ABOUT US

Midsummer Opera
- past, present and future

  • Past, present and future

  • Midsummer Opera was founded in 1985, and its repertoire encompasses much baroque and classical as well as romantic and modern opera. The company has toured throughout the UK (Brighton Festival; Holland Park Festival; Edinburgh Festival Theatre; Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon; Lyric, Hammersmith; Donmar Warehouse, London; Polesden Lacey; Grand Theatre, Blackpool), Europe (Tours; Halle; Luxembourg), and has visited the Bermuda Festival three times.
  • Since 2000 the company is now under the sole artistic control of David Roblou. The relaunch was marked by a stunningly successful performance of Rossini's revolutionary La Donna del Lago, (based on a Walter Scott work, The Lady of the Lake) at St. John's, Smith Square, London.
  • Current staged repertoire includes Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, (sung in English, directed by John Upperton and designed by Roy Bell); Dido and Aeneas first perforned at 2003 Spitalfields Festival;  Carmen with the WEM7, Carnoules, Provence; Werther WEM9; Sorbet! Sorbet! (world première, music by Simon Milton and Véronique Souberbielle) WEM11.
  • 2003 saw the launch of a four-year Midsummer Opera Concert Series, CLICK HERE for past concerts developing a house style through non-operatic repertoire.
  • In 2007 we made a dramatic return to opera with concert performances of Puccini's Turandot. The first two sell-out performances were in St John's Waterloo, our regular venue; as a result of this success we were invited to repeat it at the Broadway Theatre, Catford. This revival of Turandot marked the first time opera has been perforned in this wonderful art-deco venue in south east London.
  • Our five-year plan: continue concert performances of operas, including lesser-performed pieces. We begin with Bellini's Norma (April 18 and 19 in Waterloo and April 20 in Catford). We continue with Verdi's Aïda (October 25 and 26 in Waterloo and November 8 in Catford) and Rossini's Guillaume Tell (early 2009).
  • Other projected operas include, Mozart: Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito; Donizetti's Tudor Operas: Anna Bolena, Il Castello di Kenilworth, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux; Boito: Mefistofele; Verdi: Don Carlos and Otello; Puccini: Suor Angelica and La Fanciulla del West.

 
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