It took us a while, but we finally announced the 2015 Investec Opera Holland Park season back in September. We were still dismantling the theatre from the last one and it is now a rush, believe it or not, to be ready for the summer. The autumn is filled with drawing up strategies, doing the budgets and yes, getting the money; lots of generous collars get felt.
The 2015 line-up is a corker for sure. Il trittico represents the big challenge (I bet you thought it would be Aida huh?) because of the difficulties in sustaining a three hour evening featuring three very different pieces. Having Anne Sophie Duprels in two of them will help and knowing our 2012 Schicchi is a lovely production does too. As much as I love GS, I am thrilled by the prospect of Il tabarro and Suor Angelica, the latter opera's final half being profoundly moving.
There is no question that Aida is something of a mountain for any opera company to climb but Verdi did give us some intimacy to work with too and I can announce some hot news; there will be no animals. There, that should prevent the endless jokes about elephants for the next six or so months.
Delibes doesn't get too many run outs these days but Lakme has maintained its popularity and we have some lovely singers in it too. The orientalist obsessions of the late 19th century provoked some delicious creativity (if not terribly PC representations) and Lakme really is far more than that duet. One does wonder why it doesn't get more productions but I'm not complaining.
Jonathan Dove's Flight is a new path in the same way our foray into Britten in 2014 took us into uncharted territory. Giving life to the opera in London for the first time in a professional production seems a remarkable thing to be saying given how popular and successful the piece has been, but it is nevertheless the truth. It is also another chance to see and hear Ellie Laugharne. It is rare for us to produce a repertory work by a living composer (that we didn't commission ourselves) and thankfully, JD is not as abrasive as the last one (Menotti).
L'amore dei tre Re is a revival I have looked forwards to since we did it last in 2007 and to have the genuinely exciting soprano Natalya Romaniw in the production is the icing on the cake. It isn't hard to imagine her in the role of Fiora after her blazing OHP debut in I gioielli della Madonna and in fact, when I first heard her in rehearsal for that show, my mind's eye had her singing "Vita tua, e vita mia!" from the top of that tower during the febrile act 2 duet! So a touch of synchronicity methinks....
We are also looking at our ticket pricing for 2015 after some interesting research carried out after the season; safe to say we will be making the rarities even more appealing and bringing our top and bottom prices closer together, but more on that in due course, along with more casting news.
The 2015 line-up is a corker for sure. Il trittico represents the big challenge (I bet you thought it would be Aida huh?) because of the difficulties in sustaining a three hour evening featuring three very different pieces. Having Anne Sophie Duprels in two of them will help and knowing our 2012 Schicchi is a lovely production does too. As much as I love GS, I am thrilled by the prospect of Il tabarro and Suor Angelica, the latter opera's final half being profoundly moving.
There is no question that Aida is something of a mountain for any opera company to climb but Verdi did give us some intimacy to work with too and I can announce some hot news; there will be no animals. There, that should prevent the endless jokes about elephants for the next six or so months.
Delibes doesn't get too many run outs these days but Lakme has maintained its popularity and we have some lovely singers in it too. The orientalist obsessions of the late 19th century provoked some delicious creativity (if not terribly PC representations) and Lakme really is far more than that duet. One does wonder why it doesn't get more productions but I'm not complaining.
Jonathan Dove's Flight is a new path in the same way our foray into Britten in 2014 took us into uncharted territory. Giving life to the opera in London for the first time in a professional production seems a remarkable thing to be saying given how popular and successful the piece has been, but it is nevertheless the truth. It is also another chance to see and hear Ellie Laugharne. It is rare for us to produce a repertory work by a living composer (that we didn't commission ourselves) and thankfully, JD is not as abrasive as the last one (Menotti).
L'amore dei tre Re is a revival I have looked forwards to since we did it last in 2007 and to have the genuinely exciting soprano Natalya Romaniw in the production is the icing on the cake. It isn't hard to imagine her in the role of Fiora after her blazing OHP debut in I gioielli della Madonna and in fact, when I first heard her in rehearsal for that show, my mind's eye had her singing "Vita tua, e vita mia!" from the top of that tower during the febrile act 2 duet! So a touch of synchronicity methinks....
We are also looking at our ticket pricing for 2015 after some interesting research carried out after the season; safe to say we will be making the rarities even more appealing and bringing our top and bottom prices closer together, but more on that in due course, along with more casting news.
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