An entire Yorkshire village is staging a Handel opera
NewsThe Northern Aldborough Festival in North Yorkshire plans to engage the whole village in a summer production of Handel’s Theodora.
Countertenor Robert Ogden, the artistic director, was turned onto Theodora by Peter Sellars’ landmark production at Glyndebourne in 1996.
Welsh soprano Fflur Win will play the title role in a 40-strong production in the village’s St Andrew’s Church. Aldborough is mentioned in the Doomsday book of 1086. It was the `capital’ of the most powerful tribe in Britain during the Roman invasion, the Brigantes.
ENDS
Must be a tiny village, with just 40 people. Being the `capital’ of the most powerful tribe in Britain during the Roman invasion qualifies them for singing Handel? Twenty-first century qualifications never cease to surprise me, but perhaps they don’t plan to sing it, after all it’s a Peter Sellars production… Speaking of, if the artistic director is shepherding those 40 people to the village church, why does he need a staging? Why not present Theodora as concert performance? It’s an oratorio, and the location is a church.
You have been misled by the SD headline. Don’t worry, you are not the first!
Staging brings it to life, as did ENO’s wonderful production of Messiah c2008. A lot of these good oratorios could be staged now. And this fabulously unpretentious and enterprising festival is another best kept secret of England that happens to be in North Yorkshire – not in the home counties of the SE and London, so affordable!
I don’t think that Handel’s oratorios, including Theodora, need to be ‘brought to life’ by staging. They aren’t dead! A good concert performance, leaving the drama to your own imagination, can be more powerful, and sometimes the staging can get in the way of the music. What bits of the Peter Sellars production I have seen, for instance, make me cringe. But I don’t have strong opinions either way. I do think, however, that there are many little-heard operas by Handel (and others of that time, for instance Leonardo Leo, Leonardo Vinci, Niccolo Porpora) that could be produced before meddling with the oratorios, which were after all written for the concert hall, not the church or the theatre.
But all power to the Northern Yorkshire festival!
Correction: Nicola Porpora.
_Staging_ an oratorio in a _church_ is ridiculous. A good concert performance is all that’s needed, after all people attend to hear Handel, not to see a provocative staging. Or so they say…
Domesdsay Norman, not Doomsday, although it may end up as one.
Suspect it is not NL’s misspelling. See that ENDS? This is a cut and paste, unedited, unresearched, just dropped. There is a little local story here — just how is the production going to involve the whole village? Are they interested in opera (or in this case dramatic oratorio) there? If so, sounds like the basis for a wonderful documentary or even a movie.
We’ll have to hope there is a follow-up e-blast.
The ‘little local story’ is in the Northern Aldborough Festival, which started in the 1990s as a fundraiser for repair of the church organ, and developed into an annual summer music festival featuring many top-rank professional musicians and ensembles. Google is your friend, especially when SD is being cryptic.
You totally underestimate the people from Yorkshire, of which there are nearly 6 million people! A county with several big cities and more people than the population of many European countries!
Not my intention. What I meant was that the lift of a local report, which will mean plenty in Yorkshire (God’s country) is something that I as a journalist would have pursued for more information, not left it as a simple drop. But I keep forgetting that this is a gossip blog, not a news one.
What amazes me is how popular ‘ Theodora’ has become to perform all of a sudden both in concert halls and opera houses around the world. It is such a beautiful score , but very likely up until a few years ago only fans of this repertoire or singing students would have been able to name an aria from it . ‘ Angels ever bright and fair’ and ‘ As with rosy steps’ appeared in several song book compilations over the years, also occasionally on exam and music festival syllabuses. It is wonderful to see both performers and audiences take this work to heart.
Are they going to stream it? Sounds a lovely idea