OPERA IN THE CITY FESTIVAL
PROGRAMME 2018
Venue:
Bridewell Theatre, 14 Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EQ
Faust, Alberta
3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th September 2018 at 7.30pm
The operatic spectacle Faust, Alberta explores the tragic story of Doctor Faustus and his fatal deal with Mephistopheles from a contemporary angle. Scored as a mono-opera for one singer and four musicians, this new piece by award-winning composer Simone Spagnolo with a libretto by Giordano Trischitta asks which sacrifices we are willing to make. The role of Doctor Faustus will be sung by Benjamin Bevan, whose engagements include Henry Cuffe in Britten’s Gloriana and Der Sprecher in Zauberflöte (Royal Opera House), Lescaut in Boulevard Solitude by Henze (Royal Danish Opera and Welsh National Opera), and work with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others.
Commissioned by Opera in the City Festival, the world premiere will take place on 3rd September 2018.
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Orpheus and Eurydice
22nd, 24th, 25th and 28th August at 7.30pm
Christoph Willibald Gluck's (1714-1787) opera Orpheus and Eurydice will be presented in a new, English translation and with a musical arrangement for piano, violin, flute and harp by musical director Andrew Charity. The cast includes Lizzie Holmes, Caroline Kennedy and Lawrence Olsworth-Peter,
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Ayanfe, A Yoruba Opera
29th and 30th August 2018 at 7.30pm
Ayanfe by April Atinuke Koyejo is inspired by her own ancestry and the desire to bring the Yoruba culture to the operatic stage. The multi-disciplinary work with music composed by Pierre Audiger takes inspiration from folklore, with an honest yet exciting rendition of Yoruba folk music reimagined in a western classical style.
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Amelia Lost
23rd August & 1st September, 9pm
British-American soprano Kathryn Frady presents the Mono-Opera Amelia Lost by Larry Delinger, a haunting and inspirational story about a homeless woman who believes herself to be aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart.
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Opera Shorts
1st September, 7.30pm
Everyday Arias is a one of a kind short film festival that specialises in opera shorts from around the world, and will be screening a selection of their programme at Opera in the City Festival.
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Prima la musica - First the music, then the words
4th & 6th September, 7.30pm
First the music, then the words - Lunchbreak Opera presents Antonio Salieri's one-act opera in an English translation by Lionel Salter. The show is a playful and witty look at the internal workings of staging an opera, complete with artistic arguments between composer and librettist as well as infighting between rival singers.
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Image (c) Robert Workman