Vancouver Opera Lights Up Dark Winter Days With ALBERT HERRING, Now thru 12/5

The busybodies of proper English village life are brilliantly skewered in Benjamin Britten's devastatingly satirical Albert Herring, onstage at Vancouver Opera for four performances only. Fast-paced, effervescent and musically clever, this sparkling 1950s-style company premiere is a scrumptious treat for Vancouver audiences.

Opening night is tonight, November 30, 2013, with subsequent performances Thursday, December 5; Saturday, December 7 at 7:30pm and a matinee performance on Sunday, December 8 at 2:00pm. All performances are at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Georgia and Hamilton Streets, Vancouver, B.C. Tickets are available exclusively through the Vancouver Opera Ticket Centre, online at www.vancouveropera.ca or by telephone at 604-683-0222. See complete ticket information below. This production of Albert Herring is a co-production with Pacific Opera Victoria.

THE CAST

Soprano Sally Dibblee returns to VO as Lady Billows, the interfering autocrat in charge of the May Day festival where the May Queen will be crowned. Ms. Dibblee was last seen on the VO stage as Pat Nixon in Vancouver Opera's 2010 Canadian premiere of Nixon in China. "Soprano Sally Dibblee is a perfect Pat, all stand-by-her-man propriety while being exposed to an unimaginable world of revolutionary women" declared the Georgia Straight for that performance.

Tenor Lawrence Wiliford - an internationally recognized Britten specialist - makes his VO debut as Albert Herring, the hapless young man crowned as May King when no ladies of suitable character can be found for the honour. "[Mr. Wiliford] brings muscular innocence to the role, a working-class kid with a tender heart and a hidden inner-life. Wiliford is able to stretch from stubborn (when defying his mother, or trying to) to loneliness and frustration...During scenes in which Albert is drunk, Wiliford expertly balances his vocal demands with graceful slapstick movement," raved Monday Magazine for Mr. Wiliford's performance at Pacific Opera Victoria earlier this year.

Baritone Aaron Durand and mezzo-soprano Sylvia Szadovszki sing Sid and Nancy, the mischievous couple responsible for spiking Albert's lemonade with a generous amount of rum. Mr. Durand last appeared on the VO stage recently as Sciarrone in Tosca. Ms. Szadovszki sang a delightful Papagena in VO's acclaimed First Nations-infused The Magic Flute last year.

Mezzo-soprano Susan Platts sings Florence Pike, know-it-all housekeeper to Lady Billows. "Her voice is startlingly attractive from top to bottom, with a sure and strong upper register descending like honey to the yeasty depths of a contralto. A voice like this - there are not many - is such a pleasure to hear...radiantly persuasive..." raves The Washington Post.

Soprano Melanie Krueger sings schoolteacher Miss Wordsworth. Ms. Krueger sang Isabel in VO`s 2012 production of The Pirates of Penzance, and previous to that sang Annina in 2011`s La Traviata. Mezzo-soprano Rebecca Hass sings Mrs. Herring, Albert's mother. Ms. Hass last appeared on the VO stage as the Third Secretary in 2010`s Nixon in China.

Baritone Peter McGillivray sings Mr. Gedge, the vicar. "Peter McGillivray was both mellifluous and unctuous, as the vicar" raved Review Vancouver of his performance at Pacific Opera Victoria earlier this year. Mr. McGillivray has just released his debut album, Summer Schemes. Tenor Michael Colvin sings Mr. Upfold, the Mayor. Mr. Colvin returns to Vancouver Opera after almost a decade, having enchanted audiences as Belmonte in 2004's Abduction from the Seraglio. "Michael Colvin, as the romantic lead Belmonte, was assured and luminous in his solo work, and an excellent partner for soprano Aline Kutan as Konstanze..." declared the Vancouver Sun. Bass Giles Tomkins sings Superintendent Budd. Mr. Tomkins delighted VO audiences as the Sergeant of Police in 2012's The Pirates of Penzance, and sang the role of Dr. Grenvil in 2011's La Traviata.

VO's Associate Conductor and Chorus Director Leslie Dala will lead the VO Orchestra. Glynis Leyshon will direct. Ms. Leyshon is one of Canada's most respected opera and theatre directors. In addition to a long relationship with Pacific Opera Victoria, she has served as Head of the Opera as Theatre Programme at The Banff Centre, Artistic Director of the Belfry Theatre in Victoria , and Artistic Director of the Playhouse Theatre Company in Vancouver. Ms. Leyshon last worked with Vancouver Opera as director of 2009's Rigoletto, presenting an innovative, imaginative treatment with bold visuals that twinned beautifully with Verdi's dark, tender drama of love and revenge.

THE STORY IN BRIEF

The busybodies of the Loxford May Day committee cannot find a virtuous female to be May Queen, so they name as May King the over-protected grocer's son, Albert Herring. Following an extravagant crowning ceremony, at which Albert gets tipsy on rum-spiked lemonade, he decides to cut his mother's apron strings and venture into the sensual world he sees others enjoying. After a frantic search by the entire town, Albert reappears, having enjoyed a night of debauchery. Depending on your point of view, he has been either ruined or saved.

This brilliant comedy by England's greatest opera composer is a fast-paced, witty, and devastatingly satirical portrayal of the quaint characters of a closed-in (and now vanished) community. Employing a cleverly constituted chamber orchestra, Britten uses his prodigious powers of melodic invention and parody to explore society's attitudes toward an odd but innocent individual. VO's new co-production is set in East Suffolk at the time of the opera's 1947 premiere.

BACKGROUND

Composer, conductor and pianist Benjamin Britten was born in 1913 in Suffolk, on the east coast of England. He composed a number of works, including orchestral and chamber pieces, but is best known for his operas and his compositions the War Requiem and The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. 2013 marks Britten's 100th birthday.

In total, Britten wrote 15 operas, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, Billy Budd, The Rape of Lucretia, The Turn of the Screw and Death in Venice, but he catapulted to international fame in 1945 with his second opera, Peter Grimes. It, as with many of Britten's operas, deals with the theme of outsiders in society, and of the repressive attitudes with which they come into conflict

Britten displayed musical gifts from an early age. After graduation from the Royal College of Music in London, he wrote scores for documentary films for the GPO Film Unit, a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. There, he met the poet W.H. Auden, who became a strong influence on Britten's personal life, encouraging him to explore new ideas in art and politics and to come to terms with his homosexuality. Auden was unapologetically promiscuous - very much in contrast to Britten's sexual repression.

In 1937, Britten met tenor Peter Pears. The two quickly became close, with Pears becoming a musical inspiration for Britten. Within weeks of their meeting, Britten had composed a work for him, based on an Emily Brönte poem. In 1939 the two sailed to New York, hoping to escape the rumblings of war. They returned to England in 1942.

Albert Herring was composed between 1946 and 1947. The libretto, by Eric Crozier, was based on the Guy de Maupassant novella, Le Rosier de Madame Husson. It premiered at the Glyndebourne Festival in June 1947 and was intensely disliked by the owner and founder of the festival, who is reported to have greeted audiences with the words "this isn't our kind of thing, you know." Almost 40 years later, the festival's 1985 production of Albert Herring was one of the most successful the opera has ever had.

If Peter Grimes showed the tragic aspects of life, Albert Herring showed its comic side. In it, Britten parodies moral hypocrisy, village fêtes, mayors, vicars, schoolmarms and policemen. Its successful translation in several European countries has broadened the opera's appeal.

LEARN MORE

Opera Speaks @ The O'Brian Centre for Vancouver Opera

Vancouver Opera welcomes audiences to its new home, The O'Brian Centre for Vancouver Opera for an in-depth discussion on Albert Herring.

The panel will include: David Gordon Duke, classical music writer for the Vancouver Sun; Leslie Dala, Associate Conductor and Chorus Director for Vancouver Opera; Glynis Leyshon, Director of this production of Albert Herring, and tenor Lawrence Wiliford, who will sing the title role of Albert Herring. Moderated by Doug Tuck, Vancouver Opera's Director of Marketing.

Wednesday, November 13th

7:00 pm

Free admission

Limited seating

The O'Brian Centre for Vancouver Opera
1955 McLean Drive
(on the corner of 3rd; one block east of Clark - accessible from Broadway and VCC skytrain stations)
Free parking

Full Ticket Information

Single tickets for Albert Herring are available from the Vancouver Opera Ticket Centre, online at www.vancouveropera.ca, or by phone at 604-683-0222. Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted.

Groups: For special pricing for groups of ten or more, call 604-683-0222.