David Roblou and Midsummer Opera are back at St John's Church, Waterloo this weekend (18 & 20 November 2016) for performances of Engelbert Humperdinck's perennial favourite Hänsel und Gretel. For some reason, perhaps its fairy-tale origin, the opera is regularly associated with Christmas and Midsummer Opera is being traditional in performing it in the run up to the Christmas season. Thankfully they are not following another tradition, and the Witch will be played by Lynne McAdam (rather than by a tenor as is often the case). The remainder of the cast includes Lucy Goddard and Catrine Kirkman in the title roles, Jane Streeton as mother, and John Svanholm as father. David Roblou conducts and there will be a children's chorus from St Benedict's School, Ealing.
Further ahead, Midsummer Opera returns in April 2017 for something of a rarity, Ponchielli's La Gioconda one of the few operas by one of Verdi's younger Italian contemporaries to develop a real international reputation. The work's last UK staging was in 2008 when Opera Holland Park staged it, and I caught the Opera North performances over 30 years ago with Rosalind Plowright superbly dramatic in the title role (it was the role in which Maria Callas made her Italian debut). At Midsummer Opera the role will be played by Zoe South, with a cast including John Upperton, Marie Elizabeth Seager, Sian Woodling, Trevor Alexander and Stephen Holloway.
Full details from the Midsummer Opera website.
Update: I have corrected the information about La Gioconda as a correspondent pointed out the Opera Holland Park performances.
Thursday 17 November 2016
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Septura I first became aware of the brass septet, Septura , when noting their 2017/18 concert series Kleptomania at St John's Smith...
-
Handel: Acis and Galatea - chorus - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Ali Wright) Handel: Acis and Galatea ; Elizabeth Karani, Anthony Gregory, Ch...
-
2019 seemed a year for scholarship and rarity in recordings. Retrospect Opera gave us the first recording of Ethel Smyth's Fete Galan...
-
Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna - John Savournin - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Ali Wright) Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna ;...
-
Donizetti: The Elixir of Love - James Atkinson - Wild Arts 2023 (Photo: Lucy J Toms) We humans, alone on earth, are powerful enough to crea...
-
Handel: Giulio Cesare - Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Louise Alder - Glyndebourne, 2024 (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith) Handel: Giulio Cesare in Eg...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
Andrew Norman: A Trip to the Moon - Youth Company rehearsal, Garsington Opera 2024 (Photo: Julian Guidera) American composer Andrew Norman ...
-
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro - David Ireland, Claire Lees - Garsington Opera, 2024 (Photo: Julian Guidera) Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro ; David...
-
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin - James Baillieu, Julien Van Mellaerts, Christopher Purves - Opera in Song at Opera Holland Park, 2022 Opera ...
Not quite right re. La Gioconda. Opera Holland Park staged it in 2008.
ReplyDeleteOops! Shouldn't have missed that one. I have corrected the info, thanks.
ReplyDelete