Concert programme - May 2023

2023 Concert Season Concert Programme

with BCMCS Choral and The BMS Singers

The Victoria Hall

Saturday 13th May 2023 7:30pm

Ben Crick Leader Anita Levy

Conductor

Welcome to this evening’s concert!

Hola, and welcome to our concert performance of Bizet’s wonderful opera, Carmen!

As you prepare to be transported from the beautiful surroundings of the Victoria Hall, Bolton to the heat of Seville and Andalusia, we invite you to peruse the stage before you. Somehow space has been created to fit in ten soloists, the choirs of BCMCS and The BMS Singers alongside the symphony orchestra, which gives you some idea of the scale of this production. Many of you will be looking forward to the well-known songs from the opera, and whilst the Habanera and Toreador’s Song are stunning, the opera is packed with many other memorable melodies. You may well spot tunes that you didn’t even know were from Carmen. We hope that you enjoy those that you already know, and are excited by hearing all the parts of the opera which are lesser-known. So sit back and prepare to be transported to sunny España and this intense, yet tragic, love story.

A word of thanks must go to the many people who have made this evening’s performance possible. As well as all those visible on stage (the soloists, the choirs of BCMCS and The BMS Singers, the Orchestra and our conductor Ben Crick), a huge thank you to all those who are not performing but have played a key role in ensuring the success of tonight’s performance. Special thanks therefore to Carolyn Baxendale for directing the choirs, Jeanette Winstanley from BCMCS, various people on the committees of BSO, BCMCS and The BMS Singers for their efforts. Not forgetting our hosts, The Victoria Hall, for making us all feel so welcome.

Whether you are a seasoned opera-goer, or new to this genre, we hope you enjoy being swept away to the sunshine of Seville into the world of Carmen.

Nikki Lord Orchestra Manager

PROGRAMME

Georges Bizet Carmen featuring Carmen Georgina Rosanna Crowe

Don José Michael Jones

Escamillo Carlo Asuni

Micaëla Helen Latham with BCMCS Choral and The BMS Singers

Future BSO concerts at The Victoria Hall

Saturday 1st July at 7:30pm The Road Home

Saturday 23rd September at 7:30pm A Distant Home

Saturday 25th November at 7:30pm England Four Ways

www.boltonsymphony.org.uk

Our Conductor Ben Crick

Ben is a Yorkshire born and based orchestral conductor and composer with 20 years’ experience working in the music industry. He loves collaboration with other art forms, be it ballet, films or computer games, and is inspired by a firm belief that music can tell stories as eloquently as any art that humankind has created. He has held a BBC Music Fellowship and worked with orchestras throughout the UK and Europe, conducting such performers as Lesley Garrett, Tasmin Little, Jennifer Pike, Sir Willard White, Peter Donohoe, Raphael Wallfisch, Aled Jones and Dame Emma Kirkby. He believes in getting as many people to engage with music so, as Artistic Director of Skipton Building Society Camerata, he has given performances in pubs, shopping centres and train stations, as well as more traditional venues. Recent conducting projects have included conducting a side-by-side scheme between the Orchestra of Opera North and Leeds Conservatoire, performances with Grimethorpe Collery Band, an appointment as the Artistic Director of the newly reformed Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra and composing and performing an orchestral score to accompany a grime theatre piece A Tale of Two Estates. His compositions and arrangements have been performed at major concert venues and festivals throughout the UK. He has written music for adverts, animation and film, including recently the music for Belgium’s Red Nose Day adverts and a perfume advert for the Versace company. He has recently collaborated with the poet Ian McMillan and has written an oratorio based around traditional Yorkshire carols, which has numerous performances planned for Christmas 2023 and a recording to be released in December.

Believing passionately in music education for all, Ben is consultant conductor of York Youth Orchestra and a trustee of The Friends of Bradford Music Services, a charity committed to extending accessibility of local music lessons. He is conducting tutor at the University of Huddersfield, staff conductor at the Leeds Conservatoire, has written for BBC Music Magazine, Opera Now and Early Music Today, translated 3 operas and has been a guest contributor for BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4.

Outside of music he’s into climbing, caving, fell running, rugby league and being a dad who ropes his son into the aforementioned activities.

Our Leader Anita Levy

Growing up in Liverpool, Anita Levy enjoyed a busy schedule of orchestral and chamber playing that eventually culminated in a period as Leader of Merseyside Youth Orchestra before going on to study under Benedict Holland at the Royal Northern College of Music. Following her time at the RNCM. Anita continued her tutelage under the watchful eye of Peter Maslin, Co-Leader of Opera North. Since graduating in 1999, Anita has pursued an extensive career as both a freelance and contract orchestral violinist performing regularly with orchestras including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Ballet Theatre Orchestra, the Halle, and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to her extensive orchestral experience, Anita performs regularly with a number of chamber music ensembles and combines her performance schedule with a busy private teaching practice.

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The Chorus

BCMCS Choral

BCMCS Choral Section has been an integral part of BCMCS since its formation in 1973. The choir has built up an excellent reputation in Bolton for performances of many classic choral works. These include Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Handel’s Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem.

The society has a great working relationship with other choirs, orchestras and musical ensembles, having performed with Bolton Symphony Orchestra, Corus Brass, Bolton Choral Union, and The Brixi Singers. In 2018, the choir received Arts Council funding for a performance of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, in collaboration with Blackburn Choral Society and Bolton Symphony Orchestra. In 2019 BCMCS Choral performed with the Festival Orchestra at the RNCM. The Musical Director for this performance is Carolyn Baxendale.

The BMS Singers

The BMS Singers are the adult choir of Bolton Music Service which is the lead organisation for the Greater Manchester Music Hub. The choir has been singing under the direction of Jane Hampson for over 30 years and is accompanied by Matthew Lau. It enjoys a busy and varied concert schedule in concert halls, churches and cathedrals and also sings at evening dinners and weddings. The BMS Singers have previously toured in Europe a number of times and were delighted to visit Bratislava in March 2018 where they also performed in Vienna. The choir enjoys collaborating with other musicians and in 2022 performed with Corus Brass and Besses o’ th’ Barn Band . The singers are delighted to be performing with the BSO again this season following Carmina Burana and Bruckner’s 150th Psalm last year. They will close the summer term on 15 July with a celebration concert in Deane Church, Bolton, and are looking forward to welcoming Kaleidoscope from Sussex in October for a fundraising concert on behalf of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust at Bolton Parish Church. For further information please contact Jane Hampson: jane.hampson1@gmail.com

Carmen

Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875)

Carmen is an opera in four acts. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalised its first audiences. Bizet died suddenly after the 33rd performance, unaware that the work would achieve international acclaim within the following ten years. Carmen has since become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical canon; the Habanera from Act 1 and the Toreador Song from Act 2 are among the best known of all operatic arias.

The opera is written in the genre of opéra comique with musical numbers separated by dialogue. It is set in southern Spain and tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery gypsy Carmen. José abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts from his military duties, yet loses Carmen’s love to the glamorous torero Escamillo, after which José kills her in a jealous rage. The depictions of proletarian life, immorality, and lawlessness, and the tragic death of the main character on stage, broke new ground in French opera and were highly controversial. After the premiere, most reviews were critical, and the French public was generally indifferent. Carmen initially gained its reputation through a series of productions outside France, and was not revived in Paris until 1883. Thereafter, it rapidly acquired popularity at home and abroad. Later commentators have asserted that Carmen forms the bridge between the tradition of opéra comique and the realism or verismo that characterised late 19th-century Italian opera. The music of Carmen has since been widely acclaimed for brilliance of melody, harmony, atmosphere, and orchestration, and for the skill with which Bizet musically represented the emotions and suffering of his characters. After the composer's death, the score was subject to significant amendment, including the introduction of recitative in place of the original dialogue; there is no standard edition of the opera, and different views exist as to what versions best express Bizet's intentions. The opera has been recorded many times since the first acoustical recording in 1908, and the story has been the subject of many screen and stage adaptations.

Carmen Synopsis

Act I

A square, in Seville. On the right, a door to the tobacco factory. At the back, a bridge. On the left, a guardhouse.

A group of soldiers relax in the square, waiting for the changing of the guard and commenting on the passers-by. Micaëla appears, seeking José. Moralès tells her that “José is not yet on duty” and invites her to wait with them. She declines, saying she will return later. José arrives with the new guard, who is greeted and imitated by a crowd of urchins.

As the factory bell rings, the cigarette girls emerge and exchange banter with young men in the crowd. Carmen enters and sings her provocative habanera on the untameable nature of love. The men plead with her to choose a lover, and after some teasing she throws a flower to Don José, who thus far has been ignoring her but is now annoyed by her insolence.

As the women go back to the factory, Micaëla returns and gives José a letter and a kiss from his mother. He reads that his mother wants him to return home and marry Micaëla, who retreats in shy embarrassment on learning this. Just as José declares that he is ready to heed his mother’s wishes, the women stream from the factory in great agitation. Zuniga, the officer of the guard, learns that Carmen has attacked a woman with a knife. When challenged, Carmen answers with mocking defiance; Zuniga orders José to tie her hands while he prepares the prison warrant. Left alone with José, Carmen beguiles him with a seguidilla, in which she sings of a night of dancing and passion with her lover—whoever that may be—in Lillas Pastia’s tavern. Confused yet mesmerised, José agrees to free her hands; as she is led away she pushes her escort to the ground and runs off laughing. José is arrested for dereliction of duty.

Act II

Lillas Pastia’s Inn

Two months have passed. Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès are entertaining Zuniga and other officers in Pastia’s inn. Carmen is delighted to learn of José’s release from two months’ detention. Outside, a chorus and procession announces the arrival of the toreador Escamillo. Invited inside, he introduces himself with the Toreador Song and sets his sights on Carmen, who brushes him aside. Lillas Pastia hustles the crowds and the soldiers away.

When only Carmen, Frasquita and Mercédès remain, smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado arrive and reveal their plans to dispose of some recently acquired contraband. Frasquita and Mercédès are keen to help them, but Carmen refuses, since

she wishes to wait for José. After the smugglers leave, José arrives. Carmen treats him to a private exotic dance, but her song is joined by a distant bugle call from the barracks. When José says he must return to duty, she mocks him, and he answers by showing her the flower that she threw to him in the square. Unconvinced, Carmen demands he show his love by leaving with her. José refuses to desert, but as he prepares to depart, Zuniga enters looking for Carmen. He and José fight. Carmen summons her gypsy comrades, who restrain Zuniga. Having attacked a superior officer, José now has no choice but to join Carmen and the smugglers.

Act III

A wild spot in the mountains

Carmen and José enter with the smugglers and their booty. Carmen has now become bored with José and tells him scornfully that he should go back to his mother. Frasquita and Mercédès amuse themselves by reading their fortunes from the cards. Carmen joins them and finds that the cards are foretelling her death, and José’s. The smugglers depart to transport their goods while the women distract the local customs officers. José is left behind on guard duty.

Micaëla enters with a guide, seeking José and determined to rescue him from Carmen. On hearing a gunshot she hides in fear; it is José, who has fired at an intruder who proves to be Escamillo. José’s pleasure at meeting the bullfighter turns to anger when Escamillo declares his infatuation with Carmen. The pair fight , but are interrupted by the returning smugglers and girls. As Escamillo leaves he invites everyone to his next bullfight in Seville. Micaëla is discovered; at first, José will not leave with her despite Carmen’s mockery, but he agrees to go when told that his mother is dying. He departs, vowing he will return. Escamillo is heard in the distance, singing the toreador’s song.

Act IV

A square in Seville. At the back, the walls of an ancient amphitheatre

Zuniga, Frasquita and Mercédès are among the crowd awaiting the arrival of the bullfighters. Escamillo enters with Carmen, and they express their mutual love . As Escamillo goes into the arena, Frasquita and Mercédès warn Carmen that José is nearby, but Carmen is unafraid and willing to speak to him. Alone, she is confronted by the desperate José. While he pleads vainly for her to return to him, cheers are heard from the arena. As José makes his last entreaty, Carmen contemptuously throws down the ring he gave her and attempts to enter the arena. He then stabs her, and as Escamillo is acclaimed by the crowds, Carmen dies. José kneels and sings “Ah! Carmen! ma Carmen adorée!”. As the crowd exits the arena, José confesses to killing Carmen.

Musical Numbers

ACT I

1 - Prelude (Orchestra)

2 - Chorus of Soldiers and Scene (Morales and Micaëla)

3 - Chorus of Men and Cigarette-Girls

4 - Habanera (Carmen) and Chorus

5 - Duet (Don José and Micaëla)

6 - Chorus of Cigar-Girls and Scene

7 - Seguidilla and Duet (Don José and Carmen)

8 - Finale

ACT II

9 - Entr’acte

10 - Gypsy Air and Dance (Carmen, with Frasquita and Mercédès)

11 - Scene and Chorus

12 - Toreador’s Song (Escamillo)

13 - Quintet (Dancaïre, Remendado, Carmen, Frasquita and Mercédès)

14 - Canzonet (Don José)

15 - Duet (Don José and Carmen)

16 - Flower Song (Don José)

17 - Finale

ACT III

18 - Entr’acte

INTERVAL

ACT IV

25 - Entr’acte

19 - Smugglers’ Chorus and Sextet

20 - Card Trio (Carmen, Frasquita and Mercédès)

21 - Quintet and Chorus

22 - Air (Micaëla)

23 - Duet (Don José and Escamillo)

24 - Finale

26 - Chorus of Street Vendors

27 - March (Procession to the bull fight) and Chorus

28 - Duet and Finale

Principal Characters

Carmen Georgina Rosanna Crowe

British/Irish Soprano Georgina Rosanna Crowe is from Manchester and has lived in Bolton since 2014 She began her training as a student at the Junior School at the Royal Northern College of Music before moving to London where she studied the Double Bass at the Royal Academy of Music. She then went on to study Voice at Birkbeck College, London and Trinity College of Music.

Since graduating from Trinity in 2009, she has had a varied career travelling the world singing on cruise ships and in theatres with opera companies including Grange Park Opera, Preston Opera and Pavilion Opera. Since settling in the North West in 2013, Georgina has worked locally - co-founding Outreach Opera with soprano Helen Latham. They have established a reputation for their original approach to performing opera and the audiences they attract all over the North West of England.

Future engagements for 2023 include: Festa Italia at Lancaster Priory in May, Last Night of the Proms at Astley Hall and Hoghton Tower in August and later on in the year, Carols by Candlelight at Lancaster’s Ashton Memorial – all with Outreach Opera.

Outside of singing, Georgina lives in Bolton with her husband Johnny. She loves nothing better than walking, wild swimming and wild camping in the hills and fells of the West Pennine Moors and Lake District with her Jack Russell, Millie. She blogs about her adventures at www.singeronthefells.com. She is also an academic music teacher and singing teacher at Cheadle Hulme School in Stockport where she directs the lower school choir, Prima Voce. As well as teaching music in school, Georgina also volunteers for the school’s Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Principal Characters

Don José Michael Jones

Manchester born tenor Michael Vincent Jones completed his Bms, MMus, and PGDip at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Mary Plazas, which was kindly supported by the Richard Newitt Fund. In 2018 Michael played the role of Dieter in the world premier of Adam Gorb’s The Path to Heaven and performed the role of Lurcher in Cellier’s Dorothy on a recording with Victorian Opera under the baton of Richard Bonynge. He has performed with the National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company for three seasons; appearing as Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore, and covering the roles of Frederic in Pirates of Penzance, Nanki-poo in The Mikado, and Lord Tolloller in Iolanthe, as well as performing as part of the chorus.

He is a 2016 Iford Arts New Generation Artist and was a member of the Opera North Shadowing scheme, which saw him shadow the role of Don Ottavio for their 2018 production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In 2019 Michael premiered the role of Hephaestus in Tim Benjamin's The Fire of Olympus with Radius Opera, he also covered the role of First Priest/Judge of the dead in a brand new production of Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus with English National Opera. In December 2019 Michael appeared in Northern Opera Group's Christmas production of Pfitzner's The Christmas Elf and performed the role of Squire in their 2020 production of Thomas Arne’s Thomas and Sally. In 2021 he appeared as Dr. Parkins in Mander’s Whistle and I’ll come to you my lad, and Tenor in Verelst’s Crocodile as part of Hull Urban Opera’s Bumps in the Night.

Michael has previously performed Don José with Preston Opera, and is looking forward to revisiting the role this evening.

Principal Characters

Escamillo Carlo Asuni

Carlo was born in Oristano, Italy. As a child, he devoted himself to the guitar and to pop music singing and competed in various singing competitions, winning the first prize in the regional selection for children called “zecchino d’oro”.

Carlo won the first prize for his song Notte e giorno in the “Musicamore” online web contest and, the following year, won the same contest as an opera singer, playing the role of Figaro!

After classical high school, Carlo gained a master’s degree in classical double bass at Sassari’s Conservatory.

Carlo has studied with great musicians on the world scene, including Rinat Ibragimov, Colin Paris, Catalin Rotaru. He obtained a master’s degree with honours in opera singing at the Cagliari’s conservatory and played double bass with professional orchestras including the Sassari’s Conservatory Orchestra and the Orchestra of Sardinia.

As a singer, he has collaborated with the important baritone Angelo Romero who has been Carlo’s maestro from 2010 to 2015. Carlo had his debut in Cagliari in the opera Cosi fan tutte by Mozart singing the role of Guglielmo. He has subsequently performed a number significant operatic roles in Sardinia and Italy, including Slook in Rossini’s la Cambiale di matrimonio, Giorgio Germont from Verdi’s La traviata, Figaro from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Signor

Geronimo from Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, Leporello from Mozart’s Don giovanni, Ottone from Monteverdi’s The coronation of Poppea, Uberto from Pergolesi’s La serva padrona, and Mill from Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio.

Carlo has taught singing , double bass and music education in public and private schools and has also directed choirs. He currently teaches singing at Booth’s Music School in Bolton.

Principal Characters

Micaëla Helen Latham

Helen Latham, a soprano from Lancashire, completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Vocal and Operatic Studies at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire before studying with dramatic soprano, Jane Irwin.

Helen has performed roles including MicaëlaCarmen, Gilda -Rigoletto, Mimi - La Bohème, Zerlina - Don Giovanni, Adele - Die Fledermaus, Gretel - Hansel and Gretel and Frasquita - Carmen.

Whilst studying, roles in the RBC opera scenes included Miss Jessel - Turn of the Screw, Anne Truelove - The Rake’s Progress, Mimi - La Bohème and Fox Cub - The Cunning Little Vixen.

In concert, Helen has performed Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Mariazeller Messe, the Bach Magnificat, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.

As well as being choral director of both Hoghton In Harmony choir and Lancaster Girls Grammar School Senior Choir, Helen has enjoyed a varied path as a vocal animateur and community facilitator, working on projects with Welsh National Opera, Streetwise Opera and Outreach Opera. As a founding member of Outreach Opera, Helen strives to create accessible opera, working alongside local organisations to create musical experiences which positively impact the community.

Supporting Characters

Frasquita Clare Unsworth

Dancaïre John Piper

Remendado Tom Campbell

Mercédès Louisa Watson

Moralès Chris Elliott

Zuniga Maurice Rushby

FORTHCOMING PRODUCTIONS

The BMS Singers—Forthcoming Concerts

Saturday 16 July 2023 at 7:00pm

A Celebration Concert

Deane Church, Bolton

Saturday 21 October 2023 at 7:00pm

Three Choirs in Concert for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust featuring The BMS Singers, Kaleidoscope Singers (from Steyning, West Sussex) and Tonge with the Haulgh Community Choir

Bolton Parish Church

Sunday 3 December 2023 at 3:00pm Carols and Brass

with The BMS Singers and Corus Brass Ensemble

Deane Church

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are immensely grateful to The Provincial Walsh Trust for its generous financial support to many of our concerts.

Our thanks also go to Booths Music and Bolton FM for helping to publicise our concerts, and to Fitchett’s Photography in collaboration with PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide for providing us with lovely photographs that remain © Fitchett’s Photography

The Orchestra is very grateful to the Friends of Bolton Symphony Orchestra. The Friends offer practical and financial support, and, in return, they receive a range of benefits including priority booking and access to rehearsals and social events.

The Friends have provided financial support to the orchestra in many ways, including sponsoring soloists, contributing towards the CD recording and supporting the purchase of our timpani. The Friends are pleased and proud to support such a fine orchestra and contribute to its continuing success.

Members of BSO have developed close ties with the Friends, and we welcome them to come along and see how the Orchestra works. We regularly put on private concerts for them, and these are always convivial events greatly enjoyed by both Friends and performers alike.

The annual Friends subscription is just £15, and they very much welcome new members. So if you are looking for a new social group and would like to give the Orchestra further support, then please make contact at the Friends table tonight, email Christine Deacon (friends@boltonsymphony.org.uk) or use the contact form on our website.

FRIENDS

Mr & Mrs D Astley

Mrs G Aston

Mr & Mrs J Ball

Mr R Berry

Mr & Mrs P Bissell

Mrs J Bradbury

Mr & Mrs P Blackburn

Mr M Bloomfield

Mr & Mrs D Bradley

Rev Anne Cash

Mrs P Catterall

Mr & Mrs R Chapman

Mrs C Collins

Mrs C Deacon

Lord Brian De-Mullet

Mr & Mrs D Farrimond

Mr & Mrs L Fisher

Mrs T Flynn

Mrs J Gerrard

Mr D Graham

Mrs A Hamlett

Mr & Mrs P Hall

Mr M Haslam

Mrs J Howarth

Mrs M Ivill

Mr P Jasiek

Mr & Mrs J Jeavons

Mr & Mrs P Kearney

Mrs S Massey

Mr & Mrs W McGarel

Mr D Morlidge

Mrs C Neighbout

Mr & Mrs K Oldfield

Prof & Mrs R Oxtoby

Mrs K Robson (in memory of Andrew Morley)

MrsJ Robinson

Mrs P Rogers

Mrs S Massey

Mrs J Silvestor

Mr & Mrs D Tomlinson

Mr & Mrs P Tonge

Mr D Walker

Mrs A Welsby

Mr, V Williams

Mrs J Winstanley

Mr J Wright