Opera Holland Park's ISABEAU To Be Co-Produced With New York City Opera

Mascagni's Isabeau, set to open at Investec Opera Holland Park (OHP) on 14 July 2018, will be a co-production with New York City Opera (NYCO). Performances in New York will take place in spring 2019, on dates to be announced.

OHP has a tradition of championing rare late Italian opera and previous Mascagni successes include Iris, L'amico Fritz and Zanetto. This production will be Isabeau's UK premiere.

James Clutton, Director of Opera, and Michael Volpe, General Director of Opera Holland Park are delighted to have forged this new partnership. In a joint statement, they said:
"It has been exciting to see the rebirth of NYCO - a company with an extremely important place in American opera history. New York was a city in which the late Italian operas enjoyed such enormous contemporary success and NYCO have begun the process of bringing this canon back to the city with their production of L'amore dei tre re in spring this year. We are thrilled to be playing a part in continuing this revival of fully staged versions of this repertoire in New York."

Michael Capasso, General Director of New York City Opera, comments:
"I am delighted New York City Opera is partnering with Opera Holland Park on this new production of Mascagni's thrilling Isabeau. NYCO and OHP have a common dedication to underperformed Italian Romantic repertoire and our similar tastes and producing styles make this collaboration a natural fit."

Isabeau is OHP's second co-production of the 2018 season. Ariadne auf Naxos, OHP's first production of a Richard Strauss opera, will be opening at Scottish Opera in March, before moving to OHP in July. These collaborations follow 2016's highly acclaimed La Cenerentola, a co-production with Danish National Opera.

Anne Sophie Duprels, who wowed audiences with her portrayal of Iris in 2016 and Zazà in 2017, returns to OHP in the title role of Isabeau. David Butt Philip returns in the role of Folco, having sung in the chorus in 2009 and since become one of the UK's leading tenors. King Raimondo will be sung by Mikhail Svetlov, who appeared in Kát'a Kabanová last summer, with George von Bergen returning to OHP as Cornelius, and Ermyntrude and Ermyngarde played by Nadine Benjamin and Joanna Marie Skillett respectively. Fiona Kimm is Giglietta, Oliver Brignall sings Il cavalier Faidit and Thomas Humphreys is L'araldo maggiore. The director Martin Lloyd-Evans and designer takis reunite, having collaborated on the 2017 OHP production of La rondine and the 2016 production of Die Fledermaus. Francesco Cilluffo conducts, making his OHP debut.

Investec Opera Holland Park's 2018 season will run from 29 May to 28 July. General booking opens on 12 February. Full details on Isabeau and all other productions available at www.operahollandpark.com.