Celebrated choreographer and director Lynne Hockney has been involved in Sir Peter Hall’s iconic version of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Glyndebourne since 2001. Now playing for the first time in the venue’s Autumn season, the production has been revived regularly since its premiere in 1981, bringing Shakespeare’s enchanting story of magic and mayhem to life. BroadwayWorld spoke to Hockney about her long association with the production, Sir Peter Hall’s enduring vision and how no one involved in the production is more important than anyone else.
On the face of it, three celebrated opera companies joining forces is, without doubt, A Good Thing. This adaptation of Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow, on the other hand, decidedly Not A Great Thing.
And so to the final new production of English National Opera’s season; Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Stewart Laing and conducted by Joana Carneiro. Scottish composer Thea Musgrave’s opera was last heard in London at Sadler’s Wells back in 1980, after premiering in Edinburgh in 1977, with Musgrave herself conducting.
Thea Musgrave’s rarely performed Mary, Queen of Scots makes its London and English National Opera (ENO) premiere in February 2025. See first look photos of the production.
Thea Musgrave's rarely performed Mary, Queen of Scots will make its London and English National Opera (ENO) premiere in February 2025. San Francisco Opera are co-producing this production.
This September, opening the 2023/24 Season at the London Coliseum, the English National Opera (ENO) presents Benjamin Britten’s searing psychological drama, Peter Grimes. David Alden’s production returns for its second revival. Following its premiere in 2009, this production won a South Bank Sky Arts Award in the Opera category.
This November, opening the festive season at the London Coliseum, the English National Opera (ENO) presents the highly anticipated UK premiere of It's a Wonderful Life. Composed by Jake Heggie in 2016 with the libretto by Gene Scheer, this is an operatic adaptation of the 1946 Frank Capra Christmas classic film, sung in English.
On Sunday 21 August, the English National Opera (ENO) will present a concert performance of Puccini's much-loved opera La bohème at Fairfield Halls in Croydon, South London.
One of opera’s most popular and unforgettable stories, Puccini’s La bohème is an exceptional musical and theatrical treat. When Mimì knocks at the door of four impoverished friends, Rodolfo answers and it’s love at first sight.
Acclaimed German director Tatjana Gürbaca and designer Klaus Grünberg make their English National Opera (ENO) debuts with ENO's first new Rusalka in two decades, with Corinne Winters in the title role and David Butt Philip as the Prince.
Tchaikovsky's perfect tragedy of first love, Eugene Onegin, opens the season, with Anush Hovhannisyan as Tatyana. Critically acclaimed for her role as Violetta in La traviata for Scottish Opera in 2017, and nominated in the 2018 International Opera Awards, she makes her OHP debut. Also appearing at OHP for the first time is the Australian baritone Samuel Dale Johnson as Onegin. British lyric soprano Amanda Roocroft makes her role debut as Madame Larina, having performed the role of Tatyana to great acclaim internationally. Fresh from success at Opera North and the Royal Opera, Nicky Spence returns to OHP as Lensky. Emma Stannard sings the role of Tatyana's sister Olga, with Kathleen Wilkinson as their nurse, Filippyevna.
Well, it's that time of the year again--time for a look-back on what was worth making note of during the calendar year that's about to come to an end. It's from a totally personal, subjective point of view, of course, but frankly that's the way opera-lovers always seem to like it, n'est-ce pas? The productions worth noting come from places big, small and in-between, from composers old as the hills to freshly minted or somewhere in between (likewise the performers), from traditional or boldly modern to simply stand up and sing.
I hope somebody from New York City Opera was at BAM last weekend, because Mark-Anthony Turnage's GREEK--a modern retelling of the Oedipus myth from Scottish Opera/Opera Ventures, presented by BAM's Next Wave Festival--is just what the doctor ordered for that company. A great story, a small cast, a score that maybe won't leave you humming but moves like gangbusters, a simple production that doesn't look cheesy (except maybe in a mozzarella-ish way). And, oh yes, a happy audience for a work that deserves greater reach on these shores.
Investec Opera Holland Park's 2018 casts will feature an exciting mix of longstanding Opera Holland Park (OHP) performers, house debuts from established artists, and rising stars, across four brand new productions and 31 performances (28 of which are public).
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