June News
This month saw two summery recitals on the Opera Prelude calendar. The first, A Bouquet of Song, was held in London and saw Catherine Hooper, soprano; Peter Edge, baritone and Xavier Hetherington, tenor perform a verdant selection of songs and arias evoking the warmth and abundance of a summer’s garden. Kaoru Wada played piano, fabulously as ever. The singing and playing was delightful, and made for a wonderful morning at the Garrison Chapel in Chelsea.
Later that same week we celebrated the summer in Henley-in-Thames with Samantha Quillish, soprano; Joanna Harries, mezzo; James Geidt, baritone and Kaoru. It was an evening bursting with seasonal excitement, with pieces from Mozart, Strauss, Puccini and more celebrating the love of summer. We were thrilled by the turn out; seeing so many wonderful faces in our audience made us smile and it was wonderful to share a drink with you all during the interval!
Young Artist News:
Our Artists had a great month, with many singing at summer opera festivals. Charles Styles, tenor, and Anna Cooper, mezzo, sang in the chorus of Glyndebourne's excellently well received production of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, with Anna also singing in L'elisir d'amore. Georgia Mae Bishop and Joanna Harries had roles in Opera Holland Park's production of Rigoletto, while Toki Hamano featured in the chorus.
Elsewhere, Jack Holton and Samantha Quillish performed in the National Opera Studio's final concert of the season at Cadogan Hall with the Orchestra of English National Opera. The performance featured scenes from Verdi's Falstaff, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor. Catherine Hooper, soprano, have a solo recital with OperaUpClose entitled ‘We Two Were Lovers’ which included a new translation of Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos and extracts from The Flying Dutchman.
There's plenty coming up this month as well. Do look out for James Geidt, baritone, as Peter in Elgar's The Apostles at the Three Choirs Festival on Saturday 29th July. Peter Edge, baritone, will be appearing as Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Longborough Festival Opera, also from the 29th.