return to this month

and at The Capitol, North Street, Horsham
tickets:  01403 750220 (box office)
or use Event search on the theatre's website to book on-line

Puccini     La Fanciulla del West
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from one of the world's greatest opera houses.  It was in 1910 that Puccini’s wild-west opera had its world première at the Met. Now, on the occasion of its centenary, Deborah Voigt sings the title role of the “girl of the golden west,” opposite Marcello Giordani.

Rituals of Love and War!
Music of battles - real and metaphorical
including 16th and 17th-century French, Italian and Spanish masses and madrigals by Janequin, Josquin, Verdelot, Victoria, Marenzio, Vecchi and Carissimi.
The concert continues the Ritual theme of BREMF 2010. Battling with the enemy or with Cupid - it's all the same: weapons, armour, agonies, death, defeat and victory!

Celestial Harmonies: Victoria and Gibbons
a Singing Day open to all singers, featuring two great sacred works of the late Renaissance in contrasting styles.  Music will be provided.

Baroque music
the programme will include works by Handel, Locatelli and Telemann.

and at The Capitol, North Street, Horsham
tickets:  01403 750220 (box office)
or use Event search on the theatre's website to book on-line

John Adams     Nixon in China
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from one of the world's greatest opera houses.  In a production originally created by English National Opera, baritone James Maddalena stars as Nixon, a role he created to widespread acclaim. The production is directed by Peter Sellars. Composer John Adams described his most famous opera: “All of my operas have dealt on deep psychological levels with our American mythology. ... The meeting of Nixon and Mao is a mythological moment in world history, particularly American history.” The story is an exploration of the human truths beyond the headlines surrounding President Nixon’s historic 1972 encounter with Mao Tse-tung in communist China.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, composer and creative leader Howard Moody creates a new opera performed by nearly 200 children from West Sussex primary schools.

Gilbert & Sullivan
The Gondoliers
in this finely crafted G&S comic opera mistaken identity is at the heart of the plot - the negligence of a drunken gondolier entrusted with the upbringing of an infant king.  But he has confused the young monarch with his own son, meaning that no-one (well not quite) is sure who is the rightful heir to the throne of Barataria.

Little Shop of Horrors
a rock musical by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman – an entertaining show of high energy, comedy and romance, including show stoppers such as Skid Row and Somewhere that’s green.

Gioachino Rossini     Sins of my Old Age
"Rossini" will entertain us with musings on his life, and his and other composers' music.

and at The Capitol, North Street, Horsham
tickets:  01403 750220 (box office)
or use Event search on the theatre's website to book on-line

Gluck     Iphigenie en Tauride
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from one of the world's greatest opera houses.  Susan Graham and Plácido Domingo reprise their starring roles in Gluck’s elegant dramatisation of the primal Greek myth. Stephen Wadsworth’s insightful production was first seen in 2007.

Gilbert and Sullivan
The Sorcerer
this staging of Gilbert and Sullivan’s first success moves the story from its quaint Victorian setting to sleepy rural Britain in the 1970s.
John Wellington Wells, the celebrated dealer in ‘magic and spells’, spreads chaos and havoc in an unsuspecting country village, when he places a powerful aphrodisiac in the village hall teapot. The resulting revelations are indeed ‘a marvellous illusion, a terrible surprise!’

Choral Workshop
on Walton’s Belshazzar's Feast
led by Peter Allwood, Headmaster of Lichfield Cathedral School and fortmer Music Director of Christ's Hospital. Copies of the music (OUP 1955 edition) will be available on the day. Everyone welcome.

An evening of songs
by Purcell, Handel, Korngold, Fauré, Mendelssohn and Brahms
Refreshments available during interval.

Caruso and the Quake
Italian opera singer, Enrico Caruso was at the height of his fame when he performed Carmen at the San Francisco Opera House in April 1906.  Then he woke-up the next morning to find his hotel room collapsing on top of him.   Storytelling and live opera singing combine in this show, featuring live music from Puccini, Rossini, Leoncavallo, Tosti and the immortal song that Caruso introduced to the world, O Sole mio.

"Opera singing with a pure fresh quality" The Scotsman

and at The Capitol, North Street, Horsham
tickets:  01403 750220 (box office)
or use Event search on the theatre's website to book on-line

Donizetti     Lucia di Lammermoor
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from one of the world's greatest opera houses.  Natalie Dessay returns to the role of an innocent young woman driven to madness, opposite Joseph Calleja, who sings her lover Edgardo.  Mary Zimmerman’s production was first seen in the 2007–08 Met season.

Berlioz     Grande Messe des Morts

Come and Sing
Best Loved Choral and Operatic Choruses
all welcome – workshop led by Brian Newman - music diretor of the Heathfield Choral Society

Brahms     Requiem

Tobias Picker
Fantastic Mr Fox
based on Roald Dahl’s much-loved tale and now an opera, the story pitts the wild animal world against three farmers and their devilish (soprano!) digger. Colourful, light-hearted and highly physical, this is a perfect night at the opera for adults and young people alike.

Puccini's two hour-long operas Il tabarro (The Cloak) and Gianni Schicchi could hardly be more different: one is a moody romance ending in a grotesque murder on a barge in Paris, and the other is a sparkling comedy about a family inheritance in Florence, including the lovely aria O mio babbino caro.

Come and Sing
join singers from across the region in a day workshop rehearsing Fauré's Requiem and his Cantique de Jean Racine, led by singers Alison Pearce and Jozik Koc. The Workshop is followed by a concert at 7.30 pm

Mozart     La Clemenza di Tito
one of Mozart’s final and most magnificent works - a story of terrorism, betrayal and forgiveness. The tortured hero chooses passion for a woman over loyalty to a noble emperor. Sung in English.

Spring concert

Spring concert
a light classical concert including works by Brahms, Elgar and Bernstein.

Calamity Jane
in this famous musical centred on a gun-toting femme fatale, made famous on screen by Doris Day, there will be gun fighting, gambling, saloon girls, Indians, love and jealousy, and a rip roaring music score with memorable numbers such as The Black Hills of Dakota, My Secret Love and Windy City.

Crucifixus – Reflections on the Cross
with music by Lotti, Tavener, Bach, Verdi and Fauré's Requiem.

and at The Capitol, North Street, Horsham
tickets:  01403 750220 (box office)
or use Event search on the theatre's website to book on-line

Rossini     Le Comte Ory
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from one of the world's greatest opera houses.  Juan Diego Flórez in the title role of Rossini’s wicked comedy vies with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, in the trouser role of Isolier, for the love of the lonely Countess Adèle, sung by soprano Diana Damrau. Bartlett Sher, director of the Met production, describes the world of the opera as “a place where love is dangerous. People get hurt. That can be very funny and very painful. Rossini captures both – with the most beautiful love music Rossini ever wrote.”

Saturday 9 April at 7.30 pm Lewes Crown Court, High Street, Lewes book in person at Octave, 18 High Street, Lewes ticket and postal booking information: 01273 471851 / 476432 or book online

two more performances on Sunday 10 April

Gilbert & Sullivan     Trial by Jury
a wicked parody of 19th century law and marriage, full of memorable tunes, performed in a real Victorian court setting.  The short operetta is preceded by a concert of favourite G&S excerpts, with guest soloist William Robert Allenby.

Brahms      Ein deutsches Requiem

A Feast of English Music

John Rutter     Requiem

Gilbert & Sullivan     Trial by Jury
a wicked parody of 19th century law and marriage, full of memorable tunes, performed in a real Victorian court setting.  The short operetta is preceded by a concert of favourite G&S excerpts, with guest soloist William Robert Allenby.

Maunder      Olivet to Calvary
a Passiontide drama related in music by choir and soloists with congregational hymns

A Handel Extravaganza

Music of the Spanish Pilgrims

Mozart      Mass in C minor

Vivaldi     Gloria
the culmination of an ‘Come and Sing’ event which is open to all and preceded by three rehearsals. To participate please contact the secretary 01323 643358 or use e-mail.

Good Friday concert

and at The Capitol, North Street, Horsham
tickets:  01403 750220 (box office)
or use Event search on the theatre's website to book on-line

Richard Strauss     Capriccio
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from one of the world's greatest opera houses.  Renée Fleming stars in Richard Strauss’s wise and worldly meditation on art and life, in which the composer also explores the essence of opera itself. Matthew Polenzani and Sarah Connolly also join the cast, and Andrew Davis conducts.

J S Bach     St John Passion

Russian sacred and secular songs
The Hermitage Ensemble from St Petersburg aim to maintain the Russian traditions of church music and bring motets of the Eastern Church closer to western people. Their programme consists of liturgical motets and psalms, and also includes various folk songs.

and at The Capitol, North Street, Horsham
tickets:  01403 750220 (box office)
or use Event search on the theatre's website to book on-line

Verdi     Il Trovatore
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from one of the world's greatest opera houses.  A revival David McVicar’s stirring production of Verdi’s intense drama from the 2008–09 Met season. In one of the composer’s most melodically rich scores Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez and Dmitriy Hvorostovskiy lead the cast.

Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music
a fun event in which the entire audience is the chorus accompanying the soloists. Tickets include supper and loan of a score to join in singing throughout the show. Coming in costume is also encouraged, but not essential.

Recital
by this international opera singer, one of Britain's foremost baritones.
Part of the Meads Music Festival

Operatic arias and other songs
a Gala concert in aid of a Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief fund for the people of Sendai – children from the Ikueigakuenn High School in Sendai have visited Wadhurst over several years.

Easter arias
a short recital of arias on the theme of Easter

Barbershop Chorus
60-strong male voice chorus singing old and not so old songs in barbershop style.

Study Day on
Handel's Rinaldo
Dr Ruth Smith will be exploring Handel’s first London opera with players from The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,
members of the production team and singers from the Glyndebourne Festival.
Dates and times of Rinaldo performances.

Monteverdi – The Other Vespers
Vesper psalms and concertos from the Selva Morale of 1640/41

also in Brighton 17-20 May

Spring Awakening
Music by Duncan Sheik, book & lyrics by Steven Sater, this new musical is based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 play, which was once banned in German theatres for its portrayal of a generation trying to suppress teenage sexual awakening.  Spring Awakening opened on Broadway in 2006, running for two years and winning 3 Tony Awards. It had its London première at the Lyric Hammersmith in 2009.

Donizetti      The Elixir of Love
a light comedy with a happy ending, full of good tunes, the tenor aria in Act 2 Una furtive lagrima being particularly well known, as well as ensembles for a lively chorus. The performances will be in the round, sung in English and accompanied by the Heber Opera orchestra.

and at The Capitol, North Street, Horsham
tickets:  01403 750220 (box office)
or use Event search on the theatre's website to book on-line

Wagner     Die Walküre
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from one of the world's greatest opera houses.  This is the second instalment of Robert Lepage’s new production of Wagner's Ring cycle, conducted by James Levine. Bryn Terfel is Wotan, lord of the Gods. Deborah Voigt sings the part of Brünnhilde. The twins Siegmund and Sieglinde are played by Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek. Stephanie Blythe sings the part of Fricka.

Cry of the Earth
Cry of the Earth – The Masque of Gaia is an eco-oratorio by Tony Biggins.

Fringing ...
an evening of songs across the genres.

Study Day on
Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Glyndebourne’s Music Director Vladimir Jurowski will be discussing Wagner’s comedy,  joined by notable academic speakers,  members of the production team and singers.
Dates and times of Die Meistersinger performances.

Soul to soul
one man show from Austin, Texas – songs by Otis Reding, James Brown, Ray Charles set in a high energy performance with tap dancing, swing, clogging and contemporary dance.

Recital
by the winner of the 2009 Kathleen Ferrier Competition, including Schumann's song cycle Frauenliebe und Leben and a host of popular songs and arias.

Hauskonzerte: Songs with guitar
songs by Franz Schubert with accompaniment played on a Viennese guitar from around 1830.

Sacred Blue – Heavenly and Earthly Delights
a mix of sacred and saucy a capella vocal music both from centuries ago and the modern day.

Unsung Heroine – the imagined history of troubadour Countess Beatriz de Dia
an intimate piece of ‘concert theatre’ set in 12th century Provence, and combining the haunting melodies of troubadour songs with foot stomping mediæval dances.

Where have you been?
folk songs, ironic, political and love songs - an opportunity to hear this world traveller in his home town.

The Secret Life of Nuns !
Where the pagan meets the sacred – join Celestial Sirens (“Sacred Hearts, Secret Music”) to bring in the May with chant, polyphony and song, breathing new life into the forgotten music of Renaissance convents.

a Light Classical Concert
with choir, vocal & instrumental solos and groups, the music styles varying from early to modern.

Spring Awakening
Music by Duncan Sheik, book & lyrics by Steven Sater, this new musical is based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 play, which was once banned in German theatres for its portrayal of a generation trying to suppress teenage sexual awakening.  Spring Awakening opened on Broadway in 2006, running for two years and winning 3 Tony Awards. It had its London première at the Lyric Hammersmith in 2009.

Gilbert & Sullivan     Trial by Jury
this witty and tuneful satire of a 'breach of promise of marriage' trial is set in what once was Brighton's courtroom.

More performances Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 May at 9 pm

music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice
Beauty and the Beast
a musical theatre version of the Disney film

Donizetti      The Elixir of Love
a light comedy with a happy ending, full of good tunes, the tenor aria in Act 2 Una furtive lagrima being particularly well known, as well as ensembles for a lively chorus. The performances will be in the round, sung in English and accompanied by the Heber Opera orchestra.

Immortal Legacy
the concert will feature music by Tallis and Byrd, Tippett, including the Five Spirituals from A Child of Our Time, and Britten with the Choral Dances from Gloriana.

Study Day on Sunday 15 May 10.30am to 4.30pm
Glyndebourne’s Music Director Vladimir Jurowski will be discussing Wagner’s comedy,  joined by notable academic
speakers,  members of the production team and singers.

Pre-performance talks in the Ebert Room:
12.25 pm on 29 May and 26 June

Richard Wagner       Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
A new production for the 2011 Festival, telling of a young knight who wins the hand of a goldsmith's daughter with the help of the canny cobbler-poet Hans Sachs. The opera is directed by David McVicar and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Sung in German with English supertitles.

Her leaves be Greene – a Garden of Eloquence
an intimate, hour long cycle of Elizabethan songs by John Danyel following the relationship between the young Mistress
Anne Greene and the composer, her music master.

Pictures at an Exhibition

In Concert
contemporary and traditional gospel music performed by a 170-strong community choir.

Verdi      Requiem

Schubert     Mass in G

Community Concert

Pre-performance talks in the Ebert Room:
2.40 pm on 5 and 19 June

W A Mozart       Don Giovanni
A revival of the 2010 Festival production. The story follows the events of the Don Juan's last day. As an unrepentant Don continues to elude his earthly pursuers, other-worldly powers are forced to intervene, leading to a fire-and-brimstone climax.  The opera is directed by Jonathan Kent and conducted by Robin Ticciati. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Two vocal works that become two physical and spiritual journeys.

Lunchtime recital

Gilbert & Sullivan     Trial by Jury
this witty and tuneful satire of a 'breach of promise of marriage' trial is set in what once was Brighton's courtroom.

An evening of songs and duets
from stage and screen

Beside the Seaside
over 200 voices come together as the Brighton City Singers is joined by two other choirs from London in this choral concert.

Songs from the musicals and The Beatles
an evening of favourite songs from musicals throughout the years, mixed with a selection of songs by The Beatles

From Bach to The Beatles
choral music spanning five centuries
Proceeds of this concert will be donated to support rainwater harvesting projects in Rwanda.

the programme will include

Love and Fire
songs of passion and torment – featuring Monteverdi’s powerful Sestina cycle and the set of ravishing Fire Songs on Italian Renaissance poems by 20th century American composer Morten Lauridsen. With madrigals by Lassus, Gibbons and Morley.

Pre-performance talks in the Ebert Room:
3.35 pm on 12 June and 3, 10 and 24 July

Gaetano Donizetti    L'elisir d'amore
A revival of the 2007 Glyndebourne on Tour production. Nemorino is hopelessly in love with the beautiful Adina, but she has eyes only for the swaggering Sergeant Belcore. Then the ‘world-famous’ Doctor Dulcamara rolls into town and sells gullible Nemorino a bottle of his patent miracle cure - possibly the legendary elixir of love?  The opera is directed by Annabel Arden and conducted by Enrique Mazzola. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

One-day choral workshop on
Mozart's Requiem
led by conductor Roger Durston

an English Country Garden concert

Baroque to Broadway

a Light Classical Concert
with choir, vocal & instrumental solos and groups, the music styles varying from early to modern.

Performing Arts Showcase featuring a new musical
The Snow Queen
music and lyrics written by Millais music teacher Karen Sampson, Glee performances directed by Anna Shields of Starling Arts and choreography by Royal Ballet School graduate Annie Dunkley.

and Thursday 16 June at 7.30 pm
The Dome Concert Hall, Church Street, Brighton
tickets: 01273 709709 (Dome box office)
or book on-line 24 hours

Marriage & the Law
a Gilbert & Sullivan extravaganza, including Trial by Jury.

Bring a picnic for the long interval !

Love and Fire
songs of passion and torment – featuring Monteverdi’s powerful Sestina cycle and the set of ravishing Fire Songs on Italian Renaissance poems by 20th century American composer Morten Lauridsen. With madrigals by Lassus, Gibbons and Morley.

an Adur Festival concert

Music Recital
with choir, vocal & instrumental solos and groups, the music styles varying from early to modern, with local guest artistes.

another performance in Seaford on 25 June

A West End Musical Spectacular
showcasing the versatility of the singers with a variety of well known music from well known musicals featured in London West End theatres. The show also includes passion and excitement from items regularly performed in the opera houses.

Summer concert
The programme mixes serene English pastoral music with exciting Russian drama, includingTchaikovsky's ever-popular 1812 Overture with its rarely heard choral ending, plus the opportunity to join in all the fun of our traditional "Proms" finale.

Handel     Theodora
This is Baroque Opera Live’s first production. Handel’s Theodora  was written as an oratorio but lends itself very well to dramatisation.  This slightly shortened version is approx 2 hours in length.

A West End Musical Spectacular
showcasing the versatility of the singers with a variety of well known music from well known musicals featured in London West End theatres. The show also includes passion and excitement from items regularly performed in the opera houses.

Summer concert
popular choral music from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Wagner     Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from the Glyndebourne Festival.  Glyndebourne’s first ever production of Wagner's warm-hearted Midsummer's Day comedy is a hymn to the transformative power of young love and natural talent to refresh tired traditions and remake the old world anew. Directed by David McVicar, fresh from completing his first Ring cycle, and conducted by the Glyndebourne Festival music director Vladimir Jurowski.

Music for a summer evening
a varied selection of choral music with Mozart's Symphony no.29 K.209 played by the orchestra.

For their return to Chichester Festivities, Cantabile will explore British music from the last 200 years, with composers ranging from Gilbert & Sullivan, Pearsall and Warlock, to Noel Gay, Lloyd Webber, The Beatles and many more. The group will be premièring 'scores' from their latest CD Songs of Cricket, all presented with their trademark brand of charm and humour.

Summer concert

Singin' in the Rain
vintage musical  based on the MGM film - Singin' in the Rain is the story of the first Hollywood musical, when the movie stars had to learn to talk, sing ... and dance.  The music score includes Good morning, good morning, Moses supposes and of course Singin' in the Rain.

Study Day on Sunday 8 May 10.30am to 4.30pm
Dr Ruth Smith will be exploring Handel’s first London opera with players from The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, members of the production team and singers.

Pre-performance talks in the Ebert Room:
2.45 pm on 17 July and 7 August

Georg Frideric Handel       Rinaldo
A new production for the 2011 Festival, directed by Robert Carsen and conducted by Ottavio Dantone, Rinaldo is the work with which Handel made his sensational London debut – and the first Italian opera specifically created for the British stage. The story is a wildly fantastical fictionalisation of the Christian ‘liberation’ of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. The première in 1711 boasted spectacular scenic effects ‘filled with Thunder and Lightning, Illuminations, and Fireworks’. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Music for a Summer Evening

90th birthday concert
Mendelssohn     Hymn of Praise
Favourite opera arias and choruses

Luke Bedford     Seven Angels
a first opera by UK young composer Luke Bedford, this is described as a moving and magical production which interprets the themes of Milton's Paradise Lost for a time facing the challenges of climate change. Seven angels fall through time and space to a desert and imagine the legendary garden that flourished there before its destruction through greed and neglect.

a programme including the
Fauré     Requiem

Merry Melancholy
– an evening of English lute song
the Elizabethan era was a "golden age" for the renaiissance lute. This recital features songwriters John Dowland and Thomas Campion, with a sprinkling of lute solos.

Gilbert & Sullivan     The Gondoliers
a light-hearted satire on class distinctions – the young bride of the heir to the throne of Barataria arrives in Venice for her husband, but the prince cannot be identified. Entrusted years ago to the care of a drunken gondolier, he cannot remember which is the prince and which his own son. The two young gondoliers must now jointly rule the kingdom until the prince's nurse can be brought to determine which of them is the rightful king.

Tranquillity
the concert will include Lennox Berkeley's Missa Brevis and works by Poulenc, Gombert, Pärt and Tallis.

Wagner     Wesendonck-Lieder
this concert explores the legacy of Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde. The Wesendonck Lieder borrow music from Acts 2 and 3 of the opera in a set of songs subtitled Studies on Tristan and Isolde.

The ensemble also plays Richard Strauss' tone poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Anton Webern's early composition Langsamer Satz and Mahler's Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony. The Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde conclude the programme.

Concert
Rock Choir includes individuals from all walks of life who come together weekly to rehearse in their community and enjoy singing contemporary songs.

Friday 15 July at 7.30 pm
St Nicholas Church, Dyke Road, Brighton
tickets: 01273 709709 (Dome box office)

Part of the Clifton Montpelier Powis Festival

Saturday 16 July at 7.30 pm St Michael & All Angels Church, Victoria Road, Brighton tickets: 01273 709709 (Dome box office)

Part of the Clifton Montpelier Powis Festival

Pre-performance talk in the Ebert Room at 2.35 pm on 14 August

Antonín Dvořák    Rusalka
A revival of the 2009 Festival production. In Dvorak's retelling of the story of The Little Mermaid, a water nymph's desperate longing to experience true love plunges her into life at a Prince's court, eventually at the cost of her own immortal soul. The opera is directed by Melly Still and conducted by Andrew Davis. Sung in Czech with English supertitles. 

Music for a Summer's Evening
A cappella music from Tallis to Billy Joel

Mozart     Don Giovanni
a performance of the opera recorded in high-definition at a Glyndebourne Festival performance this summer.  Compulsive philandering leads Don Giovanni on to brutal rape and murder. As the unrepentant Don continues to elude his earthly pursuers, other-worldly powers are forced to intervene, leading to a fire-and-brimstone climax that ranks among Mozart's most earth-shattering achievements.

Bach      Mass in B minor

Singin' in the Rain
vintage musical  based on the MGM film - Singin' in the Rain is the story of the first Hollywood musical, when the movie stars had to learn to talk, sing ... and dance.  The music score includes Good morning, good morning, Moses supposes and of course Singin' in the Rain.

Puccini     Tosca
in the Duke of York's Screen Arts festival here's another chance to see the powerfully moving and visually ravishing Met Opera staging of Puccini's tragic tale of the doomed heroine Tosca, her love for persecuted artist Cavaradossi and seduction by the ruthless Scarpia.

Verdi     Falstaff
in the Duke of York's Screen Arts festival here's another chance to see the Glyndebourne production of Verdi's last opera, based on Shakespeare's riotous comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Verdi     Nabucco
in the Duke of York's Screen Arts festival Juan Pons takes the title role in the epic story following the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted, conquered, and subsequently exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian King Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar).

Pre-performance talk in the Ebert Room at 3.40 pm on 28 August

Benjamin Britten    The Turn of the Screw
A remote English country house, an old and faithful housekeeper, two young orphan children and an eager new governess sent down from London to look after them. Britten’s compelling adaptation of Henry James’s novella takes its themes of childish innocence and adult corruption, then twists and turns them to disturbing and ultimately devastating effect. The opera is directed by Jonathan Kent and conducted by Jakub Hrůša.

Britten     The Turn of the Screw
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from the Glyndebourne Festival.  It is ‘a curious story’, the Prologue says. A remote English country house, a faithful housekeeper, two young orphan children and an eager new governess sent down from London to look after them. But in the seemingly sheltered world of Bly spirits from the past begin to invade the realm of the living. Britten’s compelling adaptation of the Henry James’ novella takes its themes of childish innocence and adult corruption, and follows them to disturbing and ultimately tragic effect.

Female Composers' project
an exploration of vocal and instrumental music written by female composers over the past two centuries, featuring soprano, flute, oboe, cello and piano. The programme includes music by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn alongside works by more recent composers Madeline Dring, Elizabeth Maconchy and Liza Lehmann. The concert includes a world première by composer Ruth Nathasha-Young.

Summer Concert
the programme includes:
John Rutter     Feel the Spirit
and folksongs and readings
in aid of Arundel Museum