Join Australians Lotte Betts-Dean – a versatile mezzo soprano whose performance experience includes contemporary repertoire, early music, art song and opera – and Royal Academy of Music alumnus, pianist Joseph Havlat, as well as award-winning New Zealand baritone Kieran Rayner on Friday 11 February 2022 from 6pm to 7pm.
The programme will feature works by British, Australian and NZ composers and is part of the FANZA Festival to complement the 2021/2022 Season of Culture celebrating the cultural relationship between Australia and the UK.
The venue, St Mary-at-Hill Church, has a beautiful interior designed by Sir Christopher Wren and is a popular venue for concerts and recitals. Doors will open at 5.30pm and the ticket price of £25 includes a glass of wine afterwards. [Special price tickets for young adults and under-25s.]
There are many good restaurants within walking distance of the Church for those who wish to make a night of it.
Sit in on an exciting coaching session focusing on French Song.
Named as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2011, pianist Susan Manoff is currently a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. She is devoted to the relationship between singer, pianist, composer and poet. For this masterclass she will be joined by singers and pianists from the 2021-22 cohort of Britten Pears Young Artists.
Sit in on an exciting coaching session focusing on French Song.
Named as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2011, pianist Susan Manoff is currently a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. She is devoted to the relationship between singer, pianist, composer and poet. For this masterclass she will be joined by singers and pianists from the 2021-22 cohort of Britten Pears Young Artists.
Outstanding singers and pianists from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme give an end of course recital, following an intensive course of coaching and public masterclasses with Susan Manoff.
The German Choir of London and Coventry Cathedral Choir perform a new interpretation of J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion with an original libretto by playwright Ross McGregor, in Southwark Cathedral (7pm 17 March) and Coventry Cathedral (6pm 19 March).
Kieran Rayner will play Robert Scholl (Sophie’s father) and Möhr (an interrogator), as well as singing the bass arias.
Hans and Sophie Scholl are amongst the most famous personalities in Germany. Nearly every town has a Scholl Square, a Geschwister Scholl School, or a Sophie Scholl Street. Their lives are a set part of the German history curriculum in every school and every year new books, documentaries and films about their lives are published.
On May 9, 2021, it would have been Sophie Scholl’s 100th Birthday.
The lives of Hans and Sophie Scholl, founder of the White Rose resistance group, are widely unknown in the UK. That there was resistance in the public during NS time is for many British still news, having learnt at school mainly about the obeying Germans during the war and the enormous following for Hitler.
The German Choir of London wants to tell a different story.
For this concert the German Choir commissioned a play that accompanies J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion to highlight the story of Sophie Scholl, executed by the Gestapo in 1943 for opposing Hitler with a campaign of non-violence during the Second World War.
The concert will tell the story of Sophie, confined in Stadelheim Prison, Munich in the period before her death, through an original libretto created by playwright Ross McGregor, by combining letters, newspaper articles, the White Rose leaflets and court protocols with the music of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
This new interpretation will be performed with the German Choir of London and Coventry Cathedral Choir in Southwark Cathedral (17 March) and Coventry Cathedral (19 March). It will encourage us to remember that the courage of Sophie Scholl and her fellow conspirators is an inspiration through time, a reminder that fighting injustice, fighting against systems which are wrong, even against the greatest odds, is truly a message of our time.
The German Choir of London and Coventry Cathedral Choir perform a new interpretation of J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion with an original libretto by playwright Ross McGregor, in Southwark Cathedral (7pm 17 March) and Coventry Cathedral (6pm 19 March).
Kieran Rayner will play Robert Scholl (Sophie’s father) and Möhr (an interrogator), as well as singing the bass arias.
Hans and Sophie Scholl are amongst the most famous personalities in Germany. Nearly every town has a Scholl Square, a Geschwister Scholl School, or a Sophie Scholl Street. Their lives are a set part of the German history curriculum in every school and every year new books, documentaries and films about their lives are published.
On May 9, 2021, it would have been Sophie Scholl’s 100th Birthday.
The lives of Hans and Sophie Scholl, founder of the White Rose resistance group, are widely unknown in the UK. That there was resistance in the public during NS time is for many British still news, having learnt at school mainly about the obeying Germans during the war and the enormous following for Hitler.
The German Choir of London wants to tell a different story.
For this concert the German Choir commissioned a play that accompanies J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion to highlight the story of Sophie Scholl, executed by the Gestapo in 1943 for opposing Hitler with a campaign of non-violence during the Second World War.
The concert will tell the story of Sophie, confined in Stadelheim Prison, Munich in the period before her death, through an original libretto created by playwright Ross McGregor, by combining letters, newspaper articles, the White Rose leaflets and court protocols with the music of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
This new interpretation will be performed with the German Choir of London and Coventry Cathedral Choir in Southwark Cathedral (17 March) and Coventry Cathedral (19 March). It will encourage us to remember that the courage of Sophie Scholl and her fellow conspirators is an inspiration through time, a reminder that fighting injustice, fighting against systems which are wrong, even against the greatest odds, is truly a message of our time.
The VIARDOT200 festival in Dorset is a celebration of the bicentenary of 19th Century composer (and glamorous singer!) Pauline Viardot. The weekend festival will feature Viardot’s Cendrillon (Cinderella) in which Kieran plays Cinderella’s father Baron Duphol, plus a concert of art songs written or inspired by Viardot.
At the end of the festival, Kieran will play Hero in the premiere of young composer Zygmund de Somogyi’s chamber opera hikikomori!, an exciting new work exploring love, loss and the boundaries between fantasy and reality.
Where: Oborne, Dorset
When: Cendrillon: 2 April
Art song concert: 3 April
hikikomori! : 4 April
Booking details and further information to be announced soon.
Conducted by Dominic Ellis-Peckham, Aldeburgh Voices, The Suffolk Ensemble and soloists perform selections from Bach’s three great Easter passions and Easter choral settings by composers from the 16th to 21st centuries: Victoria, Lotti, Bruckner, Copland and Taverner.
A story-led song recital with a twist: the audience chooses the direction of the narrative.
Baritone (and scriptwriter) Kieran Rayner, mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts Dean and pianist Bradley Wood present a vocal recital where the audience decides the direction of the narrative, influencing which songs are performed. Featuring potential song repertoire ranging from Schubert, Poulenc and Finzi to new works.
Composer Jasmine Morris’s multi-media chamber opera responding to George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm. Kieran Rayne will play Farmer Jones, a ruthless investor targeting profit by any means necessary.
This promenade piece invites you to follow your guides around the spaces of the Hoffmann Building to see scenes performed.
La rondine (The Swallow) is a moving tale of young love and heartbreak – and what else, you may ask, is opera about? Arguably Puccini’s most modern opera, La rondine was premiered in Monte Carlo in 1917, and includes one of Puccini’s most gorgeous creations, the quartet, ‘Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso’ (I drink to your beautiful smile).
Magda is our ‘rondine’ , the bird who flies towards the sun, and Ruggero is the shy country boy who eventually becomes her lover. We witness their relationship unfold in the colourful locales of Paris and the balmier climes of southern France. The love ‘quadrangle’ is made complete by Prunier, a centre-of-attention poet and Magda’s fiery maid, Lisette. Amidst waltzes, foxtrots, and soaring melodies, join us for an unmissable evening of sophistication and glamour in the enchanting surroundings of Grade 1 listed Belcombe Court.
Director Bruno Ravella, a former Iford Arts favourite, joins us fresh from extraordinary acclaim for his Rosenkavalier at Garsington in 2021, and If Opera’s Artistic Director Oliver Gooch conducts.
Rita, the somewhat tyrannical inn-owner and wife of Peppe is shocked by the return of her former husband Gasparo whom she had thought dead by drowning (he had run away to far-off lands). Gasparo is back to acquire Rita’s death certificate so he can remarry – because he, in turn, thought she had died. In the middle is poor Peppe who wants out, and perhaps Gasparo’s return provides the opportunity? The opera is a comedy of deceit and ill-manners (it was originally called The Beaten Husband which tells you something of Rita’s inclinations) but it glitters with Donizetti’s trademark vivacity, formed around eight core musical ‘numbers’ connected by spoken dialogue. The opera has, in the past few decades, become one of the most frequently performed of Donizetti’s short operas.
La rondine (The Swallow) is a moving tale of young love and heartbreak – and what else, you may ask, is opera about? Arguably Puccini’s most modern opera, La rondine was premiered in Monte Carlo in 1917, and includes one of Puccini’s most gorgeous creations, the quartet, ‘Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso’ (I drink to your beautiful smile).
Magda is our ‘rondine’ , the bird who flies towards the sun, and Ruggero is the shy country boy who eventually becomes her lover. We witness their relationship unfold in the colourful locales of Paris and the balmier climes of southern France. The love ‘quadrangle’ is made complete by Prunier, a centre-of-attention poet and Magda’s fiery maid, Lisette. Amidst waltzes, foxtrots, and soaring melodies, join us for an unmissable evening of sophistication and glamour in the enchanting surroundings of Grade 1 listed Belcombe Court.
Director Bruno Ravella, a former Iford Arts favourite, joins us fresh from extraordinary acclaim for his Rosenkavalier at Garsington in 2021, and If Opera’s Artistic Director Oliver Gooch conducts.
Rita, the somewhat tyrannical inn-owner and wife of Peppe is shocked by the return of her former husband Gasparo whom she had thought dead by drowning (he had run away to far-off lands). Gasparo is back to acquire Rita’s death certificate so he can remarry – because he, in turn, thought she had died. In the middle is poor Peppe who wants out, and perhaps Gasparo’s return provides the opportunity? The opera is a comedy of deceit and ill-manners (it was originally called The Beaten Husband which tells you something of Rita’s inclinations) but it glitters with Donizetti’s trademark vivacity, formed around eight core musical ‘numbers’ connected by spoken dialogue. The opera has, in the past few decades, become one of the most frequently performed of Donizetti’s short operas.
La rondine (The Swallow) is a moving tale of young love and heartbreak – and what else, you may ask, is opera about? Arguably Puccini’s most modern opera, La rondine was premiered in Monte Carlo in 1917, and includes one of Puccini’s most gorgeous creations, the quartet, ‘Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso’ (I drink to your beautiful smile).
Magda is our ‘rondine’ , the bird who flies towards the sun, and Ruggero is the shy country boy who eventually becomes her lover. We witness their relationship unfold in the colourful locales of Paris and the balmier climes of southern France. The love ‘quadrangle’ is made complete by Prunier, a centre-of-attention poet and Magda’s fiery maid, Lisette. Amidst waltzes, foxtrots, and soaring melodies, join us for an unmissable evening of sophistication and glamour in the enchanting surroundings of Grade 1 listed Belcombe Court.
Director Bruno Ravella, a former Iford Arts favourite, joins us fresh from extraordinary acclaim for his Rosenkavalier at Garsington in 2021, and If Opera’s Artistic Director Oliver Gooch conducts.
The course of true love runs far from smooth for Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Trojan hero Aeneas in Purcell’s famous opera. We are thrilled that our If Opera Company singers will be working with guest conductor Christopher Bucknall for this very special concert performance of Dido and Aeneas. Intimate in scale, this timeless tale of love and anguish, sorcery, war and betrayal punches well above its weight and includes one of the most beautiful arias in all Baroque opera – When I am Laid in Earth.
DIDO Fleur Barron
AENEAS Kieran Rayner
SORCERESS Katherine McIndoe
BELINDA Nardus Williams
FIRST WITCH Lorena Paz Nieto
SECOND WITCH Helen Maree Cooper
La rondine (The Swallow) is a moving tale of young love and heartbreak – and what else, you may ask, is opera about? Arguably Puccini’s most modern opera, La rondine was premiered in Monte Carlo in 1917, and includes one of Puccini’s most gorgeous creations, the quartet, ‘Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso’ (I drink to your beautiful smile).
Magda is our ‘rondine’ , the bird who flies towards the sun, and Ruggero is the shy country boy who eventually becomes her lover. We witness their relationship unfold in the colourful locales of Paris and the balmier climes of southern France. The love ‘quadrangle’ is made complete by Prunier, a centre-of-attention poet and Magda’s fiery maid, Lisette. Amidst waltzes, foxtrots, and soaring melodies, join us for an unmissable evening of sophistication and glamour in the enchanting surroundings of Grade 1 listed Belcombe Court.
Director Bruno Ravella, a former Iford Arts favourite, joins us fresh from extraordinary acclaim for his Rosenkavalier at Garsington in 2021, and If Opera’s Artistic Director Oliver Gooch conducts.
Kieran reprises one of his favourite song cycles with orchestra, Mahler’s heartbreaking Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer). With the Lambeth Orchestra conducted by Peter Selwyn, at All Saints Church, West Dulwich.
Concert also features:
LISZT: Les Preludes
MAHLER: Blumine
STRAUSS: Tod und Verklärung
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Emmy Destinn Foundation Under the auspices of HE Mrs. Marie Chatardová, Czech Ambassador to the UK.
Featuring brilliant young artists, the winners of our biennial competition The Emmy Destinn Young Singers Awards performing arias by Janáček, Dvořák, Smetana, Mozart and Puccini.
They will be accompanied by accomplished pianists Raya Kostova, Panaretos Kyriatzidis and Max Bilbe, winners of the Lady Grenfell-Baines Accompanist’s Prize.
The concert will also feature talented Czech violinist Leona Gogolicynová, accompanied by celebrated pianist Anthony Hewitt, and renowned Swedish trumpeter Magnus Johansson who performed at the inaugural Emmy Destinn Foundation concert in 1997
The evening will be presented by voice over actress and narrator Veronika Hyks
The Foundation is dedicated to upholding the legacy of Emmy Destinn, the greatest Czech diva, by supporting talented young singers and preserving the traditional cultural link between Britain and Czech Republic, as well as cultivating awareness of Czech repertoire’s great riches.
Featuring arias and scenes from operas by:
Leoš Janáček
Antonín Dvořák
Bedřich Smetana
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Giacomo Puccini
Josef Suk
A co-production by Britten Pears Arts and The Royal Opera House.
In a world brutalised by conflict, one woman’s experience of horrific violence becomes the defining moment of an era.
Benjamin Britten’s shattering chamber opera explores some of the darkest drives in the human psyche – and what happens when power and war give them free rein. In this contemporary new staging, Oliver Mears directs, while Corinna Niemeyer conducts a cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Throughout the autumn, we will be exploring aspects of this production and its wider context in a series of talks and presentations online. Keep your eye on the website for more details.
A co-production by Britten Pears Arts and The Royal Opera House.
In a world brutalised by conflict, one woman’s experience of horrific violence becomes the defining moment of an era.
Benjamin Britten’s shattering chamber opera explores some of the darkest drives in the human psyche – and what happens when power and war give them free rein. In this contemporary new staging, Oliver Mears directs, while Corinna Niemeyer conducts a cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Throughout the autumn, we will be exploring aspects of this production and its wider context in a series of talks and presentations online. Keep your eye on the website for more details.
A co-production by Britten Pears Arts and The Royal Opera House.
In a world brutalised by conflict, one woman’s experience of horrific violence becomes the defining moment of an era.
Benjamin Britten’s shattering chamber opera explores some of the darkest drives in the human psyche – and what happens when power and war give them free rein. In this contemporary new staging, Oliver Mears directs, while Corinna Niemeyer conducts a cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Throughout the autumn, we will be exploring aspects of this production and its wider context in a series of talks and presentations online. Keep your eye on the website for more details.
A co-production by Britten Pears Arts and The Royal Opera House.
In a world brutalised by conflict, one woman’s experience of horrific violence becomes the defining moment of an era.
Benjamin Britten’s shattering chamber opera explores some of the darkest drives in the human psyche – and what happens when power and war give them free rein. In this contemporary new staging, Oliver Mears directs, while Corinna Niemeyer conducts a cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Throughout the autumn, we will be exploring aspects of this production and its wider context in a series of talks and presentations online. Keep your eye on the website for more details.
A co-production by Britten Pears Arts and The Royal Opera House.
In a world brutalised by conflict, one woman’s experience of horrific violence becomes the defining moment of an era.
Benjamin Britten’s shattering chamber opera explores some of the darkest drives in the human psyche – and what happens when power and war give them free rein. In this contemporary new staging, Oliver Mears directs, while Corinna Niemeyer conducts a cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Throughout the autumn, we will be exploring aspects of this production and its wider context in a series of talks and presentations online. Keep your eye on the website for more details.
A co-production by Britten Pears Arts and The Royal Opera House.
In a world brutalised by conflict, one woman’s experience of horrific violence becomes the defining moment of an era.
Benjamin Britten’s shattering chamber opera explores some of the darkest drives in the human psyche – and what happens when power and war give them free rein. In this contemporary new staging, Oliver Mears directs, while Corinna Niemeyer conducts a cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Throughout the autumn, we will be exploring aspects of this production and its wider context in a series of talks and presentations online. Keep your eye on the website for more details.
A co-production by Britten Pears Arts and The Royal Opera House.
In a world brutalised by conflict, one woman’s experience of horrific violence becomes the defining moment of an era.
Benjamin Britten’s shattering chamber opera explores some of the darkest drives in the human psyche – and what happens when power and war give them free rein. In this contemporary new staging, Oliver Mears directs, while Corinna Niemeyer conducts a cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Throughout the autumn, we will be exploring aspects of this production and its wider context in a series of talks and presentations online. Keep your eye on the website for more details.
A co-production by Britten Pears Arts and The Royal Opera House.
In a world brutalised by conflict, one woman’s experience of horrific violence becomes the defining moment of an era.
Benjamin Britten’s shattering chamber opera explores some of the darkest drives in the human psyche – and what happens when power and war give them free rein. In this contemporary new staging, Oliver Mears directs, while Corinna Niemeyer conducts a cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Throughout the autumn, we will be exploring aspects of this production and its wider context in a series of talks and presentations online. Keep your eye on the website for more details.
A co-production by Britten Pears Arts and The Royal Opera House.
In a world brutalised by conflict, one woman’s experience of horrific violence becomes the defining moment of an era.
Benjamin Britten’s shattering chamber opera explores some of the darkest drives in the human psyche – and what happens when power and war give them free rein. In this contemporary new staging, Oliver Mears directs, while Corinna Niemeyer conducts a cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Throughout the autumn, we will be exploring aspects of this production and its wider context in a series of talks and presentations online. Keep your eye on the website for more details.