JanuaryFriday 23 Lauren Bensted - jazz alto*Friday 30 Aileen Thomson - soprano*

FebruaryFriday 6 Robyn Allegra Parton - soprano &

Charlotte Denham - mezzo-soprano*Friday 13 Jonathan Darbourne - counter-tenor*Friday 20 Tom Bennett - bass*

Friday 27 Jon Stainsby - baritone*

MarchFriday 6 Dom Burnham - counter-tenor*Friday 13 Max Jones - baritone*

Gluck: Orpheus & EuridiceOrfeo: Joe Bolger . Euridice: Anna Sideris . Amor: Robyn Allegra Parton

Conductor: Nicholas Pritchard . Director: Michael Burden26, 27, 28 February 2009

New College Antechapel, 8.30pm

New Chamber Opera - N ew Chamber Opera Ensembl eThe Band of Instruments - Phoenix - Cutting Edge

Pa t ro n H a rvey McGregor . Singing Pa t ro n James Bowman D i rector of Pro d u c t i o n s M i chael Burden . Musical Dire c t o r G a ry Cooper

Summer Opera S t even Devine . D i re c t o r, The Band of Instruments Roger HamiltonD i re c t o r, Opera Studio

R epetiteurs T i m o t hy Motz, Mat t h ew Haw ken, Jo n athon Swinard . Company Secre t a ry C l a re AtkinsonC o m p t ro l l e r G raham Midgl ey . Wa r d ro b e Diana Lintott, Fiona Hodge s

P roduction administrator Christine Murray .Recitals Administrator N i cholas Pritch a rd

New Chamber Opera . 4 Mansfield Road . Oxford OX1 3TATel: 01865 281 966 . Fax: 01865 279 590 . Email: info @ n ewch a m b e ro p e ra . c o.uk

Web pages: http://www. n ewch a m b e ro p e ra . c o. u kC o m p a ny No 3502769 . Charity No 1095069

Issue 37, Winter 2009 www.newchamberopera.co.uk

page 4

FORTHCOMING DATES& TICKET INFORMATION

Calendar ListingThose events marked with an asterisk * are University events

TICKET DETAILS

Lunchtime Vocal Recitals1.15pm

New College Ante-chapel£2/£1 concessions

on the door

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NCO

Summer Opera8 (Preview), 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19 July 2009

The Warden’s Garden, New College

GluckOrpheus & Euridice

Conductor: Nicholas Pritchard Director: Michael Burden

26, 27 and 28 February 20098.30pm

New College Ante-chapel£10/£5 concessions

Oxford Playhouse Box Office (01865) 305 305 OR on the door

Summer OperaWednesday 8 (Preview), Saturday 11,

an d Tuesday 14 New Chamber Opera

Please download forms fromh t tp : / / w w w. n e w c h a m b e ro p e r a . c o. u k

Fridays 10 & 17New College Development Office

(01865) 279 337Sunday 12

The Art Fund(01491) 641 259Wednesday 15

Friends of the Oxford Botanic Garden(01844) 214 468

Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 Friends of the Welsh National Opera

(01865) 865 806

The New Chamber Opera NewsletterIssue 37, Winter 2009

www.newchamberopera.co.uk

news

NCONew Chamber Opera

Sandra M BurridgeMr D E ChamberlainRobin Darwall-SmithAir Cdre J. De’AthMargaret ForrestElizabeth Foster-HallRobert and Louise GulliferAnthony HawkinsChristopher and Fiona HodgesLeofranc Holford-StrevensHilliard Charitable TrustAnne HudsonJ. F. and S. A. IlesOliver JacobsJohn and Elaine LedinghamHermione LeeJames ListerNaomi van LooSir David and Lady LumsdenMr H. J. Lush and Mrs S. E. LushStephen MoorbathGraham MidgleyAnastasios NikolopoulosKatharine PeetBruce and Carol PhillipsAndrew PinnockJudith PriestmanW. Birch ReynardsonAnne RobertsKate and Alan RyanDr and Mrs Peter SchofieldMatthew and Kate ShilvockSupporters of New Chamber

OperaDr A M V SurbaumJennifer ThorpSusan Wollenberg13 Anonymous donors

P lease let us know of any errors or omissions. Thereis still a slight shortfall, which we hope will bebridged soon: any member who wishes to

contribute should get in touch with us, or contact theBodleian Library directly.

T he acquisition has been madepossible thanks to the generousdonations offered by the

members of the general public andgrants given by the V & A PurchaseGrant Fund, the Friends of theBodleian, the Friends of the NationalLibraries, New Chamber Opera andEsmee Fairbairn Foundation.’

So runs the Bodleian LibraryPress release announcing thepurchase of the manuscript of

C a v a l l i ’s E r i s m e n a; the fullannouncement can be found on theirwebsite, and there is also a version onour own. After several months of nail-biting activity, the news came throughthat enough money had been raisednot only to prevent an importantmanuscript ‘the earliest survivingscore of an opera in English’ fromgoing abroad, but brought it toOxford. The release continues:

W ritten by Pietro FrancescoCavalli (1602-1676), theleading Italian opera

composer of the mid-17th century,Erismena dates from the 1670s, 30years before any other Italian operaswere known to have been performedin Britain. The manuscript nowenriches the Bodleian Library ’soutstanding music collection and isan important addition to the Library’sexisting holdings of English 17th- and1 8 t h - c e n t u ry opera and theatremusic.The score has been part of aprivate collection and has beenstudied by only a small number ofscholars in the past 50 years. It is oneof the most significant British 17th-century music manuscripts to have

appeared in recent decades. RichardOvenden, Keeper of SpecialCollections and Associate Director,Bodleian Library, said: ‘TheBodleian Library thanks all themembers of the general public andthe organizations whose donationsmade it possible for Erismena to besaved for the nation. The acquisitionmakes it possible for us to conservethis unique and significantmanuscript for the benefit ofgenerations to come”.

Those supporters of NewChamber Opera whocontributed to the fund are

listed below:

Roger AinsworthClare AtkinsonAnne Balfour-FraserLady BallAlison BensonBonnie BlackburnMichael BourdeauxHelen and Sebastian BrockElizabeth Lang BrownJohn and Jeanette BurdenMichael BurdenRobert and Maggie BurdenPeter Burge

page 2

Issue 37, Winter 2009www.newchamberopera.co.uk

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Our new repetiteur tells all...

NCO

London Taxis, Patricia Rozario and abit of W. A. Mozart: an OxfordRepetiteur’s First Experience.

Not every music undergraduate gets towork with a world-class soprano intheir first term. It was therefore withgreat excitement but slightapprehension that I Googled ‘PatriciaRozario’ to see what was expected ofme…

Realisation 1: She has a ‘Wikipedia’entry. Now of course one shouldn’tbase opinions (or one’s essays for thatmatter) on such a disputed source,however the fact remains that an articlein Wikipedia suggests at least somelevel of public recognition.Apprehension increase.

Realisation 2: Leading composers suchas Arvo Part and John Tavener havewritten pieces especially for her.Andrew Gant’s Don’t Go Down theElephant After Midnight represents amore recent dedicated work –premiered in London this summerunder the direction of Michael Burdenand now scheduled to be repeated inOxford with yours truly at theharpsichord. Double apprehensionincrease.

With Patricia’s biography memorised, Ifelt suitably equipped to attendM i c h a e l ’s first production meeting.Those present: Michael, myself, a potof Earl Grey tea and the SCR biscuittin.

Realisation 3: Half of the opera isperformed over a tape of the Marriageof Figaro; my workload on theharpsichord was therefore not as greatas originally anticipated. What is more,I had a full three weeks beforerehearsals in which I could digest thescore. Apprehension decrease. Let thepractice begin…

My state of euphoria was soondispelled as the first rehearsal loomedinto view. It was scheduled for a

it was perhaps unsurprising that Imanaged to leave both my scarf anddiary on the returning Oxford Tube. Therest of the week was therefore inevitablymarred by a slight confusion as to whereI was meant to be, as well as a distinctchill down the back of my neck.

With nothing to track the passing days,the rehearsals and two successfulperformances passed quickly by. I’dlearnt a lot over the rapid productionprocess; indeed the whole affair seemedmarked by moments of revelation andrealisation. Hopefully I’d emerged abetter repetiteur – if not a better pianist!I consider myself very fortunate to haveworked with Patricia Rozario on such anexciting and contemporary project.Though as I appeared from the after-show drinks and began my late-nightsearch for dinner, I couldn’t help wishingI’d accepted that sandwich…

Jonathon Swinard

Saturday afternoon in New College’s‘Old Bursary’ – unfamiliar territory, butnothing porters’ directions could notfix. Arriving on time, my carefullyplanned entrance was irritatingly ruinedby a failed attempt to open theB u r s a r y ’s old door; fortunately, asmiling lady emerged at the window,pointing me towards the correctentrance. I trotted on round, unawarethat I had just met Patricia Rozario.

And so the rehearsal began: “Right”,says Michael, “Let’s take it from thetop”. “Er. That’s the tape bit”, I replied.“We won’t use the tape until next week.It’s only the Overture to the Marriage ofFigaro; just keep the tempo going…”And so the sight-reading began.

Realisation 4: If you get the score inadvance, look at everything. Even thebits you don’t think you’re going tohave to play. I remain unsure whetherMozart has forgiven me for my on-the-spot interpretation of his great overture.Thankfully, the rest of the rehearsal ransomewhat smoother; however furtherrevelations were just round the corner:

“Well Jonathon, with regard toMonday” Michael started, “if I meetyou at the lodge at 12pm then we shouldhave enough time to pick up the tubefrom outside Queen’s and get toPatricia’s ready to start about 2pm…”

“Tube?” I enquired with that lookof bemusement recognised universallyas the ‘fresher’s frown’.

“Yes – how else are we going toget to London…?”

“ We’re going to London?” Ireplied.

“Yes, we’re going to London.”

Realisation 5: We’re going to London.Our rehearsal at Patricia’s house was aslightly surreal experience.Operatically, things were taking shape.However for me, it will be mostremembered as the day that aninternational soprano offered to makeme a sandwich. Who needs anautograph, eh? Given such excitement,

Andrew Gant’s opera Don’t go downthe Elephant after Midnight w a sp re m i e red by Patricia Rozario andNew Chamber Opera conducted byJohn Traill and directed by MichaelB u rden at the Te t e - a - Tete OperaFestival at the Riverside Studios inAugust 2008; they gave twoperformances in Oxford in November.

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Issue 37, Winter 2009 www.newchamberopera.co.uk

page 3

Mailing List

Mailing Lists. Each hard copy andelectronic mailing returns out of dateaddresses; it would be helpful ifmembers of the e l e c t ronic mailingcould keep their address up to date.Would members of the hard copymailing list who would like to join theelectronic mailing list - used forreminders of forthcoming events -please let us know?

O rfeo ed Euridice, an opera inthree acts composed byChristoph Willibald Gluck, was

originally set to an Italian libretto byRanieri de’ Calzabigi and was fir s tperformed in Vienna 1762. Based on aThracian myth, this opera can becategorised under azionie teatrale –Italian for ‘theatrical action/plot’ – andis the first of Gluck’s three reformoperas. Both Gluck and Calzabigi wereinfluenced by the French tragédie enmusique and the reformist ideas ofFrancesco Algarotti, and thus set out toreform the elaborate Italian opera seriawith ‘noble simplicity’, and with astronger emphasis on drama instead ofmusic, dance or setting. This reformist

approach is reflected in the absence ofthe common features of opera seriasuch as da capo arias, secco recitativesaccompanied by the continuo only, therigid structure of alternating recitativesand arias, and a complex plot with sub-plots. While there is a more varied andflexible use of recitatives coupled withself-contained arias to drive asimplified plot, the chorus and theorchestra assume a much moresignificant role than before in Italianopera. Orfeo ed Euridice has undergonenumerous revisions, including a 1774French version by Gluck, and a 1859hybrid version by Berlioz which isperhaps most-widely known andperformed today. Jasmine Chin

NCO

Baldassare Galuppi:Il mondo alla roversa;

or, the world topsy-turvywith women in charge

The Warden’s Garden, New College6.30pm

8 (Preview), 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17,18, 19 July 2008

26, 27, 28 February 20098.30pm

The Ante-chapel, New College

Orpheus & Euridice

Forthcoming....

Summer Opera

I l mondo alla roversa premiered inVenice in 1750. The story is by thegreat Venetian playwright, Carlo

Goldoni, and he and Galuppi have beencredited with ‘inventing’ opera buffa. Itis set on an island in the Antipodes,which is governed by a Council ofWomen. The cast divides into naturallyinto two groups; the three powerfulwomen who sit on the Council, andtheir three spineless lovers. The womenare worried the men, being physicallys t r o n g e r, will over overpower them;unbeknowest to the women, the men arequite happy in their state of subjection!The result? The women plot andprecipitate a coup in which the men takeover; all the characters then agree that‘women in command make for a topsy-turvy world’.