THE GRANGE FESTIVAL to Mark Tenth Anniversary in 2027

The Grange Festival unveiled its 2027 programme, a celebration of ten years since the first Festival in 2017. Running from 23 May to 11 July, the programme brings opera, concerts and dance to Hampshire, following the most successful year in the Festival's history. In 2026, attendance rose 13% to 14,630 across 27 performances, average occupancy reached 91%, and La Bohème became the best-selling production The Grange Festival has ever staged. More than one in three tickets went to first-time bookers, while tickets bought by returning audiences rose by 27%.

The 2027 Festival features eight programmes and 28 performances, including four major opera productions, three concerts, and a dance double bill.

Artistic Director of The Grange Festival, Brindley Sherratt said 'It is a thrill, and an honour, to share my first Festival as Artistic Director of The Grange Festival, and to do so in our tenth anniversary year. I have known this Festival as an audience member and from the stage, and I want to pay tribute to Michael Chance, whose vision built this precious company over the past decade. His shoes will be difficult to fill, but I'm more than happy to take up the challenge.

'Throughout my career as a performer, my goal has been to create something in the theatre that interrupts the busy humdrum of daily life, something that makes people from all walks of life stop, reflect and feel. That mandate hasn't changed. The difference is that I now have the marvellous opportunity to gather other artists together to carry it through. So 2027 brings four great operas, including a landmark partnership with Cape Town Opera and Chineke! Orchestra, and the return of Verdi's Requiem, which we performed at our very first Festival.

Opera

Don Giovanni (Mozart): a new production directed and designed by Antony McDonald, conducted by Benjamin Bayl with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Dean Murphy leads the cast as Don Giovanni, with Mirjam Mesak (Donna Anna), Dafydd Jones (Don Ottavio), Marta Fontanals-Simmons (Donna Elvira), Chanhee Cho (Leporello), Rebecca Leggett (Zerlina) and James Atkinson (Masetto). Sparkling comedy collides with brooding menace as a legendary seducer's conquests catch up with him over one reckless, fateful night.

Tosca (Puccini): Richard Farnes returns to conduct Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in a revival of Christopher Luscombe's acclaimed 2024 production, with Federica Vitali (Tosca), Mykhailo Malafii (Cavaradossi) and Andrei Bondarenko(Scarpia). A searing story of love, tyranny and sacrifice set over one night in Rome, driven by some of the most thrilling music ever written for the stage.

Porgy and Bess (Gershwin): Cape Town Opera and Chineke! Orchestra share the stage at The Grange Festival in a semi-staged production directed by Magdalene Minnaar, with choreography by Yaseen Manuel, and conducted by Enrique Mazzola. Gershwin's 'American folk opera' brings Catfish Row vividly to life, from 'Summertime' to 'It Ain't Necessarily So'.

The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor (Leith, after Britten): Oliver Leith and Ted Huffman's acclaimed chamber opera from Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, directed by Ted Huffmanand based on Britten's opera. Dominic Sedgwick sings Billy Budd and Toby Spenceas Captain Vere, returning after Eugene Onegin in 2026. Four keyboard and percussion players carry this taut, all-male drama of conscience and cruelty at sea.

Concerts

Requiem (Verdi): ten years after it featured at the first Festival in 2017, Verdi's Requiemreturns to celebrate the anniversary. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra joins with the combined forces of The Grange Festival Chorus and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, with soloists to be announced.

Symphonic Bond: David Arnold conducts Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in a celebration of more than sixty years of James Bond, from John Barry's blazing brass to the great title songs, with vocalist Laura Tebbutt. Bond has always had a taste for opera, most memorably at a performance of Tosca in Quantum of Solace.

A Jazz Club Symphony: singer, pianist and jazz star Joe Stilgoe joins Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fiona Monbet, to take you inside the greatest jazz club you've never been to. This all-swinging, all-singing concert of his own music and other jazz-infused works brings together the theatrics, virtuoso playing and trademark wit that have made him one of the UK's most irresistible entertainers.

Dance