Garsington Opera season - role debuts and notable casts

Garsington Opera's 2016 season this year encompasses Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Mozart's Idomeneo and Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri with some notable casts including role debuts from Toby Spence, Roderick Williams, and Natalya Romaniw.

There are two notable role debuts in Eugene Onegin making the production rather intriguing, Roderick Williams in the title role and Natalya Romaniw as Tatyana. Cardiff Singer of the World 2015 finalist Ukrainian tenor Oleksiy Palchykov is Lensky, and Brindley Sherratt is Gremin. To add to this, Michael Boyd (who only made his operatic debut last year with the Royal Opera House's striking Orfeo at the Roundhouse last year) directs and he has the advantage of being a fluent Russian speaker. Douglas Boyd, Garsington Opera's artistic director, conducts.

Toby Spence will be making his role debut in the title role of Idomeneo, with Caitlin Hulcup as Idamante (hurrah, the Munich version rather than the Vienna one), with Louise Alder as Ilia, and Rebecca von Lipinski as Elettra. Tim Albery directs and Tobias Ringborg conducts.

The choreographer Will Tuckett, who recently directed the Royal Opera's Elizabeth, will be directing L'italiana in Algeri, with the young Turkish mezzo-soprano Ezgi Kutlu as Isabella, Mary Bevan as Elvira, Luciano Botelho as Lindoro, Geoffrey Dolton as Taddeo and Quirijn de Lang as Mustafa. David Parry conducts, his thirteenth Rossini opera for Garsington. As this is an opera where Isabella is often played by a mature singer and Mustafa is similarly mature, it will be interesting to see it with a cast of predominantly young singers under Will Tuckett's lively direction.

The final stage offering involves a collaboration with Mark Baldwin, Choreographer and Artistic Director of Rambert, to bring a realisation of Haydn's The Creation through music and dance, with 40 dancers from Rambert and the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance joined on stage by Garsington Opera’s orchestra and chorus with soloists Sarah Tynan (soprano), James Gilchrist (tenor) and Neal Davies (bass). Designs are by renowned visual artist Pablo Bronstein, whose site specific work for the Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain opens in April, will add a spectacular visual dimension to Haydn’s music.

Full details from the Garsington Opera website.