diva opera programme 2011
DESCRIPTION
Diva Opera Programme 2011.TRANSCRIPT
la fille du rÉgiment rigoletto Performances 2011
15th season
2 0 1 1
2011
2011gaetano donizetti
la fille du régiment
giUSePPe VeRdi
rigoletto
Charles Johnston as Rigoletto
May
June
July
august
September
october
november
december
1719
091015161721222425262729
09111213142122232930
0506091314202325272831
1114171827
0715
30
1618
RigolettoRigoletto
Rigolettola Fille du Régiment la Fille du Régiment Rigoletto la Fille du Régiment Rigoletto la Fille du Régiment Rigolettola Fille du Régiment Rigoletto la Fille du Régiment la Fille du Régiment la Fille du Régiment Rigolettola Fille du Régiment Rigoletto gala ConCeRt la Fille du Régiment la Fille du Régiment la Fille du Régiment Rigoletto la Fille du Régiment
Rigoletto la Fille du RégimentRigolettola Fille du Régiment Rigoletto la Fille du RégimentRigoletto FledeRmaus PaRty sCene Rigoletto la Fille du Régiment Rigoletto
la Fille du Régiment la Fille du Régiment oPeRa gala RigolettoRigoletto
gala ConCeRt oPeRa gala
la Fille du Régiment la Fille du Régiment la Fille du Régiment
PeRfoRManCeS 2011
théâtre du Passage, neuchâtel, Switzerland
théâtre du Passage, neuchâtel, Switzerland
Lulworth Castle, dorset, U.K.
Lulworth Castle, dorset, U.K.
Syon Park, London, U.K.
Syon Park, London, U.K.
great Ballard School, West Sussex, U.K .
the Whittaker Hall, guernsey, Ci
the Whittaker Hall, guernsey, Ci
Stuckeridge House, devon, U.K.
Stuckeridge House, devon, U.K.
Stuckeridge House, devon, U.K.
Stuckeridge House, devon, U.K.
Warwickshire, U.K.
Shropshire, U.K.
domaine des Vaux, Jersey, Ci
domaine des Vaux, Jersey, Ci
domaine des Vaux, Jersey, Ci
domaine des Vaux, Jersey, Ci
dijon, france
dijon, france
dijon, france
Holkham Hall, Wells next the Sea, norfolk, U.K.
Holkham Hall, Wells next the Sea, norfolk, U.K.
Haut-anjou, france
Hardelot, france
Vendée Romane, france
festival de la Vézère, Brive, france
festival de la Vézère, Brive, france
Les azuriales opera, St.Jean, Cap ferrat
Les azuriales opera, St.Jean, Cap ferrat
Private, St tropez, france
Les azuriales opera, St.Jean, Cap ferrat
Les azuriales opera, St.Jean, Cap ferrat
Les azuriales opera, St.Jean, Cap ferrat
Manor farm, fingest, Henley upon thames, U.K.
draper's Hall, London, U.K.
Private
Manor farm, fingest, Henley upon thames, U.K.
draper's Hall, London, U.K.
Jersey Potteries, Ci
Private
Boodles, London, U.K.
théâtre du Passage, neuchâtel, Switzerland
théâtre du Passage, neuchâtel, Switzerland
foreWordBy anne Marabini Young, general director of diva opera
anne Marabini Young
as diva opera opens its fifteenth season we can look back on over one thousand performances and many widely acclaimed achievements. We have also forged close associations with numerous festivals and theatres in the UK and as far afield as the Channel islands, france and Switzerland. these include Les azuriales opera festival, domaine des Vaux opera festival in Jersey, festival de la Vézère and the théâtre du Passage in neuchâtel, for whom we have been performing annually since we founded diva opera.
our highlights over the years have been many but we must make mention of our regular performances with the world-renowned tenor José Carreras, La Cenerentola at La fenice in Venice, performances at St. John’s Smith Square and the Wigmore Hall in London, Così fan tutte at the tokyo international forum, La Cenerentola at the British embassy in Moscow, Trial by Jury at the Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne in the presence of HRH the Princess Royal and a series of masterclasses with our patron, the acclaimed Mezzo Soprano Marilyn Horne. each holds its own wonderful memory and together they have put diva opera at the forefront of chamber opera in the United Kingdom.
Last year was one of our most ambitious. We embarked on a series of performances featuring the party scene from Die Fledermaus with the inclusion of a special guest. in March dame Kiri te Kanawa joined us for the first time along with students from the Solti te Kanawa accademia di Bel Canto, while in June, José Carreras joined us for the eighth time since 2002. this triumph was rounded off in december when we were asked to once more perform the party scene, this time to a capacity audience at the Royal albert Hall with both José Carreras and dame Kiri te Kanawa. this truly spectacular performance also featured a host of other opera stars including Bryn terfel, alfie Boe, and Barbara frittoli and introduced the young Violinist ikuko Kawai and students
6
from the Solti te Kanawa accademia di Bel Canto. We were accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic orchestra, conducted by david gimenez. this was a momentous and unforgettable performance and proves that after fifteen years diva opera remains an ambitious and dynamic company, always looking for new opportunities and audiences.
and so to 2011. our new productions are Verdi’s Rigoletto and donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment. Rigoletto is directed by david edwards, who was behind last year’s acclaimed Falstaff. He is working once again with designer Cordelia Chisholm and the cast is a tour de force with Charles Johnston and eddie Wade sharing the title role, nicholas Ransley as the duke, Sarah Power as gilda, freddie tong as Sparafucile and antonia Sotgiu as Maddalena.
La Fille du Régiment is under the helm of our director of Productions Wayne Morris who collaborates once again with costume designer nicola Jackson. they will be working for the first time with talented young designer Louie Whitemore to bring us the set for this production. the opera stars Catriona Clark as Marie, with the brilliant young italian tenor nicola amodio as tonio, gaynor Keeble as the Marquise and freddie tong as Sulpice.
audiences will also be delighted to see many familiar faces in our casts including daniel Howard who is now in his fourteenth consecutive season with us, david Stephenson, Kevin Jones and Richard Mitham. We are also delighted to welcome back dominique thiébaud in the role of the duchess of Krakenthorp in La Fille du Régiment.
this year we continue our important work for many charities across the United Kingdom, including the Stroke association, the British Red Cross,
Marie Curie, Shipston Home nursing, the Ungureni trust, Children with Leukaemia, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research in Jersey, Helen and douglas House, the david Baum foundation, Cecily’s fund, downside Up and enable me.
as ever we would like to thank all those who so generously help us to achieve our artistic goals. We are deeply indebted to our sponsors and to the friends of diva opera and its trustees. We would also like to specially thank geraldine Whittaker CBe and John Whittaker CBe for their continued support and encouragement.
finally, diva opera would not exist without the on-going patronage of our wonderful clients, or without the hard work and dedication of our artists and technical teams. We are ever grateful to them for their role in the continuing success of diva opera.
We hope to see you again soon.
7
management
Patron:
general director: Music and artistic director:
director of Productions:director of Marketing and PR:
friends administrator:
Resident designer: Stage Manager:
artistic Consultants:
advisory Board:
Committee of Honour:
Marilyn Horne
anne Marabini YoungBryan evans MBeWayne MorrisKaren Pearson
Richard Mitham
nicola JacksonMatthew Muller
Peter Coleman-Wrightnoel Mann
Cheryl BarkerPhyllida fellowesPeter gillardandrew nickelsWendy Verco
Honor Blackmangeraldine Whittaker CBeJohn Whittaker CBe
acknoWledgements
diva oPera Would like to thank: the following companies and individuals:agence diane du Saillant, Brian Peters of angels for his help in designing the wigs for the operas, the friends of diva opera for sponsoring costumes in Rigoletto and La Fille du Régiment
the following people for their special support of the friends of diva opera:BeSt fRiendS SPeCiaL fRiendSgeraldine Whittaker CBe Mr. Peter BeckwithJohn Whittaker CBe Mr. george denmanMr. and Mrs. Marcus Binney Mr. Hans fontein Mr. Jeremy Brown Mr. Jack foxon Mr. and Mrs. Charles Crowther Sarah Holman Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Karaviotis Mr. Brian Horne Mr. Peter Urquhart Mr. Byan norman Mr. and Mrs. oscar Lewisohn Mrs. derek Maltwood Sir Christopher and Lady Paine Mr. and Mrs. Charles Russell the costumes, ProPs and sets Were made by:Joanna Close (Ladies costumes in Rigoletto and La Fille du Régiment);Wendy Knowles (Ladies costumes in Rigoletto); Sarah ninot (Ladies costumes in Rigoletto); eve Collins (Men’s tailoring in Rigoletto and Ladies costumes in La Fille du Régiment); Mervyn Wallace (Men’s tailoring in Rigoletto); Lewis Westing (Men’s tailoring in Rigoletto); Cecile Van dijk (Ladies costumes in La Fille du Régiment); the wigs in Rigoletto and La Fille du Régiment were supplied by angels, 1 garrick Road, London nW9
the sets for the operas were made by: object Construction.the furniture in La fille du Régiment was supplied by dutch Connection
8
alan fairs as falstaff and Louise Mott as Meg Page in diva opera’s 2010 production of Falstaff
9
Music director and Pianodirector
Set designerCostume designer
Choreographerfrench Coach
dialogue CoachStage Manager
deputy Stage ManagerWardrobe Supervisors
Bryan evans Wayne MorrisLouie Whitemorenicola JacksonJenny Westonfiona MurrayMichael BarryMatthew MullerKate Watkinsfreya PointerRachel Writer
la filledu régiment
Marie (daughter of the Régiment)
tonio (a tyrolean)
Sulpice (Sergeant of the Régiment)
Marquise de Birkenfeld
Hortensius (her manservant)
the duchess of Krakenthorp
Corporal of the Régiment
Soldiers of the Régiment
Villagers and wedding guests
Catriona Clark
nicola amodio
freddie tong
gaynor KeebleLouise Mott (09 July, 30 november, 16, 18 december)
daniel Howard dominique thiébaud
Julien Charles
Kevin JonesRichard MithamLawrence olsworth-Peter Joanna footeLorna James
Music by gaetano donizettiLibretto by J.H. Vernoy de Saint-georges and f. Bayard
la filledu régiment
Catriona Clark
nicola amodio
freddie tong
gaynor KeebleLouise Mott (09 July, 30 november, 16, 18 december)
daniel Howard dominique thiébaud
Julien Charles
Kevin JonesRichard MithamLawrence olsworth-Peter Joanna footeLorna James Catriona Clark as Marie
la fille du rÉgimentsynopsis
12
act i on their way back home to austria, the Marquise of Berkenfeld and her butler, Hortensius, have become caught up in a skirmish between the local tyroleans and napoleon’s invading french army. When the Marquise hears that the french troops have retreated, she comments on the rude manners of the french people (Pour une femme de mon nom). Sulpice, Sergeant of the 21st french regiment arrives and assures everyone that his men will restore peace and order to their village. He is joined by the vivandière Marie, who was found abandoned on the battle-field as a baby and adopted by the soldiers. Sulpice proudly puts her through her parade-ground drill (Au bruit de la guerre), and expresses concern that she has been seen in the company of a young man. Marie explains that he is tonio, a local tyrolean, who once saved her life. the soldiers bring in a
prisoner, whom they have caught lurking on the edge of the camp. Marie recognises him as tonio and steps in to save him. the soldiers change their minds and drink his health while Marie sings the song of the regiment (Chacun le sait).
tonio is released and returns to find Marie alone. they declare their love for each other (Quoi! vous m’aimez), but are interrupted by Sulpice who reminds Marie that she can only marry a soldier of the 21st regiment.
the Marquise de Berkenfeld asks Sulpice for an escort home. Hearing her name, he is taken by surprise, as it is the same name that appeared on a letter that was found with Marie when she was a baby. the Marquise is equally surprised. She tells Sulpice that Marie must be the long lost daughter of her sister, now dead, resulting from her marriage to Captain Robert, now also dead. When she is introduced to her niece she is appalled by her rough manners and determines to remove her from such an undesirable environment.
the soldiers return with tonio who has enlisted in order to marry Marie (Ah! mes amis). He asks for her hand, but, as Sulpice informs them, the matter is now beyond their control. Marie confirms that she has been claimed by her aunt and bids them a tearful farewell (Il faut partir).
interval
13
nicola amodio, Catriona Clark and freddie tong as tonio, Marie and Sulpice
act iithe Marquise has arranged an advantageous marriage between Marie and the duke of Krakenthorp. She is endeavouring with some difficulty to educate Marie to be a lady.
Sulpice, who is convalescing at the chateau from a war wound, is supposed to be helping the Marquise with her plans. Marie appears – transformed from vivandière to young lady and the Marquise rehearses her in a song which she wishes her to sing that evening at the signing of the marriage contract. the rehearsal goes badly when, encouraged by Sulpice, Marie slips in phrases of the regimental song. the Marquise loses her temper and leaves (Le jour naissait dans la bocage). Marie deplores her aunt’s plans for her marriage, because she still loves tonio. Left alone and lamenting her
predicament (Par le rang et par l’opulence) she hears a military march in the distance: the 21st regiment has arrived at the chateau and she leads them in a patriotic tribute (Salut à la France). tonio, Marie and Sulpice rejoice to find themselves together again. (Tous les trois réunis). the Marquise is shocked to find an unknown soldier in the house. tonio explains how he joined the army to be near Marie (Pour me rapprocher de Marie), but finds his request for her hand haughtily rejected. He has, however, a trump card to play. He has learned that the Marquise never had a sister: Marie cannot therefore be her niece. Her ‘fathers’ – the soldiers of the regiment – are, he insists, still the true arbiters of her fate.
alone with Sulpice, a humiliated Marquise confesses the truth: Marie is not her sister's child but her own, the offspring of a love affair which never reached the stage of marriage since Captain Robert was killed in battle. a marriage with the Krakenthorp family is her way of giving her daughter the security and social position she could never attain if her true parentage were known.
Hortensius announces the arrival of the wedding party, but a commotion is heard outside and tonio leads the regiment to Marie’s rescue. Her past as a vivandière is revealed, but the horrified guests are moved when she tells them that she can never repay the debt she owes the soldiers for giving her a home. Resignedly she agrees to sign the contract, but the Marquise stops her, realising that to force her into a loveless marriage would be to sacrifice her happiness. With a generous change of heart, she gives her hand to tonio.
programme notes by miCHael WHite
gaetano donizetti built a career from operas whose protagonists lose their heads: literally in the case of anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and the other characters from British tudor history he robustly Latinised, or metaphorically in the case of Lucia di Lammermoor, who simply goes mad. Mad scenes, with their opportunities for vocal excess, were good box office in the mid-19th century. and it was a dreadful irony of the composer's life that he would himself succumb to box-office requirements, ending his days in a lunatic asylum.
But well before this unhappy end he built a quite separate career from comedy, which as often as not followed the standard operatic plot-line of frustrated marriage. Fille du Régiment is an example. and although the pure froth of the story reads like gilbert & Sullivan, it combines
absurdity with touching, heartfelt truths that bring us just close enough to the characters to care about what happens to them. Marie, a tomboy-ish girl raised by an entire regiment of soldiers who have collectively become her 'father', falls for tonio, a peasant boy who joins the army to marry her. But – and here's the frustration – Marie then turns out to be the offspring of high-born parents and is swept away to learn her new, ladylike station in life. a life in which there will be no place for peasants. Will love triumph over social limitations? in the end, of course, it does. and in the process it enables donizetti to fill the stage with three distinct, occasionally competing sound worlds.
one is the world of military music, which pervades the score from start to finish and, in performances with full orchestra, makes a star of whoever plays the snare-drum. donizetti knew about this world from his youth, having enlisted as a soldier to avoid becoming a music teacher (at the time, his only other money-making option). He was still a soldier when he wrote his first opera. and it was the success of his second that earned him an honourable discharge. Highlights of the martial music in the score are Chacun le sait (a regimental song for Marie and her fathers) and Salut a la France (a patriotic tub-thumper that in the 19th century served almost as an unofficial national anthem and still turns up in Quatorze Juillet gala programmes).
for more sensitive writing there's Il faut partir, the number sung by Marie as she sadly leaves the regiment for higher things. and tonio too has music of
14
in the space of a year there were two donizetti stage-works at the opera, two at the opera-Comique, and three in other theatres. it was like an invasion, and it didn't endear him to local composers like Berlioz who with some justification felt squeezed into the margins of public perception by this man's arrival.'Monsieur donizetti seems to treat us like a conquered country', Berlioz complained. 'one can no longer speak of the opera houses of Paris, only the opera houses of M. donizetti. Resistance is a patriotic duty'.
in the face of such attack, it's little wonder donizetti took such pains to play the patriot himself. La Fille du Régiment, with all its rat-a-planning drums and salutations, was.
engaging innocence that audiences love. But what they love most are the high Cs for which this tenor role is famous. there are eight (and sometimes, on a good night, nine) in cruel succession in the cabaletta section of his aria Ah, mes amis. Collectively a trial of strength, they make or break careers – having conspicuously boosted that of Pavarotti when he sang La Fille with Sutherland in the 1960s.
donizetti of course knew exactly what he was doing with this brazen battery of top notes. Like the mad scenes, it was for the box-office. and it was as carefully calculated as the whole idea for this opera which, if you stop to think about it, is a strange hybrid: a french-language piece, celebrating the french army, with a patriotic hymn to france, and convincingly immersed in the style of french opera-comique... but written by an italian. How this came about is easily explained. ambition. donizetti had made his name in naples, writing neapolitan- style opera in the manner of Rossini and doing it with success. But the centre of the operatic world at this time wasn't anywhere in italy: it was Paris, the city to which Rossini himself had relocated for the last phase of his life.
after a series of personal and professional setbacks on home territory, donizetti decided to do likewise; and he threw himself into the Parisian scene with a vengeance, sparing no effort to convince the french public that he could be one of their own – if only by adoption.
the 3rd Regiment of foot guards repulsing the final charge of the old guard at the Battle of Waterloo, 18th June 1815, (w/c on paper) by Simkin, Richard (1840-1926)national army Museum, London/ the Bridgeman art Library(1847-1915) (after); Bibliotheque nationale, Paris, france/ giraudon/ the Bridgeman art Library
15
ss
rigolettoRigoletto by giuseppe VerdiLibretto by francesco Maria Piave
Music director and Pianodirector
designerCostume Superviser
Choreographeritalian Coach
director of ProductionsStage Manager
deputy Stage ManagerWardrobe Supervisors
Bryan evans david edwardsCordelia ChisholmLorna RushtonMandy demetrioufiona MurrayWayne MorrisMatthew MullerKate Watkinsfreya PointerRachel Writer
Rigoletto
gilda (his daughter)
the duke of Mantova
Countess Ceprano
Count Ceprano
Marullo
Matteo Borsa
giovanna (gilda’s maid)
Sparafucile (an assasin)
Maddalena (his sister)
Monterone
a Page
an Usher
Charles Johnstoneddie Wade (July 29, august 5, 9, 14, 23, 27, 31)
Sarah Power
nicholas Ransley
Catriona Clark
Richard Mitham daniel Howard
Kevin Jones
gaynor Keeble Lorna James (June 26)
freddie tong
antonia Sotgiu
david StephensonJames gower May 17, 19, June 21)
Joanna foote
Lawrence olsworth-Peter
ss
Charles Johnston and Sarah Power as Rigoletto and gilda
rigoletto
rigoletto synopsis by david edWaRds
act ithe duke of Mantova tells his private secretary Borsa about a young woman who has caught his eye in church. the duke can have his pick of beautiful women (Questa o quella) and as the Court dances a minuet, he openly seduces Countess Ceprano in front of her husband. Rigoletto, the Court jester, publicly ridicules Count Ceprano (In testa che avete) but the duke rejects Rigoletto’s suggestions that Ceprano be exiled or beheaded. the poet Marullo reveals that Rigoletto has a mistress and Ceprano unites the courtiers in a plot to pay the jester back for his repeated humiliation of them by abducting his lover (Vendetta del pazzo!). Count Monterone demands justice for the dishonouring of his daughter by the duke, but all he receives is Rigoletto’s mockery. Monterone lays the curse of a wronged father upon the jester (Sii maledetto!).
Rigoletto is approached by a common murderer, Sparafucile (Signor! Va’, non ho niente). He has observed that Rigoletto is keeping a young woman in his house, and that she has an unknown admirer. Rigoletto sends Sparafucile away but muses on the similarity between their occupations: the assassin’s blade is as merciless as his own savage tongue (Pari siamo!). Rigoletto rails against the world that has made his soul as twisted as his deformed body. His only comfort is his daughter gilda (Figlia! Mio padre!). He confines her to their house for fear of her being abducted – she is allowed outside only to go to church. gilda wants to know about their family and her father’s identity but he refuses to tell her anything except that her mother died many years ago. He entrusts her to the watchfulness of the maid giovanna (Veglia, o donna). Surreptitiously giovanna admits the duke, in disguise, and when they are alone, the duke tells gilda of his love for her (È il sol dell’anima). He pretends to be a poor student, gualtier Maldé, and when he leaves gilda rhapsodises on the name of her beloved (Caro nome). as night falls, Ceprano and the courtiers trick Rigoletto into assisting in their abduction plan and blindfold him (zitti, zitti).When Rigoletto realises that his daughter has been kidnapped, he recalls the curse of Monterone (Ah! La maledizione!).
interval
18
rigoletto synopsis act iithe duke returned later to see his beloved again but he found the house was empty and she was missing (Ella mi fu rapita!). now he is distraught – she was the first woman whose purity could have changed his way of life (Parmi veder le lagrime). the Courtiers describe their antics of the previous night and how they have brought Rigoletto’s mistress to the palace (Scorrendo uniti remota via). When the duke realizes that they are talking about gilda, he rushes to console her, and to tell her who he really is (Possente amor mi chiama). Rigoletto suspects that the courtiers are responsible for his missing daughter but they feign ignorance and indifference until a page-boy unwittingly reveals that the duke is not to be disturbed. Rigoletto realises that gilda is with the duke and in a furious tirade attacks, and then pleads with, the courtiers to return her to him (Cortigiani! vil razza, dannata). gilda confesses her love for the ’poor student’ (Tutte le feste al tempio).
Rigoletto’s worst fears are confirmed and he demands her repentance (Piangi, fanciulla). Monterone is escorted to prison and denounces the duke for his licentiousness. Rigoletto vows to avenge both the fathers’ disgrace and, despite gilda’s pleading for forgiveness of the duke, plots his master’s death.
one month later. Rigoletto has hired Sparafucile and his sister Maddalena to kill the duke. gilda insists that she and the duke love one another. Rigoletto forces her to observe the duke, again disguised, expressing his cynical mistrust of women (La donna è mobile). the duke then flirts with Maddalena (Bella figlia d’amore) and eventually retires to bed. a storm is brewing as Rigoletto sends gilda away to Verona. He gives Sparafucile a down-payment on the duke’s life (Venti scudi) and says he will come back later to collect the body. Maddalena proposes that they spare the duke and kill a stranger instead. initially reluctant to betray his contract with Rigoletto (Uccider quell gobbo!) Sparafucile relents when a beggar is heard knocking at the door (Pietà d’un mendico). it is gilda in disguise, returning to save the life of the man she loves. at the height of the storm, she enters and is stabbed.
Rigoletto impatiently awaits the delivery of the duke’s body (Della vendetta alfin). Sparafucile takes his final payment and quickly disappears. Rigoletto gloats over the corpse but when he hears the duke’s voice he realizes he has been tricked (Qual voce!). Barely still alive, gilda confesses her disobedience of her father and re-affirms her love for the duke. as she dies, gilda promises that in heaven she and her beloved mother will pray for Rigoletto (Lassù in cielo). Her father begs her not to leave him (Non morir, mio tesoro!) and he craves to die with her. But ultimately the jester is left alone. Count Monterone’s curse is fulfilled.
Charles Johnston as Rigoletto
19
by miCHael WHite
programme notes
When commentators analyse the factors that promote success in life, top of the list come family, education, gender. But there’s one more: physical appearance. it’s the beautiful, the handsome and the healthy who tend to inherit the earth, while the ugly and deformed stand aside and salvage what they can.
the hunch-backed Rigoletto salvages. an object of derision at the ducal court, he turns his handicap into professional advantage as a jester, and his bitterness into a verbal weapon against those who flourish better in life’s lottery. He humiliates the well-born, well-formed courtiers around him. and he knows exactly what he’s doing.
in a powerful, not-quite aria – Pari siamo – that unfolds like a Shakespearean monologue for Hamlet or iago, he compares himself with a hired assassin he’s just met in the street (as you do in opera).
this man, he says, kills with his sword, i with my tongue. and indeed, were Rigoletto living now he’d probably be working as a radio shock-jock, writing hate-filled columns in the tabloid press, or blogging venomously on the internet. Words easily become catharsis with a lethal edge.
as someone who exploits the power of words, though, Rigoletto is appalled to find himself at the receiving end. one of his victims curses him – an incident so significant that the opera was initially to be called La Maledizione – and from this curse comes a sequence of bizarre events that you could only find in opera.
inadvertently he facilitates the abduction and dishonor of his own daughter. inadvertently again, he has her murdered – in the kind of terrible mistake that turns up elsewhere in the Verdi canon (thinking obviously of azucena in Il Trovatore who flings her baby on a bonfire, mistaking it for someone’s else’s baby she intended to incinerate). and the frequency of similar if not always so outlandish parent/child occurrences doubtless has some psychological connection with the composer’s own, real-life tragedy of losing two children and a wife in rapid succession.
But the question remains: does Rigoletto deserve what happens to him, or does he demand sympathy as a social outcast struggling to survive in the tough, dark, heartless world the ducal court appears to be?
as originally conceived by Victor Hugo, whose play Le roi s’amuse was plundered for the plot (without the author’s blessing), Rigoletto (or as Hugo calls him, triboulet) is manifestly evil: as disfigured morally as he is physically. and by comparison the duke is weak, under his thumb, which makes the jester’s journey to forgiveness somewhat uphill.
20
as retold by Verdi, though, the evil isn’t so conspicuous. and because the story unfolds at speed, with the narrative shorthand that renders opera libretti absurd in isolation but impactful as a spur to music, there’s only a brief exposure to Rigoletto’s cruelty before we see him as a worried father. His paternal love reveals humanity beneath the venom, and immediately he’s launched on an escape route to redemption.
the abruptness of the story-telling is partly determined by musical advances that make Rigoletto a pivotal piece in the composer’s output – different in structure and sound to any of his previous operas. in Rigoletto he breaks free of the structural conventions of 19th Century italian opera that based everything around a succession of formal, two-part arias and marshalled everyone onstage for a grand concerto finale mid-way – whatever the consequences for the libretto.
By contrast, this opera has no concerto finale, few formal arias, and a momentum that flows more or less unbroken through duets and scenes. the flow is fast. and to appreciate how fast you need only consider how much narrative the opera gets through in the first twelve minutes from its sprint-start opening prelude: a time-span that in earlier works would have been largely absorbed by a substantial overture and scene-setting.
from start to finish, the dramatic pace is driven by the music; and a good example is the final scene where Rigoletto gloats over the sack that, as he thinks, contains the body of the duke – only to find it’s actually his daughter. this discovery is a momentous piece of theatre, carefully planned by the
composer; and he fought to keep it when, before the first performance, government-appointed censors raised objections to the sack on grounds of taste.
the sack, said Verdi, is essential, otherwise why else would Rigoletto be deceived? But equally important is that Rigoletto is alerted to the truth not by his eyes but by his ears. the duke is heard offstage, still singing, still alive. it’s one of opera’s most dramatic coups, but operating purely out of music.
By this point, whatever else has happened, we can only be on Rigoletto’s side. He’s been repellent, self-deluded, and his fantasies persist – complaining that the curse has killed his daughter rather than his own pursuit of vengeance. But it’s never comfortable to see a man completely crushed. especially an ugly hunchback who was up against it from the start.
Costume designs for 'Le roi s'amuse' by Victor Hugo (1802-85), 1832 (pen & ink on paper) by Chatillon, auguste de (1808-81)Bibliotheque de la Comedie francaise, Paris, france/ archives Charmet/ the Bridgeman art Library
21
d i va o P e R a o n t o u R 1 9 9 7 - 2 0 1 0
22
d i va o P e R a o n t o u R 1 9 9 7 - 2 0 1 0
23
24
25
26
27
BRYan eVanS MBe
Music and artistic director
and co-founder of diva opera
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Royal College of Music
Opera
Don Pasquale, Carmen,
Cavalleria Rusticana,
I Pagliacci, Tosca, Le Nozze
di Figaro, Trial by Jury, Cox
and Box, Gianni Schicchi,
Die Fledermaus, Rigoletto,
La Bohème, La Cenerentola,
Die Entführung aus dem Serail,
Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte,
Eugene Onegin, Il Barbiere
di Siviglia, Madama Butterfly,
L’elisir d’amore, Don Giovanni,
Hänsel und Gretel, La Belle
Hélène, L’Italiana in Algeri,
La Fille du Régiment, Lucia di
Lammermoor and La Traviata
cOncert venues
St. John’s, Smith Square,
Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room
radiO and televisiOn
BBC Radio 3 and 4, World
Service, Channel 4 television
cOnducting
Don Giovanni, L’elisir d’amore,
Le Nozze di Figaro (Pavilion
opera), Lucio Silla, The Rape
of Lucretia (opera for europe),
Il Matrimonio Segreto
(Les azuriales)
Other infOrmatiOn
Music director for Les azuriales
opera festival, awarded MBe
for Services to music 1993
WaYne MoRRiS
director of Productions,
director La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
new zealand
Opera directOr
Don Pasquale, L’Italiana in
Algeri, La Fille du Régiment,
Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro,
Così fan tutte, Die Entführung
aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflöte,
Tosca, L’elisir d’amore, Il Barbiere
di Siviglia, La Cenerentola,
Madama Butterfly, La Bohème,
Hänsel und Gretel (diva opera),
Norma, Don Carlos, Don
Pasquale (Pavilion opera),
Eugene Onegin, L’elisir
d’amore (Haddo House)
Bass BaritOne
Roles include Count, figaro
and Bartolo Le Nozze di Figaro,
Colline, Marcello, Benoit,
alcindoro La Bohème, guglielmo
Così fan tutte, dulcamara
L’elisir d’amore, Leporello
Don Giovanni, escamillo Carmen,
Mustapha L’Italiana in Algeri
and Sparafucile Rigoletto
daVid edWaRdS
director Rigoletto
Birthplace
United Kingdom
Opera directOr
Katya Kabanova, Der Rosen-
kavalier, Attila, Stiffelio
(Royal opera House, Covent
garden), Simon Boccanegra
(San fransisco), Arabella
(San fransisco), Der Fliegende
Holländer (San diego),
Die Zauberflöte (tokyo),
Dialogue des Carmélites
(Portland), Carmen (Philadephia),
Lucrezia Borgia (Minneapolis),
The Screams of Kitty Genovese
(new York Music theatre
festival), Le Nozze di Figaro
and Il Barbiere di Siviglia
(Singapore), Albert Herring
(tokyo), La Traviata (diva opera),
Wagner Day (Royal opera
House), La Cenerentola
(Memphis), Dido and Aeneas,
Falstaff (tokyo and diva
opera), Il Tabarro and
Gianni Schicchi (tokyo)
Other
tutor at Royal academy of
Music London, Central School
of Speech and drama London
and Motley theatre design
Course London. Production
director for Mastersingers
Company, London
anne MaRaBini YoUng
general director and
founder of diva opera
Birthplace
new zealand
Operatic rOles
Hänsel Hänsel and Gretel,
dorabella Così fan tutte,
Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia,
tisbe La Cenerentola, first
and Second Lady Die Zauber-
flöte, Cherubino Le Nozze di
Figaro, Mimì La Bohème,
Santuzza Cavalleria Rusticana,
zerlina and donna elvira
Don Giovanni
cOmpanies
opera australia, glyndebourne,
english national opera,
Pavilion opera, diva opera
cOncerts
new zealand Symphony
orchestra, Sydney
Symphony orchestra,
London Concert orchestra
televisiOn
The Singing Voice Channel 4,
Hansel and Gretel nz television
b i o g r a p h i e s
28
CoRdeLia CHiSHoLM
Costume and Set designer
Rigoletto
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Cambridge University
(english Literature), Motley
theatre design Course
Opera designs
Hansel and Gretel (opera north),
Alessandro (RCM), Phaedra,
Ariadne auf Naxos and Così
fan tutte (RSaMd) Cavalleria
Rusticana and Pagliacci, The
Pearl Fishers, Turandot, Herodiade
and Nabucco (dorset opera),
The Marriage of Figaro and Peter
Grimes (Surrey opera), The Tales
of Hoffmann (guildford opera) ,
Falstaff (diva opera)
theatre designs
Kurt and Sid (trafalgar Studios),
Shadow Language (theatre 503),
The Dubya Trilogy (new Players
theatre) , Touched (Rada) ,
Hamelyn Heights (Young Vic
Studio) , Incarcerator (old
Red Lion) , The Winter’s Tale
(Creation theatre Co)
cOstume designs
Orlando and La Scala di
Seta (independent opera),
Taboos and Talk About the
Passion (new end theatre),
Twelfth Night (Creation
theatre Co), The Wedding
(Southwark Playhouse)
niCoLa JaCKSon
Head of design and
Costume designer
La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
Opera
Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci,
L’elisir d’amore, Tosca, Le Nozze
di Figaro, Trial by Jury, Gianni
Schicchi, Die Fledermaus,
Rigoletto, La Bohème, La
Cenerentola, Die Entführung
aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflöte,
Eugene Onegin, Il Barbiere di
Siviglia, Madama Butterfly,
Don Giovanni, Hänsel und Gretel,
La Belle Hélène, La Traviata,
Orphée aux Enfers, Così fan
tutte (diva opera), Johann
Strauss Gala (Raymond
gubbay UK tour), Eugene
Onegin (Haddo House opera)
theatre
includes Kosher Harry (Royal
Court) and The Quare Fellow
(Liverpool Playhouse)
tv and music videOs
oil factory: artists including
Ute Lemper, Sophie ellis Bextor,
Supergrass, Leftfield, turin
Brakes, the Raveonettes,
dido, the dixie Chicks,
natasha Bedingfield, duffy,
gwen Stefani and Mica
LoUie WHiteMoRe
Set designer
La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Motley theatre design,
Royal Scottish academy of
Music and drama
Opera designs
Marriage of Figaro (costume,
Co opera Co), Carmen (dorset
opera), Serse, (iford opera),
La Boheme (costume,
Co opera Co), albert Herring
(costume, Co opera Co)
theatre designs
An Ideal Husband, (Heartbreak
Productions), Summerfolk,
Two Planks and a Passion,
Much Ado about Nothing, Winters
Tale, Figaro Gets Divorced,
The Wild Duck, The Rehearsal,
The Kitchen, Drama Center
Student Director showcase (the
Cochrane), Measure for Measure,
(oval House), The Tempest (Sprite
Productions, Good Soul (Young
Vic), I am a Superhero (old Vic
new Voices @ theatre 503),
Mud (the gate), Midsummer
Nights Dream (oval House), Hotel
Medea (the arcola), The Bicycle
Men (Kings Head), Lucifer Saved
(finborough theatre), The Bite
of The Night (Chandler Studios),
Twelfth Night (the arches)
assOciate designer
The Nutcracker (Shanghai Ballet)
MattHeW MULLeR
Stage Manager
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
guildhall School of Music
and drama
theatre
Stage Manager at
Hampstead theatre
Opera
Pavilion opera, opera à
La Carte, diva opera
radiO
Studio Manager BBC radio
plays with casts including
derek Jacobi, Ralph fiennes
and Sir ian McKellen
music videOs
artists including
Madonna and Coldplay
Other
Production Manager for
corporate conference and
production in the UK, europe,
USa and the far east, tour
Manager for tim Minchin
2008 national tour
29
fiona MURRaY
italian Coach Rigoletto
french Coach La Fille
du Régiment
Birthplace
USa
educatiOn
Rome (primary and secondary
schools), Mcgill University
Canada (italian), Montreal
Conservatory of Music (flute),
edinburgh (dip ed and PgCe)
Opera
Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana,
I Pagliacci, Tosca, Le Nozze di
Figaro, Gianni Schicchi, Rigoletto,
La Bohème, La Cenerentola,
Eugene Onegin, Il Barbiere di
Siviglia, Madama Butterfly,
L’elisir d’amore, Don Giovanni,
La Belle Hélène, L’Italiana in
Algeri, La Fille du Régiment,
Lucia di Lammermoor, Così fan
tutte and La Traviata
Other
Class teacher in London
schools specialising in italian
and french, currently runs a
french school for children
and tutors italian and french
to both children and adults
CatRiona CLaRK
Soprano
Countess Ceprano Rigoletto
Marie La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Royal College of Music, London
and Royal Scottish academy
of Music and drama
rOles
Bridesmaid Weber’s Der
Freischütz, Handel’s Semele and
Chief Hen Janacek’s Cunning
Little Vixen, tytania A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, galatea Acis and
Galatea, Le feu L’Enfant et les
Sortileges, Micaëla Carmen,
Papagena Die Zauberflöte,
arline The Bohemian Girl, Kate
Pinkerton Madama Butterfly,
zerlina Don Giovanni, Susanna
Le Nozze di Figaro, Sandman
and dew fairy Hänsel und
Gretel, euridice Orphée aux
enfers, Musetta La Bohème,
frasquita Carmen
cOncerts
Rossini Stabat Mater, Mozart
C Minor Mass, Haydn Nelson
Mass, The Seasons and Creation,
Handel Dixit Dominus, fauré
Requiem, Poulenc Gloria and
Handel Messiah, Mendelssohn
Elijah, Brahms Requiem,
Verdi Requiem
cOmpanies
edinburgh international festival,
opera north, British Youth
opera, opera South, London
festival opera, english Pocket
opera, diva opera
JennY WeSton
Choreographer
La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
Opera chOreOgrapher
Capriccio, Le Nozze di
Figaro, Adriana Lecouvreur,
The Beggar’s Opera,
L’Enfant et les Sortileges,
L’Heure Espagnol, Un Ballo
in Maschera, Death in Venice,
Les Contes d’Hoffmann,
La Fille du Régiment, L’Italiana
in Algeri, Don Giovanni,
Carmen, Die Fledermaus,
La Cenerentola, Lucia di
Lammermoor, Tosca, Die
Zauberflöte, Eugene Onegin,
La Belle Hélène, Hänsel
und Gretel
cOmpanies
glyndebourne, english national
opera, La Monnaie, Le Châtelet,
new York City opera, opera
Holland Park, diva opera.
directOr
A Brief Affair (Bridewell
theatre), Le Pêcheurs de Perles
(northampton festival opera),
Porgy and Bess (Portugal).
Other
Movement director for
Cantabile, choreographer for
award winning Peter and the
Wolf on Spitting image
MandY deMetRioU
Choreographer
Rigoletto
Birthplace
zimbabwe
Opera
Snegurohka (Wexford festival),
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Linbury theatre), The Marriage
of Figaro (english national
opera), La Fille du Régiment
and Il Trovatore (opera Holland
Park), Cherevishki (garsington)
musicals
Maria de Buenos Aires
(Bath and Buxton festivals),
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,
Johann Strauss Gala
theatre
Glorious (duchess theatre),
Lady Windermere’s Fan
(Salisbury Playhouse),
The Madras House (Lyric
Hammersmith)
film and televisiOn
House of Elliot (BBC), Goodnight
Sweetheart (alamo Productions)
30
doMiniQUe tHiÉBaUd
Soprano
duchesse de Krakenthorp
La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
Switzerland
training
London, Paris, Britten-Pears
School (with gérard Souzay
and Peter Pears)
rOles
include fiordiligi Così fan tutte,
Mistress ford The Merry Wives
of Windsor, Musetta La Bohème,
elizabeth i Maria Stuarda,
giulietta Les Contes d’Hoffmann,
Countess Le nozze di Figaro.
Recently created Claudia
(alban’s wife) in the newly
commissioned opera Alban
cOmpanies
diva opera, opera east, abbey
opera, St. albans Chamber opera
cOncerts
include Brahms Requiem, tippett
A Child of our Time, Poulenc
Gloria, Mendelssohn Elijah,
Mozart Requiem, Handel Messiah,
fauré Requiem, Spitalfields
festival, St. John’s Smith
Square, the Maltings Snape,
Broadcasts from the edinburgh
international festival (BBC) and
the arezzo festival (Rai) and
guest appearances on BBC radio’s
Friday Night is Music Night and
Melodies for You. Recitals Purcell
Room and the Salle Cortot in Paris
LoRna JaMeS
Soprano
giovanna Rigoletto
ensemble La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Royal northern College of Music
aWards
Manchester Welsh Society Prize
rOles
Violetta La Traviata, Micaëla
Carmen, Vitellia La Clemenza
di Tito, eurydice Orpheus in
the Underworld, Queen of
the night Die Zauberflöte,
Witch Into The Woods, Spring/
Soprano The Fairy Queen,
nurse/Soprano King Arthur,
Belinda Dido and Aeneas
cOmpanies
RnCM, University of
Birmingham, University of
Warwick, opera Warwick,
armonico Consort, London
Philharmonic Choir, Hand Made
opera – italy, Heritage opera
cOncerts
Strauss Four last songs, orff
Carmina Burana, Bach St. John
Passion, tippett A child of our
time, Stradella Esule dalle Sfere,
Handel Messiah
SaRaH PoWeR
Soprano
gilda Rigoletto
Birthplace
ireland
training
national opera Studio,
guildhall School of Music
and drama, Royal northern
College of Music, Conservatory
of Music and drama dublin
aWards
Peter Moores foundation,
Sybil tutton award, Philip and
dorothy green award 2009
rOles
Pamina Die Zauberflöte, alison
The Wandering Scholar, Cathleen
Riders to the Sea, Berenice
L’occasione fa il ladro, Pauline
La Vie Parisienne, Susanna
Le Nozze di Figaro, an italian
Soprano Capriccio, Leonora
The Long Christmas Dinner,
Lydie Pénélope, nannetta Falstaff
cOncerts
Haydn Missa Sancti Nicolai,
Missa in Tempore Belli, Missa
Brevis in F, fauré Requiem,
Mozart Vespers, Brahms
Requiem, Mozart Coronation
Mass, Missa Solemnis in C,
Bach B Minor Mass, Vivaldi
Dixit Dominus, Vivaldi Gloria
(albert Hall conducted by
Sir david Willcocks)
cOmpanies
glasthule opera dublin,
Wexford festival, european
opera Centre Crete, diva opera
Joanna foote
Soprano
Page Rigoletto
ensemble/cover Marie
La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
new zealand
training
University of California, Los
angeles, Seattle opera Young
artist Program (guest artist),
Solti te Kanawa accademia
di Bel Canto in italy
aWards
dame Kiri te Kanawa foundation
grant, otago daily times aria
2009 winner, Mcdonalds aria
2009 finalist
rOles
najade Ariadne auf Naxos,
Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro,
Belinda Dido and Aeneas,
nannetta Falstaff, Monica
The Medium, Polly Threepenny
Opera, Solange Not in Front
of the Waiter, adina L’elisir
d’amore, Le Rossignol L’enfant
et les sortileges, Marie
La Fille du Régiment
cOmpanies
Seattle opera, opera UCLa,
auckland opera factory, opéra
francais de new York and
Palm Springs opera in the
Park, Haddo House opera
cOncerts
Handel Messiah, Pergolesi
Stabat Mater, fauré Requiem,
Mozart Vesperae Solennes
De Confessore (Bay of islands
Choir, new zealand)
31
niCoLa aModio
tenor
tonio La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
italy
training
Conservatory of Bari,
University of Lecce
rOles
ferrando Così fan tutte,
don Ramiro La Cenerentola,
alessandro Il Re Pastore, Count
almaviva Il Barbiere di Siviglia,
Bastien Bastien und Bastienne,
Sextus Polyeucte (gounod),
Lorenzo I Capuleti e Montecchi,
filosseno I giuochi d'Agrigento
(Paisiello), first Jew and Slave
Salome, Rinaldo Armida and
Lindoro L’Italiana in Algeri
cOmpanies
festival Belle ile (france),
taranto, Bolzano, Campania,
Rimini, festival Valle d’itria
di Martina franca, Vicenza
teatro olimpico, Pocket opera
(UK), as.Li.Co’s Circuito Lirico
Lombardo, garsington (UK)
cOncerts
Pietro Passione di Gesù Cristo
(a. Salieri), arcangelo gabriele
Oratorio per il Santo Natale,
Vesperae Solennes de Confessore
(Mozart), Responsorien
Feria V In Coena Domini (Carlo
gesualdo Principe)
recOrdings
I Capuleti e Montecchi,
Polyeucte, I giuochi d’Agrigento,
Il Re Pastore, Salomé, L’Italiana
in Algeri with dynamic
antonia SotgiU
Mezzo Soprano
Maddalena Rigoletto
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Royal northern College of
Music, national opera Studio
rOles
title role Carmen, Mercedes
Carmen, third Lady Die Zauber-
flöte, olga Eugene Onegin,
Kundry Parsifal, flower Maiden/
Voice from above Parsifal, Lola
Cavalleria Rusticana, annina
Der Rosenkavalier, Maddalena
Rigoletto, Polina The Queen
of Spades, emilia Otello,
Hanna May Night, flora
L’incoronazione di Dario,
isabella L’Italiana in Algeri,
Mistress Quickly Falstaff
cOmpanies
glyndebourne, Welsh
national opera, garsington,
english national opera, opera
Holland Park, Birmingham
opera, diva opera
LoUiSe Mott
Mezzo Soprano
Marquise de Birkenfeld
La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
gSaMd and RCM
rOles
Bradamante Alcina, annio
La Clemenza di Tito, annina
Der Rosenkavalier, fidalma
Il Matrimonio Segreto, Ariodante,
Mme Larina Eugene Onegin,
Katarina Schratt Mayerling,
Meg Page Falstaff
cOncerts
Serenade to Music BBC
Proms, Beethoven Choral
Fantasy with the Bach Choir
at the Royal festival Hall
cOmpanies
english national opera, Welsh
national opera, english touring
opera, almeida opera, tete-a-
tete, the opera group, Royal
Ballet – Royal opera House,
Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern
recOrdings
Marthe/Schuld/Maria aegyptica
in Schumann’s Scenes from
Goethe’s Faust with Philippe
Herreweghe for Harmonia
Mundi, Songs of Rutland
Boughton for BMS, Cordelia
Wagner in edward Rushton’s
The Shops for nMC and
edward dudley Hughe’s The
Sybil of Cumae for London
independent Records
gaYnoR KeeBLe
Mezzo Soprano
giovanna Rigoletto, Marquise de
Birkenfeld La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
University of Warwick,
Royal academy of Music
aWards
Countess of Munster
rOles
title role Carmen, Katisha The
Mikado, third Lady Die Zauber-
flöte, Voice of the Mother Tales of
Hoffmann, Maddalena Rigoletto,
Mother/Witch Hansel and Gretel,
gertrude Romeo and Juliet, Baba
the turk The Rake’s Progress,
Marchese La Fille du Régiment,
Mrs Sedley Peter Grimes, Berta Il
Barbiere di Siviglia, flora/annina
La Traviata, Marcellina Le Nozze
di Figaro, tisbe La Cenerentola,
Meg Page/Mistress Quickly
Falstaff, amneris Aida, olga
Eugene Onegin
cOmpanies
english national opera,
the Royal opera House,
Covent garden, opera north,
english touring opera,
Mid-Wales opera, CBSo
cOncerts
Verdi Requiem, Mozart Requiem,
Elijah, Dream of Gerontius,
Vivaldi Gloria with CBSo,
London Mozart Players, London
Bach orchestra, northern
Sinfonia, the Philharmonia,
RPo, Vivaldi Concertante
32
JULien CHaRLeS
Baritone
Corporal La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
gSMd, RCM
aWards
Wingate Scholarship 2007,
english Speaking Union Scholar-
ship 2010, Whatsonstage award
2011, olivier award nominee 2011
rOles
il Paggio Roberto Devereux,
oscar Le Barbe Bleu, giovanni
Anna Bolena, Bartolo Il Barbiere
di Siviglia, Melisso Alcina,
Polyphemus Acis and Galatea,
devilshoof The Bohemian Girl,
Schmirnov The Bear, figaro Le
Nozze di Figaro, flemish deputy
Don Carlo, Colline La Bohème
cOmpanies
Buxton international festival
opera, Hampstead garden
opera, opera Minima,
Midsummer opera, Mahogany
opera, Welsh national opera,
ardente opera, Soho theatre
cOncerts
Bach Das Weihnachts Oratorium,
Messe in H Moll (St. John’s Smith
Square), Handel Messiah, Mozart
Requiem (St. James’ Piccadilly),
Haydn Nelson Mass (Cadogan
Hall), Lindberg Graffiti (festival
Hall), Schubert Lieder (Wigmore
Hall), Schumann Lieder (Chelsea
Schubert festival), Brahms
Lieder (oxford Lieder festival)
KeVin JoneS
tenor
Matteo Borsa Rigoletto
Soldier La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Royal northern College of Music
rOles
Siward A Better Place by
Martin Butler, Reuben
Dr Heidegger by Jack Beeson,
nero L’Incoronazione di Poppea,
goro Madama Butterfly,
archibald grosvenor Patience,
Marco The Gondoliers, Josef
Wiener Blut, Monostatos
Die Zauberflöte, gastone
La Traviata, achille La Belle
Hélène, don Curzio Le Nozze
di Figaro, Bajazet Tamerlano,
Mercure Orphée aux Enfers,
Parpignol La Bohème, alfred
doolittle My Fair Lady, Bardolfo
Falstaff, el Remendado Carmen
cOmpanies
the norfolk trust, Clonter
opera and Mananan festival,
Phoenix opera, St Helens g&S
Society, Swansea City opera,
opera by definition, Surrey
opera, diva opera
cOncerts
Handel Messiah, Stravinsky
Symphony of Psalms and
Brian tovey Requiem for a
Charred Skull
LaWRenCe oLSWoRtH-PeteR
tenor
Usher/Courtier Rigoletto
Soldier/Cover tonio
La Fille du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Royal academy of Music,
accademia Rossiniana (Pesaro)
rOles
don Ramiro La Cenerentola,
Count almaviva Il Barbiere di
Siviglia, don Luigino/zeferino
Il Viaggio a Reims, Remendado
Carmen, title role Faust, Paolino
Il Matrimonio Segreto, ernesto
La Vera Costanza, acis Acis
and Galatea, Prince galamar
Orpheus Britannicus, Boy
The Indian Queen, and Spirit/
Sailor Dido and Aeneas
cOmpanies
opera Up Close, Rossini
opera festival – Pesaro,
Stanley Hall opera, Raymond
gubbay at the o2, Southwick
opera and Mercurius
Company, Cadogan Hall
cOncerts
Bach Christmas Oratorio (Choer
francis Rabelais), St. John
Passion (Spitalfields festival),
St. Matthew Passion RaM Bach
Cantata series, Beethoven
Ninth Symphony (Barbican),
Handel Messiah, Haydn Creation,
Nelson Mass (St. James’
Piccadilly), Monteverdi
Vespers (Mayfield festival)
niCHoLaS RanSLeY
tenor
duke of Mantova Rigoletto
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
gSMd
aWards
drapers Company award (gSMd)
rOles
duke Rigoletto, foresto Attila,
Macduff Macbeth, Raffaela
Stiffelio, gaston La Traviata,
don José Carmen, nadir Les
Pêcheurs de Perles, Leicester
Mary Stuart, nemorino L’elisir
d’amore, Rodolfo La Bohème,
Pinkerton Madama Butterfly,
Cavaradossi Tosca, almaviva
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Ramiro
La Cenerentola, ferrando Così fan
tutte, don ottavio Don Giovanni,
Paris La Belle Hélène, aristée/
Pluton Orphée aux Enfers,
gonzalve L’Heure Espagnol,
Camille Merry Widow
cOmpanies
Central festival opera, Cork
opera, english national opera,
London City opera, english
touring opera, Lyric opera
(dublin), Mid Wales opera,
opera Holland Park, Scottish
opera, opera north
cOncerts
Britten Serenade for Tenor,
Horn and Strings (Sala Sinopoli
Rome), Friday Night is Music
Night – BBC, Battle Proms 2008,
Mendelssohn Elijah (Liverpool
Philharmonic Hall)
33
eddie Wade
Baritone
Rigoletto Rigoletto
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
gSMd
aWards
Winner Verdi/Wagner Prize
(national Mozart Competition),
bursary Madeleine finden
Memorial Competition
rOles
Mandarin Turandot, indian
Bartered Bride, Baron douphol
La Traviata, Count almaviva
Le Nozze di Figaro, Mill foreman
Jenufa, Marcello La Bohème,
Melot Tristan und Isolde, Peter
Hansel and Gretel, Sharpless
Madama Butterfly, germont
La Traviata, Scarpia Tosca ,
alfio/tonio Cavalleria Rusticana
and I Pagliacci, the executioner
Ines de Castro, Crown Porgy
and Bess, title role Macbeth
cOmpanies
Royal opera House, Covent
garden, Welsh national opera,
Scottish opera, glyndebourne,
Raymond gubbay – RaH,
Wexford festival, english
touring opera, diva opera
cOncerts
Beethoven Ninth Symphony
(Raymond gubbay – Barbican),
Carmina Burana (Rte Concert
orchestra), Mendelssohn Elijah
(Belgium and france), Verdi and
Brahms’ Requiems, elgar Dream
of Gerontius, Handel Messiah
with LSo and RPo
daVid StePHenSon
Baritone
Monterone Rigoletto
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Royal College of Music
rOles
Papageno Die Zauberflöte,
guglielmo Così fan tutte, Silvio
I Pagliacci, Sharpless Madama
Butterfly, Simone La Finta
Semplice, escamillo Carmen,
the Speaker Die Zauberflöte,
enrico Lucia di Lammermoor,
Marcello La Bohème, falke Die
Fledermaus, Scarpia, angelotti
Tosca, title role Eugene Onegin,
figaro Il Barbiere di Siviglia,
Malatesta Don Pasquale, title
role Don Giovanni, Jailer Dialogue
des Carmelites, Marullo Rigoletto,
Peter Hänsel und Gretel, andrei
Shchelkalov Boris Godunov,
david L'amico Fritz
cOncerts
fauré Requiem, Vaughan-
Williams Five Mystical
Songs, Mozart Requiem
and Handel Messiah
cOmpanies
Scottish opera, Welsh
national opera, english
national opera, Raymond
gubbay, Buxton festival,
opera zuid (netherlands),
festival de Perelada, Carl
Rosa, opera ireland, diva
opera, opera Holland Park
danieL HoWaRd
Baritone
Marullo Rigoletto
Hortensius La Fille
du Régiment
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Royal academy of Music
rOles
Belcore L’elisir d’amore,
tarquinius The Rape of Lucretia,
Silvio I Pagliacci, fiorello
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Sylvester
The Three Sisters Who Are Not
Sisters by ned Rorem, dr. grenvil
La Traviata, Morales Carmen,
antonio Le Nozze di Figaro,
Sciarrone Tosca, ali L’Italiana
in Algeri, Marchese La Traviata,
Masetto Don Giovanni, guglielmo
Così fan tutte, Schaunard
La Bohème, Marullo Rigoletto,
frank Die Fledermaus, Papageno
Die Zauberflöte, fiorello
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Prince
Yamadori Madama Butterfly,
ajax La belle Hélène, John
Styx Orphée aux Enfers,
Pistola Falstaff
cOmpanies
eto, opera for europe,
amersham festival opera,
opera Cork, diva opera
CHaRLeS JoHnSton
Baritone
Rigoletto Rigoletto
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
guildhall School of Music
and drama
rOles
Count almaviva Le Nozze di
Figaro, title role Don Giovanni
golaud Pelleas and Melisande
Smirnov The Bear, forester
Cunning Little Vixen, garibaldo
Rodelinda, Scarpia Tosca, enrico
ashton Lucia di Lammermoor,
Marcello La Bohème, Michonnet
Adriana Lecouvreur, don alfonso
Così fan tutte, eisenstein Die
Fledermaus, giorgio germont
La Traviata, ford Falstaff, Posa
Don Carlos, di Luna Il Trovatore,
title roles in Macbeth, Nabucco,
Falstaff and Rigoletto, theseus
A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Mandarin Turandot, guide in
Venice Death in Venice, the
Border guard Boris Godunov
cOmpanies
english national opera,
La Monnaie, La Scala Milan,
opera theatre Company ireland,
Welsh national opera, english
touring opera, Mid Wales
opera, Longborough festival,
Castleward festival, opera
Holland Park and in Singapore
and Switzerland
34
JaMeS goWeR
Bass-Baritone
Monterone Rigoletto
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
RaM
rOles
Count Ceprano Rigoletto,
Speaker/Second armed Man
Die Zauberflöte, Sciarrone Tosca,
Bogdanowitsch The Merry
Widow, nikitich Boris Godunov,
Basilio Il Barbiere di Siviglia,
toante Oreste, Pistola Falstaff,
Commendatore Don Giovanni,
Colline La Bohème, doctor
Pelléas et Mélisande, Pinellino
Gianni Schicchi, Un Moine
Don Carlos
cOmpanies
Welsh national opera,
english national opera,
glyndebourne on tour
cOncerts
False Witness – Mendelssohn
St. Paul (BBC national orchestra
of Wales), nym Sir John in
Love (northern Sinfonia),
Horaste Troilus and Cressida
(Philharmonia – BSo, Royal
festival Hall)
fReddie tong
Bass-Baritone
Sulpice La Fille du Régiment
Sparafucile Rigoletto
Birthplace
Hong Kong
training
guildhall School of Music
and drama
rOles
nourabad The Pearl Fishers,
Monterone Rigoletto, the
Cardinal The Duchess of Malfi
(new work for eno), dr. Bartolo
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, dulcamara
L’elisir d’amore, King of egypt
Aida, Papageno Die Zauberflöte,
Baron La Traviata, Masetto and
Commendatore Don Giovanni,
escamillo Carmen, figaro
Le Nozze di Figaro, Schaunard
and Colline La Bohème,
el dancairo Carmen, don
Magnifico La Cenerentola,
imperial Commissioner Madama
Butterfly, Malatesta Don
Pasquale, Le Bailli Werther
and Un frate Don Carlo
cOmpanies
english national opera, grange
Park opera, opera Holland Park,
Kentish opera, garden opera,
zeist Music festival, Singapore
Lyric opera, Minotaur Music
theatre, Raymond gubbay -
RaH, opera Hong Kong, Haddo
House opera and diva opera
RiCHaRd MitHaM
Bass
Soldier La Fille du Régiment
Count Ceprano Rigoletto
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Royal northern College of Music
rOles
Collatinus The Rape of Lucretia,
Sarastro and Second armed
Man Die Zauberflöte, Comte
des grieux Manon (Massenet),
alidoro La Cenerentola, Prince
gremin Eugene Onegin, imperial
Commissioner Madama Butterfly,
Betto Gianni Schicchi, don
Basilio Il Barbiere di Siviglia,
il Commendatore Don Giovanni,
dottore grenvil La Traviata,
Colline La Bohème and il Re Aida
cOmpanies
english touring opera,
glyndebourne festival opera,
glyndebourne touring opera,
Welsh national opera,
iford arts, Scottish opera
and diva opera
Kate WatKinS
deputy Stage Manager
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
John Moores University,
Liverpool
theatre
Company Stage Manager
for A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, The Tempest, Hamlet,
Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth
(Shakespeare 4 Kidz national
and international tour)
pantOmime
new Pantomime Productions,
PMa Productions and QdoS
Other
english Youth Ballet,
ni opera The Medium
35
36
fReYa PointeR
Wardrobe Supervisor
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
Wimbledon School of
art (theatre Costume)
theatre
Cinderella (Palace theatre,
Westcliffe on Sea), 101
Dalmations (nuffield
theatre), The Crystal
Den (new end theatre)
Ballet
Swan Lake, The Nutcracker
(english national Ballet)
Opera
Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Così
fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro,
La Bohème, Rigoletto, Lucia di
Lammermoor, La Cenerentola,
Die Entführung aus dem Serail,
Don Giovanni, La Traviata,
La Belle Hélène, Hänsel und
Gretel, Falstaff (diva opera)
film
Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone
prOductiOn assistant
Rainbow Productions for
itV, dC Comics, Woolworths,
Chessington World of
adventures, Legoland
RaCHeL WRiteR
Wardrobe Supervisor
Birthplace
United Kingdom
training
arts institute in Bournemouth,
Ba(Hons) in Costume for
Stage and Screen
theatre
Bernstein Mass (Royal festival
Hall), Around the World in 80 Days
(theatre Royal Bath), Blood
Wedding (Southwark Playhouse),
Mother Goose (theatre Royal
Bury St edmunds), Utopia
(international dance festival
Birmingham) and Yes Prime
Minister (West end and UK tour)
Opera
Falstaff, Carmen and The Party
Scene from Die Fledermaus
(diva opera)
3337
a scene from diva opera’s 2010 production of Falstaff
Memberships begin at £50 per annum, Special friends cost £100 and Best friends cost £500. for more details please contact:
the friends of diva opera Limited115 Princes gardensLondon W3 [email protected]: (44) 020 8579 9649administrator: Richard Mitham
the friends of diva opera Limited is a registered charity, no. 1079878trustees: Peter gillard, andrew nickels, Wendy Verco
Would you like to become a friend of diva opera?
We have recently restructured the friends of diva opera and are now offering several different levels of support, all with new enhanced benefits including:
invitations to attend our dress rehearsals
a regular diva opera newsletter
invitations to special events including recitals by young singers, masterclasses and pre-dress rehearsal talks
the opportunity to meet our production teams
the opportunity to meet our singers
the opportunity to see a production unfold from the audition process to the finished performance
38
FRiends oF diva oPeRa
39
FRiends oF diva oPeRa
la fille du rÉgiment rigoletto Performances 2011
for further information, please contact
diva opera115 Princes gardensLondon W3 oLR
tel: (44) 020 8579 9649 fax: (44) 020 8579 9669
e-mail: [email protected] Web: www.divaopera.com