Grange Park Opera
Last chance for priority booking
The offer to Telegraph subscribers to book ahead of the general public for Grange Park Opera’s summer season closes on Monday. The operas programmed range from big hitters to an obscure gem and a new commission.
Stephen Medcalf ’s take on Giuseppe Verdi’s large-hearted comic masterpiece, Falstaff, features baritone superstar Bryn Terfel as the famously dissolute (but lovable) knight. Then there is La Bohème, Puccini’s weepie, which features Irish soprano and rising star Ailish Tynan as consumptive seamstress Mimi.
In the lesser known category comes Rimsky-korsakov’s rare opera Ivan the Terrible. The Russian composer is most familiar in the West for his orchestral works, but his operatic output is imaginative and intoxicating, encompassing folk tales, legend and historical drama. Ivan the Terrible (otherwise known as The Maid of Pskov) falls into the latter category. Rimsky-korsakov wrote three different versions, with the final one (premiered in 1892) considered to be the definitive.
It tells the tale of the notorious tsar and his attempts to whip the cities of Pskov and Novgorod into submission, but it’s more than simply a story of wholesale pillage. Aided by Rimsky-korsakov’s flair for orchestral colour, this becomes a very human story, as the tyrant ends up being reconciled with his long-lost son. You can expect a lot of spectacle in David Pountney’s brand-new production, as the staging demands riotous crowd
Litvinenko’s death has the makings of a great opera – power, politics, love, betrayal
scenes and provides an epic take on a particularly fraught moment in Russian history. Pountney has form as an innovator, kick-starting his career with an acclaimed production of Katya Kabanova at the Wexford Festival, while Clive Bayley, playing Ivan here, has a reputation for being one of the most imposing basses in the industry.
The final opera in the season,
The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko, is a new work from the composer Anthony Bolton. We’ve seen all sorts of unusual subjects tackled in opera in recent years – the tragic life of Anna Nicole Smith, Walt Disney, even the historic meeting between Nixon and Mao. Bolton, inspired by Alex Goldfarb’s book Death of a Dissident, has realised that the poisoning of the former RFSS officer has all the makings of a great opera – power, politics, love and betrayal. What’s more, his librettist is Kit Hesketh-harvey, someone with a delicious ear for the absurd, as any fans of his revue act Kit and the Widow will attest. The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko will be directed by Stephen Medcalf.
The Grange Park Opera summer season runs from June 10 until July 18. Telegraph subscribers have until 11.59pm on March 8 to make their priority booking. For further information and full terms and conditions, please visit telegraph.co.uk/go/gpo