THE PRODIGAL SON (L'ENFANT PRODIGUE) to be Presented at Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy Of Music

Hagemann Rosenthal Associates has announced their latest double bill composed by Philip Hagemann in association with Pegasus Opera Company. Passion, Poison and Petrification and The Prodigal Son will be staged at Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road London, NW1 5HT on Friday 10 September at 7:30pm, Saturday 11 September, 7:30pm & Sunday 12 September 2021, 2:30pm

The first one-act production - The Prodigal Son (L'enfant prodigue) by Claude Debussy takes place at sunrise where a mother laments the absence of her prodigal son. He has left the family home to pursue pleasures in the world but soon realises there is no place like home. Composer Philip Hagemann has adapted the orchestration to chamber size and translated the French text into English. The second one-act opera is Passion, Poison and Petrifaction adapted from the play by G. Bernard Shaw. This is a comic melodrama with desire, murder and a twisted plot. Once again, Hagemann's music skilfully enhances Shaw's wit. With a cast of established and talented performers including Pegasus Opera's Artistic Director and soprano Alison Buchanan, Hagemann showcases the operatic potential in this farcical comedy.

Poison, Passion & Petrifaction also stars Roberto Abate, who previously performed in Falstaff at Fulham Opera, Grimeborn Festival and Wilton's Music Hall in London. The opera also stars Themba Mvulawho featured in the English National Opera's production of Porgy and Bess and Kiss Me Kate for Opera North; Bernadine Pritchet who performed in Pirates of Penzance at Regents Park Open Air Theatre and Sondheim at 80 Promenade at the Royal Albert Hall for BBC Proms. The production also features Devon Harrison, Alexandre Garziglia and Donna Batemann. The Prodigal Son (L'Enfant Prodigue) stars Roberto Abate.

Composer Philip Hagemann's most recent production in association with Pegasus Opera Company was the successful double bill Shaw Goes Wilde at the Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music in 2019. And Ruth and The Dark Lady of The Sonnets at the Actors Church, Covent Garden in 2018. Hagemann has published 75 choral compositions including a delightful Christmas novelty, Fruitcake, written with Penny Leka Knapp, which has sold over 200,000 copies and featured in the USA television series Nip/Tuck. Hagemann has composed ten one-act and two full-length operas, two of which have won competitions from the National Opera Association in the USA. Hagemann is only the second composer to transform Shaw plays into operas. Hagemann Rosenthal Associates have produced a number of plays on Broadway and in the West End, most recently the Broadway production of Network starring Bryan Cranston.

Passion, Poison and Petrification and The Prodigal Son are directed by Harry Fehr. He has directed Orlando for San Francisco Opera/Welsh National Opera/Scottish Opera which was nominated for a Wales Theatre Award, Tosca for De Nederlandse Reisopera, L'elisir d'amore for Den Jyske Opera - named Opera Production of the Year at the 2017 CPHCulture Theatre Awards, the Chinese premiere of Falstaff at Shanghai Opera House, Craig Armstrong's The Lady from the Sea at Edinburgh International Festival/Scottish Opera, Ariodante, Der fliegende Holländer, Il matrimonio segreto and La cenerentola for Scottish Opera, I Capuleti e i Montecchi and La finta giardiniera at Buxton Festival, Così fan tutte at Opera Holland Park;

Diva Opera at Wilton's Music Hall, Die schöne Müllerin, La serva padrona and Stephen McNeff's Gentle Giant at Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, Henry Fielding's The Lottery at Bury Court Opera/ L'Avventura and Oberon and Mignon at New Sussex Opera.

Alison Buchanan is a renowned soprano soloist and Artistic Director of Pegasus Opera Company. She is the winner of many prestigious awards including the Kathleen Ferrier (Decca Prize), the Luciano Pavarotti, the Washington International and the Maggie Teyte competitions. Alison has performed with New York City Opera in Porgy & Bess and Don Giovanni. She has performed in venues throughout the world including Carnegie Hall, The Sydney Opera House, The Royal Opera House, Sadler's Wells for Pegasus Opera and for the London Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with The Baltimore and Boston Symphonies as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra and in Brazil with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and has given concerts in St. Louis, Washington DC, Gibraltar, Zimbabwe and Kazan. She has worked with conductors such as David Robertson, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Andre Previn, Jane Glover and Marin Alsop. Most recently she performed for Opera Bergen in Norway and for the Symphony in Wroclaw Poland.

Pegasus Opera Company is a professional opera company based in Brixton, London with a family of widespread International Artists, participants and supporters. They produce high-quality performances and balance this with a focus on artist development of emerging artists of African and Asian heritage and bringing their work onto eminent platforms. For almost thirty years, Pegasus Opera Company has been the go to organisation for opera and musical theatre singers, composers, instrumentalists and directors predominantly, but not exclusively, from diverse African, Caribbean, and Asian backgrounds. Established in South London and grown from credible roots, the Company has held true to their founder Lloyd Newton's credo of 'harmony in diversity'. Pegasus Opera has inspired many to love opera; and celebrate the music of rich African, Asian and Caribbean diasporas whilst weaving into the fabric of the British performing arts, using creativity to challenge and advocate for positive change. Patrons of Pegasus Opera are Sharon D Clarke MBE, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa DBE, Baroness Doreen Lawrence OBE, Kristin Lewis, Chuka Umunna MP and Roderick Williams OBE. The company also creates opportunities for underrepresented artists and breaks down the perception that opera is elitist.

Past productions include Carmen, Magic Flute, I Pagliacci on National Tours, Porgy and Bess at the Barbican Concert Hall, Delius' Koanga at London's Sadler's Wells and Treemonisha at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre and UK tour. In 2018 Pegasus Opera collaborated with Hagemann Rosenthal Associates to present their first double bill, Ruth and The Dark Lady of the Sonnet and in 2019 their second double bill Shaw Goes Wilde based on Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and The Rose and George Bernard Shaw's The Music Cure. Most recently the company staged MAMI WATA to a sold out audience at the Royal Opera House.

Pegasus Opera delivers pioneering educational programmes through special workshops, outreach programmes and teaching thousands of children and young adults across London and the regions. The company has also launched an opera mentoring programme for the next generation of opera singers. Pegasus Opera Company has continued to thrive during these challenging times and are proud to announce in October 2021 the launch of their new agency Pegasus Talent. They will also perform Arise, Legacy of Hope concert at Greenwich Theatre on 1 and 2 October 2021. Pegasus has commissioned Shirley Thompson OBE with librettist Patricia Cumber to write Windrush the Opera which will tour England in 2023 marking the 75th anniversary. Philip Hagemann's full length opera The Aspern Papers, based on the novella by Henry James, will be performed by Pegasus Opera in April 2022.

LISTINGS INFORMATION: Passion, Poison and Petrification and The Prodigal Son will be staged at Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London NW1 5HT on Friday 10 September at 7:30pm, Saturday 11 September, 7:30pm & Sunday 12 September 2021, 2.30pm Tickets are £35, £25, Concessions £15 www.ticketsource.co.uk/pegasus-opera-company

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