After only two years in their new home at Wormsley on the Buckinghamshire/ Oxfordshire border, the first large scale community opera will be performed in the Opera Pavilion in July 2013 as part of the Garsington Opera season. Over 180 people will be on stage, ranging from school children to senior citizens drawn from the local diverse community working alongside professional opera singers, musicians, directors, designers, choreographers, stage managers and technicians. This is the first time an opera has been commissioned by Garsington Opera.

The satirist, Richard Stilgoe, co-writer of Starlight Express and Cats, together with composer Orlando Gough, has been commissioned to create an hour long opera. A funny, quirky and political piece has now been created after initial workshops held in local primary and secondary schools as well as with an adult group, where themes and ideas were explored, Richard Stilgoe said:

“One minute you are on the M40 being dive bombed by red kites; the next you are in the peace and beauty of Wormsley, surrounded by ancient trees. This contrast has been our starting point in which a community (village) stands up and sits down for what it believes in. Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire must feel it has been singled out for transport schemes – the Romans built the Icknield Way through it, the Georgians dug the Grand Union Canal, the 20^th century drove the motorway through the chalk hills and the 21^st century threatens HS2. We took this idea to the groups we visited and their reactions were diverse and powerfully expressed. So this is a story about how a huge road scheme divides a community not only physically but socially, as they battle over the appropriate level of protest and deal with internal arguments, incoming professional protestors, rent-a-crowd and the media. How do you use the village’s people, wildlife and archaeology to prevent or alter the government’s plans? If and when the road is built, will life in the village ever be the same? Meanwhile, watching this and interested only in whether the new road will bring more food, are the red kites”.

Composer Orlando Gough said: “The culmination of all the lively local workshops with many different ages over the past year is the creation of a jazzy, fun piece for our talented and diverse group including characterful solo lines for amateurs singing alongside and sometimes with professional singers, challenging choruses written in three parts, a smattering of rapping red kites and songs appropriate for charming golden crested newts and Chiltern-loving animals.”
Taster workshops for teenagers and adults as well as workshops in participating school throughout Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire continue prior to the start of weekly rehearsals in March.

The project will enable those who have little or no experience of live performance to become involved either as performers, technicians or audience. The total number of people benefiting from the project will be over 2,600. In addition to the opera chorus of primary school children, young people and adults, the project will also involve 50 backstage volunteers working as project assistants, programme sellers, car park attendants, chaperones and ushers; they will be supported by a fully professional production team. Others from the local community who will be involved are the audience of 1,800 together with a further 600 children and adults involved in the dress rehearsal as well as other students in the schools involved.

Garsington Opera Education has been running projects and forming partnerships with local schools and organisations for many years. Since their recent move to Wormsley they have concentrated on their new locality establishing firm links with the community. This will be the first time that Garsington Opera Education has presented such a major event. It will be part of the 2013 season and taking place in the award winning Opera Pavilion on 19 & 20 July. www.garsingtonopera.org

ARTISTS INVOLVED

Librettist Richard Stilgoe           Composer Orlando Gough

Director Karen Gillingham         Designer Rhiannon Newman Brown

Vocal Director Lea Cornthwaite  Opera Singers Garsington Opera

InstrumentalistsSouthbank Sinfonia     Conductor Susanna Stranders

Barbican presents The English Concert and Les Talens Lyriques:

Handel Radamisto – 10 February 2013; Lully Phaëton – 8 March 2013

Renowned for its commitment to historically-informed performances of Baroque music, the Barbican’s classical music season in Spring 2013 features two of the finest interpreters of the Baroque and Classical music repertoire: The English Concert with Artistic Director Harry Bicket; and Les Talens Lyriques, under the directorship of Christophe Rousset. Both present concert performances of lesser-known gems of the operatic repertoire, with a prestigious cast of singers.

On 10 February, Harry Bicket conducts The English Concert in a rare UK performance of Handel’s Radamisto. The story of desire, dictatorship and personal infatuation at the court of the Armenian King Tiridate is the first of a collection of operas that Handel wrote for the newly-founded Royal Academy of Music. Despite being given its premiere at the King’s Theatre, London in 1720, modern revivals have been reasonably scarce, something The English Concert is rectifying; Radamisto forms the main focus of its current season.

Recognised as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world and celebrated for its inspiring performances of Baroque and Classical repertoire, The English Concert celebrates its 40^th anniversary in 2013. The Barbican performance will see the ensemble joined by a stellar cast of regular collaborators including the American countertenor David Daniels in the title role of Radamisto, English soprano Elizabeth Watts, as well as Patricia Bardon, Luca Pisaroni and Brenda Rae.

The following month, distinguished French conductor and harpsichordist Christophe Rousset and his Baroque ensemble Les Talens Lyriques continue their exploration of forgotten masterpieces with a fresh interpretation and first UK performance of Lully’s Phaëton – the story of the son of Helios, the Sun God (8 March).

Christophe Rousset has a special affinity with Lully and his exciting performances have done much to revive appreciation of this influential composer. In the UKpremiere at the Barbican, he champions this revival of Lully’s tragédie lyrique with a cast that includes Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Ingrid Perruche, Isabelle Druet, Sophie Bevan, Andrew Foster-Williams, Matthew Brook and Benoît Arnould.

For more information, please see the Barbican’s website:

The English Concert / Bicket – Radamisto, 10 February 2013: http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=13052

Les Talens Lyriques / Rousset – Phaëton, 8 March 2013: http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=13058

ENO to stage the UK premiere of Philip Glass’s new opera The Perfect American, directed by Phelim McDermott

ENO’s commitment to staging highly original, theatrical work, with collaborations across artistic disciplines continues with the staging of the much anticipated UK premiere of The Perfect American by Philip Glass, directed by Phelim McDermott. Author and screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer’s libretto, based on Peter Stephen Jungk’s novel, is a factional story about Walt Disney during the final years of his life, narrated by cartoonist Wilhelm Dantine, who worked for Disney in the 1950s. British conductor Gareth Jones makes his ENO debut with an impressive cast featuring Christopher Purves as Walt Disney.

One of the world’s most influential composers of operas, symphonies, compositions for his own ensemble and collaborations with artists, Glass’s latest opera, his twenty-forth, was commissioned by ENO and Teatro Real Madrid to mark his 75^th birthday and will receive its world premiere in Madrid in January 2013. Glass is perhaps best known for his film work. A three-time Academy Award Nominee and BAFTA award winner, he has received accolades for his film scores to Kundun (1997), Notes on a Scandal (2006) and The Hours (2002) which also received nominations for Golden Globe and Grammy Awards. His operas include Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, Akhnaten, and The Voyage.

British director Phelim McDermott, Artistic Director and co-founder of Improbable Theatre Company, returns to ENO to stage his second Philip Glass opera. McDermott made his ENO debut in 2005 with ENO’s production of Glass’s Satyagraha, a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera New York, where it was subsequently staged. The Guardian described it as ‘an astonishingly beautiful work, and The Times ‘a masterwork of theatrical intensity and integrity’. Completing the creative team is lighting designer Jon Clark and designer Dan Porta, whose acclaimed work on leading international events and costumes includes the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games ceremony.

Conductor Gareth Jones, a frequent collaborator with Bryn Terfel, and founder and Artistic Director of Sinfonia Cymru, was a member of the music staff at Welsh National Opera from 1990 – 2008. Previously he has conducted at Bregenz Festival and Vancouver Opera. This will be his ENO debut.

The Perfect American opens at the London Coliseum on 1 June 2013 for 9 performances – June 1, 6, 8, 13, 17, 20, 25, 27, 28 (7.30pm)

An Opera Undressed performance of The Perfect American will take place on Thursday 13 June. See www.eno.org/undress for more information.

In 2013-14 the Academy of Ancient Music will present its first London season exclusively at the Barbican, thereby becoming a central part of one of the world’s most vibrant artistic communities. Alongside large-scale performances in the Barbican Hall, the AAM gives five concerts at Milton Court Concert Hall, the Guildhall School’s new building, and latest addition to the growing ‘cultural quarter’ in the heart of the City of London. With a capacity of 608 seats the concert hall is the perfect venue for intimate baroque and classical performances.

The 40th anniversary season, led by Music Director Richard Egarr, displays the breadth of the AAM’s music making: starting at the dawn of the baroque with a stellar-cast performance of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607), and ending in the nineteenth century with Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 9 (1824). Along the way the AAM surveys the music of JS Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn and Mozart, and unearths lesser-known works of the composers of the Bach dynasty.

Highlights from the season include:

The AAM’s first London season exclusively at the Barbican, with concerts in the Barbican Hall and Milton Court Concert Hall which opens in September 2013

• · The start of a three-year cycle of Monteverdi operas beginning with L’Orfeo (28 September 2013)
• · Alina Ibragimova returns to direct the AAM in performances of Haydn and Mozart in the orchestra’s first concert in Milton Court Concert Hall (24 October 2013)
• · Soprano Anna Prohaska celebrates the golden age of English baroque music (21 November 2013)
• · Following an acclaimed debut last season Andreas Scholl returns to sing Pergolesi and is joined by soprano Camilla Tilling (31 January 2014)
• · Violinist Richard Tognetti directs the AAM in a concert of Vivaldi and Bach inspired by the Dresden Orchestra (27 February 2014)
• · Angelika Kirchschlager explores the vocal works of Haydn and Mozart with the AAM led by Richard Egarr from the fortepiano (March 2014)
• · Music Director Richard Egarr directs concertos and suites by JS Bach (27 May)
• · Richard Egarr and the AAM close its 40th birthday season with the ‘three last symphonies’ of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven (21 June 2014)

Handel Radamisto – 10 February 2013, 6:30pm
Lully Phaëton – 8 March 2013, 7pm
Barbican Centre, London, UK

Renowned for its commitment to historically-informed performances of Baroque music, the Barbican’s classical music season in Spring 2013 features two of the finest interpreters of the Baroque and Classical music repertoire: The English Concert with Artistic Director Harry Bicket; and Les Talens Lyriques, under the directorship of Christophe Rousset. Both present concert performances of lesser-known gems of the operatic repertoire, with a prestigious cast of singers.

On 10 February, Harry Bicket conducts The English Concert in a rare UK performance of Handel’s Radamisto. The story of desire, dictatorship and personal infatuation at the court of the Armenian King Tiridate is the first of a collection of operas that Handel wrote for the newly-founded Royal Academy of Music. Despite being given its premiere at the King’s Theatre, London in 1720, modern revivals have been reasonably scarce, something The English Concert is rectifying; Radamisto forms the main focus of its current season.
Recognised as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world and celebrated for its inspiring performances of Baroque and Classical repertoire, The English Concert celebrates its 40^th anniversary in 2013. The Barbican performance will see the ensemble joined by a stellar cast of regular collaborators including the American counter-tenor David Daniels in the title role of Radamisto, English soprano Elizabeth Watts, as well as Patricia Bardon, Luca Pisaroni and Brenda Rae.

The following month, distinguished French conductor and harpsichordist Christophe Rousset and his Baroque ensemble Les Talens Lyriques continue their exploration of forgotten masterpieces with a fresh interpretation and first UK performance of Lully’s Phaëton – the story of the son of Helios, the Sun God (8 March).
Lully composed Phaëton when he was fifty years old, at the height of his fame and the peak of his abilities. He was commissioned by Louis XIV (the Sun King) to establish French Opera at the Palace of Versailles and this allegorical tale of the upstart hero Phaëton enjoyed great success at its premiere in January 1683, with following performances including the first opera to be performed in Avignon (1687), at the original Opéra de Lyon (1688) and Rouen (1689). Originally conceived as a theatre work, Phaëton is characterised by the variety of its musical language, splendid choral passages, and increasingly colourful orchestral writing.
Christophe Rousset has a special affinity with Lully and his exciting performances have done much to revive appreciation of this influential composer. In the UK premiere at the Barbican, he champions this revival of Lully’s tragédie lyrique with a cast that includes Emiliano Gonzalez Toro , Ingrid Perruche, Isabelle Druet, Sophie Bevan, Andrew Foster-Williams, Matthew Brook and Benoît Arnould.

International Associate Residency at the Barbican
13–17 March 2013

Supported by the SHM Foundation and the City Bridge Trust

A highly anticipated event in the Barbican’s classical music spring season is the first international associate residency from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. The residency takes place from 13–17 March 2013 and will include three major concerts of 20th and 21th century music, masterclasses, an open rehearsal conducted by Dudamel involving young musicians and teachers from Los Angeles and East London, and an international symposium.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic, one of the Barbican’s five international associates, performs three concerts during the residency featuring three European premieres. On 14 March the first two European premieres – Graffiti, a new, Barbican co-commissioned work by Unsuk Chin, and Joseph Pereira ’s Concerto for Percussion and Chamber Orchestra – are performed by the LA Phil New Music Group and Dudamel as part of a Green Umbrella concert. Green Umbrella is the Philharmonic’s innovative new music series, and the concert also includes John Adams’ Son of Chamber Symphony.

On 16 March the residency continues with the orchestra and Dudamel giving the European premiere of John Adams’s new oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary to a libretto by Peter Sellars, who also directs the performance. Also a Barbican co-commission, the work is based on the New Testament stories of Lazarus and the Passion of Christ, contextualized with excerpts from the memoir of social activist Dorothy Day and poetry by Hildegard von Bingen and by Latin American writers. The Gospel According to the Other Mary was written as a companion piece to the nativity oratorio El Niño, a previous John Adams/Peter Sellars collaboration that presented Biblical tales through contemporary verse. The final concert of the residency on 17 March sees Dudamel conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Claude Vivier’s Zipangu, Debussy’s La Mer and a complete orchestral performance of Stravinsky’s Firebird.

The education focus of the residency is an international symposium Future Play: music systems in the 21st century presented by the Barbican and the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 13-15 March. Bringing together some of the world’s top music institutions, leading artists and educationalists, the symposium explores the impact and need for ensembles, venues and conservatoires in today’s society, and the crucial role they could play in our future cultural landscape. The symposium, which will be opened by John Adams, also includes a keynote speech from director Peter Sellars and panel discussions chaired by Sir Nicholas Kenyon (Managing Director, Barbican Centre) and Deborah Borda (President and CEO, Los Angeles Philharmonic Association). It takes place in partnership with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Take a Stand initiative – a partnership of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Longy School of Music and Bard College.

The three-day symposium culminates on 15 March in Discover Dudamel, an open rehearsal in the Barbican Theatre. Audience members can witness Gustavo Dudamel rehearsing a mixed-ability orchestra of 100 young people from across London and Los Angeles in Tchaikovsky’s fantasy overture Romeo and Juliet. The young instrumentalists come from the LA Phil’s Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA), from the Barbican Young Orchestra, from the Music Hubs of Tower Hamlets, Barking & Dagenham and Hackney in East London, from Junior Guildhall, and from the Centre for Young Musicians.

Between the concerts, members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will give masterclasses to musicians from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. The sessions on 15 March at the School are open to the public (free but ticketed) and feature a trombone class led by Nitzan Haroz, a harp class led by Lou Anne Neill, a French horn class led by Andrew Bain, and a cello class led by Robert deMaine.

To complement the performances, Barbican Cinema will screen the UK premiere of Mark Kidel’s documentary Road Movie, a Portrait of John Adams on 16 March, and on 17 March one of the most ambitious live recordings ever made: Dudamel Live from Caracas, in which Gustavo Dudamel conducts 1,400 performers from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.

As an Artistic Partner of Southbank Centre’s year-long festival The Rest Is Noise – a cultural and musical history of the 20^th century told through 250 events – the BBC Concert Orchestra gives nine concerts exploring key classical works of the last century in the social and political context which shaped their composition.

The BBC Concert Orchestra’s involvement forms part of a BBC partnership with Southbank Centre for the festival which sees BBC Four screen a new landmark three-part documentary series and BBC Radio 3 offering a complementary programme of broadcasts.

From Kurt Weill to Frank Zappa, and Berlin in the 1930s to Britain in the 1980s, the BBC Concert Orchestra travels through time to tell the tales behind the music that helped define the last hundred years, under the baton of its Principal Conductor Keith Lockhart and guest conductors including André de Ridder and Charles Hazlewood.

The journey starts in Britain at the beginning of the century, exploring the cultural resonances of the First World War. In a programme of music and poetry from before, during and after the conflict, the orchestra conveys a nation’s yearning for its unrecoverable past (Death of Nostalgia, 24 February).

Two concerts profile Kurt Weill, creator of some of the most popular and daring musical theatre of his day. Weill’s work is put under the spotlight in performances of his sung ballet The Seven Deadly Sins (3 March) featuring My Brightest Diamond’s lead vocalist Shara Worden conducted by André de Ridder, and a concert highlighting the range of his musical output, from his Symphony No. 2 to a selection of theatre songs (Kurt Weill Berlin to Broadway, 12 April).

The orchestra is joined by the Nu Civilisation Orchestra as it delves into the cultural melting pot of 20^th century America with music from William Grant Still, Henry Gilbert and Duke Ellington. The blues meets orchestral tradition in Still’s “Afro-American” Symphony, which became the first symphony by an African American composer to be performed by a leading American symphony orchestra (Hidden Voices, 24 March).

The role of BBC Radio and British cinema in boosting morale on the Home Front during the Second World War is championed in a programme which includes music from two BBC Radio programmes of the time; Sincerely Yours presented by Vera Lynn and Music While You Work, designed to keep factory workers motivated. Other works include Ireland’s Epic March commissioned by BBC Radio in 1942 and Walton’s Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario (The Home Front, 7 June).

In the twentieth year since his death, the lasting legacy of rock icon Frank Zappa is celebrated in a UK premiere performance of 200 Motels – The Suites, the orchestral score for his 1971 musical surrealist film about life on the road with a rock band. The music which, according to Zappa, was mostly written in motel rooms whilst on tour with The Mothers of Invention, is given this rare performance by the BBC Concert Orchestra, members of Southbank Sinfonia and conductor Jurjen Hempel (200 Motels – The Suite, 29 October).

The orchestra gives a weekend of concerts in November dedicated to musical theatre legend Stephen Sondheim (Sondheim, 9 & 10 November) and rounds up its journey through the musical life of the 20^th century with a profile of 1980s Britain’s musical landscape (Britain in the 80s, 30 November).