Young stars take opera spotlight
A new production of Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky’s opera of duels and immorality will open in Bath in February.
The production at the Roper Theatre in Hayesfield Girls School, Upper Oldfield Park, will be particularly special because of its young cast.
John Clark, chairman of Bath Opera, compared the way Onegin is usually cast with 30-somethings playing the juvenile delinquent gangsters in West Side Story.
“So often young principal characters in operas are sung by singers who are really too old to be convincing
as teenagers or young twenty-somethings, and the effect is unsatisfactory,” he said.
“But we’ve managed to recruit four young singers from the Conservatoires at the beginning of their opera careers to play the main roles
at the right age.”
Daniel Gray Bell (Lenski) has studied internationally, joining the Saluzzo Opera Academy for its 2021 Opera Festival. A British tenor, he is pursuing a Master of Performance at the RCM.
Anna Fitzgerald (Tatyana) was a regular performer on the oratorio scene at university and is studying her second year of Masters in Vocal Performance at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama under Anne Mason.
Ambrose Connolly (Onegin) was one of eight young singers selected to attend the Glyndebourne Academy for 2021. A lyric baritone, he moved to Russia after university to study Opera at the Kazan State Conservatory.
Angharad Davies (Olga) is a mezzo-soprano. A graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she gained a distinction in her postgraduate diploma. Angharad is a 2021/22 Rose Opera Young Artist and studies with Amanda Roocroft.
The show runs from Thursday, February 24 to Saturday, February 26 at 7.30pm. Tickets £20/£10 children (Thursday). All tickets £30 on Friday and Saturday. Contact: bathboxoffice.org.uk/01225.463362.