SOUNDS OF THE SUMMER
OPERA HOLLAND PARK
The pioneering and community-
minded art-in-the-park festival
returns with five new productions:
Julia Burbach and Cecilia Stinton
direct Eugene Onegin and Carmen
respectively; there is a double bill of
Delius (Margot la Rouge) and Puccini
(Le Villi); and David Eaton conducts
HMS Pinafore. Perhaps most
intriguingly, there is a UK premiere of
the American composer Mark Adamo’s
1998 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s
classic novel Little Women. Actually
being at an OHP performance is a
delight, but so too is
walking through this
west London park on
a balmy afternoon, the
sound of singers and
orchestra in rehearsal
wafting on the breeze.
Don’t miss Little
Women, Jul 22-Aug 5.
Festival runs May 31-
Aug 13; tickets from
£22 to £128.
operaholland
park.comGARSINGTON OPERA
Last year was the tenth anniversary of
Garsington’s move from its original
Oxfordshire home to a newly built
pavilion in the grounds of the Getty
estate in Wormsley, Buckinghamshire.
In that time the festival has cemented
its reputation for excellence and
innovation. This year’s programme
includes a recreation of John Cox’s
2004 production of Così fan tutte,
Dvorak’s Rusalka (with Natalya
Romaniw in the title role); Mark
Wigglesworth’s debut in the pit,
conducting The Turn of the Screw;
John Caird’s production of Orfeo; and
Dalia, a “community
opera” by Roxanna
Panufnik and
Jessica Duchen.
Don’t miss
Rusalka, Jun 18-Jul- Festival runs
Jun 1-Jul 31;
tickets
from £165
to £235.
garsington
opera.org
ALDEBURGH FESTIVAL
Dame Sarah Connolly, Nicola
Benedetti, the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra, the Doric String
Quartet and more feature on the
programme for this year’s annual
gathering on the Suffolk coast. Violet,
a new opera by Tom Coult and Alice
Birch, finally receives its premiere,
having been held back from 2020.
Don’t miss Violet, Jun 3 & 5. Festival
runs Jun 3-26; tickets from £10,
50 per cent reduction for under-30s.
brittenpearsarts.orgNEVILL HOLT OPERA
The Leicestershire festival
returns to its Stirling
prize shortlisted opera
house after a year of
outdoor performances.
This summer’s
programme includes
new productions
of La bohème,
with
Manchester
Camerataunder Nicholas Chalmers and
Mathilda du Tillieul McNicol directing,
and The Barber of Seville, with Sarah
Champion’s Rosina and Michel de
Souza as Figaro, and the Royal
Northern Sinfonia in the pit. In July the
period-instrument Dunedin Consort
perform Handel’s Acis and Galatea.
Don’t miss The Barber of Seville, Jun
23-29. Festival runs Jun 8-Jul 9; tickets
from £25 to £175. nevillholtopera.co.ukGRANGE PARK OPERA
Several coups this year for the
Surrey festival, including Bryn
Terfel and Nicky Spence in a free
staging of Der fliegende Holländer,
David Pountney directing Janacek’s
The Excursions of Mr Broucek,
Stephen Barlow conducting Joseph
Calleja in La Gioconda, and Otello,
with Simon Keenlyside as Iago in a
David Alden production.
Don’t miss Otello, Jun 19-Jul 9.
Festival runs Jun 9-Jul 17; tickets from
£80 to £220. grangeparkopera.co.ukBUXTON INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
The much-loved Peak District festival’s
operatic content includes productions
of Rossini’s La donna del lago and
Donizetti’s Viva la Diva, the latter in a
new English version by Kit Hesketh-
Harvey. Other highlights are Jonathan
Dove’s adaptation of Mansfield Park,
Johann Adolf Hasse’s rarely heard
Antonio e Cleopatra, and a staging of
Laurents, Styne and Sondheim’s
Gypsy: A Music Fable.
Don’t miss Viva la Diva, Jul 10-23.
Festival runs Jul 7-24; opera tickets from
£15 to £79. buxtonfestival.co.ukEDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
The 75th festival has a strong classical
music programme, with stellar
musicians from France, Australia, the
US and more alongside the best of
Scotland and the UK. Highlights are
Donald Runnicles, general music
director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin,
and the Philharmonia Orchestra in a
concert performance of Fidelio, and
Strauss’s one-act opera
Salome, with Malin
Byström in the title role
and Edward Gardener
conducting the
Bergen Philharmonic
Orchestra.
Don’t miss Salome,
Aug 14. Festival
runs Aug 5-28;
tickets from free
to £102. eif.co.uk c
Aldeburgh Connolly and Benedetti Grange Park Keenlyside and Terfel24 April 2022 21