Opera news: Another big country-house expansion

Garsington has just announced its 2017 season – four new production, plus a world premiere.

That’s a tremendous effort for a self-supporting enterprise, surviving without public subsidy.

Details:

1 June – 30 July

The 2017 season will be the first time we stage four opera productions as well as the newly commissioned Silver Birch – more details outlined below. We also welcome the Philharmonia Orchestra who will join us for one opera production each year, and in 2017 this will be Pelléas et Mélisande.

SEMELE
George Frideric Handel
Conductor Jonathan Cohen
Director Annilese Miskimmon
Designer Nicky Shaw

The god Jupiter is captivated by Semele’s intoxicating beauty in a dramatic love story of the divine and the mortal. It cannot last, and Semele suffers the consequences. We welcome back Annilese Miskimmon, Artistic Director of Norwegian National Opera, with Jonathan Cohen making his Garsington Opera conducting debut.

1, 3, 9, 15, 24, 30 June & 4 July

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conductor Douglas Boyd
Director John Cox
Designer Robert Perdziola

It is the wedding day of Figaro and Susanna, servants of the Almaviva estate, but as events and the Count’s roving eye conspire to disrupt their marriage, all relationships are tested. A recreation of John Cox’s critically acclaimed 2005 Garsington production, Mozart’s sublime masterpiece is conducted by Artistic Director, Douglas Boyd.

2, 4, 8, 10, 17 June & 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 16 July

PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE
Claude Debussy
Conductor Jac van Steen
Director Michael Boyd
Designer Tom Piper

Prince Golaud finds a mysterious young woman in the forest and delights in making her his wife. A dangerous love triangle emerges as she grows perilously close to his brother, Pelléas. Michael Boyd and Tom Piper (Eugene Onegin, 2016) return with Jac van Steen (Intermezzo, 2015) conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in their Garsington debut; together they explore Debussy’s dreamworld of shadows and secrets.

16, 18, 22, 25, 27 Jne & 1, 7 July

IL TURCO IN ITALIA
Gioachino Rossini
Conductor David Parry
Director Martin Duncan
Designer Francis O’Connor

Prosdocimo, a toiling poet, finds his muse in the flirtatious Fiorilla and her husband, Geronio. When a dashing Turkish stranger arrives, a comedy of unrequted love and confused identity ensues. Rossini’s deliciously layered plot sees games go wrong and lessons learned. Martin Duncan’s joyous 2011 production is conducted by Rossini aficionado David Parry.

26, 29 June & 2, 5, 8, 10, 13, 15 July

SILVER BIRCH
Roxanna Panufnik
Conductor Douglas Boyd
Director Karen Gillingham

Garsington Opera’s Learning & Participation Programme presents Silver Birch: a new commission by composer Roxanna Panufnik and librettist Jessica Duchen, uniting professional artists with 170 members of the local community. Through music, dance and Siegfried Sassoon’s poetry people of all ages explore the extraordinary power of love in the devastating context of war.

28, 29, 30 July