally Fawkes mrbs

3) Sguardo

alla Luna

Shelley Robzen mrbs

4) Sea

Scarf

5) Venus

6) Parting

Charlotte Mayer frbs

Salvatore Anselmo

Peter Randall-Page frbs

Company II

In Man’s Nature

Jon Buck frbs

8) Luna

Charlotte Mayer frbs

& Richard Jackson mrbs

(bronze, edition of 8,

(bronze, edition of

(Carrara marble,

(Golden limestone, 1996,

(bronze, edition of 5, ht. 240

(bronze, edition of 8, 95 x

(glass, stainless steel, 77 x

30 x 18 x 17 cms)

6, ht. 35 cms,

ht. 196 cms) £16,500

84 x 90 x 74 / 84 x 114

cms, photo In Man’s Nature,

92 x 15 cms, photo Steve

19.5 x 10 cms) £6,300 each

£6,200

photo Steve Russell courtesy

x 84 cms) £48,000

Jon Buck, Courtesy Gallery

Russell courtesy Gallery

Pangolin) £54,000

Pangolin) £27,000

Gallery Pangolin) £8,700

www.gardengallery.uk.com

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

Deborah Gourlay L AY E R S O F R E A L I T Y

Deborah is drawn by the atmospheric and poetic

that is created on stage – the intensity of pattern

interior of The Grange and has spent many hours

and colour, but also the ghostly presences of the

drawing and absorbing the spirit of the house.

shifting sets between and after performances.

She is also inspired by the visual magic and reverie

Deborah’s work will be on show in the main house.

1) Forest

Fairies II

2) Harem

Girls IlI

3) Act

4) Theatres

of Light I

5) Rooms within

rooms I

6) Silent

Shadows V

Deborah Gourlay

94 x 73cms, Oil on paper

36 x 36cms, Oil on board

66 x 96cms, Charcoal

Photography (limited ed.1/15)

Oil on paper, 76 x 60cms

Oil on paper

£925

£525

£700

on Somerset archival paper,

£825

£795

74 x 61cms, Framed £450, Unframed £375

www.deborahgourlay.com

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T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

The Grange Festival Quiz W I N T WO T I C K E T S F O R 2018 F E S T I VA L

Additional Word: __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Words may run in any single direction horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Answers may overlap. You need to cross out:

• Four surnames of characters in Albert Herring • Four characters from Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria • Four characters from Carmen • Five words comprising the two nonoperatic events in the 2017 Festival • Three words for things that you might see inside the theatre • Two composers who didn’t compose operas • The word OPERA That will leave, reading top to bottom, a seven letter word, to be written below the grid, that might describe both what the Festival is (suitably punctuated) and what it has! Closing date 31 August 2017 NAME:

TELEPHONE:

ADDRESS: EMAIL: Send or scan a copy of your completed solution to rachel@thegrangefestival.co.uk The Grange Festival, Folly Hill Farm, Itchen Stoke, Hants SO24 9TF

S E A S O N P RO G R A M M E 2 017

Ducks Illustration: Chelsea Renton

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is such a strong landscape that the less one does the better. It just needs to be grass, animals and water, and people tumbling out of the opera enjoying the evening light. Just to be able to counterpoise the performance with silence is very important. You can come out and allow the music to carry on in your head. I think it would be great if people chose after a performance to stay for an hour or so in that midsummer setting, rather than just rushing for the taxi or the train.â&#x20AC;? Kim Wilkie, Landscape Architect for The Grange Festival, Gramophone Magazine, June 2017

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Jean-Luc Tingaud I was a young apprentice at the Paris

Manuel Rosenthal’s home. I learned everything

Conservatoire. One day I was having lunch with

from a man who was not only an outstanding

my friend Yves Riesel, a producer for Naxos,

musician, but a man of profound humanity.

who said that Manuel Rosenthal is coming

Born in 1904, he started his career at

back to the studios to record his music. Yves

the age of 14 playing the violin at the Opéra-

said, ‘He will need an assistant, you should ring

Comique. He taught me everything about

him…’ To me Manuel Rosenthal was a name in

specificities of French music, taking examples

the French music Pantheon. I am ashamed to

from his own scores and what he had learned

admit that I didn’t know he was still alive…

from the composers themselves. He also taught

I open the Bottin – at that time we still

me patience... Rosenthal made his Met debut

had telephone books – Manuel Rosenthal, rue

at the age of 77 conducting the famous David

du Moulin-des-Prés – I call. His wife answers

Hockney triple bill production of Poulenc, Satie

the phone. ‘He doesn’t need an assistant,

and Ravel. He conducted his first Ring at the

good bye.’ In French we say, when someone

age of 82... He gave me all his scores, often

closes the door on you, try the window… So, I

annotated by Ravel, Debussy or Poulenc.

called again and finally, exasperated, she said

Conducting Carmen at the Grange Festival

‘Come tomorrow afternoon, we’ll see…’ The

is a very special moment in my life because

next day I stayed four hours listening to the

I learned the opera with Rosenthal. He had

man who had been a student of Ravel, knew

played the violin in the Opéra-Comique

Stravinsky, Poulenc, Debussy and conducted

orchestra in the early 1920s and had been

all the French repertoire, being one of the

close to some artists who had performed the

greatest French conductors of his time. At

very first production of Carmen in 1875. He

the end of the meeting he said, ‘Ok let’s try,

showed me what choices to make regarding

come to Monte Carlo, you’ll be my assistant.’ It

options that Bizet left open. With humility,

was the start of five marvellous years where I

I can say that if I had not met Rosenthal,

spent every afternoon taking private lessons at

I would not be the same musician.

Jean-Luc Tingaud Conductor – Carmen

“In French we say, when someone closes the door on you, try the window… So, I called again”

Jean-luc Tingaud and Manuel Rosenthal Photo: Jean-Baptiste Millot

The Grange Photo: Joe Low

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T H E G R A N G E F E S T I VA L

Festival Friends for 2018 A P P L I C AT I O N F O R M

Please complete, sign and send to: The Grange Festival, Folly Hill Farm, Itchen Stoke, Alresford SO24 9TF NAME: PROGRAMME LISTING: (i.e. John and Catherine Manners) ADDRESS: PHONE:

MOBILE:

EMAIL: DOB:

I would like to become a Festival Friend and enclose a cheque payable to The Grange Festival. Please select an option:

£5,000 The Sweet Spot

£1,000 The Prompt Corner

£500 The Rostrum

£250 The Wings

£25 The Footlights

£10 The High-Flyers

£2,500 The Limelight

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Gift Aid Declaration for The Grange Festival Charity No 1165859. I am a UK taxpayer and would like The Grange Festival to reclaim the tax on this and all future gifts I make. I confirm that I have paid or will pay an amount of income tax and/or capital gains that is at least equal to or higher than the tax that will be claimed by The Grange Festival on my donation (s). I also understand that the amount reclaimed by The Grange Festival will be 25p in every £1.00 that I give. SIGNATURE:

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