2022 Annual Review

2022 REVIEW

Cover: Orfeo 2022 Inside Cover: Camilla Harris & Seán Boylan (Così fan tutte 2022) Photo Credits: Julian Guidera, Craig Fuller, Clive Barda, Alice Pennefather

OUR AIMS ENRICH the lives of audiences and participants

PRODUCE

theatrically compelling productions with the highest artistic standard

EXPAND appreciation of opera through participation and digital work

DISCOVER and nurture the best young performing talent

PROVIDE an exceptional experience for members and audiences at Wormsley

BUILD ON financial stability to support future productions and infrastructure

ORFEO Claudio Monteverdi

COSÌ FAN TUTTE

RPS Award Best Opera Nominee

Conductor: Tobias Ringborg Director: John Cox

Conductor: Laurence Cummings Director: John Caird

RUSALKA Antonín Dvořák

Conductor: Douglas Boyd Director: Jack Furness

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

THE TURN OF THE SCREW Benjamin Britten

Conductor: Mark Wigglesworth Director: Louisa Muller

ARTISTIC REVIEW The exceptional artistic quality of the 2022 festival was acclaimed and appreciated by our members, audiences and the media. This was achieved despite the continuing challenges of the ongoing pandemic.

Alongside our four professional productions, we were delighted to showcase the work of our creative learning programme with our newly commissioned community opera, Dalia.

Following the season at Wormsley we made our debut at the Edinburgh International Festival when our Rusalka (italics) production transferred for 3 performances, and was recieved with a rare standing ovation.

“Sometimes everything comes right in the theatre.

You know it when it happens, and Garsington Opera’s Orfeo is such a moment” The Guardian “Those of us already inclined to think of Così fan tutte as something like the perfect opera will find every confirmation here” The Arts Desk “This [Rusalka] is as good as opera gets, on a par with anything you’d experience in a major international house’ The Spectator “[The Turn of the Screw is] a powerful and brilliantly performed take on Britten’s opera of dark, ghostly suggestion”.

The Stage “Dalia: tackling the refugee crisis and cricket, this community opera knocks them for six.”

The Telegraph

DALIA Roxana Panufnik

Conductor: Douglas Boyd Director: Karen Gillingham

LEARNING & PARTICIPATION Our year-round programme of learning and participation projects aim to open the world of opera to as many different people as possible, enabling them to discover and give voice to their creative potential.

It has long been acknowledged that art is beneficial to well-being and social cohesion. It helps us make sense of the world around us. In opera, we not only hear, but use our voices to be heard, to tell stories and create other worlds.

These aims were beautifully realised in our 2022 community production, Dalia, a new commission by composer Roxanna Panufnik, librettist Jessica Duchen and director Karen Gillingham. Cocreated and performed by 240 community and professional participants, this story of a young refugee girl was also devised with two international groups who joined the performance digitally, Amwaj Choir (Bethlehem and Hebron) and Al Farah Choir (Damascus).

We were immensely proud that Dalia was the winner of Excellence in Music Theatre Award at the Music and Drama Education Awards.

Dalia 2022

2022 Award Winners: John Findon, Polly Leech, Ella de Jongh, and Frazer Scott

ALVAREZ YOUNG ARTISTS’ PROGRAMME “Garsington has provided me with some of my most memorable and rewarding career moments so far. This wouldn’t happen without the incredible support, guidance and nurturing of everyone at the company who I now look upon as friends.”

Jennifer France, Alvarez Young Artists Alumni

The nurture and encouragement of professional young singers is proudly championed by Garsington Opera through the Alvarez Young Artists’ Programme.

Each season we work closely with Conservatoires in the UK and further afield to select and showcase the finest young performing talent.

In 2022, 39 talented young artists were selected from 475 applicants to form the Garsington Opera Chorus. In addition 75% were given opportunities to understudy principal roles or given small roles to perform, and some took on major roles in Orfeo.

The whole understudy cast of Alvarez Young Artists, accompanied by The English Concert, performed Cosi fan tutte to an audience of excited primary and secondary school children who had taken part in introductory OperaFirst workshops.

2022 Award Winners Each year, in honour of our founder, Leonard Ingrams, and two former colleagues, Helen Clarke and Simon Sandbach, we make financial awards to exceptional artists and colleagues who have excelled during the season.

Leonard Ingrams Award John Findon (Gamekeeper and cover Prince in Rusalka) Polly Leech (Dorabella in Così fan tutte) Helen Clarke Award Frazer Scott (Caronte and Ensemble in Orfeo) Simon Sandbach Award Ella de Jongh (cover Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw; cover Foreign Princess and Chorus in Rusalka)

GARSINGTON STUDIOS Throughout 2022, contractors Conamar have continued to construct Garsington’s most significant investment for the future. The commitment of many generous donors has made it possible to proceed with confidence towards this ambitious, sustainable and innovative project.

It is wonderful to see the Studios develop in reality at Wormsley, realised from many years of dreaming and planning with award-winning local architects Nicholas Brown Webber.

The Studios will bring the many strands of Garsington’s creative life together in a single stunning location. The 5,000m2 facility will house professional and flexible rehearsal studios which replicate the Garsington stage, training and practice rooms as well as a café, offices and communal spaces. The development is also hugely significant for the region contributing much needed purpose-built facilities for use by the sector and the local community.

G A RS I N G T O N O P E RA H E LP US BU I LD OU R V ISION

Core to Garsington’s mission is to create a meaningful context in which children and young people may experience music, opera and performance. The Studios greatly expand the opportunity for connection with diverse audiences both locally and nationally.

We look forward to receiving the keys to the Studios in the near future.

FINANCIAL REVIEW 2022 Income (£’000)

642

2022 Expenditure (£’000)

125

151

256

330

102 191

457 3,202

1,926 5,110

INCOME SOURCE Box Office - Tickets & Donations Fundraising & Membership Other Pandemic Support Learning & Participation Donations Corporate Sponsorship Restaurant, Shop & Other Sales Legacy Donations Other Total Income

2022 Final (£’000) 2021 Final (£’000) 2020 Final (£’000) 3,202 2,463 100 1,926 2,075 1,929 1,019 457 240 162 151 157 309 642 522 24 125 112 94 6,503 6,588 2,618

EXPENDITURE Opera Production Learning & Participation Shop & Other Sales Overheads & Irrecoverable VAT Filming & Digital Total Expenditure

5,110 256 330 191 102 5,989

5,402 298 178 204 58 6,140

2,074 275 27 216 57 2,649

Depreciation Other income*

(410) 782

-408 840

(406) 117

886

880

(320)

Surplus/Deficit (see Reserves Policy) excludes restricted capital donations & expenditure † *Includes investment gain/loss, tax relief

† Arts Hub Donations (Capital Project) and Leonard Ingrams Restricetd Fund Excluded

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK “Thank you for the most wonderful season of opera. We have had a spectacular time and Garsington has been, as ever, spot on. We can criticise nothing, enjoyed everything. A tribute to absolutely everyone.”

“We had a fantastic evening. Everything was 5*. Please don’t change anything. The setting, ambience, food offering and of course music was the best.”

“Orfeo is probably one of the most extraordinary performances we have seen in our long life as opera lovers. Thank you for an unforgettable evening.”

“Absolutely wonderful again!!! Musical and artistic standards are so high.”

“It was the most perfect evening bathed in the glorious weather. Starting with the walled garden, immaculate as always, to the stunning performance of Così. All of this set in the epitome of Britishness. Congratulations to all involved.”

“I loved my visit to Garsington. Thrilled to see one of my favourite operas, Monteverdi’s Orfeo, I found the production thoughtful, inventive, beautifully played and sung and the post-curtain encore madrigal was a touch of genius and had me in tears. It was stunning and I’m so glad I came.”

“Probably the best evening we have ever had at Garsington. Can you beat it next year?”

Orfeo 2022

AUDIENCE REACH 2022 marked the first full year back post-lockdown where we could welcome full-capacity audiences to our pavilion. Three new productions and a popular revival plus a fifth community opera were presented in 2022 alongside our partners the Philharmonia Orchestra and The English Concert.

Meanwhile, through our partnership with OperaVision, new and global audiences were able to share in our highly-acclaimed production of Orfeo online. Garsington Opera’s digital creative learning work continued as a legacy of our lockdown work with the GO Create series offering practical workshops to explore our productions.

In Person

Performances Learning & Participation (Audiences & Participants) Insight Sessions TOTAL

19,550 2,446 199 22,195

Online

OperaVision Video Content Views (YouTube Only) Website TOTAL

33,830 159,226 N/A 193,056

Board of Trustees

Advisory Council

Bernard Taylor CBE DL (Chairman) Miranda Curtis CMG (Deputy Chair) Dr John Drysdale Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood CBE Nigel Higgins Catherine Ingrams Neil King QC Iain Mackinnon Lady Marks David Suratgar

Bernard Taylor CBE DL (Chairman) The Hon Mrs Susan Baring OBE Dr Margaret Bent CBE FBA Dame Hilary Boulding DBE Dominic Burke Annette Campbell-White Sir Stuart Hampson Diana Hiddleston Peter Maniura

Helena Dix (The Turn of the Screw 2022) Back Cover: Natalya Romaniw and Sky Ingram (Rusalka 2022)

Registered Charity No. 1003042 www.garsingtonopera.org