MORE GREAT FESTIVALS…
Full marks to GRANGE PARK OPERA for spotting an under-sung anniversary. After the ‘ye-ha!’ of Oklahoma!, Roméo et Juliette bags the Gounod bicentenary. Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera and Boyarsky’s Pushkin follow.
( 7 June – 12 July; +44 (0)1962 737373, grangeparkopera.co.uk)
Back at Grange Park Opera’s old Hampshire stamping ground THE
GRANGE FESTIVAL introduces dance as well as Handel’s Agrippina, a new
John Copley production of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio and a concert performance of Bernstein’s Candide
( 7 June – 12 July; +44 (0)1962 791020, thegrangefestival.co.uk)
In Peto’s Italianate garden near Bath,
IFORD ARTS is going the extra mile with Bernstein’s Candide. Directed by Jeff Clarke, six performances lead off a festival whose blooms include Handel’s Partenope and Puccini’s Madam
Butterf ly. ( 26 May – 4 August; +44 (0)1225 448844, ifordarts.org.uk) GARSINGTON OPERA, meanwhile unveils a new opera by David Sawer. Based on Roberto Bolaño’s novel,
The Skating Rink joins Strauss’s Capriccio, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Verdi’s irrepressible Falstaff in Wormsley’s airy opera pavilion.
( 31 May – 22 July; +44 (0)1865 361636, garsingtonopera.org)
There’s more Strauss at
LONGBOROUGH FESTIVAL OPERA
where Ariadne auf Naxos shares conductor Anthony Negus and the festival orchestra with Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. And Ariadne (soprano Helena Dix) isn’t the only feisty heroine. Verdi’s La traviata and Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea express solidarity. ( 6 June – 2 August;
+44 (0)1451 830292, lfo.org.uk)
Heading north, NEVILL HOLT christens its new stage with a bold pairing: Mozart’s The Marriage of
Figaro, and Adès’s Powder her Face in the Northern Ireland Opera production by Antony Mcdonald. ( 14-30 June; +44 (0)115 846 7777, nevillholtopera.co.uk)