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Verdi     Requiem

during the High Mass for Easter Day

Bach     St John Passion

Victoria     Requiem
this setting of the Requiem Mass was written in tribute to the memory of the Empress Maria.  The programme also includes music by Morales.

Mozart     Requiem
the concert is in aid of two local charities Leo House at Home and the Railway Land Wildlife Trust.

Oklahoma!
Set in the Indian territory now known as the state of Oklahoma in the early 1900s, this celebration of frontier life is a story of tender romance and dangerous passion. This first Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration, an Academy Award winner for best score, features classic songs Oh, what a beautiful mornin', The surrey with the fringe on top and People will say we're in love.

Victoria     Requiem
this setting of the Requiem Mass was written in tribute to the memory of the Empress Maria.  The programme also includes music by Morales.

Britten     A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare masterpiece returns in Benjamin Britten's opera. In a fairy-haunted wood, lovers’ knots are tangled, and strange dreams create monstrous romances. Only in an hilarious play performed by working men are all the opera’s tensions and enchantments eased.

Gilbert & Sullivan     The Mikado
a semi-staged performance to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of Gilbert & Sullivan's masterpiece.

Mozart     The Marriage of Figaro
a period costume production of one of the world’s most popular operas, based on Beaumarchais’ controversial play. The plot follows one day of intrigues at the house of Count Almaviva. Figaro is to marry Susanna, but he must overcome every obstacle put in his way by the Count and his cronies, before they can finally be united.

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

Rossini     Armida
a live performance of the opera relayed in high-definition direct from one of the world's greatest opera houses.  This mythical story of a sorceress who enthralls men in her island prison has inspired operatic settings by a multitude of composers, including Gluck, Haydn, and Dvořák. Renée Fleming stars in the title role of Rossini’s version, opposite no fewer than six tenors.

The Brighton City Singers, South London Choir and the West London Choir

Walls of Sound
an innovative concert premièring original choral music, performed by three choirs with over 200 voices.

Gilbert & Sullivan     H M S Pinafore
a cast of multi-talented singer/actors become crew, chorus and principals in a brilliantly fast and hilarious production of this famous comic operetta.

Donizetti     Don Pasquale
comedy with an Italian accent – Don Pasquale is a stubborn, competitive old batchelor who wants to procure a young wife. He seems set to steal from his nephew a beautiful, and apparently submissive, bride – but his clumsy wooing turns to painful woe when she reveals her own mind.

Britten      St Nicolas
a colourful cantata telling stories of the life and achievements - some real but mostly legendary - of Nicolas, the 4th century bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor.

Sweeney Todd
Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical thriller tells the tale of Sweeney Todd's quest for revenge against the corrupt Judge who stole his wife and daughter from him, relying on his peculiar partnership with Mrs Lovett, purveyor of meat pies.

Britten       Billy Budd
Staged here for the first time at Glyndebourne, Billy Budd is an all-male opera, with a libretto co-written by E M Forster. Based on Herman Melville’s allegorical tale about the battle between pure good and blind evil, the opera takes place on board a British man-o’-war during the Napoleanoic wars. The opera is directed by Michael Grandage and conducted by Mark Elder.

then Friday 21 May at 7.30 pm
The King Edward Hall, Lindfield
Saturday 22 May at 7.30 pm
Village Centre, Hurstpierpoint
Sunday 23 May at 6.00 pm
The Ralli Hall, Hove

next performances: 27-30 May Lewes, Uckfield, Plumpton Green and Hurstpierpoint

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 'band'.

Mozart       Così fan tutte
A painfully funny, sometimes wickedly cynical comedy in which two callow, and perhaps slightly callous, young lads take on a bet to seduce one another’s girlfriends. A revival of the 2006 Festival production, directed by Nicholas Hytner and conducted by Charles Mackerras. Sung in Italian with English supertitles

Land of hope and glory
an evening of classical favourites.

Annie get your gun
Sharpshooter Annie Oakley has a man in her sights when Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show comes to town. She quickly falls in love with the shooting star of the show, Frank Butler.  Famous songs in this classic musical include There's no business like showbusiness, Doin' what comes natur'lly and Anything you can do I can do better.

then Friday 28 May at 7.30 pm
Civic Centre, Uckfield
Saturday 29 May at 7.30 pm
East Dean Village Hall, East Dean
Sunday 30 May at 6 pm
Village Centre, Hurstpierpoint

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 'band'.

Beauty and the Beast
a family musical for school half term – it's a trip into the magical world of Disney, featuring Be our guest, A tale as old as time, Gaston, Home, If I can’t love her and the title song Beauty And the Beast.

Verdi       Macbeth
An operatic realisation of Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy. This revival of the 2007 Festival production is directed by Richard Jones and conducted by Vasily Petrenko. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Summer concert

music and lyrics by Jerry Herman
Mack & Mabel
a musical based on the real-life story of the great silent movie director Mack Sennet and one of the stars of his movies. It's 1911 and Mabel Normand wants to do serious drama, while Mack prefers to stick to comedy, so Mabel leaves him for another film director. But romantic affairs are never quite that straightforward... We get to meet other movie legends such as "Fatty" Arbuckle, The Keystone Cops and Frank Capra

Songs from the shows

Mozart       Don Giovanni
Mozart’s second collaboration with mercurial librettist Lorenzo da Ponte is among the very blackest of black comedies. This Glyndebourne's first new production of the opera in 10 years, directed by Jonathan Kent and conducted in turn by Vladimir Jurowski and Jakub Hruša. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Rossini      Petite Messe Solennelle

Humperdinck       Hänsel und Gretel
A fairy-tale story and magical mix of simple folk tunes and rich Wagnerian textures, Hänsel und Gretel appeals to both adults and children. With an underlying subtext of modern consumerism this revival of the 2008 Festival production is wittily directed by Laurent Pelly and conducted by Robin Ticciati.  Sung in German with English supertitles.

Stravinsky       The Rake's Progress
An opera inspired by William Hogarth’s famous cycle of satirical prints, with a libretto by W H Auden and Chester Kallman. Tom Rakewell signs a Faustian pact with the devil, swaps the simple country life and a devoted sweetheart for the vain pursuit of big-city bonuses and increasingly exotic pleasures and ends up bankrupt and insane in Bedlam. This is a revival of the classic 1975 Festival production by John Cox,  conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, and with designs by David Hockney.

The Boyan Ensemble of Kiev
sacred chants and songs of Ukraine
the Boyan has been described as "one of the finest male vocal ensembles of its time".

Brahms     Requiem

Mahler      Symphony no.8

organisers may find it useful to review the event pattern for the whole year 2009

you can also see the archive of events
in 2008,  2007,  2006 or 2005

(NB: these archives are long files - 500+ kb each)