Garsington Opera announces a full 2021 season of live productions
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Priority booking is launched today for the Garsington season next summer, with three new productions and strong casting
Some welcome positive post-Covid signals are coming from the opera world, as Garsington announces the opening of its box office for its 2021 summer season of live opera, featuring three new productions and one revival at its theatre on the Wormsley Estate in Buckinghamshire.
A new production of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier opens the season on 2 June with Miah Persson, who triumphed in Strauss’s Capriccio in 2018, as the Marschallin, Hanna Hipp is cast as Octavian and Soraya Mafi is Sophie. American bass-baritone Derrick Ballard makes his Garsington Opera debut as Baron Ochs. Other members of a distinguished cast are Kitty Whately and Richard Burkhard. Jordan de Souza also makes his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Bruno Ravella directs this new staging which is a co-production with Santa Fe Opera and Irish National Opera
Michael Boyd’s 2016 production of Eugene Onegin returns, with Jonathan McGovern making his debut in the title role. Sam Furness sings Lensky and Matthew Rose is Gremin. Two exciting young artists appear in their house debut at Garsington: Moldovan soprano Natalia Tanasii as Tatyana and Singaporean-British mezzo Fleur Barron as Olga. Douglas Boyd conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra. Opera Now’s reviewer said of the 2016 premiere of this production: ‘A memorable Onegin that I would turn up on successive nights to savour.’
Handel’s ‘magic opera’ Amadigi, written for the London season of 1715, is presented in a new production by director / designer Netia Jones (following on from her Die Zauberflöte in 2018). Mezzo Sonja Runje makes her debut as Amadigi, and the cast also features Rhian Lois, Anna Devin and Tim Mead. Christian Curnyn conducts The English Concert.
The final new production of the season is Rossini’s uproarious comedy Le comte Ory directed by Cal McCrystal, best known for his physical comedy work in the hit production of One Man, Two Guvnors. The cast is led by Jack Swanson as the mischievous cross-dressing Count Ory and Andrea Carroll as his secret lover Adèle. Jacques Imbrailo makes his Garsington debut as Raimbaud and other members of what promises to be an excellent cast include Katie Bray, Patricia Bardon and Joshua Bloom. Valentina Peleggi is in the pit at Garsington for the first time.
More details can be found in the digital brochure here: