Spring 08 programme

ENGLISH
TOURING
OPERA
SPRING 2008
Mozart
Don Giovanni
Donizetti
AnnaBolena
Carlisle Floyd
Susannah
CONTENTS
2
3
4
5
6
8
10
12
16
17
18
21
22
24
TOUR SCHEDULE
WELCOME
DON GIOVANNI
DON GIOVANNI SYNOPSIS
DON GIOVANNI ESSAY
ANNA BOLENA
ANNA BOLENA SYNOPSIS
ANNA BOLENA ESSAY
SUSANNAH
SUSANNAH SYNOPSIS
SUSANNAH ESSAY
NETWORKS
SPRING 2008 COMPANY
ORCHESTRA AND
TOUR STAFF
25
26
27
28
30
41
42
45
DESIGN FOR A SEASON
ETO IN THE COMMUNITY
SUPPORT US
EDUCATION
BIOGRAPHIES
OUR SUPPORTERS
ETO’S BOARD OF
DIRECTORS AND STAFF
BEHIND THE SCENES
Gaetano Donizetti’s Anna Bolena
Lyric tragedy in 2 acts by Felice Romani. Premiere Milan, Teatro Carcano, 26 December 1830
Published by Ricordi Milan.
Carlyle Floyd’s Susannah
Musical drama in 2 acts by the composer. Premiere Florida State University, Tallahassee,
24 February 1955. By permission of Boosey and Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Il dissoluto punito, ossia Don Giovanni Dramma giocoso by Lorenzo da Ponte. English Version
by David Parry Premiere Prague, Estates Theatre, 29 October 1787 ETO productions
in 1985-6, 1992, 2002-3.
Supported 2008 by
SPRING TOUR 08
London Hackney Empire
020 8985 2424
Thu 13 Mar Anna Bolena
Fri 14 Mar Susannah ●
Sat 15 Mar Don Giovanni ●
Sheffield Lyceum Theatre
0114 249 6000
Mon 17 Mar Don Giovanni
Tue 18 Mar Anna Bolena
Wed 19 Mar Susannah ●
Cheltenham Everyman Theatre
01242 572573
Tue 25 Mar Don Giovanni
Wed 26 Mar Anna Bolena
Thu 27 Mar Susannah ●
Fri 28 Mar Don Giovanni
Sat 29 Mar Anna Bolena
Exeter Northcott Theatre
01392 493493
Tue 1 Apr Don Giovanni
Wed 2 Apr Anna Bolena
Thu 3 Apr Susannah
Fri 4 Apr Don Giovanni
Sat 5 Apr Anna Bolena
Truro Hall for Cornwall
01872 262466
Mon 7 Apr Don Giovanni ◆
Tue 8 Apr Anna Bolena
Wed 9 Apr Susannah
Poole The Lighthouse
08700 668 701
Fri 11 Apr Don Giovanni
Sat 12 Apr Anna Bolena ●
Bexhill De La Warr Pavillion
01424 229 111
Tue 15 Apr Don Giovanni ◆
Wed 16 Apr Anna Bolena ●
Crawley The Hawth
01293 553 636
Fri 18 Apr Don Giovanni
Sat 19 Apr Anna Bolena
2
Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
01902 429 212
Mon 21 Apr Don Giovanni ●
Tue 22 Apr Anna Bolena
Buxton Buxton Opera House
0845 127 2190
Thu 24 Apr Anna Bolena ●
Fri 25 Apr Don Giovanni
Sat 2 Apr Susannah ●
Cambridge Cambridge Arts Theatre
01223 503 333
Tue 29 Apr Don Giovanni ◆
Wed 30 Apr Anna Bolena ●
Thu 1 May Susannah ●
Fri 2 May Don Giovanni
Sat 3 May Anna Bolena
Snape Maltings Concert Hall
01728 687110
Thu 8 May Don Giovanni ●
Fri 9 May Susannah ●
Sat 10 May Anna Bolena
Coventry Warwick Arts Centre
024 7652 4524
Tue 13 May Don Giovanni
Wed 14 May Anna Bolena
Thu 15 May Susannah ●
Fri 16 May Anna Bolena
Sat 17 May Don Giovanni
Durham Gala Theatre
0191 332 4041
Mon 19 May Don Giovanni
Tue 20 May Anna Bolena
Perth Perth Festival
0845 612 6330
Thu 22 May Don Giovanni
Sat 24 May Anna Bolena
All performances at 7.30pm
● Pre-show talk, contact the venue
for more information
◆ Captioned performances
Audio described performances
WELCOME
Welcome to ETO’s Spring 2008 season.
In contrast to the season just finished, in
which we concentrated on two eighteenth
century jewels (and thank you for all your
very kind letters about Teseo and Country
Matters), you have before you comparative
titans of the last three centuries. We
hope that you have brought along some
friends who are innocent of opera’s many
pleasures, and that you share with them
your experience and enthusiasm.
It’s exciting to present a beautiful colt
of an opera like Susannah for the first time
in so many cities, and to revive a rarely
performed masterpiece like Anna Bolena
(another of our series of operas looking
at stories from British history) - and it
is always a complex and joyous thing
to engage with Mozart, da Ponte and
Don Juan.
Henriette Krarup has just joined the team
to coordinate our work in a few key
venues - Wolverhampton, Truro, Cambridge
and Exeter - and to develop our nETwOrks.
Have I encouraged you to help us by
joining a nETwOrk? nETwOrks are an
invaluable source of local knowledge for
us: groups of interesting, dissimilar people
who like opera, who are our ambassadors
and advisors around the country. They
hold events like recitals and talks, they
host singers, they tell us how to reach
new audiences and they help us stay
in touch with the ones we know. Join,
please, if you like what we do, and you
want to help us get better! Information
about joining or setting up a nETwOrk
is on page 23 of this programme.
At the same time, Voithia! - a new opera by
Rachel Leech and Tim Yealland - continued
the story of Teseo with an account of the
Greek hero’s exploits (designed for
children aged 6 - 11) and Red Riding Hood,
Tom Smail’s musical telling of that tale for
3 - 7 year olds, tours schools and theatres
around the country.
While we have been preparing these
shows, there have been changes back
at the ETO office. With the generous
help of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation,
James Conway
General Director
3
INTRODUCING
SYNOPSIS
DON GIOVANNI
DON GIOVANNI
Jonathan Munby’s new production of Don Giovanni
is English Touring Opera’s fourth version of
Mozart’s masterpiece. The role of Don Giovanni
is surely one of the greatest baritone roles in the
repertoire, and ETO’s productions have showcased
some of the finest singers of their generation.
We catch up with a Don Giovanni from each
of ETO’s past productions, to find out whether
they have had a happier fate than the
character they portrayed!
Tim Yealland (1985) was ETO’s first Don Giovanni,
playing him in a controversial modern dress
production directed by the late Steven Pimlott,
and conducted by David Parry Bolton. Tim now
works for English Touring Opera as their Artistic
Associate (Education), and is one of the leading
directors of music education projects in the
country. His most recent projects for ETO include
directing the community opera A House on the
Moon at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
(featuring nearly 200 members of the local
community), and the schools’ opera Voithia! which
toured to schools
and family audiences in early 2008.
William Dazeley (1992) played a young,
dangerously attractive Don Giovanni for ETO in
1992, directed by Stephen Medcalf and conducted,
by Ivor Bolton. Since then, he has established
himself as one of today’s leading baritones, and
has appeared with many of the world’s important
opera houses including the Deutsche Oper Berlin,
Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Festival Opera,
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Théâtre du
Châtelet, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, and
Chorégies d'Orange. Prominent conductors with
whom he has performed include Sir Colin Davis, Sir
Charles Mackerras, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel
Barenboim, Sir Andrew Davis and
Leonard Slatkin.
4
Håkan Vramsmo (Spring 2002) sang the title
role in the original 2002 season of this Mozart
masterpiece. Håkan has performed extensively
as a recitalist, including appearances at the
Wigmore Hall and Bridgewater Hall, and at the
Aldeburgh, Bath and Newbury Spring Festivals.
He also appeared with the Gothenberg Symphony
Orchestra, recorded for BBC Radio 3 and
Stockholm Radio and gave concerts in Dublin,
Sweden, Denmark and France. Since his 2002
ETO appearance, Håkan has covered the role
of Papageno in Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s
production of The Magic Flute and sang the role
of Valentin in Opera Omnibus’s production
of Gounod’s Faust. His wife, mezzo soprano
Louise Poole, played Ruggiero in ETO’s 2005
production of Alcina.
D’arcy Bleiker (Autumn 2002) played Don
Giovanni in the autumn revival of ETO’s 2002
production, set in the back streets and ballrooms
of 1950s Seville. In 2003, just after playing Don
Giovanni, he had to withdraw from the Cardiff
Singer of the World competition because of illness.
Since then, his fortunes have picked up - and he
has made the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni his
own, appearing in the role for Glyndebourne
Festival Opera, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, and
Scottish Opera! Further credits include Angelotti
in Tosca for English National Opera, Hairdresser
in Ariadne auf Naxos for the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos
for Welsh National Opera, and various roles for
Garsington Opera. D’Arcy recently opened a
restaurant - the Malt Shovel near Ripon - in
October 2006, with his parents and his wife
(mezzo-soprano Anna Burford), and he now
combines being a chef with singing.
Act 1 Concealing his identity, Don Giovanni is
attempting to seduce Donna Anna inside her
house. Outside, his servant Leporello complains
about having to keep watch. Soon Don Giovanni
rushes out, pursued by Donna Anna and her father,
the Commendatore. In a fight the Commendatore is
killed, and Donna Anna and her fiancé Don Ottavio
swear vengeance on the unknown assassin.
A little while later Don Giovanni is found by Donna
Elvira, whom he had once promised to marry and
then deserted. He leaves her with Leporello,
who recites an extravagant list of his master’s
conquests in the hope of deterring her from
her pursuit.
Don Giovanni arrives at the wedding party of
two peasants, Zerlina and Masetto. He quickly
persuades Zerlina to come to his house for some
fun. He is interrupted by Donna Elvira (followed by
Donna Anna and Don Ottavio) who warns Zerlina
about his cruelty. Don Giovanni accuses Elvira of
madness and leaves, but as he is going Donna
Anna recognises her assailant and vows revenge.
her, sends her off with the disguised Leporello,
and then serenades her maid.
Masetto arrives, looking to kill Zerlina’s seducer.
The disguised Don Giovanni deceives and then
attacks him. Zerlina finds Masetto and
comforts him.
A little while later, Leporello (still disguised as Don
Giovanni) is found by the vengeance-seekers. They
threaten to kill him (except Elvira, who pleads for
his life) but he reveals himself and escapes.
In a cemetery the statue of the Commendatore
warns Don Giovanni that his career of crime will
soon be cut short. Giovanni replies with an
invitation to supper.
Don Giovanni is at supper when Elvira bursts in and
vainly begs him to turn away from his wicked life.
He refuses, and as she leaves, Giovanni’s next
guest, the statue of the Commendatore, arrives.
The unrepentant libertine then discovers hell.
Running Time: Act I 76 minutes, Act II 65 minutes
Don Giovanni tells Leporello to invite everyone to
a party on his estate. At the gathering Zerlina begs
forgiveness from Masetto, before being pursued
(again) by Don Giovanni. Donna Anna, Don Ottavio
and Donna Elvira arrive masked to catch their prey,
but in a moment of confusion Don Giovanni
manages to escape.
Interval
Act 2 Leporello wants to leave his master’s
service, but money persuades him to stay.
Don Giovanni then orders Leporello to exchange
clothes with him, in order to seduce Elvira’s maid.
He makes Donna Elvira believe that he still loves
James Patterson as Leporello and Tim Yealland
as Don Giovanni, ETO, 1985
5
ESSAY
DON GIOVANNI
It is always something of a surprise to be
reminded that the full title of Don Giovanni doesn’t
use the term ‘opera’ but drama giocoso (comic
drama). A surprise, because the Don’s murder of
the Commendatore, his subsequent dealings with
the statue and his descent into the sulphurous
regions can hardly be described as a barrel of
laughs, and these are the scenes which often leave
the greatest impression on the audience. Mozart
himself said of the composition of this piece,
‘Whenever I sit at the piano with my new opera,
I have to stop, for it stirs my emotions too deeply.’
And yet of course there are plenty of comic
moments; Don Giovanni’s wooing of Elvira’s
maid, Leporello’s cowardice and Zerlina’s
coquettish repentance for her fickleness are all
moments which cast an ironic sidelight on the
grander and more heroic (or anti-heroic) aspects
of the piece. This blend of hilarity and hellishness
has often perplexed commentators. Composer
Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-75) said that while the
Commendatore’s death and his revenge are
the essential parts of the opera, ‘the rest is
a parenthesis in the history of opera, but still
a parenthesis,’ and Beethoven wondered how
Mozart could have bothered with such a frivolous
libretti as those with which Da Ponte provided
him. A brief look at the origins of the story helps
explain where this unique and intriguing mix of
brimstone and burlesque sprang from and why
it is so theatrically successful.
The first version of the story to hit the stage,
El Burlador de Sevilla y el Combidado de Pietra,
(The Burlador* of Seville and the Stone Guest) was
written in Spain in 1630 by Tirso de Molina and
based on a series of events which (as legend would
have it) took place in the middle ages. Don Juan,
a member of one of the great families of Seville,
killed a Commendatore after having seduced his
daughter. The monks in the monastery where
6
the nobleman was buried decided to make
an example of the Don, and lured him into the
cemetery one night and killed him. They then
spread a rumour that their victim had insulted
the statue of the Commendatore and had been
swallowed up by the ground. The playwright turned
the monastic fib into theatrical reality, and in
so doing gave birth to one of the theatre’s most
enduring spectres: the Stone Guest.
Molina’s highly moralizing version of this tale
remained popular, but after it had been presented
on stage it seemed to develop a life of its own. The
basic elements of the story - which after all, have
an undeniable raciness and immediacy about
them - were quickly taken up by strolling players
and puppeteers, and the legend of Don Juan being
dragged to hell by his victim’s statue spread across
Europe as a piece of rough and ready popular
theatre complete with gags and slapstick.
Whiffs of the story’s popularity soon reached the
noses of the great dramatists of the day and they
set to work to produce their own versions. Moliere
wrote Le Festin de Pierre (The Stone Feast) in 1665
and introduced both the character of Elvira and a
philosophical debate about the nature of individual
liberty. Purcell wrote music for Shadwell’s The
Libertine in 1676, and in 1736 Carlo Goldoni wrote
the first version of the play in which the anti-hero’s
name appears in the title. There was a ballet by
Gluck in 1761… and so the list goes on. The story
had clearly evolved in two directions, the demotic
(comic) and the patrician (serious) - but it took the
combined genius of Da Ponte and Mozart to realize
that the fear and terror they wanted their ending
to inspire could only be achieved by a carefully
controlled series of dramatic contrasts, mixing
high and low sentiments. The comedy helps the
audience sympathise with the characters, making
their plight all the more affecting. Mel Brooks once
showed the force of this paradox by turning it on
its head: ‘Tragedy is when I cut my finger,’ he said.
‘Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer
and die.’
The critic Ernest Newman described the libretto of
Don Giovanni as ‘one of the sorriest pieces of stage
joinery ever nailed together by a hack in a hurry’,
and though this seems unduly harsh, it is certainly
true that Da Ponte had a lot on his plate when
writing it. He was simultaneously penning two
other libretti and complained that ‘With only brief
breaks, I continued to work twelve hours a day for
two months.’ He therefore quarried his character
sketches and some of the text of Act 1 from a short
one-act opera called Don Giovanni Tenorio, or The
Stone Guest with music by Giuseppe Gazzaniga and
words by Giovanni Bertati. Sheila Hodges, one of
Da Ponte’s biographers, is clear about the extent to
which Mozart’s librettist is indebted to the earlier
writer. ‘Da Ponte’s reliance on Bertati by
no means led him slavishly to copy,’ she writes,
‘for he has brought his own particular genius to
the task. One of the women has been eliminated…
most of the characters have greater subtlety…
and Zerlina becomes less of a country hoyden and
considerably more interesting and complex.’
Bertati’s libretto treats the legend more or less
as a joke. Da Ponte, realizing that the story needed
comedy in the mix to bring out the horror, spent
considerable energy persuading Mozart not to
overcompensate too far in the other direction and
treat the legend solely as a high-toned morality
piece. (It is also worth pointing out that Mozart’s
father died soon after he had begun work on the
opera. Many commentators have speculated on the
effect this may have had on the darker moments
of Don Giovanni.) Late in life, when he was a grocer
and Italian teacher living in New York, the librettist
told his friend Dr John Francis about his efforts:
‘Mozart determined to cast the opera exclusively
as serious, and had well advanced in the work.
Da Ponte assured me,’ writes Dr Francis, ‘that he
remonstrated and urged the expediency on the
great composer of the introduction of the vis
comica in order to accomplish a greater success.’
Whether this is true or not is open to debate. Da
Ponte’s own memoirs - let alone the ones recorded
at second hand - are notoriously unreliable and
inaccurate, and it seems unlikely that, especially
after the success of The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart
wouldn’t be fully aware of the possibilities of seriocomic opera. Whatever the reality, the decision
to cast the piece as a blend of high and low
was taken, and Don Giovanni triumphed when
it was first seen in Prague in October 1787.
Unfortunately it failed dismally when it came to the
much more important musical centre of Vienna
in May 1788. According to Da Ponte the Emperor
Joseph’s response was ‘The opera is divine, but it
isn’t the right food for the teeth of my Viennese.’
To which Mozart replied, ‘Give them time to chew
it.’ Unfortunately the composer never knew the
piece to be a success because it was pulled from
the theatre after 15 performances in 1788 and not
put on again until after his death. But he was right
about it needing time to be appreciated, for over
two hundred years after the premiere we’re still
chewing on its complexities and still succumbing
to its ravishing power.
Warwick Thompson
2002
* A bullfighting term denoting the first man to
enter the ring - his task is to provoke the bull.
7
ANNA BOLENA
Anne Boleyn’s Speech at her execution
May 19, 1536, 8 o’clock in the morning
Good Christian people, I am come hither to die,
for according to the law, and by the law I am
judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing
against it. I am come hither to accuse no man,
nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am
accused and condemned to die, but I pray God
save the king and send him long to reign over
you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince
was there never: and to me he was ever a good,
a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person
will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge
the best. And thus I take my leave of the world
and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to
pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God
I commend my soul.
‘Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind...’
Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, alas, I may no more;
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that furthest come behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow; I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I, may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain,
There is written her fair neck round about,
‘Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.’
Thomas Wyatt
8
The Opera Anna Bolena was Donizetti’s first
international success, after a long apprenticeship
in the theatre at Venice and Naples. For many
years it was thought to show a departure from his
earlier work, which was more influenced by Rossini;
a better understanding of his early work has shown
that Anna Bolena more acccurately represents
a new artistic maturity for the composer - an
eloquent, powerful work in his own voice - while
it contains many borrowed elements from
earlier work.
At its premiere on December 26, 1830 at the Teatro
Carcano in Milan, the formidable cast included
Giuditta Pastia in the title role, Giovanni Battista
Rubini as Percy, and Filippo Galli as Henry. (The
season at the Carcano, set up by a group of
noblemen seeking to discredit the management at
La Scala, also included the premiere of Bellini’s La
Sonnambula a few months later!). Anna Bolena was
a triumph, and remained in the repertoire for 50
years, giving Donizetti an introduction to the opera
audiences of Paris and London. The 1957 revival
at La Scala with Maria Callas in the title role reestablished Anna Bolena in ‘the repertoire’, and
was part of a general resurgence of interest
in bel canto opera.
The Historical Background Henry VIII repudiated
his first wife, Catharine of Aragon, with whom
he had one daughter but no sons. Before their
marriage, she had been married to his brother
Arthur, but he died without consummating the
marriage; after Arthur’s death, Henry’s widower
father, Henry VII, seemed intent on marrying
Catharine in order to retain her dowry, but the
young prince was fond of Catharine, and he
prevailed. When much later Henry fell in love with
Anne Boleyn, one of Catharine’s ladies in waiting,
he used the Queen’s earlier marriage to his
brother as grounds for divorce.
Anne Boleyn, the younger daughter of an
ambitious courtier, had an excellent education,
and had learned the manners of Europe at the
courts of Margaret of Austria and Claude of France.
Known more for her wit than her beauty, she was
still the most fashionable woman at court; she
was also strong willed, and did not intend to
become the king’s mistress, as her sister had been.
Her interest in religious reform helped advance the
cause of Thomas Cranmer, and it was she who had
him appointed Archbishop of Canterbury; later, of
course, he had enough sense to forget that he had
married her to Henry, to enjoy the favour of the
king through four more marriages, and to survive
the rule of Jane Seymour’s son (and regency
of her brother). Anne Boleyn’s protégé was then
burned by the step-daughter who hated her Mary Tudor, daughter of Catharine of Aragon.
Anne’s misfortune was that after the birth of a
healthy daughter - later Elizabeth I - she had several
miscarriages in rapid succession. Anne’s strong
will had won few friends at court, and the King
readily believed the charges that were trumped up
against her. Curiously, even her enemies, including
Thomas Cromwell, who oversaw her conviction for
treason, adultery and incest, criticised her using
the same terms that we use to praise her
daughter, Elizabeth:
Anne Boleyn
Henry VIII
Jane Seymour
‘…religious yet aggressive, calculating yet
emotional, with the light touch of the courtier yet
the strong grip of the politician… A woman in her
own right - taken on her own terms in a man’s
world; a woman who mobilized her education,
her style and her presence to outweigh the
disadvantages of her sex; of only moderate good
looks, but taking a court and a king by storm...’*
*Eric William Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn
(2004)
Anne Mason and Sarah Jillian Cox - ETO's
Mary Queen of Scots 2005
9
SYNOPSIS
ANNA BOLENA
Act 1 Scene 1 At Windsor, courtiers are aware that
King Henry no longer visits his wife, Anne Boleyn.
One of Queen Anne’s favourite attendants, Jane
Seymour, knows the reason: Henry is now in love
with her. After another long night of waiting for the
King, Anne asks her young page, Smeaton, to sing
a song to divert them - but when he sings of a lost,
first love, she stops him suddenly, remembering her
own, early love for the exiled noble Richard Percy.
Anne and the rest retire, but Jane awaits Henry,
who has arranged to meet her. When he arrives she
tells him that she will not sacrifice her honour by
agreeing to be his mistress, and to her surprise
he explains that he will marry her once he has
disposed of Anne Boleyn. Jane is consumed
by remorse.
Scene 2 Anne’s brother, Rochford, meets his friend
Percy at Windsor Park, where the King plans to
hunt. The gloom that settled on Percy during his
exile is not lifted by return to England, for he has
not recovered from his love for Anne. Even in exile,
he has heard that Anne is unhappy. Henry, of
course, has recalled Percy from exile in order to
entrap him with Anne. When Anne arrives, having
set out early from the castle in order to meet her
husband, Henry notes her consternation when
confronted by Percy. Ironically, all praise the
king’s clemency, while he observes his prey.
Scene 3 Mark Smeaton is infatuated with Queen
Anne. He has come to her chamber in order to
replace a stolen locket containing her portrait.
Interrupted by Anne and her brother, he hides
himself. Rochford urges his sister to meet the
inconsolable Percy, and she reluctantly agrees.
To Percy she confides that her crown has become
a crown of thorns, a just punishment for her
ambition and her abandonment of Percy; the king,
she confesses, hates her. Percy does not hesitate
to declare his love. Anne urges him to flee
10
England again, but he says that he will die before
he leaves her again. As he draws his dagger,
Smeaton emerges from concealment, imagining
that he is defending the Queen from Percy’s
attack. Too late, Rochford warns them of the
king’s approach. Seeing weapons drawn in the
palace, Henry summons the guards. When
Smeaton pleads innocence, Anne’s locket falls
from his breast pocket. Henry proclaims to all
present that Anne has betrayed him with Smeaton
and Percy. Anne begs him to allow her to explain,
and is horrified when Henry retorts that she will
explain to judges - a terrible humiliation for
a crowned queen, recalling the fate of her
predecessor, Catharine. Percy imagines that
Anne’s reluctance to open her arms to him was
caused by her affair with Smeaton. From this
point, Anne’s downfall is assured.
Act 2 Scene 1 Anne’s ladies note that she is
friendless: even Jane Seymour has deserted the
court. Henry’s official Hervey orders her last
attendants to appear before the court. Alone, Anne
prays until she is interrupted by Jane Seymour.
Jane asks her to admit her guilt and give up the
crown in order to save her life. Astonished, Anne
upbraids her: Jane urges her case again, in the
name of Henry, and in the name of the guilty
woman Henry intends to put on the throne in
Anne’s place. Anne’s curses cause Jane to
prostrate herself, and Anne at last recognises
her rival. Weeping, Jane confesses that the king
seduced her, and that she now loves him. Anne’s
forgiveness only sharpens Jane’s pangs.
Scene 2 A group of courtiers learn from Hervey
that Smeaton has confessed to being Anne’s lover,
led to believe by the king that in so doing he will
save her. Alone with the king, Hervey explains that
Smeaton has fallen into the trap they set. Anne
and Percy are led in, and Anne insists
on telling him that she will die at his hand, but not
go to trial. Henry wonders how she can claim the
rights of a Queen when she has slept with Percy;
then he taunts the outraged Percy with Anne’s
misconduct with a mere page. Anne throws back
the accusation, asserting that her only crime was
ambition, in desiring to be the wife of a king. Percy
is moved to forgive her, and declares that justice
will save them. When Anne doubts the efficacy of
Henry’s justice, he explains that he
will soon have a new queen; impetuously, Percy
retaliates with an assertion that Anne and he were
married long before she met the king. He and Anne
somehow convince themselves that the English
people will have an appetite for the truth that
will thwart Henry’s plans to eliminate them.
Scene 4 Anne has suffered a breakdown in
confinement, described by her loyal attendants.
She emerges from her cell, imagining that it is the
day of her wedding to Henry, but then she fancies
that she sees Percy, accusing her. She begs this
phantom to lead her back to childhood innocence.
Percy, Smeaton and Rochford are led in for
execution; after lucid moments her mind wanders
again, and she calls on Smeaton to sing for her.
Jubilant sounds wake her again, and when it is
explained to her that they mark the King’s
marriage festivities, she calls on heaven to rain
mercy, not vengeance on the guilty pair.
Running Time: Act I 65 minutes, Act II 75 minutes
This is bitter news for Henry. If she was never truly
his wife, but Percy’s, how could she be guilty of
treason? Darkly, he promises that their daughter
Elizabeth will share her infamy. His frustration is
only aggravated by Jane Seymour, who is unwilling
to be the cause of Anne’s death. When she begs
to be allowed to leave Henry and the court, he
hates Anne all the more. Hervey announces that
the court has annulled his marriage to Anne, and
condemned her to death, together with Smeaton,
Rochford (incest is actually the most serious
of Anne’s alleged sins) and Percy. Jane and
courtiers plead for mercy, but Henry
is unmoved.
Scene 3 In the tower, Percy and Rochford are
confined together. Percy is morose because
Rochford, at least, is certainly innocent; Rochford,
on the other hand, confesses that he influenced
Anne to aim for the throne. Hervey announces that
the king has pardoned them, but neither is willing
to accept the pardon if Anne is to die. Ecstatically,
they pledge friendship and loyalty in death as in
life, though Hervey orders them to be separated.
Julie Unwin (Anna) and Luciano Botelho (Percy)
in ETO's Anna Bolena
11
ESSAY ANNA BOLENA
LOOKING BACK AND
LOOKING FORWARD...
I first sang the role of Anna Bolena at
Glyndebourne. I was a young, relatively
inexperienced soprano and absolutely thrilled
to be sharing the role with the great Turkish diva
Leyla Gencer. I knew I could learn so much by
watching and listening to such an experienced
singer in this role. But she cancelled and, suddenly,
I was catapulted into all the performances weeks
before I was due to sing my own scheduled dates.
This certainly taught me early on in my career
just how vital it is to always be thoroughly
prepared well in advance, especially when it comes
to tackling a tour-de-force like Bolena.
The role of Anna is one of the most demanding and
taxing roles in the dramatic bel canto repertoire.
Technically there must be no surprises once you’re
out on that stage. Everything must be worked
out beforehand so that the voice always sounds
effortless, beautiful, exciting and expressive. You
must be able to produce the softest, sweetest
sound possible and in the next moment crescendo
to a full-blooded, passionate outcry! Stamina and
control! And, of course, flexibility is essential - runs,
trills and cadenzas which must be thrilling to listen
to while always conveying whatever emotion is
called upon at that instant. Dazzling stuff when it
all comes together - incredibly satisfying for both
audience and artist.
Then there is the acting. It’s simply not enough to
sing absolutely beautifully and spoil it all by
standing on the stage like a limp, damp dish-cloth
or a stiff bump on a log! Bolena
is full of pathos and drama and is a gift for a
singing actress. The fusion of vocal and histrionic
art is so exciting! One has also to delve into the
historic background. Henry VIII, Jane Seymour,
12
Anne Boleyn - actual people and part of our history.
Who were they... how did they behave in those
days... what did they wear?
Speaking of what they wore brings back a memory
I would love to share with you. After my incredible
time at Glyndebourne, I went on to sing the role in
Barcelona. At Glyndebourne, meticulous care had
been taken over the authenticity of the costumes.
The Catalan concept of an English queen was also
elegant and beautiful, but hardly ‘Tudor’ in style.
They were determined to send Anne Boleyn to her
execution in an elaborate jewelled gown and
a tiara! I asked for a simple frock - no frills or
furbelows - and I dug my heels in over being
beheaded while wearing a crown! I think I spent
more energy convincing the costume department
than I spent singing the whole opera on stage.
But I’m glad to report that a truce was reached
and this Anna Bolena went to the scaffold without
a tiara!
Finally, of course, it’s not just Anna alone, but a
whole cast of characters who have all prepared
their roles with the same commitment and who
make this opera so special. Each character is so
interesting and challenging and
it makes for a very exciting evening when there
is evident team work.
I wish ETO the very best of luck with this
marvellous opera which was so important and
dear to my heart. I look forward to being in the
audience now. I shall enjoy this wonderful music
and be delighted to hear a new generation
of brilliant young singers. Good luck to one
and all.
Ludmilla Andrew
Photography Keith Pattison
Ludmilla Andrew introduces the title role, one
of the greatest bel canto roles for soprano.
Andrew Rupp (Cecil) & Jennifer Rhys Davies
(Elizabeth) in ETO’s 2005 production of
Mary, Queen of Scots (Maria Stuarda)
ESSAY ANNA BOLENA
TRUTH AND REALITY IN
OPERATIC LIBRETTOS
I used to feel about librettists rather as Samuel
Butler felt about historians: ‘It has been said that
although God cannot alter the past, historians can;
it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him
in this respect that He tolerates their existence.’
Certainly I tolerated their existence: and as a
passionate opera lover, I had every reason to feel
that they had been most useful in many respects
providing splendid (and frequently absurd) words
for my heroes and heroines to sing, magnificent
(and at the same time often ludicrous) words for
my composers to launch. But I did have this Godlike historian’s belief that no libretto of a real
incident or character could in fact add any
conceivable particle of knowledge to our greater
understanding of that incident or character in the
historical sense. This was because God-like truth
was always abandoned, if indeed it was ever
sought, in the interests of dramatic tension,
simplification of story, or even the straightforward
demands of singing. And without truth, what
insight towards reality could be provided?
Recently however the most welcome revival of
Donizetti’s Tudor operas, if I may so term the trio
of Anna Bolena, Roberto Devereux and Maria
Stuarda, has led me to modify this view, or at least
replace it with one much less pedantic and more
sympathetic to the aims of the librettist. It is not
a total coincidence of course that it is the impact
of these three particular operas which caused a
change of heart: all three are set in periods which
I know well, where the documents, historical
arguments and received historical opinions are
familiar to me. Nevertheless my compliments to
Donizetti’s trio are most emphatically not based
on their historical accuracy as such, which in any
case varies among the operas. Nor, as a 16th and
17th century specialist, do I necessarily feel
fascinated, historically speaking, by any opera
which is based on a period I have studied.
14
I should admit that Anna Bolena, the first
performed in 1830, is the least satisfactory
historically - although I find it a most moving and
satisfying operatic theme. Of course the basic
story of Felice Romani’s libretto is not at issue - that
Henry VIII (Enrico) had a wife called Anne Boleyn
(Anna), had her executed for treasonable adultery,
and subsequently and rapidly married Jane
Seymour (Giovanna) - this is the sort of knowledge
which one might describe as being at the fingertips
of any British schoolchild today and any Italian
librettist in the 19th-century.
Furthermore, many of the more colourful aspects
of Donizetti’s opera have more foundation in fact
than one might suppose from seeing them
dramatically brought to life. For example, Anne
Boleyn did actually have a youthful romance with
a Percy, Henry (not Richard) subsequently 6th
Earl of Northumberland, when Percy and Anne
were both in attendance at the court of Cardinal
Wolsey. There was even a suggestion of a
precontract which the Cardinal insisted on
breaking off: in 1532 Percy’s own wife, with whom
he was extremely unhappy, pleaded (admittedly
unsuccessfully) a precontract with Anne Boleyn to
put the marriage to an end. The same possibility
was raised at Anne’s trial, in order to invalidate her
subsequent marriage to the King, and it was only
after the suggestion had been dismissed once
more, that the King’s men had recourse to the
novel idea of Henry’s relationship with Anne’s
sister Mary as a source of invalidity. Of course
Percy never appeared in front of Henry VIII as he
does to such effect in the opera, reminding him
that long ago the Queen had been promised to
him. Nevertheless the trio of Act 2 of Anna Bolena,
‘Fin dall’ età più tenera,’ in which Percy tells Anna
that from her earliest years she has always been
his, does have some historical basis to it.
Likewise it would be wrong to regard Anna’s great
and mad scene as pure fabrication, or simply
as evidence of Donizetti’s strong predilections
for sopranos in the grip of hysterical if tuneful
delusions. ‘Piangete voi?’ Anna asks her ladiesin-waiting, as she wanders about her prison
distractedly, her clothes in disorder, her head bare.
‘This is my wedding day. The King awaits me,’ she
continues somewhat over optimistically in true
Ophelia vein. It comes almost as a surprise to
find that Anne Boleyn was indeed hysterical
for much of her time in prison, and there were
many contemporary suggestions that she
had in fact gone mad.
It is the entire approach of the opera’s story
which is completely unhistorical, whatever the
coincidence of detail. Sixteenth century Anne
Boleyn, wanton, reckless, sexual, indiscreet if
at the same time unlucky in her fate, was never
anything like the pious romantic basically innocent
and therefore wronged heroine of 19th century
Donizetti and Romani. In Anna Bolena, then,
we have the classic of the fictionalised historical
opera - accurate in many of its small points
perhaps but basically false in its conception
of characters and situations...
In Antonia Fraser’s complete essay (Opera, January
1974), she goes on to consider Robert Devereux and
Maria Stuarda (which ETO toured in 2005 as Mary,
Queen of Scots) and suggests that in Maria Stuarda
there is ‘the finest illustration of the kind of truth
which can be contained within an operatic libretto,
a truth not necessarily born out by reality.’ Antonia
Fraser is inclined to a more sympathetic view of
‘artistic truth’, at any rate in operatic terms, thanks
to the positive affirmation afforded the character
and conduct of Mary Stuart by Donizetti’s opera,
despite the fast-and-loose attitude of his librettist
to sequence and fact. Those who attended one of
the ETO performances on tour will recall the great
dignity of the final scenes, and the understanding
shown toward one of Britain’s most remarkable
Queens - as well as the terrific clash of character
and fortune in the hunt scene, describing the
famous (and fictional) meeting of Mary Stuart
and Elizabeth Tudor.
Antonia Fraser
15
SUSANNAH CARLISLE FLOYD
Now when the people departed away at noon,
Susanna went into her husband’s garden to walk.
And the two elders saw her going in every day, and
walking; so that their lust was inflamed toward her.
And they perverted their own mind, and turned
away their eyes, that they might not look unto
heaven, nor remember just judgments. And albeit
they both were wounded with her love, yet durst
not one shew another his grief. For they were
ashamed to declare their lust, that they desired
to have to do with her. Yet they watched diligently
from day to day to see her…
And it fell out, as they watched a fit time, she went
in as before with two maids only, and she was
desirous to wash herself in the garden: for it was
hot. And there was nobody there save the two
elders, that had hid themselves, and watched her.
Then she said to her maids, Bring me oil and
washing balls, and shut the garden doors, that I
may wash me. And they did as she bade them, and
shut the garden doors, and went out themselves
at privy doors to fetch the things that she had
commanded them: but they saw not the elders,
because they were hid. Now when the maids were
gone forth, the two elders rose up, and ran unto
her, saying, Behold, the garden doors are shut, that
no man can see us, and we are in love with thee;
therefore consent unto us, and lie with us. If thou
wilt not, we will bear witness against thee, that a
young man was with thee: and therefore thou didst
send away thy maids from thee. Then Susanna
sighed, and said, I am straitened on every side: for
if I do this thing, it is death unto me: and if I do it
not I cannot escape your hands. It is better for me
to fall into your hands, and not do it, than to sin
in the sight of the Lord.
St James Bible. Apocrypha: Susannah,
v7-12, 15-23
16
SYNOPSIS
SUSANNAH
Act 1 On Monday evening, in New Hope Valley,
a small settlement in Appalachian Tennessee, the
Elders and their wives prepare for the annual
church revival meeting.
A square dance is in progress, and all eyes are on
Susannah Polk, a nineteen year old who has been
raised by her drunken brother since the deaths
of their parents. The arrival of itinerant preacher
Olin Blitch briefly interrupts the dancing.
Susannah arrives at her mountain shanty home
after the dance with Little Bat McLean, the
backward son of on of the most prominent elders.
Susannah tells him how she longs to see the world
beyond the valley, but speculates that she would
miss it if she left. The return of her brother
Sam scares off Little Bat.
Early the next morning, the Elders come to look
for a creek near the Polk place, thinking it will
be a good place for baptisms. Coming upon
Susannah bathing there, they are scandalised
and attracted. Ashamed, they resolve to condemn
her immorality. At the church supper that evening,
rumour has already condemned Susannah. When
she arrives with her offering for the supper she is
ostracised. Hurt and confused, Susannah is then
indignant to hear from Little Bat that under
pressure from his parents he has falsely accused
her of seducing him. Sam, who has overheard,
laments like a powerless prophet the wickedness
of mankind.
Blitch’s sermon is in full swing when Susannah
arrives at church. As the preacher urges sinners to
come forward, he focuses on her; mesmerised, she
is halfway up the aisle before she remembers her
innocence and flees.
Blitch follows Susannah home, still hoping to
‘save’ her. She is unable to convince him of her
innocence, but he is drawn to her. Ascertaining that
Sam is away, he confesses his own loneliness, and
his desire for her; exhausted and demoralised,
she does not resist him.
The next morning, Blitch is wracked by guilt: he
knows that Susannah was a virgin before he forced
himself on her. Fearing that God has deserted him,
he tries vainly to convince the congregation of her
innocence, without admitting his own guilt.
At sundown, as the baptisms are in progress at
the creek, Sam returns from hunting, drunk.
Bitterly, Susannah tells him what happened while
he was away. When she goes in to prepare his
supper, Sam sets out to kill the preacher. Susannah
is terrified when she notices that he is gone, and
remorseful as the shot rings out from the creek.
Sam will be hanged, the enraged congregation say,
and she will be driven from the valley. Hardened
and scornful, Susannah stands them off; she will
never leave the valley now.
Running Time: Act I 38 minutes, Act II 50 minutes
Act 2 It is Friday morning. Susannah is
unconsoled. Sam encourages her to go to the
evening church meeting and protest her
innocence; it transpires that he wants to go
hunting, and is uneasy about her staying alone
at home. Reluctantly, she agrees.
17
ESSAY
INNOCENCE AND
EXPERIENCE IN CARLISLE
FLOYD’S SUSANNAH
18
tongued Mrs McLean holds the other women under
her sway, while their husbands vie with one
another to dance with the exuberant and attractive
Susannah. Mistrust of strangers brings the
community’s dancing to a temporary halt at the
entrance of Olin Blitch, but his association with the
Church gives him immediate and unquestioned
moral authority over all subsequent proceedings.
Even the physical setting contributes to Floyd’s
almost startling efficiency. The stifling summer
heat mirrors the suffocating mores of the closeknit community, and the fact that almost all of the
action takes place either at the Polk home or in the
church grounds reinforces the claustrophobic
context of Susannah’s ruin.
Early in 1953, Floyd rediscovered the Apocryphal
story of ‘Susanna and the Elders’ and he recalls
being immediately struck by its operatic potential:
‘the innocent and virtuous Susanna’s being spied
upon while bathing by lustful Elders who, when she
refuses their advances, falsely accuse her of being
an adulteress’. After this ‘basic premise’, however,
Floyd’s vision diverged from the ancient text (and
from the plot as it appears in Handel’s oratorio).
First, he transplanted the story in time and space,
moving it pointedly to ‘the present’ and setting it
‘against the backdrop of a summer revival meeting’
in a remote community in the mountains of eastern
Tennessee. More important, Floyd reversed the
message of the traditional tale. Instead of the
prophet Daniel (divinely inspired to cross-examine
the Elders and bring justice to the situation),
Floyd’s New Hope Valley is visited by the Reverend
Olin Blitch, who himself succumbs to lust despite
his terrifyingly fervent religiosity. Susannah thus
traces not a story of wickedness punished, but a
collective fall from grace: the church congregation
becomes a mob, Susannah’s dissolute brother
becomes a desperate murderer, the weak-willed
fear-filled Little Bat perjures himself, Blitch
commits a sin he cannot live with, and Susannah
herself is transformed almost beyond recognition.
Like many of Floyd’s other works, including Of
Mice and Men (1970), Susannah is a plainspoken
opera, relying on a gentle southern US dialect and
occasionally incorporating spoken words to great
dramatic effect, especially during Blitch’s sermon
at the pivotal revival meeting. The directness
of Floyd’s prose is matched by his music, which
takes the majority of its rhythms from the natural
inflections of speech. Lyrical outpourings are
few and far between, but heightened declamation
makes even routine dialogue memorable. The
composer’s melodic lines have endeared him to
singers worldwide. While rarely predictable at first
hearing, they employ stepwise motion and
consonant intervals that spell out the traditional
triads of major and minor keys. Even the most
surprising utterances quickly come to sound ‘right’.
The irrevocable changes wrought in New Hope
Valley are rapid, even when measured by operatic
standards. By the end of the first scene, almost all
the characters are clearly delineated. The acid-
Introduced as an object of desire, Susannah finds
her voice in Scene 2, with the opera’s lyric
highpoint. The entire scene is framed by the
characteristic rising leap of one of the most
Photography Stephen Vaughan
‘The triumph of one human being over the
depredations and moral pressure of a community
is a wonderful source of drama, and the
destruction of innocence is as heartbreaking a
theme as we have to deal with.’ Carlisle Floyd
Donna Bateman
nETwOrks
THE CHELTENHAM
OPERA SOCIETY
famous soprano arias in the American repertory,
‘Ain’t It a Pretty Night’. Here, Susannah sketches
a Tennessee Eden, full of youthful wonder and
an eagerness to see what lies ‘beyond them
mountains’. By the beginning of Act II, her
enthusiasm has been stunted by the injustice of
her situation. ‘I ain’t gonna leave this place no
more’, she states flatly to Sam, ‘That’s one thing
I know fer sure’. Her next (and last) true aria, the
ballad of Act II, Scene 3 shows how drastically her
worldview has darkened: ‘The trees on the
mountain are cold and bare. The summer jes’
vanished an’ left them there’.
1950s made their mark on Susannah. He recalls, ‘I
did write the work during the McCarthy years, and
I lived through the terrors. At Florida State an
accusation was tantamount to guilt. We faculty
had to sign a pledge of loyalty or lose our jobs.
It affected me and informed me emotionally. And
there it is in the opera. But I can’t say I put it
there’. With the precedent of Arthur Miller’s
The Crucible (1953) in mind, it is easy to see
McCarthyism continuing to cast its long shadow
over Floyd’s own theocratic parable of 1976,
Bilby’s Doll (based on A Mirror for Witches, Esther
Forbes’s novel about 17th-century Salem).
Standing like a pillar between Susannah’s two lyric
moments is the fiery revival meeting itself. Justly
celebrated as a showpiece for Blitch, the scene also
conveys the potentially devastating power of the
misguided community as the chorus bursts forth
in vociferous repetitions of a revival hymn calling
sinners to confession. Floyd minces no words when
he describes the actual revival meetings that he
experienced as a youngster: ‘First of all, they’re
very frightening–especially for children, but even
for grown-ups who buy into their violently
mysterious life-and-death proposition. It’s mass
coercion to conform, whether people are really
convinced of the doctrine or not. You simply bend
the knee without question, which is the basis
of any totalitarian society.’
Despite winning a New York Music Critics’ Circle
Award, being selected to represent American opera
at the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels, and achieving
resounding successes on stages worldwide, fortyfour years would pass before Susannah was invited
to that most prestigious of US operatic venues, the
Met, probably thanks to the intercession of such
singers as Renée Fleming, who had sung Susannah
with the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1993. Bernard
Holland of The New York Times may have called
Susannah ‘as simple as it seems’, comparing it
to ‘something small and innocent’, ‘some lonely
tourist lost in the vastness of Grand Central
Terminal’, but it is precisely this intimacy and
immediacy that has ensured the opera’s ability
to speak to audiences in revival productions far
removed from any revival meeting. Its continued
popularity speaks for the enjoyment gained and
the lessons learned each time Susannah has
travelled ‘beyond them mountains’.
This vision of a twisted moral order suggests a
powerful parallel between the opera’s plot and the
cultural context of its conception: the aftermath of
the so-called ‘Red Scare’, during which US Senator
Joseph McCarthy and others pursued suspected
communists with a combination of religious zeal,
innuendo, and intimidation. While distancing
himself from any directly political interpretation
of his work - ‘I’m too practical a man of theatre’,
he says - Floyd admits that the witch-hunts of the
20
Dr Beth E. Levy
Dr Beth E. Levy is a musicologist at the University of
ETO supporter Robert Padgett introduces the
Cheltenham Opera Society, a valuable ETO
regional partner.
I find that the more I know about operas before
seeing them the more I enjoy them, whether this
is through lectures, study days or pre-performance
talks. So when I moved to Cheltenham in August
2006 and found that there wasn’t an opera society
I started thinking about starting one.
When I went to the operas performed by ETO at
the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham in the spring
of 2007 I picked up a brochure about ETO, which
mentioned the ETO nETwOrk and asked for
volunteers to set up nETwOrks in other parts
of the country. When I was next in London I met
Andrew Higgins and Esyllt Wyn Owen at ETO and
they said that Cheltenham was one of the places
where they would like to have a network
so I agreed to set one up. But when I thought
about it I thought it would be better to form an
opera society which could be a nETwOrk for ETO
as well as doing other things separately from
ETO and I set up The Cheltenham Opera Society
during the summer of 2007.
The first meeting was in September and I played
a recital of CDs of arias by stars of the past and
the present. I had no idea how many people would
attend but I had publicized the society a bit during
the Cheltenham Music Festival and over thirty
people came to the first meeting. Then in October
James Conway came to talk to us about the
operas being performed by ETO in Malvern and
in November sixty of us went to Malvern
to see Teseo. I organized a coach and we had
dinner at the theatre before the performance.
in Cheltenham in March. I would like to say a big
“thank you” to James for his talks. He knows all
the operas intimately and is full of enthusiasm.
He gives us some real insights into the operas
before we see them.
ETO is important to us but not everything
we do involves ETO. In December we watched
a DVD of Rossini’s The Journey to Rheims and in
March Simon Rees, the dramaturge of the Welsh
National Opera, is coming to talk to us about the
WNO’s production of Falstaff. A party from
Cheltenham is going to see it in Birmingham
later in the month.
The Cheltenham Opera Society now has over
80 paid-up members. I have enrolled a small
committee and we have to provide a programme
which makes the members feel that they are
getting value for their money. I can only say that
the Society has grown far faster than I expected
when I set it up last summer. Thank you to ETO
for helping that to happen.
If you would like to establish a nETwOrk in your
area, or if you would like to join one of our existing
nETwOrks , please do not hesitate to contact
Henriette Krarup on 020 7833 2555 English
Touring Opera, 020 7833 2555 or email
henriette.krarup@englishtouringopera.org.uk
California, Davis, where she works on twentieth-century
American music. © 2005 Wexford Festival Opera.
Reprinted by permission.
In January James Conway came back to talk
to us about the operas to be performed by ETO
21
SEASON
PRODUCTION TEAM
Designer
Soutra Gilmour
Associate Designer
Mark Bouman
Lighting Designer
Guy Hoare
Choreographer /
Assistant Director
Bernadette
Iglich
Assistant Director
Barnaby
Rayfield
(Don Giovanni)
ENSEMBLE
Don
Giovanni
Conductor
Michael Rosewell
Anna
Bolena
Conductor
Michael Lloyd
Conductor
Alexander Ingram
John Andrews
John Andrews
Director
James Conway
(7 April, 19 May)
(12 April, 3, 14 May)
Susannah Polk
Donna Bateman
Sam Polk
Todd Wilander
Director
Jonathan Munby
Director
James Conway
Don Giovanni
Roland Wood
Anne (Anna) Boleyn
Julie Unwin
A nobleman of Seville
Riccardo
Simonetti (25 April)
Second wife of Henry
VIII of England
Jane (Giovanna)
Seymour
(Susannah)
His servant
Lisajane Ellis
Cheryl Enever
Jassy Husk
Helen Johnson
Serena Kay
The Commendatore
Andrew Slater
Lady in waiting
to Queen Anne
Donna Anna
Julia Sporsén
Henry VIII (Enrico)
His daughter
Cheryl Enever
King of England
(18 April)
(Susannah)
Don Ottavio
Lord Rochford
(Rochefort)
Niamh Kelly
Sandra Porter
Renée Salewski
Olivia Shrive
Samuel Boden
Stephen Anthony
Brown
Sean Clayton
Anthony Cleverton
Mark Cunningham
Simon Lobelson
Adam Miller
Jonathan Pugsley
Leporello
Her betrothed
Eyjólfur
Eyjólfsson
Donna Elivra
Laura Parfitt
A lady from Burgos
Zerlina
Masetto
Lord Percy
(Riccardo)
Nobleman, formerly
betrothed to Anne
Adrian Powter
Lord Hervey
22
Julia Riley
Riccardo
Simonetti
Jonathan Pugsley
Luciano Botelho
Todd Wilander
Betrothed to Zerlina
Official of King Henry
Peasants and Spirits
Smeaton (Smeton)
Serena Kay
Page and musician
Niamh Kelly
Mary Tudor
Renée Salewski
Cranmer
Stephen Anthony
Brown
(Don Giovanni)
Robert Douglas
Williams
Olin Blitch
Brother of Anne,
friend of Percy
IIona Domnich
A peasant girl
Susannah’s brother
Andrew Slater
A preacher
Jonathan
Gunthorpe
IIona Domnich
Susannah
Courtiers, Guards,
Ladies in Waiting
to Queen Anne
Elder McLean
Anthony Cleverton
Mrs McLean
Sandra Porter
Little Bat McLean
Sean Clayton
Elder Gleaton
Mark Cunningham
Mrs Gleaton
Renée Salewski
Elder Hayes
Stephen Anthony
Brown
Mrs Hayes
Cheryl Enever
Elder Ott
Jonathan Pugsley
Mrs Ott
Niamh Kelly
Man
Simon Lobelson
People of
the Valley
(20, 24 May)
23
ORCHESTRA
AND TOUR STAFF
ORCHESTRA
Violin 1
Andrew Court (Leader)
Cathy Schofield
John Smart
Nicolette Brown
Vernon Dean
Ciaran McCabe
Anne Martin
Violin 2
Jeremy Metcalfe
Vladimir Naumov
Robert Higgs
Non Peters
Charlotte Newman
Viola
John Rogers
Sarah Harris
Rachel Robson
Cello
Ben Davies
Jonathan Kitchen
Claire Constable
Clarinet
Peter Thompson
Mark Simmons
Helen Bishop
Bassoon
Lizbeth Elliott
Simon Chiswell
Julia Staniforth
Horn
Jonathan Hassan
Jo Greenberg
Duncan Fuller
Trumpet
Alan Cramp
John MacDominic
Ruth Ross
Double Bass
Caroline Harding
Mark Thistlewood
Trombone
Mark Townend
Andrew Gourlay
Jayne Murrill
Harp
Catrin Morris Jones
Julia Webb
Timpani
Henry Baldwin
Adam Dennis
Flute
Luke Strevens
Katy Gainham
Nicola Smedley
24
Oboe
Owen Dennis
Rachel Harwood-White
Rosalie Philips
DESIGN FOR A SEASON
ETO TOUR STAFF
PRODUCTION STAFF
Staff Music Director
John Andrews
Repetiteurs
Andrew Macmillan
Andrew Smith
Sergey Rybin
Staff Director
Barnaby Rayfield
Technical Stage
Manager
John Slater
Stage Manager
Vickki Maiden
Deputy Stage Manager
Vicky Eames
Assistant Stage
Manager
Rosina Webb
Italian Coach
Verina Gilardoni Jones
Fight Director
Terry King
Costume Supervisor
Adrian Gwillym
Ginny Humphries
Set Construction
Steel the Scene
Costume Construction
Academy Costumes
Production Electricians
Barry Abbotts
Andrew S J Grant
Scenic Artist
Di Spalding
Production Carpenter
Alex Hale
Costume Cutter
Christopher Beals
Wardrobe Mistress
Jessie Fleck
Costume Assistant
Mia Slodquist
Transport
John Farrant, Star
Trucking
Hair and make-up
Sophie Attia
Additional Costumes
by Central School of
Speech and Drama
students
When I asked Soutra Gilmour to design the sets
for 3 main parts of this season (an 18th century
classic version of the story of the ‘Stone Guest’,
a nineteenth century Italian bel canto opera about
one of Henry VIII’s splendidly unfortunate wives,
and a modern version of a biblical story set in 1950s
Appalachia), I knew that it was a tall order. I
compounded it by saying that I wanted them to
share ‘an uncommon amount’ physically, so that
we could tour them effectively and present them
beautifully in many diverse venues. Had she had
the good sense to ask what they had in common,
I would have cited nothing more helpful than that
all three have really strong libretti (scripts) – though
here presented diversely (in English translation, in
the original Italian with surtitles, and in Tennessee
dialect) – and a strong interest in religion!
to all 3 shows, and to accommodating that rig in
the design world overhead, already crowded with
our own acoustic panelling!
James Conway
Soutra found her own way through it, working with
me and Jonathan Munby, and with ETO Production
Manager Paul Tucker. For Giovanni she created an
enclosed courtyard in post-war Seville and the iceblue emptiness of the heart of a seducer; the same
structure, re-configured and re-clad with tapestries
and prison grills, suggests the restless innovation
of Tudor architecture, and the equally restless
reconfiguring of parties at court of Henry VIII and
Anne Boleyn; stripped back, re-clad in rough oak,
and re-defined by benches that map a social order,
these same materials suggest a preaching house,
a village social space, and Susannah Polk’s
primitive mountain cabin.
Together with Mark Bouman, Soutra then set to
work on very different costumes palettes – radical
chic in Tudor shapes to recreate the high fashion
Anne Boleyn brought to Westminster from Paris,
dark shades of Franco’s Spain, and the cheap, light
clothes of early summer, when Appalachian creeks
host baptisms. At the same time, Guy Hoare was
staring at the logistics of adapting one lighting rig
One of Soutra Gilmour's design boards for
Don Giovanni (ETO, 2008)
25
ETO IN THE
COMMUNITY
Spring 2008 is a particularly busy season with all
of our work in schools (see page 28). An extremely
exciting initiative in the last few months has been
the award of a major grant from the Paul Hamlyn
Foundation, which will allow us to develop work
alongside four of our regional venues. One
immediate result of this is the opportunity to
continue existing partnerships with schools and the
community in Wolverhampton, following last year’s
community opera A House on the Moon. We are
creating a new work that will be performed on the
stage of the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre in
June. Meanwhile in Truro we have begun planning
an exciting project that will culminate in 2009
when 200 local people will perform with us in a
new community opera at the Hall for Cornwall.
SUPPORT US
Royal College of Music, we set out to create
a song-cycle with people with Alzheimer’s and
dementia. The final performance took place in the
main concert hall of Royal College in February,
and was also recorded. The sessions took place
over three months, with a clientele of participants
and carers from across London. Experienced
animateurs worked alongside RCM students. The
group created its own song-cycle which told the
tale of an extraordinary elopement (based on
one participant’s own experiences), and a hectic
trans-continental journey. The project will
continue later this year.
Join English Touring Opera and
help keep us on the road!
Since 1980, English Touring Opera has been
committed to bringing opera of the highest quality
to regions throughout the UK, and we now give
over 100 performances a year in traditional theatre
spaces to more than 50,000 audience members
across the country. Our Spring Season 2008 marks
a new milestone, as we, for the first time, present
three new, fully staged productions reinforcing
our artistic ambition of bringing vibrant and
innovative opera to new and existing audiences
from Truro to Perth.
Tim Yealland
Artistic Associate (Education)
Complimenting our exciting and varied programme
of performance is ETO’s comprehensive Education
and Community Participation Programme. The
2007-08 programme included creative learning
as well as drama and music therapy as part of ten
projects with more than 5,000 participants of all
abilities, aged from 3 to 90. A collaboration for
people with Alzheimer’s or dementia using musical
exploration and movements to stimulate the body
as well as the mind, was a recent highlight.
Photography Andrew Stepan
Turtle Song was a wonderful project. In this
collaboration with both Turtle Key Arts and the
Maciek O’Shea (Daedalus) in ETO’s Voithia!
26
Kevin Grogan (Icarus) in ETO’s Voithia!
A small and ambitious company, we refuse to let
financial restrictions limit our creative ambitions,
so please help keep us on the road by supporting
our work. With ticket revenue covering just a
third of our costs, ETO continues to rely on the
generosity from our individual supporters
in order to bring opera of the highest quality
to your region.
Join our Friends Scheme and benefit from
advance information about forthcoming tours,
and priority booking at most theatres.
Receive exclusive access to the heart of the
company, including invitations to our rehearsals,
special events and recitals, as well as personalised
booking of an exclusive selection of seats directly
with the ETO Development Department.
Business Relationships
English Touring Opera offers individual, tailored
and rewarding Business Relationships by working
closely with each company to develop a bespoke
programme. Whether it is access for employees,
entertaining clients or fulfilling Corporate Social
Responsibility commitments, we can help you
accomplish your philanthropic vision by offering
exclusive hospitality and branding opportunities
in some of the most prestigious venues
in the country.
Legacies
We can also tell you about ETO’s Legacies
programme. Remembering us in your will is
a highly effective way of securing our
long-term future.
For more information about how to get involved
and learn more about ways of supporting ETO
please talk to one of our representatives tonight.
Alternatively, please contact Henriette
Krarup on 020 7833 2555 or email
henriette.krarup@englishtouringopera.org.uk.
You can also do it all quickly and easily
online at www.englishtouringopera.org.uk
We hope that you will join us.
For every £10 you give, ETO can receive
an extra £2.80 from the Inland
Revenue if you are a UK
taxpayer - simply tick
Join our Patron Scheme and you will play
an integral part in making our work happen.
the Gift Aid box.
27
EDUCATION
ETO - for young people
This season has seen us already take a brand new
opera - Voithia! - to primary schools and smaller
theatre venues across the country in January and
February. This was the second in a trilogy of mythbased interactive operas written specially for
young people, and followed the success of Crossing
the Styx a year ago. Voithia! was based on the
mixed stories of Icarus, Theseus and the Minotaur,
and featured a multi-skilled cast of 5 performers.
Singing, multiple instruments, acting, and dancing
all combined to bring these famous myths to life.
Some 6,000 children took part in about 30
performances of the show, which was fully
interactive: cartoons, participatory songs on CD,
and teachers’ packs accompanied the project. With
music was by Rachel Leach. The piece lasted just
over an hour, and was hugely successful. Dominic,
aged 10, wrote: ‘It made me feel like I was being
sucked into every second of it.’ One teacher wrote:
‘Seeing this restored my faith in human nature’.
Another: ‘Superb! The children were enthralled.’
During the coming months we will deliver major
projects to special schools in Preston and
Upminster - a key part of our ongoing creative
work. Two schools receive week-long residencies
leading to performance. Young people with
learning needs and physical disability, working
alongside composers, directors, singers and
designers, create their own operas, one
28
based on Madam Butterfly, the other exploring the
landscape of Don Giovanni.
Staying in the wolfish world of the Don, for
younger children we are touring a version of Red
Riding Hood by composer Tom Smail and writer
Emma House. Written for 10 players and 3 singeractors it will travel to 8 venues and schools across
the country. The piece is designed for children
aged 3-7, and is a fantastic introduction to the
instruments of the orchestra as well as an
engaging retelling of the story.
Other work this spring includes day-long and
two-day creative workshops on Don Giovanni,
and introductory workshops to Susannah. In
London we are collaborating with the National
Portrait Gallery, working with secondary school
students from Islington and Greenwich to
create operatic responses to chosen portraits.
We will perform in one of the public spaces
in the gallery.
‘The show was superb! The
children were (and are) buzzing
with excitement. A truly
fantastic experience come back again!’
Hilary Carter, year 4 teacher from
Goldthorn Primary school
Photography Andrew Stepan
We have tried to challenge the boundaries of our
work in the community this coming year. People
aged from 3 to 90 will be, or are currently taking
part in outreach projects in a wide variety of
contexts. Projects for very young children and
workshops with people with Alzheimer’s take place
alongside commissioned new opera for primary
schools, workshops for secondary schools and
creative residencies in special schools.
John Andrews
Conductor
Staff Music Director
Born
Nairobi, Kenya
Training
Cambridge
Awards
Orchestra Prize, 1st Bela
Bartok Opera Conducting
Competition 2005
Opera
As Conductor: Don
Pasquale; Riccardo Primo
(Opera de Baugé); Robinson
Crusoe (Ilford Arts); as
Assistant Conductor: Don
Pasquale, La Donna del lago
(Garsington); as Offstage
Conductor: Tosca (ROH)
Concerts
Handel Semele (Cannons
Scholars); Saint-Saëns
Carnival of the Animals
(RPO); Bach St John
Passion (Kings Chamber
Orchestra and Harpenden
Choral Society)
Future
Die Entführung aus dem
Serail (Opera de Baugé);
The Judgment of Paris
(English Music Festival)
Stephen Anthony Brown
Tenor
Elder Hayes Susannah
Ensemble
Born
London
Training
RCM; TCM
Awards
Margot Hamilton Recital
Prize; Knights of the Round
Table Prize (RCM)
Opera
Basilio Camacho’s Wedding
(UCL Opera); Pinkerton
Il Tempo Del Postino
(Manchester Intl. Festival);
Don Ramiro Cenerentola
(Opera South East); Pedro
Betrothal in a Monastery
(GFO); Ernesto Don Pasquale
(Opera South East)
Concerts
Verdi Requiem (Barbican);
Rossini Stabat Mater
(Norwegian Radio);
Beethoven Symphony
No. 9 (Barcelona
Symphony Orchestra)
Recordings
A Masque at Kenilworth
(Symposium); The Maid of
Artois (Campion Cameo)
Donna Bateman
Soprano
Susannah Susannah
Born
Lincolnshire
Training
RAM; GSMD
Awards
G Embley Memorial Prize
Winner; National Federation
of Music Societies Award
Winner; Kathleen Ferrier
Memorial Prize Finalist;
Royal Overseas League
Finalist; Associated Board
Scholarship Winner
Opera
Cunegonde, Candide,
Zerbinetta, Prologue
Ariadne Auf Naxos (BOC);
Susannah, The Marriage Of
Figaro; Pamina The Little
Magic Flute (ETO), Miranda
The Gentle Giant (ROH 2);
Ms Pescado Armida
(Channel 4 Television)
Concerts
Stravinsky Le Rossignol
(CBSO Symphony Hall
Birmingham); Mahler
Symphony No.8 (Symphony
Hall Birmingham);
Bernstein Mass (LSO
Barbican Hall London)
Recordings
Ms Pescado Judith Weirs
Armida (Channel 4
Television); Valkyrie
Flashmob (BBC Television)
30
Samuel Boden
Tenor
Cover Little Bat Susannah
Ensemble
Born
Carshalton, Surrey
Training
TCM
Awards
Harold Hyam Wingate
Scholarship; Ricordi
Opera Prize, Derek Butler
London Prize
Opera
Billy Mahoggany Songspiel
(Cantiere Festival
Montepulciano); Chevalier
de la Force Le Dialogue des
Carmélites (TCM); Orfeo
L’Orfeo (TCM); Orpheus
Crossing the Styx (ETO);
Septimius Theodora
(Opéra de Baugé)
Concerts
Leeds Lieder Plus;
Magrikialos Festival, Crete;
Bach Weinachts Oratorium,
Johannes Passion; Britten
War Requiem; Tippett Child
of our Time
Recordings
Broadcast performances
for BBC Radio 3
Luciano Botelho
Tenor
Percy Anna Bolena
Born
Brazil
Training
CIAV; GSMD; University
of Rio de Janeiro
Opera
Tamino Zauberflöte (Teatro
Amazonas/TMRJ); Don
Ottavio Don Giovanni (Teatro
Amazonas); Le Comte Ory
Le Comte Ory (Nantes/
Angers); Giannetto La Gazza
ladra (Massy); Don Ramiro
La Cenerentola (Belgrade
National Theatre); Nemorino
L’elisir d’amore (TMRJ);
Fenton Falstaff (Palácio
das Artes/GSMD); Fadinard
Il Cappelo di Paglia di
Firenze (TMSP); Orfeo Orfeo
(TMRJ/TMSP); Rinuccio
Gianni Schicchi (GSMD)
Concerts
Britten Serenade for Tenor,
Horn and Strings (Teatro
Amazonas); Britten Les
Illuminations (Teatro
Amazonas); Rossini
Stabat Mater (Ravenna);
Mozart Requiem
Recordings
Gianni Schicchi (Radio
Cultura SP); Stabat Mater
(RAI 3) Il cappello di
paglia di Firenze
(Radio cultura SP)
Mark Bouman
Associate Designer
Born
The Netherlands
Training
Wimbledon School of Art
Opera
Mitridate, (Granada Festival),
Idomeneo; La Bohème
(Glyndebourne); Don
Giovanni; Le Nozze di Figaro
(Garsington) Leonore
(Bologna, Italy)
Theatre
Angels in America (Lyric
& Tour), Bent (Trafalgar
Studios); King Lear; Hamlet
& Aladdin (Old Vic) Mother
Courage and Her Children,
The Old Country and
Hamlet (both also West
End), Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead,
Twelfth Night, Romeo and
Juliet, King Lear (also
The Old Vic), Ghosts, John
Gabriel Borkman, Love’s
Labour’s Lost, Fool for Love,
The Cherry Orchard, Master
Builder, Don Juan, The
Taming of the Shrew,
A Difficult Age, Shellfish,
Measure for Measure,
The Seagull, Henry IV Parts
I and II (all for English
Touring Theatre)
Television and Film
Various for: BBC,
Channel 4; Independent
Films and Music Videos
Sean Clayton
Tenor
Little Bat Susannah
Ensemble
Anthony Cleverton
Baritone
Elder McLean Susannah
Ensemble
Born
Wolverhampton
Born
Tunbridge Wells
Training
Birmingham Conservatoire,
RCM
Training
RNCM
Awards
Van Beugel Scholarship
(RCM)
Opera
Aurelius King Arthur
(Lautten Compagney,
Berlin); Sandy The
Lighthouse (Montepulciano
Festival); Sailor Dido and
Aeneas (ETO); Elder Gleaton
Susannah (Wexford Festival),
Fenton Falstaff, Giocondo
La Pietra del Paragone
(Stanley Hall Opera)
Concerts
Bach St John Passion (Irish
Baroque Orchestra); Handel
Messiah (English Chamber
Orchestra, Gåvle Symphony
Orchestra); Rossini Petite
Messe Solennelle (Rome)
Broadcasts
Floyd Susannah (RTE Radio);
The Lighthouse (RAI Radio,
Italy)
Awards
Rosin Kay Memorial;
Frederic Cox Award;
Peter Moores Scolarship
Opera
Don Alfonso Così Fan Tutte
(Opera by Definition);
Zaretsky Eugene Onegin
(ETO); Guglielmo Così
Fan Tutte (Glyndebourne
Touring); 2nd prisoner
Fidelio, Cover Ferdinand
Betrothal in a Monastery
(Glyndebourne Festival);
Germont Pere La Traviata
(Opera En Plein Air;
Idée Fixe)
Concerts
Rossini Petite Messe
Solenelle (St John’s Smith
Square); Tippett A Child
of Our Time (Bridgewater
Hall); Elgar Dream of
Gerontius (Liverpool
Philharmonic Hall)
Future
The Fairy Queen (Aix-enProvence Académie)
Biography 31
James Conway
Director Susannah and
Anna Bolena
Born
Quebec
Opera
Teseo, Eugene Onegin,
Orfeo, Tolomeo, Erismena,
Jenůfa, Alcina, Mary, Queen
of Scots, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream (all ETO);
Ariodante, The Cunning
Little Vixen (both ETO/OTC);
Flavio, Tamerlano, Amadigi,
Rodelinda, L’Elisir d’Amore,
Katya Kabanova, The Rake’s
Progress (OTC); Cinderella
(De Vlaamse Opera/
Transparant); Don Giovanni
(Canadian Opera Company);
La Voix Humaine (Teatro
Nacional São João, Oporto);
staging of Kurt Weill songs
(Culturgest, Lisbon);
La Spinalba (Casa da
Musica, Porto)
Other
James is General Director of
ETO and has written original
libretti for two operas and
translations for three others,
as well as several works
of fiction
Mark Cunninghham
Tenor
Elder Gleaton Susannah
Cover Hervey Anna Bolena
Ensemble
Born
South Wales
Training
GSMD; Birmingham
Conservatoire
Awards
Countess of Munster
Scholarship
Opera
Almaviva Barber of Seville
(Swansea City Opera; Savoy
Opera); Passareno Phantom
of the Opera (Her Majesty’s
Theatre); Remondado
Carmen (OHP); Dorvil
La Scala di Seta (GSMD)
Concerts
Handel Messiah (Derby
Cathedral); Rossini
Petite Messe Solennelle
(Canterbury Festival);
Mozart Requiem (St
David’s Hall, Cardiff)
IIona Domnich
Soprano
Zerlina Don Giovanni
Born
St Petersburg, Russia
Training
RCM; ENO; Jerusalem
Music Academy
Opera
Laura Romeo & Juliet
(Bampton Classical Opera);
Elle La Voix Humane
(Highgate & Hampstead
Festival); Tatiana Eugene
Onegin (Riverside Opera);
Gasparina La Canterina
(New Chamber Opera);
Colombina The Jewel Box
(Bampton Classical Opera);
Pamina The Little Magic
Flute (ETO)
Concerts
Recital of Spanish Music
(London Song Festival);
Live Song Recital (Israeli
Radio); Recital with Nigel
Foster (Lauderdale
House, Highgate)
Other
Ilona Domnich is featured in
the Opera Now Magazine’s
pick of the most promising
new talent of the
2007 season
Lisajane Ellis
Soprano
Cover Mrs Gleaton Susannah
Ensemble
Born
Scotland
Training
Napier University;
Birmingham
Conservatoire; TCM
Awards
Mario Lanza Opera Prize;
Birmingham and Midland
Vocal Prize; Paul Simm
Vocal Prize TCM
Opera
Maria Corona The Saint
of Bleecker Street, Mimi
La Bohème (both TCM);
Agatha Der Freischutz
(Birmingham Conservatoire);
Zerlina Don Giovanni (Opera
School Wales); Chorus
Macbeth, La Sonnambula,
L’Elisir d’Amore, Fedora,
Manon Lescaut (OHP)
Concerts
Cantiga, for Soprano and
orchestra - David Matthews
Mahler Symphony No. 4
Cheryl Enever
Soprano
Mrs Hayes Susannah
Cover Donna Anna
Don Giovanni (Perf 18 April)
Cover Susannah Susannah
Ensemble
Born
Ilford
Opera
Countess The Marriage
of Figaro (Surrey Opera);
Franzi Wienerblut; Tatiana
Eugene Onegin (ETO);
Eva Meistersinger; Sandrina
L’Infedelta Delusa (Bampton
Classical Opera)
Concerts
Verdi Requiem (Blackheath
Concert Halls); Mozart
Exsultate Jubilate (QEH);
Mozart Requiem (St John’s
Smith Square)
Recordings
In Tune (BBC Radio 3);
Don Giovanni (Opera
Anywhere/Channel 4);
Film of Perfect Picnic
(BBC 3/Opera Play)
Eyjólfur Eyjólfsson
Tenor
Don Ottavio Don Giovanni
Born
Reykjavík
Training
GSMD; Hafnarfjördur
School of Music
Opera
Liberto Poppea; Ensemble
L’Orfeo (ENO); Sellem
The Rake’s Progress
(Icelandic Opera); Sailor
Dido & Aeneus (ON);
Poet Shadowplay
(Icelandic Opera)
Concerts
Bach Christmas Oratorio
(Hallgrímskirkja); Berlioz
Messe Solennelle (King’s
College Cambridge);
Handel Messiah (La
Maestranza, Seville)
Recordings
Ìslands Minni (Toast
to Iceland)
Soutra Gilmour
Designer
Born
London
Training
Wimbledon School of Art
Opera
Saul and Hansel & Gretel
(Opera North), The Shops
(Bregentz Festival), Girl
of Sand (Almeida Opera),
A Better Place (ENO), Mary
Stuart nominated for best
opera production Southbank
show awards and Così Fan
Tutte (ETO), Marriage
of Figaro (Opera Ireland
Touring Nominated for
Best Costume Design
by Irish Times)
Theatre
The Lover / The Collection
(Comedy Theatre) Last
Easter (Birmingham Rep)
Angels in America (Lyric
Hammersmith) The
Caretaker (Sheffield/Tricycle
The Evening Standard
nomination for Best Set
Design) Brief History of
Helen of Troy (ATC/Soho
Theatre TMA nomination for
Best Touring Production)
HAIR (Gate Theatre Time
Out nomination for Best
Musical) Shadow of a Boy
Jonathan Gunthorpe
Baritone
Leporello Don Giovanni
Cover Rochefort Anna
Bolena
Born
Brackley
Training
BC, RCM, NOS
Opera
Dancairo Carmen (CBSO);
English Clerk Death in Venice
(ENO); Angelotti Tosca and
Nachtigall Die Meistersinger
(ROH); Faber The Knot
Garden (Montepulciano
Festival); Noye Noyes Fludde
(Nuremberg Festival);
Papageno Zauberflöte (ETO
and Lyrique-en-Mer), Quain
Thwaite and Elephant The
Cricket Recovers (Almeida/
Aldeburgh); Giant Gentle
Giant (ROH2); Nanni Country
Matters (ETO)
Concerts
Handel Messiah (The
Sixteen’s Tour of Spain),
Mozart Requiem (Mostly
Mozart Festival, Barbican),
Shostakovich Symphony No.
14 (City of London Sinfonia)
Recordings
Brahms Volkslieder (Crear
Classics); Lalande Music
for the Sun King (Hyperion);
Spicer Easter Oratorio
(Birmingham Bach Choir)
Future
English Clerk Death in Venice
(La Monnaie, Brussels)
32
Biography 33
Guy Hoare
Lighting Designer
Born
Epping
Opera
Includes Onegin, Seraglio
(ETO), Ring Cycle, The
Magic Flute, Hansel &
Gretel (Longborough);
Tosca, Simon Boccanegra,
The Merry Widow,
Così Fan Tutte (Opera UK)
Dance
Includes Square Map of Q4
(Rafael Bonachela); Frontline
(Henri Oguike); Sea of Bones
(Mark Bruce); Flicker
(Shobana Jeyasingh); And
Who Shall Come to The
Ball..? (Candoco); Thought
Latching On To Thought
And Pulling (Ben Wright)
Theatre
Includes Amadeus (Sheffield
Crucible), The Lion, The
Witch And the Wardrobe,
Bollywood Jane, Macbeth
(West Yorkshire Playhouse),
Season’s Greetings
(Liverpool Playhouse); Of
Mice and Men (Mercury
Theatre, Colchester); A
Streetcar Named Desire
(Clwyd Theatr Cymru)
Jassy Husk
Soprano
Cover Zerlina Don Giovanni
Cover Mrs Hayes Susannah
Ensemble
Born
Tasmania, Australia
Training
RCM; Hobart
Conservatorium
Opera
Lucille Cover The Sofa
(Independent Opera); Cover
Hermia/Flozette Blue Beard
(Buxton Festival Opera);
Queen of the Night The
Magic Flute (St George
Hanover Square); Chorus
Roberto Devereux (Buxton
Festival Opera); Chorus
The Departure
(Independent Opera)
Concerts
Mozart Requiem (St
George’s Hanover Square);
Memorial Concert for the
Mayor of Westminster
(Westminster Cathedral)
Recordings
The Music Is Killing Me and
Superfreak (singles released
by Minstry of Sound)
Bernadette Iglich
Associate Director and
Choreographer Susannah
Assistant Director
Anna Bolena
Choreographer Don Giovanni
Born
Johannesburg
Opera and Theatre
Choreographer: The Cunning
Little Vixen (ETO, OTC);
Sweeney Todd (RAM); Who
Killed Mr Drum (Treatment
Theatre), Jenůfa, Eugene
Onegin (both ETO);
Casanova (Told by an Idiot)
Director: Hansel and Gretel
(Stowe Opera); Jephte (ETO)
Other
Bernadette’s career as a
dancer and performer
includes working for
Tanztheater Wuppertal, ARC
Dance Company, Siobhan
Davies, Aletta Collins,
London Contemporary
Dance Theatre, Fabulous
Beast Dance Theatre, Corp
Feasa and many leading
choreographers and
directors in dance, opera
and theatre
Alex Ingram
Conductor Susannah
Born
London
Training
Cambridge; GSMD; NOS
Opera
Tosca; La Boheme; Madam
Butterfly; Don Pasquale;
Les Pêcheurs de Perles
(All ENO); Il Trovatore;
Tosca (Opera Queensland);
Tosca (ONZ)
Ballet
Swan Lake (Covent Garden,
Bolshoi and Mariinsky
Theatres); Sleeping
Beauty; Romeo and Juliet;
Nutcracker (ENB); Cinderella
(Göteborg Ballet);
and ballets for Sylvie
Guillem (Japan)
Recordings
Radio (with Adelaide SO);
Turandot excerpts for the
film Life of David Gale
(Alan Parker)
Helen Johnson
Mezzo
Cover Giovanna Seymour
Anna Bolena
Ensemble
Born
Tonbridge
Training
TCM
Awards
Malpas and Palamoke; Joan
Greenfield Trust Award;
Lloyd Scholarship; Wagner
Society Bayreuth Bursary
Competition 2008 Finalist
Opera
Rosalinde Bluebeard (Buxton
Festival Opera); Cover
Boulotte Bluebeard (Buxton
Festival Opera); Filipyevna
Eugene Onegin (ETO);
Kolusina Jenůfa (ETO); Mrs
Goodbody/Ruth The Parson’s
Pirates (Opera Della Luna);
Jezibaba Rusalka (Ilford
Opera); Bianca The Rape
of Lucretia (Opera East)
Concerts
Mahler Symphony No. 3
(Fairfield Halls, Croydon)
Serena Kay
Mezzo
Smeaton Anna Bolena
Ensemble Susannah
Born
London
Training
RCM; BBIOS; GSMD
Awards
Rosemary Bugden Junior
Fellowship (RCM); Veronica
Mansfield Scholarship (RCM)
Opera
Hansel Hansel & Gretel
(OTC); Rosina Barber of
Seville (Grange Park, Pimlico
Opera); Nancy T’Ang Nixon
in China (ENO); Hermia
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(ETO); Second Lady The
Magic Flute (ON); Tisbe
La Cenerentola (WNO)
Concerts
Wagner Wesendock Lieder
(Metropolitan Orchestra of
Lisbon); Handel Messiah
(Huddersfleild Choral);
Remembrance Day Concert
(St David’s Hall, Cardiff)
Recordings
Earth Story
soundtrack (BBC)
Niamh Kelly
Mezzo
Mrs Ott Susannah
Cover Smeton Anna Bolena
(Perf 20, 24 May)
Born
Moville, County Donegal
Training
RNCM; University of
Limerick; NUI Maynooth
Opera
Olga Eugene Onegin (ETO)
(British Youth Opera, cover);
Eurynome Pénélope
(Wexford Festival Opera);
Rosina Il Barbière di Siviglia,
Mistress Quickly Falstaff,
Bianca The Rape of
Lucretia (all RNCM)
Ensemble Macbeth,
l’Elisir d’Amore (GOT)
Concerts
Lieder Recitals (Brahms,
Schumann), Exeter,
Cheltenham (ETO),
Mozart Requiem, Vespers
& Così Fan Tutte (excerpts)
(Bolton Choral Society);
Stephen McNeff Names
of the Dead (Opera North)
Michael Lloyd
Conductor Anna Bolena
Born
Malvern
Training
University of East Anglia
and the RCM
Opera
Advisor: OperaGenesis
(ROH); Music Director:
Sound of Music. Guest
Conductor: British Youth
Opera 2007 (The Magic
Flute), Trondheim (Puccini
double bill). Repertoire
Coach: (RCM); (GSMD).
Assistant Music Director and
Senior Resident Conductor
(ENO) from 1985-2003
Concerts
Music Director: Birmingham
Philharmonic Orchestra,
Chandos Symphony
Orchestra. Guest Conductor:
Australian Ballet’s European
Tour; Nutcracker
(Australian ballet); Romeo
and Juliet (Royal New
Zealand Ballet) and Den
Norske Opera (Lightfoot/
Leon programme)
Musicals / Concerts
Includes Aspects of Love
(UK Tour), My Fair Lady
(Singapore); City of Angels
(Frankfurt); Assassins
(Sheffield Crucible)
34
Biography 35
Simon Lobelson
Baritone
Cover Masetto Don Giovanni
Ensemble
Born
Sydney, Australia
Training
RCM; University of Sydney
Opera
Nottingham Roberto
Devereux (Valladolid Opera);
L’Horloge/Le Chat L’Enfant
et les Sortilèges (European
Opera Centre); Marcello
La Bohème (BYO); Falke
Die Fledermaus (RCM);
Don Alfonso Così Fan
Tutte (RCM)
Concerts
Vaughan Williams Five Tudor
Portraits (Sydney Town Hall);
Gubaidulina Jetzt Immer
Schnee (Lucerne Festival);
Vaughan Williams Fantasia
on Christmas Carols
(St Martin in the Fields)
Recordings
Purcell The Fairy Queen
(ABC Classics); Star Wars
3 - Soundtrack
Adam Miller
Baritone
Ensemble
Born
Melbourne, Australia
Training
RAM
Awards
Edna Graham Scholarship
(RAM); Royal Overseas
League Bursary
Opera
Marcello La Bohème
(Caymans Arts Festival);
Schaunard La Bohème
(Garden Opera); Cover
Figaro Il Barbiere di
Siviglia (Scottish Opera);
Cover Enrico Lucia di
Lammermoor (SO);
Papageno The Magic Flute
(Bloomsbury Festival)
Concerts
Essential Scottish Opera
Tour (SO); Aria Adventures
(Merchant City Festival)
Jonathan Munby
Director Don Giovanni
Born
Beverley
Training
University of Bristol
Theatre
Henry V, Mirandolina (Royal
Exchange Theatre) The
Canterbury Tales (RSC:
Stratford, West End and
International tour); She
Stoops to Conquer
(Birmingham RCP and
National Tour); A Number,
The Comedy of Errors, Bird
Calls (Sheffield Crucible);
Madness In Valencia (RSC:
The Other Place); Nakamitsu
(Gate Theatre); Noises Off
(Arena Stage, Washington
DC); Journeys Among the
Dead (Young Vic); Bed
Show (Bristol Old Vic); The
Anniversary (Garrick
Theatre, London); John
Bull’s Other Island (Lyric
Theatre, Belfast); Tartuffe
(Watermill Theatre and
national tour)
Opera
Sweetness and Badness
(WNO)
Other
Jonathan was an Assistant
Director at the RSC from
1999-2001
36
Laura Parfitt
Soprano
Donna Elvira Don Giovanni
Born
Newport, South Wales
Training
RAM; RWCMD; CIAV
Awards
Dame Eva Turner Prize for
Dramatic Soprano; Harriet
Cohen Memorial Prize; Sir
Geraint Evans Scholarship
Opera
Adina L’elisir D’amore (Opera
della Luna and Ilford Arts);
Bertha Il Barbiere di Siviglia
(SO); Queen of the Night The
Magic Flute (RAM); Noémie
Cendrillon (Royal Academy
Opera); Abigaille Nabucco
(Crosskeys Choral Society)
Concerts
Bellini and Donizetti extracts
Mira O Norma (Wales
Millenium Centre); Gala
Concert with Dame Kiri Te
Kanawa and Dennis O’Neill;
Rossini Petite Messe
(Duomo di Barga, Tuscany)
Recordings
Gala with Dennis O’Neill
and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
(S4C Television)
Future
Rosina Barber of Seville
(WNO); Gretchen Lorting’s
Der Wildschütz (Buxton
Opera House)
Sandra Porter
Mezzo
Mrs McLean Susannah
Ensemble
Born
Edinburgh
Training
RCM; Napier University
Awards
RCM Opera Scholarship;
Clara Butt Award
Opera
Filipyeviva Eugene Onegin
(Riverside Opera);
Maddalena Rigoletto
(European Chamber Opera);
The Witch Hansel & Gretel
(Buxton Festival Opera)
Concerts
Bach St Matthew Passion
(Beijing); Mahler Symphony
No. 3 (Edinburgh Festival);
MacMillan Raising Sparks
Cantata (Milan)
Recordings
BBC Broadcasts including
premiere performances of
songs by MacMillan
Adrian Powter
Masetto Don Giovanni
Cover Enrico Anna Bolena
Born
Cambridge
Training
RNCM
Opera
Capulet Romeo & Juliet
(Bampton Classical Opera);
Frank Die Fledermaus
(SO); Schaunard La Bohème
(Castleward Opera); Abbot
Curlew River (Opéra de
Rouen); Philip The
Last Supper (GFO,
Deutsche Staatsoper)
Concerts
Bach St Matthew Passion
(Apollo Chamber Orchestra);
Finzi In terra Pax (Victoria
Hall, Singapore); Handel
Messiah (Academy
of Ancient Music)
Recordings
Friday Night is Opera Night
(BBC Radio 2); Opera
Works (BBC TV)
Future
Philip The Last Supper
(London Sinfonietta); Rocco
Leonora (Bampton Classical
Opera); Scottish Opera);
Baron La Traviata (SO)
Jonathan Pugsley
Bass Baritone
Rochfort Anna Bolena
Elder Ott Susannah
Cover Leporello Don
Giovanni
Ensemble
Born
Dorset
Training
RNCM
Opera
Nick Shadow The Rake’s
Progress (RNCM); Achillas
Julius Caesar (Yorke Trust);
Page Amahl and the Night
Visitors (Northern Sinfonia);
Zaccaria Nabucco (Preston
Opera); Colline La Boheme
(Opus 1); Uberto La Serva
Padrona (The Goldberg
Ensemble); Guglielmo Così
fan tutte (Ryedale Festival);
Don Alfonso Così fan tutte
(Hayes Symphony
Orchestra); Sparafucile
Tosca (Birmingham Chamber
Orchestra); Mr Page
Merry Wives of Windsor
(Opera South)
Barnaby Rayfield
Assistant Director
Don Giovanni
Staff Director
Born
Hampshire
Training
Bristol University
Opera
Assistant and Revival
Director: Le Nozze di Figaro,
Don Giovanni, Tosca (London
Opera Players); Director:
Viennese Operetta Evening
(London Opera Players);
Assistant Director: Country
Matters (ETO); work for
Teatro Technis and
Richmond Theatre
Concerts
Mahler Rückert Lieder
(RNCM); Schumann
Dichterliebe; Vaughan
Williams Songs of Travel
(Hinton St Mary)
Biography 37
Julia Riley
Mezzo
Giovanna Anna Bolena
Born
York
Training
National Opera Studio; RAM
Awards
1st Prize National Mozart
Competition 2007; Susan
Chilcott Scholarship
Opera
Nancy Albert Herring (GOT);
Flora La Traviata (Opera
Holland Park); Cherubino
Le Nozze di Figaro (GOT)
Concerts
Mozart Requiem (BBC Welsh
Proms); Jonathan Dove
All You Who Sleep
Tonight (Glyndebourne
Jerwood Project); English
Song Recital (Leeds
Lieder Festival)
Future
2nd Lady (GTO); Nancy
(Paris Opera Comique)
Michael Rosewell
Conductor Don Giovanni
Born
Bristol
Training
RCM
Opera
Barber of Seville, Onegin,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Jenůfa (ETO); The Magic
Flute, Mikado, Don Quixote,
Timon of Athens (ENO);
A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
L’infeldelta Delusa, The
Magic Flute (Aldeburgh
Festival); Radamisto, Ottone,
Flavio (London Handel
Festival); Billy Budd, Hansel
and Gretel, Rosenkavalier,
Falstaff, Tosca, La Bohème
(Nationaltheater Mannheim)
Concerts
London Mozart Players
Mahler Symphony No. 4
(Philharmonic Hall,
Zagreb); Rheinische
Philharmonie, Koblenz
Recordings
Radio France Musique;
Südwestfunk, Baden-Baden
Other
Michael has worked closely
with Nicklaus Harnoncourt
and Jean Claude Magliore
and assisted Claudio Abbado
as a member of music
staff, Vienna State Opera.
Resident conductor,
Nationaltheater, Mannheim.
Director of Opera,
(RCM) and Associate
Conductor (ETO)
38
Renee Salewski
Soprano
Mrs Gleaton Susannah
Mary Tudor (non singing)
Anna Bolena
Ensemble
Born
Ontario, Canada
Training
Queen’s University (Ontario)
Opera
Marsinah, Kismet (Arcola
Theatre); Barbarina Le
Nozze di Figaro (Opera á
la Carte); Lisi (role)/Franzi
(cover) The Spirit of
Vienna (ETO); Cobweb
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(ETO); Ensemble/Dance
Captain Iolanthe (D’Oyly
Carte); Frasquita Carmen
(Kingston Symphony)
Concerts
Haydn The Creation, Mozart
C minor Mass (Canterbury
Cathedral); From Lamplight
to Limelight (Canterbury
Festival); Mozart Requiem
(Whitstable Choral)
Recordings and Film
Noise Ensemble Original
Soundtrack; Reporter
Exodus Channel 4/Art Angel
Olivia Shrive
Mezzo
Cover Mrs McLean,
Susannah
Ensemble
Riccardo Simonetti
Baritone
Enrico Anna Bolena
Cover Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Andrew Slater
Bass-Baritone
Commendatore
Don Giovanni
Blitch Susannah
Born
Norwich
Born
Lancashire
Born
Northwich
Training
Abbey Opera, University of
London; RWCMD
Training
RNCM
Training
RNCM, St Petersburg
Conservatoire
Opera
Second Bridesmaid Le Nozze
di Figaro (Grange Park
Opera); Cover Gianetta and
Ensemble L’Elisir d’Amore
(Pimlico Opera); Ensemble
Maria Stuarda, Thais, South
Pacific (Grange Park Opera);
Dorabella Così Fan Tutte
(Starlight Opera); Carmen
Carmen (City Opera),
Ensemble Eugene Onegin,
The Seraglio and Weiner
Blut (ETO)
Recordings
Joe St Johanser
The Tempest (BBC)
Joe St Johanser
Pierrot Alone (BBC)
Other
Sang at memorial service of
Walter Sisulu, ANC founder,
at St Martin-in-the-Fields
and also at a Royal banquet
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Awards
Anne Ziegler; ESSO Award
Opera
Don Giovanni Don Giovanni
(Cork Opera, GFO);
Papageno The Magic Flute,
Belcore The Elixir of Love
(ON); Kramer Tangier Tattoo
(Glyndebourne On Tour);
Pish-Tush The Mikado
(La Fenice)
Concerts
Handel Messiah (Guildford
Philharmonic); Orff Carmina
Burana (Symphony Hall,
Birmingham); Rachel
Portman The Water Diviner’s
Tale (BBC Proms)
Recordings
Puccini La Rondine (EMI);
Verdi Il Trovatore (EMI)
Radio
The Proms; Friday Night
is Music Night (BBC)
Opera
Falstaff Falstaff, Bottom
A Midsummer Night’s Dream;
Ariodante Ariodante;
Erimante Erismena (both
ETO); Pistol Falstaff (Opera
North); Colline La Bohème
(WNO and ENO), Truffaldino
Ariadne (Garsington); Da
House of the Gods (Music
Theatre Wales); Patsy Love
Counts (Almeida Festival)
Concerts
Verdi Requiem (RLPO);
Brahms Requiem (RTE
Orchestra Dublin); Britten
War Requiem (Orchestra de
l’Ile de France) Mozart
Requiem Bath Abbey
Recordings
Michael Berkeley Jane Eyre
(Chandos); Stravinsky The
Flood (Twentieth Century
Classics); Mozart The
Marriage of Figaro (BBC TV);
Love Counts (MNR Label);
Dom Sebastien (Opera Rara)
Julia Sporsen
Soprano
Donna Anna Don Giovanni
Julie Unwin
Soprano
Anna Bolena Anna Bolena
Born
Göteborg, Sweden
Born
Warrington
Training
RAM; Opera Studio 67
(Stockholm)
Training
GSMD, NOS, studies with
Jacqueline Bremar
Awards
Opera Rara Patric Schmidt
Bel Canto Prize 2007
Awards
John Christie Award
(Glyndebourne),International
Singer of the Year at the
Llangollen International
Eistedfodd, Harold
Rosenthal Opera Award
Opera
Donna Elvira Don Giovanni
(Amersham Music Festival);
Iolanta Iolanta (RAM); Iphise
Dardanus (RAM); Violetta
La Traviata (Clonter Opera);
Musetta Cover La Bohème
(SO)
Concerts
Haydn Stabat Mater (London
Mozart Players); ROH
Lunchtime Concert (ROH);
Glastonbury Abbey Concert
(Royal Philharmonic Society)
Opera
Alice Ford Falstaff; Tosca
Tosca (ETO) Madame
Butterfly Madame Butterfly
(HPO), Countess The
Marriage of Figaro (GOT,
ETO and OHP), Donna Anna
Don Giovanni (GTO) Mimì
La Bohème (Opera Zuid),
Cleone Ermione (GFO),
Micaela Carmen (RAH,
WNO), Pamina The Magic
Flute (ENO), Nancy Silas
Marner (City of Birmingham
Touring Opera), Tatyana
Eugene Onegin (HPO)
Concerts
Berlioz L’Enfance du Christ
(Helsinki Philharmonic),
Beethoven Symphony
No. 9 (Helsinki
Philharmonic), Mahler
Symphony No. 2 (Kaplan
and London Philharmonic),
Strauss Four Last Songs
Biography 39
ENGLISH TOURING OPERA WOULD LIKE TO THANK
OUR SUPPORTERS
Todd Wilander
Tenor
Hervey Anna Bolena
Sam Susannah
Cover Percy Anna Bolena
Robert Douglas Williams
Bass-Baritone
Cover Elder McLean
Susannah
Ensemble
Born
Pasadena, California, USA
Born
Adelaide
Training
Northwestern University;
California State
University, LA
Training
University of Southern
Queensland
Awards
Winner: Metropolitan Opera
National Council; Oratorio
Society of NY; Belvedere
Competition, Vienna
Opera
Arturo Lucia, Count
Almaviva Barbiere
(Metropolitan Opera); Frère
Massée Saint François (San
Francisco, Deutsche Oper
Berlin); Nanki-Poo Mikado
(La Fenice, Venice); Nadir
Pêcheurs de Perles (Anna
Livia Opera, Dublin); Essex
Roberto Devereux, Renaud
Armide (Buxton Opera);
Uberto Donna del Lago
(NY City Opera); Percy Anna
Bolena (Opera Orchestra
NY); Leicester Maria Stuarda
(Chelsea Opera Group);
Italian Singer Rosenkavalier
(Israeli Opera); Faust
Faust (NZO)
Future
Tonio La Fille du Régiment
(Opera Zuid, Netherlands)
www.wilander.com
40
Opera
Sacristan Tosca (London
Opera Productions); Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro,
Masetto Don Giovanni (both
London Opera Players);
El Dancairo Carmen (Stowe
Opera); Sarastro The Magic
Flute (Opera Queensland);
Ensemble (ETO)
Concerts
Handel Samson
(Deddington); Mozart
Requiem (Germany Tour);
Beethoven Choral
Symphony 9 (Brisbane)
Roland Wood
Baritone
Don Giovanni Don Giovanni
Cover Blitch Susannah
Abbreviations
Born
Reading
BYO British Youth Opera
International Opera School
BCS Bristol Choral Society
BOC Birmingham Opera Company
CBSO City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra
Training
RNCM; NOS
Awards
Prizewinner 2003 Cardiff
Singer of the World; 2nd
Prize 2000 Kathleen
Ferrier Awards
CIAV Cardiff International
Academy of Voice
CLF City of London Festival
COH Cork Opera House
DIF Delphi International Festival
DVO De Vlaamse Opera
ENO English National Opera
ETO English Touring Opera
GFO Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Opera
Eugene Onegin Eugene
Onegin (ETO); Henry
Kissinger Nixon in China
(ENO); Papageno The Magic
Flute, Schaunard La Boheme
and Falke Die Fledermaus
(SO as Company Principal
Artist); Nick Shadow
Rake’s Progress (GFO);
Concerts
Rosenblatt Recital (St
John’s, Smith Square);
Walton Belshazzar’s Feast
(Hallé); Britten War
Requiem (Bydgoscz/
Filarmonika Pomorska);
Bernstein Candide
(Edinburgh Festival)
GSMD Guildhall School
of Music and Drama
GOT Glyndebourne on Tour
LAMDA London Academy
of Music and Dramatic Art
OAE Orchestra of the Age
of Enlightenment
OHP Opera Holland Park
ONE Opera North Education
OTC Opera Theatre Company
NOS National Opera Studio
NZO New Zealand Opera
RAH Royal Albert Hall
RAM Royal Academy of Music
RCM Royal College of Music
RIAM Royal Irish Academy
of Music
RLPO Royal Liverpool
RNCM Royal Northern
College of Music
ROH Royal Opera House
RPO Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
RSAMD Royal Scottish
Academy of Music and Drama
RSC Royal Shakespeare Company
Future
Shelkalov Boris Godunov
(ENO); Renato Ballo in
maschera (Reisopera);
Belcore L’Elisir
d’Amore(WNO)
Patrons
Mr Christopher Ball
Miss Rosemary Burns
Mr Jerry Cowhig
Mrs Joanna Dickson Leach
Professor D T Donovan
Mr David Elliot
Miss Serena Fenwick
Mr & Mrs Paul Findlay
Mr & Mrs Nick J Forman Hardy
Mr & Mrs John and Elizabeth Forrest
Mr Roger Gifford
Mr and Mrs Richard Christopher
Gregory
Mr & Mrs Noel Harwerth
Mr & Mrs Michael Higgins
Dr Peter Hughes
Mrs Susan Jane Joyce
Mr Joseph Karaviotis
Mr Robin Leggate
Dame Felicity Lott
The Hon. Richard Lyttelton
The Hon. Nick R MacAndrew
Ms J Massey
Mrs Christine McRitchie Pratt
Mr Sean Rafferty
Mr W M Samuel
Mr & Mrs John Tattersall
Mrs I Van't Spijker
Mr David G Wilson
Philharmonic Orchestra
RNT Royal National Theatre
Recordings
Fauré Requiem; A Masked
Ball, Madam Butterfly and
The Carmelites (Chandos)
Arts Council England
BBIOS Benjamin Britten
RSTC Red Shift Theatre Company
RWCMD Royal Welsh College
of Music and Drama
SO Scottish Opera
TMRJ Theatro Municipal do Rio
de Janeiro
WNO Welsh National Opera
Associates
Mrs Hilary Anne Albright
Lady Wendy Ball
Mr Barry Browne
Mr L Carlisle
Mr Greg Chapman
Ms Jilly Cooper
Mr & Mrs Alex and Susan de Mont
Dr C J Dilloway
Mrs Hilary Stephanie Dixon-Nuttall
Mrs E Barbara Fairhurst
Mrs Harriet Feilding
Mrs E M Frost
Mr Colin Gamage
Mr Nicholas Gold
Mr P Gray
Mr & Reverend Charles and Pauline
Green
Mr James H Gregory
Mr N J Guthrie
Mr David Hadley
Mr R D Harris
Mr N J Hawkins
Mr Ralph Huckle
Sir Christopher and Lady LawrenceJones
Mrs Judith Lorman
Mr Matthew Thomas Maxwell
Mrs Julia Money
Dr Christine O'Brien
Mr K J Omar
Mr Jaspal Pachu
Mr Robert Padgett
Mr John S Ransom
Mr H J Sims-Hilditch
Miss Marilyn Stock
Mr Ian James Sutherland
Mr Ian Tegner
Mrs M M Thierry
Mr H J Tripp
Ms Deirdre Sandra Wakefield
Mr Michael Watkins, OBE
Mr Paul Watts
Mr Ian Welham
Mr A Whitelegge
Mr Tony Wingate
Mr & Mrs Michael and Ruth Wright
Mr B Youel
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Eveson Charitable Trust
The Forman Hardy Charitable Trust
The Golsoncott Foundation
Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation
Helena Oldacre Foundation
James Beattie Trust
The John Lyon’s Charity
The Joyce Fletcher Charitable Trust
The Lynn Foundation
Morgan Crucible Company Plc
Charitable Trust
Nicholas John Trust
Northern Rock Foundation
Peter Moores Foundation
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Youth Music
Corporate Supporters
Brunswick Group
Chandos Records
EMI Group
Forman Hardy Holdings Limited
James Stewart Printers (printers)
John Lewis Partnership Plc
Lorimer Longhurst Lees
Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Rose Bruford College
Slaughter & May Trust Ltd
Smith & Williamson Investment
Management
Trusts and Foundations
Angus Allnat Trust
Awards for All
Baron Davenport Charity
Creative Partnerships
Elmgrant Trust
Equitable Charitable Trust
Ernest Cook Trust
41
ETO’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS
AND STAFF
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
ETO STAFF
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Hon. Richard Lyttelton
(Chairman)
General Director
James Conway
Bob Bliss
Associate Conductor
Michael Rosewell
Jean Cole
Artistic Associate Education
Tim Yealland
Jim Follett
General Manager
David Burke
Bob Hall
Judith Ackrill
Ewen Balfour
Verena Cornwall
David Elliott
Jane Forman Hardy
Joseph Karaviotis
Robin Leggate
Bill Mason
Ursula Owen
John Tattersall
Lucy Wylde
Sam Younger
Davina Chung
Joanna Dickson Leach
Iris Goldsmith
ENGLISH
TOURING
OPERA
After the curtain comes down, you
can stay in touch with all the latest
news on ETO through our website.
Why not join us online to listen
to music clips, watch video of the
operas, learn more about ETO and
our autumn tour, and get in touch
with other supporters through our
exciting new message board.
englishtouringopera.org.uk
020 7833 2555
Peter Nicolson
Production Manager
Paul Tucker
Dennis O’Neill
Robert Padgett
Artistic Administrator
Shawn McCrory
Sarah Roberts
John Symon
Office and Education
Administrator
Naomi Collins
Shaun Webb Design
Wexford Festival Opera
Bob Workman - Photographer
Marketing Manager
Gareth Spillane
Senior Marketing Officer
Esyllt Wyn Owen
Press Officer
Chantelle Staynings
Marketing Officer
Sebastian Stern
Development and Finance Officer
Brendan Dinen
Strategic Development Officer
Henriette Krarup
42
43