Grange Park Opera 2005 Programme

4:14 PM

Page 1

2005

2005

3/22/05

Hotel du Vin & Bistro

supporting Grange Park Opera 2005

g r a n g e pa r k ope r a

Hdv/GrangeAd

grange park opera

CONTENTS

2 4 8 10 16 18 20 22 24 25 26 27

Patron’s Foreword Appeal donors Corporate support & The Glass Ceiling Society Annual donors The Stables at Nevill Holt Pimlico Opera in Prison The Chairman’s Reminiscences Seven Years of Operas 1998 - 2004 Founding donors Gerry Acher’s Questionnaire The Company Advertisers

92

Don Giovanni Maria Stuarda The Elixir of Love South Pacific

104 118 119

Artists’ Biographies Crossword Membership Form

62 72 84

opposite and cover (detail): The Silver Casket by William Nicholson (1872 - 1949) private collection © Elizabeth Banks

Grange Park Opera, 12 St Thomas Street, Winchester so23 9hf tel: 01962 86 86 00 info@grangeparkopera.co.uk www.grangeparkopera.co.uk

4:14 PM

Page 1

2005

2005

3/22/05

Hotel du Vin & Bistro

supporting Grange Park Opera 2005

g r a n g e pa r k ope r a

Hdv/GrangeAd

grange park opera

CONTENTS

2 4 8 10 16 18 20 22 24 25 26 27

Patron’s Foreword Appeal donors Corporate support & The Glass Ceiling Society Annual donors The Stables at Nevill Holt Pimlico Opera in Prison The Chairman’s Reminiscences Seven Years of Operas 1998 - 2004 Founding donors Gerry Acher’s Questionnaire The Company Advertisers

92

Don Giovanni Maria Stuarda The Elixir of Love South Pacific

104 118 119

Artists’ Biographies Crossword Membership Form

62 72 84

opposite and cover (detail): The Silver Casket by William Nicholson (1872 - 1949) private collection © Elizabeth Banks

Grange Park Opera, 12 St Thomas Street, Winchester so23 9hf tel: 01962 86 86 00 info@grangeparkopera.co.uk www.grangeparkopera.co.uk

6 June – 17 July 2005 The 8th Festival at The Grange, Hampshire ‡ The 3rd Festival at Nevill Holt, Leicestershire

Grange Park Opera Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Don Giovanni Rodgers & Hammerstein

South Pacific

‡

Gaetano Donizetti

the Elixir of Love

Gaetano Donizetti

Maria Stuarda

Patron’s Foreword

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each year

during the late Autumn, Wasfi appears at my side and asks whether I have started writing the foreword to the Programme for the following year – and each year I have to admit that I have not. This year her request was even more urgent because the programme is due to go to the printers even earlier. So, as usual, I scramble to check what I have written in earlier years and find that everything I can think of has been covered – and in some instances more than once. By this time my spirits have sunk and I realise I cannot do anything but kick my memory into producing the bricks with which I can build.

Luckily, in the course of the last year our new Opera House has been given no less than three prizes for architectural merit: Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Award 2004, RIBA Conservation Commendation 2004 and an award from the Georgian Group.

This has, of course, made all those

concerned with constructing the building very pleased but it has also given a fillip to the morale of everyone associated with Grange Park Opera. Such excitement is very important when your own activity may not be very close to the firing line, if that is not too wild a way of describing the festival performances themselves.

I think this year’s festival looks as good as any we have enjoyed so far, mixing as it does pieces which are very well known in the shape of Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love and South Pacific, with the perhaps less well known Maria Stuarda. I have learned from the past seven seasons that optimism is usually justified, so I shall stick my neck out this season also. There are enough singers coming back this year for a further visit to make me feel they too enjoy being at The Grange as much as our supporters enjoy listening to them.

There will be a few refinements in the theatre, most of them invisible to you, and with any luck our big spending years are over. Fingers crossed.

The operas at Nevill Holt this year will use the new stable courtyard theatre which is being built as I write this. One of the two productions is of Donizetti’s Elixir of Love (L’Elisir d’Amore), which is planned to come to The Grange next year.

As usual, Wasfi is our power house on every

front and I cannot congratulate her enough for the way in which she carries Grange Park Opera along, even if the odd toe, including mine, gets trodden on en passant. It is always dangerous to pick out names when so many people contribute in the organisation.

But let me say there is a formidable line-up behind Wasfi.

David Davies has decided to retire after seven festivals as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and we really do owe him a great deal for what he has done during that time. His knowledge of opera is as great as is his experience of the places where opera is performed. No less is his business-like conduct of board meetings and insistence on the rigorous execution of board decisions as minuted at our meetings. His contacts in the business and other worlds have of course been of very considerable benefit to Grange Park Opera. We shall miss him but hope he will remain involved.

Wasfi says I talk too much about the weather, so this year I’m not going to. Those who know the place are well aware that on a warm summer evening there are few better places to be and to listen to opera.

Speriamo.

Sally and I look forward to seeing many old friends as well as meeting new ones during the Festival

ashburton 14-2-2005

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major donor

DONORS TO THE

Donald Kahn & family

GRANGE PARK OPERA

‡

Ronnie Frost & family Lydia & Miles d’Arcy-Irvine The Carphone Warehouse The Clore Duffield Foundation Lord Harris of Peckham John & Anya Sainsbury Simon & Virginia Robertson ‡

Anonymous James Cave David & Amanda Leathers Sir David & Lady Davies EFG Private Bank William Garrett Corus ‡ Mark Andrews Mr & Dr J Beechey The Bulldog Trust David & Elizabeth Challen Mr & Mrs William Charnley Mr & Mrs Peter Dicks * Simon Freakley David Gilgrist & Bobbie du Bois Philip Gwyn Mrs Ian Jay James & Béatrice Lupton Donald & Jill Mackenzie Nigel & Anna McNair Scott P F Charitable Trust The Hon & Mrs Richard Sharp Richard & Cynthia Thompson Anne Veeder The Band Trust

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APPEAL

Mr & Mrs Gerald Acher Mr & Mrs David Anderson Mr & Mrs R Atkinson-Willes Anonymous Tom & Gay Bartlam Rupert T Bentley Bernard Cayser Trust Kevin & Corinne Bespolka William & Judith Bollinger * Douglas Guest Bollinger James Philip Bollinger Sarah & Tony Bolton Mr & Mrs Paul Brewer Rory & Elizabeth Brooks Mr & Mrs Tony Bugg Sir Euan Calthorpe Bt Christopher & Katie Cardona Nigel & Elisabeth Carrington Sir Peter & Lady Cazalet Mr & Mrs Bernard Cazenove Hayden Trust Pam Clarke Alastair & Tiana Collett Oliver & Cynthia Colman Michael Cuthbert Peter & Annette Dart Mr Peter Davidson Mr & Mrs Geoffrey de Jager Sandra & Damon de Laszlo Mr & Mrs Lionel de Rothschild Anonymous * Alun & Bridget Evans Iain R Evans Mr & Mrs James fforde Mr & Mrs T Floyd Hamish & Sophie Forsyth The Misses Ismay, Ottilie & Cecilia Forsyth Peter & Judith Foy Mr Mark N Franks Reita Gadkari Janet & John Gaymer Jacqueline & Michael Gee Trust Enrique Biel Gleeson Lady Shauna Gosling Mr & Mrs George Goulding Sir Ronald Grierson Nigel & Diana Grimwood

William Gronow Davis Barbara & Michael Gwinnell Mr & Mrs Charles Haddon-Cave QC Mr & Mrs R A Henley Malcolm Herring Mr & Mrs John Hewett John & Catherine Hickman Dr Jonathan Holliday & Dr Gwen Lewis George & Janette Hollingbery Anonymous Dr & Mrs Peter Honey Nicholas & Jeremy Hunter Mr & Mrs David Hunter Mr & Mrs M J Isaac Hannah Jacobs Mr & Mrs David Jervis Mr & Mrs J Jervoise Neil & Elizabeth Johnson Andrew & Caroline Joy Mr & Mrs Colin Keogh Dr R Hubert Laeng-Danner * Rufford Foundation T Landon Barbara Yu Larsson Mr & Mrs Malcolm Le May Peter Leaver & Thomas Sharpe Mr & Mrs Adam Lee Jeremy Gardner Lewis Susie Lintott & Louisa Church David & Linda Lloyd Jones Joe & Minnie MacHale Charles & Ann-Marie Mackay Mr & Mrs Michael Mackenzie Tessa & John Manser J P Marland Charitable Trust Wendy & Michael Max Anonymous * Mr & Mrs Peter May Harvey McGregor QC Thomas Monk Martin & Caroline Moore Elizabeth Morison * Dr & Mrs Julian Muir Mr & Mrs Jay A Nawrocki The O’Hea family Sue & Peter Paice Alexia Paterson

* additional gifts to the Endowment Fund

Mark & Rachel Pearson Nigel Perfect & Peter Tilley The Lord & Lady Phillimore Sir David & Lady Plastow Jan & Michael Potter Bruce & Lizzie Powell Mark & Veronica Powell Benjamin Pritchett-Brown Mr & Mrs Gary Ralfe Mr & Mrs Christopher Reeves David & Alex Rhodes Ros & Ken Rokison Mrs Faanya Rose Mrs Antony Rowe Mr & Mrs John Salkeld Mr & Mrs Anthony Salz Christopher & Anne Saul Mr & Mrs Richard Scopes Mr & Mrs Roderick Selkirk Mrs Christopher Sheridan Aram Shishmaniam Lord & Lady Simon of Highbury Edward M Siskind Paul & Rita Skinner Mr & Mrs Martin St Quinton Nicholas Stanley Donald and Rachael Stearns * The Steel Charitable Trust The Stevenson CharitableTrust * John & Lesley Stuttard Mr & Mrs R H Sutton Mrs Timothy Syder Anonymous Mr & Mrs Bernard Taylor Gordon & Sue Thorburn The Titchmarsh Family Mr & Mrs Anthony Townsend Wendy & John Trueman * Adair Turner & Orna Ni-Chionna The Hon Lucy & Michael Vaughan Lady Jane Wallop John & Carol Wates * Miss Clare Williams Hamish & Elisabeth Williams Mark & Jane Williams The Hon Geoffrey & Mrs Wilson Mr & Mrs C H R Wunderly Caroline Wyld

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Operas & Dramas Out of the festival season, people often ask us, in all seriousness, “what do you all do for the rest of the year?” I sometimes wonder myself, but actually it is almost a relief – and a relaxation – to get to opening night at Grange Park after eleven fairly frantic months. The season itself is the culmination of months – and even years for we have to book singers, designers, conductors and directors two to three years ahead – of auditions, planning, discussions, trials and tribulations. The exciting period is when our casts assemble for the intense six week period of rehearsals and then one can see the result of the rest of the year coming together as a real life production.

Out of season we always go back to the roots of the company: which means Her Majesty’s prisons. We were never inmates, though sometimes we feel like it.

This year, again supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, we were at Coldingley Prison, near Guildford, where we staged Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, starring some 45 prisoners all of whom sang their hearts out and I am certain felt it a great achievement. Ptolemy Christie directed – and it was a triumph. Tol also directed another production which gave considerable pride: the first production from the Nevill Holt Young Artists. The Independent and The Guardian were effusive in their praise: “a thumping good Cosi .....Brilliant” and both papers gave it four stars. Not a bad start for Nevill Holt Young Artists.

While on the subject of the Christies, I have to thank Tol’s grandfather Sir John, not only for the concept of the country house opera, but also for a more modest innovation: the idea of the programme flap which can be used as a bookmark.

Through the winter Michael Moody made further progress with the never–ending improvements at the Grange. In the pit we removed the Violin I staircase (to make room for more players) and changed the surface of the downstage wall with the object of softening the string sound. In the theatre itself there is a new stalls handrail, which has been elegantly curved

by R J Smith. Health & Safety requires a great deal of time and energy: we have fitted a new fire escape, more fire and burglar alarms, new fireproof doors to the dressing rooms, acquired a hotwork permit (to

The Viceroy’s Orderly 1

The Viceroy's Orderly, 1915 (oil on canvas) by Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949) Nottingham City Museums and Galleries www.bridgeman.co.uk

allow us to weld etc), a new pyrotechnics cabinet and a new steel mesh guard in the hydraulics room. As Lord Ashburton says, these are mostly invisible, but I give them to you as a small flavour of what goes on in the “off” season.

On a more uplifting scale Michael Moody has been focusing a good deal of his effort on the new theatre at Nevill Holt. David Ross, one of our most loyal of patrons (you’ve all grown bored with our little Carphone Warehouse joke) has transformed his 17th century stable courtyard into an elegant 300 seat theatre. During the building works there have, not surprisingly, been hiccups and problems to be overcome, not least when digging the orchestra pit: we uncovered a medieval wall – probably of the garden of the medieval almshouse which occupied the spot.

While we wait for the archeologists to complete their dig, this year’s orchestras are having to make incursions into the audience space. I hope as many of you as possible can visit Nevill Holt in the season and enjoy David’s beautiful gardens and the work he has done to restore one of England’s great houses.

The choice of this year’s operas shows our trademark mix of the traditional and unexpected.

For South Pacific we welcome back Craig Revel Horwood who choreographed Anything Goes when David Pountney directed it three years ago. Viewers of low-brow television might have seen Craig as an uncompromising judge on Strictly Come Dancing.

For Don Giovanni, considered a graveyard for opera directors, Daniel Slater has found what I think is an original and very effective “take” which stems from Molière. His Don Juan abducts Donna Elvira from her convent, marries her and then leaves her. I won’t give any more away.

We were fortunate to persuade Francis O’Connor to design both of these shows. His costume designer for South Pacific is Yvonne Milnes, making her debut in Hampshire, though she worked with Michael and myself in a county where there is outdoor opera.

This year we have not just one but two Donizetti operas. Martin Constantine directs The Elixir of Love with Nevill Holt Young Artists (supported by new sponsor, Morgan Stanley, whom we warmly welcome to our little family). First-timers at the Grange, designer George Souglides and director Stephen Langridge tackle Maria Stuarda. Stephen’s father, the

tenor Philip, sat on the Board when the company was formed in 1998, so there is a history here. There is also a link to Nevill Holt: Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded just 16 miles away at Fotheringhay.

Now comes the Oscar moment of thanks and praise. Michael, of course, must come first. Then in no particular order, there is Carol Butler, Rachel Pearson, Alison Ritchie, Anthony and Heidi Lane.

And there are many others of equal brilliance.

After 5 years of magnificent sweet-peas, Douglas de Lavison has decided to hang up his potting shed.

With the help of our donor Alan Titchmarsh, we have recruited the National Sweet Pea Society.

Corporate donors (page 8) have been generous.

Thank you all. In his pre-performance address, John will praise you individually.

Our chairman Sir David Davies, after unstinting backing of Grange Park Opera since its inception, is stepping down after this year’s festival. He was one of the first people I told of my dream to create a new opera company, and he and his wife Linda, both keen connoisseurs of opera, gave me priceless advice and guidance at a time when I most needed it. I shall forever be grateful to them both and I know that David will be around when I need him.

Our new chairman is William Garrett who brings different skills to what is becoming a mature company. William was of course one of the leading merchant bankers of the day and still has his finger in many pies – not least Grange Park Opera where he chaired the Endowment Fund.

The Fund is now becoming an element in the planning of projects. Massenet’s Thais in 2006 will be the first opera to benefit from an injection of funds and there are other splendours in store. More immediately the Fund has contributed towards Alexander Creswell’s ingenious installation in the restaurants.

Throughout this year’s programme there are paintings by William Nicholson, a leading portraitist in the early part of the 20th century. The cover, owned by a Grange Park member, is a Nicholson as is the dashing gentleman opposite: Duffadur Valayar Shah, an orderly to the Viceroy of India.

Sally and John Ashburton, our Vicereine and Viceroy, are everything and more than one could hope for . . . and we try to be Orderly.

wasfi kani obe 7

Sponsors 2005 ICAP plc Sir Christopher Ondaatje The Carphone Warehouse

‡

Morgan Stanley UBS Wealth Management Schroders ‡ Birmingham Midshires Alfred McAlpine plc ‡ Laurent Perrier • Baring Asset Management The Learning Point Presentation School Clemmow Hornby Inge Clyde & Co • Hotel du Vin Corporate Synergy • SBJ Group Withers • Royal Bank of Scotland

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Reed Elsevier • KBC Peel Hunt • Clareville Capital GAM • Rolls Royce • Allied Irish Bank • I N G Nathaniel Lichfield • Studio E Architects

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Bang & Olufsen • Clifford Chance• EFG Private Bank Eversheds • Elite Hotels • Euromoney • Gibson Dunn & Crutcher The Goldsmiths Company • Greenhill • Hiscox • John Armit Wines Kroll • Lainston House • Hildon Water • Chewton Glen • Linklaters McDermott Will & Emery • Moda Rosa • Pickett Fine Leathers • Rathbones Thornhill Investment Management • WBPO • Weil Gotshal & Manges

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generous contributions were received from Anthony Bolton • The Dyers Company • JBH Jackson • The Golden Bottle Victoria & Richard Sharp • Lovells Capital International • Steel Charitable Trust • The Jerwood Foundation 8

The Glass Ceiling Society A group of individuals have contributed towards projects to improve various technical aspects of the theatre. We are most grateful too them for their generosity Jane Bird Tom and Ann Black Mrs Toby Blackwell Jenny Bland Anonymous The Hon Sir Christopher Clarke Ian Clarkson & Richard Morris Steve & Linda Garnett Ian Gatt QC Susie Gaunt Marc & Melanie Gillespie Anonymous Liz Hewitt Mr & Mrs Robin Hutson Mr Anthony Johnson Timothy Jones & Martin Mason Mr & Mrs Andrew E Law Mr Richard Leonard Mr & Mrs Ian Maurice Roger & Jackie Morris Cameron & Heike Munro Pierre & Beatrice Natural Mr Charles Outhwaite Anonymous Mr & Mrs Dominic Powell Mrs Marveen Smith Len & Zara Tanner Mr & Mrs Kevan Watts

The chandelier in the south dining room at Grange Park

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Supporting the Opera Without the donations of individuals listed, the festivals at The Grange and Nevill Holt simply could not happen – ticket revenues alone cannot meet the cost of productions.

If you are able to help, please use the form on page 119 or contact Rachel Pearson 01962 868700 rachel@grangeparkopera.co.uk

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The School of Hippocrates ‡ Susan Ashton GD Mr Julian Benson Mrs Michael Beresford-West Mike & Alison Biden Mr & Mrs Michael Bolton Adrian Bott Dr & Mrs Douglas Bridgewater Mr & Mrs Roy D Brown Anthony Bunker Anonymous Mr & Mrs Peter Clarke Richard Cowen David & Nikki Cowley Carl Cullingford Kathrine Davies The Lawrence Messer Charitable Trust Mr & Mrs John Dear Michael & Rachel Dickson Anonymous Miss Helen Dorey FSA Anonymous Mr & Mrs Michael C A Eaton Graham & Jenny Elliott Mrs Stuart Errington Mr Niall Fitzgerald KBE Mark & Madeleine Fleming Mr & Mrs Geoffrey Fuller Mr & Mrs David Gamble Mr D Gawler Dame Elizabeth Gloster DBE Suzanne & Anthony Graham-Dixon Mrs Manuela Granziol Keith Hann Mr Patrick Harrison & Mr Roger Birtles Liz Hewitt Lord & Lady Holme Lucy Holmes & Alex Wood Mr Charles & Lady Iona Ind

2005

Dr Peter & Mrs Judith Iredale Ian & Noelle Irvine John Jarvis QC Rowan Jarvis Martin & Sandra Jay Mr Derek Johns Hilary Jones Roger & Liz Kramers Mr & Mrs Dan Levin Jamie & Laura Lonsdale Mr & Mrs Alistair Mackintosh Bill & Sue Main Sarah B Mason Mr & Mrs William Massey William & Felicity Mather Stuart McGee Ian & Debrah McIsaac Mr & Mrs Peter Morgan Mr & Mrs R S Morse Colin Murray Guy & Sarah Norrie Princess Paul Odescalchi Mr & Mrs James Palmer Anonymous Stephen & Isobel Parkinson Michael Pearl Anonymous The Countess of Portsmouth Stephen & Geraldine Powell Mr & Mrs Nigel Reavley Mrs Eric Robinson Nicolas Rogerson Mr Andrew Rome Pierre & Anna Rostand Mr Jermey Rothman Barry & Anne Rourke Mr & Mrs Andrew Soundy Geoff Squire OBE Mr & Mrs C M Stuart Nigel Teare Denis K Tinsley

John & Louise Verrill Nick Viner & Victoria Boyarsky Mr Anthony Vlasto Mr & Mrs Hady Wakefield Anonymous Chris & Miranda Ward Mr & Mrs Philip Warner Ms Johanna Waterous & Mr Roger Parry Anonymous Mr & Mrs Edward Weston Mr John Whiter Philip Williams Nigel Williams Nicholas & Penny Wilson Anonymous Mr & Mrs R J Woolnough Mr & Mrs David Wootton

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The School of Archimedes ‥

2005

Brian Abbs

Mrs Ann Clarke

Janet & Michael Aidin

Michael & Angela Clayton

R A Aisher

Sir Anthony Cleaver

Mr & Mrs Christopher Aldous

Mrs Susan E Clegg

John & Jackie Alexander

John Coke

Lady Allan

Mr & Mrs Richard Collin

Genie Allenby

Mrs Carolyn Conlan

Jilly Allenby-Ryan

Dr Neville Conway

Jenny & Paul Aynsley

Mr & Mrs Andrew Cooper

Mr Roger Backhouse

Stuart Corbyn

Mr & Mrs Nicholas Backhouse

Sally Coryn

Mr & Mrs J Balfour

Matthew & Bianca Cosans

Mrs Julian Baring

Richard & Corin Cotton

Mr Nicholas Barker

Alan & Heather Craft

Mr Charles Bartholomew

John & Susan Curtis

Stanley Bates

William Dacombe

Christina Benn

Dr & Mrs Christopher

Mr & Mrs Mark Benson

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Davenport Jones

The Hon Mrs Julian Berry

Douglas & Pru de Lavison

Admirer of Charles Wallach

Mr Patrick Despard

Mr Simon Bladon

Krystyna Deuss

Halldora Blair

Peter Dimmock CVO CBE

Mr & Mrs Anthony Bodie

His Hon Mark Dyer

Lisa Bolgar Smith

Richard Findlater & Mairi Eastwood

Mr & Mrs Ernest Boost

Mr & Mrs Kenneth Eckett

John A H Bootes

Mr & Mrs Symon Elliott

Anthony Boswood

Mr & Mrs Peter Ellis

Mr Jan Bowlus

Mr & Mrs Peter Evans

Mr & Mrs B D Bramley

Mr Alan Evans

David & Tessa Brewer

Anonymous

Robin & Jill Broadley

Jeremy & Rosemary Farr

Mr & Mrs J C Bromhead

Mrs Noel Faulkner

Dorothy & John Brook

Mr & Mrs Nicholas Ferguson

Consuelo & Anthony Brooke

Mr & Mrs Graham Ferguson

Mr & Mrs Antony Brooking

Ms Sian Fisher

Mr & Mrs Charles H Brown

Mr & Mrs James Fisher

Hugh & Sue Brown

Anonymous

Christopher Brown

Dr T H & Dr J M Foley

Mr & Mrs Nicholas Browne

Mr & Mrs Robin Fox

Mr & Mrs Robin Buchanan

Lindsey Gardener

Mr & Mrs Thomas Buckley

Mark & Vicky Garthwaite

Mr & Mrs Nicholas Buckworth

Mr & Mrs Wyatt Gates

Mr & Mrs D M Bullough

Mrs Alastair Gavin

Mr & Mrs Keith Burgoine

John George

Richard Butler Adams

Tim & Deborah Gibbons

David & Johanna Butler

North Street Trust

Mr & Mrs Peter Carden

Mr & Mrs David Giles

Richard Carrow

Ian & Edwina Gilroy

Andrew & Jacquie Cartwright

Mr & Mrs Bruce Ginsberg

Massimiliano Casini

James & Rosemary Glancy

Peter & Di Cawdron

Cassandra Goad

Mr Shane Chichester

Mr Brian Goater

Lord Chorley

Nigel & Gill Graham-Maw

Mr & Mrs Andrew Christie

Mr & Mrs Richard Grant

Tim & Maria Church

The Hon Mrs Jane Green

Mrs Anthony Clark

Mick & Denise Green

Mr Robin & Hon Mrs Greenwood

Vincent & Amanda Keaveny

Victoria O'Keeffe

Sir James & Lady Scott

Alistair & Sally Gregory-Smith

Mrs Judith Kelley

Janet & Michael Orr

Peter & Jan Scott

Kingsley Griffiths RIBA

Tim & Ginny Kempster

Robert Ottley

Mr & Mrs Gordon Scutt

Mr Marcus Grubb

Mr & Mrs G N Kennedy

Nick & Lavinia Owen

Elizabeth & Jonathan Selzer

The Hon F B Guinness

Andrew Kennedy & Lindsay

Nicola Ozanne

Mr Tony Shead

Max & Catherine Hadfield

Cornish

Mrs V Pakenham

Tony & Jenny Shearer

Mrs David Hagan

Mr & Mrs James Kiernan

George & Christine Palmer

Mr & Mrs Mark Silver

Mr Andrew Haigh

Kevin Kissane

Mrs Ceri Parke

Adrian Smart

Mrs Peter Hall

William & Mary Knowles

Mrs Charles Parker

Fiona Smith-Bingham

Louise Hallett

Anonymous

Mr & Mrs Jonathan Patrick

Crispin & Joanna Southgate

Mr Eben Hamilton QC

Mr & Mrs David Lancaster

Nigel & Liz Peace

Mrs Charles Speke

John & Janet Hammond

Mrs Patricia Latham

Mr & Mrs Donald Pearse

Mr & Mrs C D Spooner

Tom & Susan Hankinson

Mr & Mrs Bill Lawes

Mr & Mrs Alexander Pease

Nigel & Johanna Stapleton

Mr & Mrs Richard Hardman

Mr & Mrs David Lawson

Peter & Charlotte Peddie

Brian Stevens

Mr Benjamin Hargreaves

Belinda Leathes

Ron & Lyn Peet

Mrs Christopher Stone

Mrs Hiroko Hashimoto

Paul Lee

Mr & Mrs Peter Peirse-Duncombe

Alastair Storey

Lady Hawkings

Mrs Brian Levy

Mr & Mrs Erik Penser

Mr John Strachan

Mr & Mrs J E Heath

Mr & Mrs Gareth Lewis

Anon

Mr & Mrs Tom Sweet-Escott

Paul & Kay Henderson

Sonya Leydecker

Mr & Mrs Robin Petherick

Caroline & Phillip Sykes

Basil Henley

John Liddell

Jonathan & Gillian Pickering

Mr David Taylor

The Lady Heseltine

Mr Roger Liddiard

Roger Pincham CBE

Mrs James Thorp

Valerie & Peter Hewett

Mr Dieter Losse

Matthew Pintus

Simon Thorp Esq

Mr & Mrs Michael Hewett

Mr & Mrs Henry Lumley

Judge & Mrs David Pitman

Mr & Mrs Max Thum

John & Sue Heywood

Mr P M Luttman-Johnson

Anthony Pitt-Rivers

Mr & Mrs Hugh Tidbury

Mr & Mrs Michael Higgin

Anonymous

Mr & Mrs John Platt

Prof & Mrs G M Tonge

Chris & Kim Hills

Mr Robin Mackenzie

Mrs Sally Posgate

Mr & Mrs John de Trafford

Mr & Mrs H C Hintzen

Mr & Hon Mrs Ian MacNabb

Mr & Mrs David Potter

Sir Thomas Troubridge

Frank Hitchman

Mr & Mrs David Maitland

Mrs Jane Poulter

Beatrice Vincenzini-Warrender

Sir Trevor & Lady Holdsworth

Tim Martin

Mrs Patricia Powell

Mrs Jeremy Walker

Mr Christopher Holdsworth Hunt

Mr & Mrs Nicholas Mason

Mr & Mrs Julien Prevett

Rosy & David Walker

Mr David Holland

Brian Matthews Esq

Hugh Priestley

Mrs Denise Wallace

Roger & Kate Holmes

Mr & Mrs A Mayhook-Walker

Anonymous

Mrs Jane Wallis

Mr Charles Holroyd

Mr Neill McCance

Mr & Mrs Andrew Pucher

Raye & Simon Ward

Mrs Alexandra Homan

Mr & Mrs Douglas McGregor

Mr Anthony Pullinger

Joanna Ward

David & Mal Hope-Mason

Mr & Mrs Cliff Middleton

Mr & Mrs Charles Purle

Kevin & Sonia Watson

Mr & Mrs Richard Howorth

Patricia & Richard Millett

Grant & Shirley Radcliffe

Dr Kenneth Watters

Mrs Shoonagh Hubble

Dr D B & J B Mitchell

Neil & Julie Record

Mr & Mrs Graham J West

Mrs Max Hunt

Brigid & Freddie Monkhouse

Hilary Reid Evans

Mr & Mrs Richard Westcott

Mrs Marie-Josee Hunter

Mr John Moreton

Mike & Jessamy Reynolds

Mr & Mrs Graham Westwell

Peter & Susan Hutson

Graham Morfey

Mr Michael Rice

Mr & Mrs Max Wildsmith

Howard & Anne Hyman

Evelyn Morgner & Ian G L Hogg

Mr Clive Richards OBE

Mr & Mrs Christopher Wilkins

Mr & Mrs James Illingworth

Mrs Jonathan Moore

Mr & Mrs Anthony

Mr & Mrs Howard Wilkinson

Mr Charles Irby

Ian & Jane Morrison

Ramsay Ismail & David Crellin

Anonymous

Mrs Sarah Rickett

Mr & Mrs Peter James

Lady Muir Wood

Mr & Mrs A M Robb

Mr & Mrs Michael Jodrell

Richard Murray Bett

Mr & Mrs James Roberts

Mr & Mrs Owain Williams

Dr & Mrs I C Johnson

Mr & Mrs Peter Nathan

Caroline Roboh

Mr & Mrs P J d'A Willis

Sally & Scot Johnston

Christopher & Annie Newell

Nigel & Viv Robson

Jeremy Willoughby OBE

Owen & Jane Jonathan

Bruce & Pamela Noble

Alex & Caroline Roe

Mr & Mrs Peter Wilmot-Sitwell

Alan & Judi Jones

The Lord & Lady Northbrook

Mr David Rosier

Mr & Mrs Winkler von Stiernhielm

Anonymous

John & Dianne Norton

Mr & Mrs E J M Ross

Peter Wrangham

Dr Alan Jordan

Peter Nutting

Mr & Mrs Simon Fisher

Ian Wylie & Sian Griffiths OBE

Jeffrey & Frances Jowell

Barry & Sue O'Brien

Mr & Mrs James Roundell

Richard Youell

Mr & Mrs Pierre Jungels

Dr Robin Odgers

Anonymous

Michael Kallenbach

Anonymous

Zsalya

Mr & Mrs J Ogilvie Thompson

Mr & Mrs Peter Scoble

& Robert Taylor

Richmond Watson

Mrs Helen Wilkinson Prof Roger Williams CBE & Mrs Roger Williams

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The School of Plato ‡ Tim & Philippa Abell Ann & Martin Adeney Mrs Tikki Adorian Mrs Brenda E Ainsley Mr & Mrs James Airy Mrs Rosemary Alexander M P Almond Mr Jeremy Amos Angela Anderson Anonymous John Andrews Laura Anson Sir Edward & Lady Ashmore Robert & Janice Atkin Mark & Priscilla Austen Jane & Robert Avery Felicity Bagenal Mr & Mrs N Bagshawe Mrs Grenfell Bailey Margaret Bailey Richard & Jean Baldwin Anonymous Mrs George Band Anonymous Lady Emma Barnard Mrs H V Baron-Cohen Mr Simon R Barrow Mrs Caroline Barton Val & Christopher Bateman Richard Bayley Jeremy & Mary Bayliss Mr Peter Bell Christopher Bellew Mrs Mary Bennett Sheila Lady Bernard Mr & Mrs D Betancor Mrs John Bevan Mr & Mrs Peter Bevan Roger W Binns Mr & Mrs William Bishop Lord & Lady Bittleston Mrs Alastair Black Mr & Mrs C D Blackmore Elisabeth & Bob Boas Mrs Margaret Bolam George Bompas QC Mrs David Bonsall Mr Edward Booth-Clibborn Mr Edward Bostock CBE MA FCA Mr & Mrs W Neville Bowen Julian Bower The Hon Robert Boyle Mr & Mrs David Briggs Mr & Mrs Charles Brims Mr & Mrs M O Bristow Dr Amanda Britton Robin & Penny Broadhurst Adam & Sarah Broke Mr Charles Bromfield Mr & Mrs Simon Brooks Mr Timothy Broughton Pipkin Mrs Jonathan Brown Finn Bruce Anonymous Mr & Mrs Geoffrey Burnand Mr & Mrs M J Burton Mr Clive Butler Mr & Mrs Murray Bywater Dr Bella Caiger Malcolm D C Campbell Quentin & Ann Campbell Mr Donald Campbell Mrs Peter Cane Mr A J Carruthers Mr & Mrs Nicholas Carter Mr & Mrs Charles Cassells Denis & Ronda Cassidy Clifford & Judy Catt Mr Graham Cawsey The Hon Mrs A R Cecil Mr & Mrs Jason Chaffer Mr Michael Charlesworth The Lord Chesham Ann Chillingworth Mrs Justin Clark Trevor & Ann Clarke Diana Clarkson Adam Cleal Esq Mrs Laurence Colchester Mrs Jane Colwell Dr Mavis Conway

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Roger & Mary Cooke Mr H R Cookson Liz & Mike Cooper-Mitchell Mr & Mrs Raymond Cornish Robert & Morella Cottam Mr David A Cowan David Craig Colin Craig OBE Stephen & Julia Crompton Tom Cross Brown Mr & Mrs C Crouch Mr David Crowe Dr Jean Curtis-Raleigh Mrs Elizabeth & Mr Rene Dalucas Mr Mervyn Davies CBE Mr Thonas Davies Mike & Suzette Davis Anonymous Mr Robert Dean Bonnie Dean Mr Jonathan Deane Mr & Mrs James Denham Mr Adrian C Dewey Lindsay & Caroline Dibden Dr Michael Dingle Mr & Mrs Robert Dixon Mr & Mrs Matthew Dobbs Mrs S Dodson Mr Tony Doggart Mrs Christine Douse Professor & Mrs T A Downes Mr & Mrs R S Drew Mr & Mrs Reg Drury Mr Jamie Dundas Mrs Dickie Dutton Mr J M Dyson Eleri Ebenezer Mrs Patrick Eccles Walton & Jane Eddlestone Malcolm & Yvonne Edwards Ms Lee MacCormick Edwards PhD Commander & Mrs James Ekins Hazel Ellis Vernon Ellis Mr Julian Ellis Vernon & Hazel Ellis Michael & Wendy Evans Mr Roger Facer CB Steven F G Fachada Mr & Mrs E Farquharson Mr & Mrs Martin Farr Miss Clare M Ferguson Mr & Mrs M J Fitzgerald Mr & Mrs B Fitzpatrick Dr & Mrs Stephen Fleet Andrew & Lucinda Fleming Mr & Mrs L Fletcher J A Floyd Charitable Settlement Michael & Anne Forrest Jerome Foster & Suzy Powling Patrick & Anne Foster Michael & Margaret Fowle Mrs Jane Fraser Dr H J Freeman Mrs Joyce Fuller Lillimor Gardener Pam Garside & Simon Carter Bamber & Christina Gascoigne Mr & Mrs Robert Gayner Patrick & Annabel Gaynor Jacqueline & Jonathan Gestetner Keith & Christine Gilham Anonymous Mr & Mrs Tim Goad The Reverend Simon Godfrey TD Mr & Mrs Stuart Goldsmith Mr & Mrs S Goodison Colin & Letts Goodwin John & Tanny Gordon Chris & Sally Gordon John Gordon Kenneth Grange CBE Mr Peter Granger Anonymous Mr Robert B Gray Mrs Quintin Greatrex Mr & Mrs Anthony Green Mr & Mrs Hugh Green David & Barbara Greggains John & Ann Grieves Mr & Mrs Tom Grillo

2005

Mr Verne Grinstead Mrs Pamela Gross Mrs Jeremy Groves Mr & Mrs Edmund Grower Mrs Gerard Guerrini Nerissa Guest Michael Hacking Richard & Judy Haes Mrs Allyson Hall Susan Hall & Neil Addison Mrs J Hall Mr & Mrs Philippe & Jane Hallauer Mrs Robin Hambro Tim & Jenny Hamilton David & Judith Hankinson Richard & Janet Hanna Mrs Valerie Hardwick Miss Lorna Harper Giles Harrap Mr & Mrs David Harris Wendell & Andrea Harris Mr & Mrs Julian Harvey Dr Fred Haslam Mr & Mrs Roy Hatch Mr & Mrs Brian Haughton J T Haynes N G Hebditch Jane Henry Martin & Alicia Herbert Mr & Mrs Alan Herring Dr & Mrs M Hession Dr & Mrs G R Hext Mrs Patricia Hingston Mr & Mrs P R Hinton Marianne Hinton Mr & Mrs Peter Hobbs Mr & Mrs I F Hodgson Mr R E Hofer Mr & Mrs Hansgeorg Hofmann Mr & Mrs Berry Holding-Parsons John & Hilary Holmes Peter & Marianne Hooley C J Hopkinson Mr D H L Hopkinson CBE RD DL Elaine & Nigel Horder Barbara Hosking Mr & Mrs Billy Howard Steven Howarth Mr Mark Howe John Howkins Mrs William Hughes Robert Hugill & David Hughes Ms Siu Fun Hui Mr Nigel Humphreys Mr John Hustler The Hutchings Family Colonel & Mrs Colin Huxley Mrs M F Hyde Mrs E Hyde Lord & Lady Inchyra Dr & Mrs Stuart Ingram Mr & Mrs Tim Ingram Michael & Valerie Jackaman Sir Barry & Lady Jackson Mr C Jackson Mrs Rachel James Mr Richard & Prof Pam James Mr & Mrs C J Jamieson Mr & Mrs I Jamieson Mr David Jeffers Mrs Shirley Jeffrey Mrs M V Jennings Thalassa Trust Michael & Jane Johnson Mr & Mrs Nicholas Jonas Anonymous Avril Jones Russell Jones FCIM Douglas Jones Antony Jones Prof Heather Joshi OBE John Gordon Jowett Lord & Lady Judd Jonathan & Clarinda Kane Joachim Kerfack Mr Christopher Kinder Mr & Mrs Oliver Kinsey Charles Kirwan-Taylor Bill & Stephanie Knight Mr & Mrs Martin Knight

Mr & Mrs Nadim Korban Zarrina Kurtz Mrs Henry Labram Dr High Laing Mr Gerald Lambert Mr & Mrs Brian Lanaghan Toby Landau & Nudrat Majeed Anonymous Rear Admiral & Mrs John Lang Mrs B Langevad Mr & Mrs D E Laurillard Mr Charles Lea John Learmonth Mrs Natalie Lee James & Hilary Leek John & Jill Leek Jan Leigh & J T Rynkiewicz Mr & Mrs Leprince Jungbluth Mrs Jeremy Lewis Mr & Mrs Eric Leyns Mr & Mrs Adrian Lightfoot Mr & Mrs Anthony Littlejohn Mrs Simon Lofthouse Anne Longden Brigadier D R H Longfield Mr Peter Lord Toby De Lotbiniere Mrs Simon Loup Mr & Mrs Alan Lovell Mr Joseph Lulham Donald Campbell Bruce & Maggie Macfarlane Derek Mackay MBE Mr James Mackintosh Mr & Mrs J J Macnamara Mr Alastair MacPherson Sir Nevil Macready BT CBE Mr & Mrs T Maier David & Mary Male Mr & Mrs George Mallinckrodt KBE Tom & Sarah Manners Mr & Mrs Jonathan Marks Maureen Marlowe Mr Arthur Mathisen Mr & Mrs Bruce Mauleverer Christopher & Clare McCann Rosalind McCarthy Philippa McGeough Dr V U McHardy Mr & Mrs Christopher McLaren The Hon Michael & Mrs McLaren Ian & Caroline McNeil Mrs Jane McVittie Mr Charles Meek William Merton William Middleton-Smith Dr & Mrs P J Mill Dr J W Millbank Mr P MIller Mr & Mrs Hallam Mills Mr Charles Mitchell Mr Patrick Mitford Slade Pieter & Patricia Mommersteeg Mr & Mrs B B Money-Coutts Vivienne Alexandra Monk Lord Montagu of Beaulieu Mr & Mrs Ian Morrison Lady Morton Alastair & Sara Morton David Moss Tom & Brenda Muir Dr Douglas Munro-Faure Mrs R R L Munro-Ferguson Anonymous Mrs John Nangle Sir Paul & Lady Neave Mr & Mrs Pedro Neuhaus Jeremy & Elizabeth Nicholson George Nissen Sir Edwin & Lady Nixon Mrs Joanna Noble Hon Michael & Mrs Nolan Mr Mark Norris Mr & Mrs Francis Norton Mr & Mrs D Novakovic Michael & Marion 0'Brien Mr Preben Oeye Mr John Offord Anthony & Lorraine Ogden Dr & Mrs Guy O'Keeffe Mrs John Oldacre

Thank you

Dr & Mrs Robert Oxlade Major General & Mrs Simon Pack John A Paine Mrs Charles Palmer-Tomkinson Mrs Roderick Parker Mrs Blake Parker Clive & Deborah Parritt Paul & Vicky Pattinson Mr & Mrs Donald Payne Drs N & J Pearce John & Jacqui Pearson Ann & Nigel Pearson Mr & Mrs Tim Peat Mr & Mrs Anthony Peck Mr Richard Peel Claudia Pendred Mr Charles Petre Mr R B Petre Mr & Mrs Anthony Pinsent Mr Richard Plummer Mrs Roger Poulter Mr & Mrs R Pound Mr & Mrs Michael Pragnell Judith Prickett & Raymond Sutton Mr & Mrs Terence Prideaux Jennifer Priestley David & Judith Pritchard Peter & Sally Procopis Mr & Mrs Stephen Proctor Penny Proudlock Clive & Gill Purkiss Libby Purves Mrs Rosalind Quaife Mrs Chris Quayle Mr & Mrs Gerald Raingold Lady Ramsbotham Mr John Rank Mr Denzil Rankine Mr & Mrs John Rees Mr David Reid Scott The Hon.Philip Remnant Mrs A A Dales Mrs Anthony Rimell Jill Ritblat Sir Miles Rivett-Carnac Mr & Mrs Christopher Road Miles & Vivian Roberts Mrs Denise Roberts Mr & Mrs T Roberts D A & S M Robins Mr Andrew Robinson Mr Michael Rogerson TD Sue & Lionel Rosenblatt Peter Rosenthal Mr John Ross Stephanie Roth & Barbara Schmitz Mr Alan Roxburgh Joan & Lewis Rudd Ken & Lesley Rushton Prof & Mrs David Russell-Jones Mr & Mrs James Russell Mr George Sandars Mr & Mrs William Saunders Mr Richard Saville Mrs Peter Sawdy Mrs Roberto Pumarejo Mr John Schofield Sebastian & Lindsey Scotney Mr & Mrs Alistair Scott Mr & Mrs Colin Scott-Malden James & Karin Sehmer Mr George Seligman Count de Selys Longchamps Mrs Simon Shaw Nigel Silby Professor David & Mrs Gillian Silverman Andrew H Simon OBE Mr & Mrs Peter Simor Mr & Mrs Mark Simpson Ian Skeet Sir Jock Slater Mr & Mrs Anthony Slingsby Col MCB Smart MBE Russell A Smart Mr & Mrs Robin Smeeton Barry & Gill Smith Joe Smouha QC Mr & Mrs Stephen Smyth

Mr & Mrs T H Snagge Prof & Mrs Peter Sonksen Pippa & Ian Southward Mr & Mrs Jeremy Spencer Mr J G Stanford Mrs Sarah Stanton Mr & Mrs C O Stenderup Christopher & Tineke Stewart Mr & Mrs Hugh Stewart The Hon Henry Stewart David Stileman Ian & Jenny Streat Mr & Mrs Toby Stubbs William & Caroline Sturge Major John Sturgis MC Yan Swiderski Mr & Mrs Richard Sykes Tim & Anne Sykes Mr & Mrs John Taylor Mrs P M Taylor Mr & Mrs Simon Taylor Mrs Fleur Taylor Jeremy & Marika Taylor Mrs Margaret Tesolin David & Joanna Thomas Mr & Mrs P M Thomas Mr Anthony John Thompson Mr & Mrs John Thompson-Ashby Mrs A J Thorman Mr & Mrs R Tickner Mrs Colin Tillie Mr & Mrs G W Tindley Jill & Michael Todd Mrs Anna Tognetti Sir Alan & Lady Traill Baron & Baronne Traux de Wardin Mrs P Tremlett Alexander & Veronique Trotter Eric & Penelope Tudor Michael Tudor-Craig CBE Lady Tumim CBE Dr & Mrs J A Turtle L van Geest Esq L C Varnavides Mano Vayis Brigadier & Mrs H R W Vernon Katharine Verrill Mr & Mrs Hugo Vickers X N C Villers Baron C von Bechtolsheim Mrs S R S Walker Sir Timothy & Lady Walker Mrs Tony Walker Jane Wallace George & Pat Wallace Mr & Mrs Guy Waller Janet & Roger Wallhouse Dr Sarah Wallis Anonymous Lady Walters Mrs C P M Walters Mr Richard Walton Ian & Victoria Watson Colin & Suzy Webster Niels Weise Christian Wells Mrs Diana Wells Mrs J M Weston Mrs A Wheeler Mr & Mrs Robert Whitaker Mr Harvey White Tony White Sue Whitley Chris & Emma Will Anonymous David Wills Christopher Wilson Esq Mr F E B Witts Mr W S Witts Robert Wodehouse David & Vivienne Woolf Jonathan & Candida Woolley David & Vicky Wormsley Richard Worthington Tim Wright Christian & Toril Zenoff Mrs Paul Zisman

nevill holt ‡ 2005 In 2003 we held our first opera festival at Nevill Holt in Leicestershire, an area that has never before had its own opera company. The cost of staging opera to a high artistic standard cannot be met by box office revenues alone and the members listed below have helped to bridge the gap. We are very grateful to them for their support.

Please help if you can : use the form on page 119

The Cunard SET Mr & Mrs Robin Bowie ‡ Patrick & Julia Carter ‡ Anonymous ‡ Dr & Mrs Mark Cecil Mr Peter Fenwick OBE ‡ Hamish & Sophie Forsyth ‡ Colin & Sarah Forsyth Mr Martin George ‡ The Hardingham Trust ‡ Mr William Guinness ‡ Ron Haylock Richard & Victoria Heyman ‡ Mr & Mrs Michael Learoyd ‡ Anonymous ‡ Mrs Sam Lloyd Sir Bruce & Lady MacPhail ‡ Sir Richard & Lady Morris Mr & Mrs Robin Murray-Philipson ‡ Mr & Mrs E H D Peppiatt ‡ Jim & Anne Peschek Mr & Mrs Roger Sharpley ‡ Mark & Lesley Shaw ‡ Mr & Mrs Raymond I Skilling Sir James & Lady Spooner ‡ Mr Maurice Thompson ‡ Mike Thrower & Gill Lungley Fred Vinton ‡ The Hon Mrs Louise Ward ‡ R W B Williams ‡ Colin Williams

‡ The Captains’ Table Anonymous ‡ Kate & Philip Douglas ‡ Mr Martin George ‡ Jane & Chris Lucas Mr W H Baker & Miss S G Mahaffy ‡ Dr C A Richards ‡ Anonymous

‡ The Clipper Class Mr & Mrs J D Abell ‡ Mr & Mrs Jeremy Brown ‡ Peter Crisp & Jeremy Crouch Mr & Mrs Michael Heaton ‡ Walia Kani ‡ Ian & Caroline McAlpine Mr Graham Parkinson CBE ‡ Mr & Mrs James Saunders Watson ‡ Mr & Mrs H Sinclair Anonymous ‡ Mr & Mrs Robert Whitehead ‡ The Stowaways Mrs Robin Abbott ‡ Anonymous ‡ David Barker QC ‡ Stanley Bates ‡ Dr & Mrs J G Bowen Mr David Bromage ‡ Anthony Bunker ‡ Michael Butterfield ‡ Mr & Mrs Richard Cazenove Mr & Mrs George Cornelius ‡ Rowland Escombe Esq ‡ Dr & Mrs Stephen Fleet ‡ Mrs V J French Mr & Mrs Gammell ‡ Dr Richard Godwin-Austen ‡ John Gordon ‡ David Hughes ‡ Tim Hutton Paul Hyde-Thomson CBE ‡ Deborah Jefferis ‡ Anonymous ‡ J Denys Johnson Edwina & Tony Johnson ‡ Philip & Emer Kirwan ‡ Mr Tom Lawson ‡ Gordon Layton Jane & Jeremy Lea ‡ Ann Lees ‡ Mrs J E Micklethwait ‡ Mrs Timothy Milward Pieter & Patricia Mommersteeg ‡ Anonymous ‡ Mr Ian Pasley-Tyler ‡ Bill Pickering Mr & Mrs R Rust ‡ Mr Timothy Sallitt CBE ‡ Mrs Barbara Samson Mr & Mrs Christopher Simpson ‡ Mr & Mrs B Spoor ‡ David & Liz Staveley Mr & Mrs David Thomas ‡ Mrs A J Thorman ‡ Mr Robert Wakeford Mr R C & the Hon Mrs Wheeler–Bennett ‡ Stephen & Susan Whittle ‡ Mr & Mrs Robin Whysall Mr Matthew Williams ‡ Mr Glyn Williams ‡ Anonymous

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Patron’s Foreword

Each year

during the late Autumn, Wasfi appears at my side and asks whether I have started writing the foreword to the Programme for the following year – and each year I have to admit that I have not. This year her request was even more urgent because the programme is due to go to the printers even earlier. So, as usual, I scramble to check what I have written in earlier years and find that everything I can think of has been covered – and in some instances more than once. By this time my spirits have sunk and I realise I cannot do anything but kick my memory into producing the bricks with which I can build.

Luckily, in the course of the last year our new Opera House has been given no less than three prizes for architectural merit: Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Award 2004, RIBA Conservation Commendation 2004 and an award from the Georgian Group.

This has, of course, made all those

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Operas & Dramas Out of the festival season,

people often ask us, in all seriousness, “what do you all do for the rest of the year?” I sometimes wonder myself, but actually it is almost a relief – and a relaxation – to get to opening night at Grange Park after eleven fairly frantic months. The season itself is the culmination of months – and even years for we have to book singers, designers, conductors and directors two to three years ahead – of auditions, planning, discussions, trials and tribulations. The exciting period is when our casts assemble for the intense six week period of rehearsals and then one can see the result of the rest of the year coming together as a real life production.

Out of season we always go back to the roots of the company: which means Her Majesty’s prisons. We were never inmates, though sometimes we feel like it.

This year, again supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, we were at Coldingley Prison, near Guildford, where we staged Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, starring some 45 prisoners all of whom sang their hearts out and I am certain felt it a great achievement. Ptolemy Christie directed – and it was a triumph. Tol also directed another production which gave considerable pride: the first production from the Nevill Holt Young Artists. The Independent and The Guardian were effusive in their praise: “a thumping good Cosi .....Brilliant” and both papers gave it four stars. Not a bad start for Nevill Holt Young Artists.

While on the subject of the Christies, I have to thank Tol’s grandfather Sir John, not only for the concept of the country house opera, but also for a more modest innovation: the idea of the programme flap which can be used as a bookmark.

Through the winter Michael Moody made further progress with the never–ending improvements at the Grange. In the pit we removed the Violin I staircase (to make room for more players) and changed the surface of the downstage wall with the object of softening the string sound. In the theatre itself there is a new stalls handrail, which has been elegantly curved

by R J Smith. Health & Safety requires a great deal of time and energy: we have fitted a new fire escape, more fire and burglar alarms, new fireproof doors to the dressing rooms, acquired a hotwork permit (to

The Viceroy's Orderly, 1915 (oil on canvas) by Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949) Nottingham City Museums and Galleries www.bridgeman.co.uk

allow us to weld etc), a new pyrotechnics cabinet and a new steel mesh guard in the hydraulics room. As Lord Ashburton says, these are mostly invisible, but I give them to you as a small flavour of what goes on in the “off” season.

On a more uplifting scale Michael Moody has been focusing a good deal of his effort on the new theatre at Nevill Holt. David Ross, one of our most loyal of patrons (you’ve all grown bored with our little Carphone Warehouse joke) has transformed his 17th century stable courtyard into an elegant 300 seat theatre. During the building works there have, not surprisingly, been hiccups and problems to be overcome, not least when digging the orchestra pit: we uncovered a medieval wall – probably of the garden of the medieval almshouse which occupied the spot. While we wait for the archeologists to complete their dig, this year’s orchestras are having to make incursions into the audience space. I hope as many of you as possible can visit Nevill Holt in the season and enjoy David’s beautiful gardens and the work he has done to restore one of England’s great houses.

The choice of this year’s operas shows our trademark mix of the traditional and unexpected.

For South Pacific we welcome back Craig Revel Horwood who choreographed Anything Goes when David Pountney directed it three years ago. Viewers of low-brow television might have seen Craig as an uncompromising judge on Strictly Come Dancing.

For Don Giovanni, considered a graveyard for opera directors, Daniel Slater has found what I think is an original and very effective “take” which stems from Molière. His Don Juan abducts Donna Elvira from her convent, marries her and then leaves her. I won’t give any more away.

We were fortunate to persuade Francis O’Connor to design both of these shows. His costume designer for South Pacific is Yvonne Milnes, making her debut in Hampshire, though she worked with Michael and myself in a county where there is outdoor opera.

This year we have not just one but two Donizetti operas. Martin Constantine directs The Elixir of Love with Nevill Holt Young Artists (supported by new sponsor, Morgan Stanley, whom we warmly welcome to our little family). First-timers at the Grange, designer George Souglides and director Stephen Langridge tackle Maria Stuarda. Stephen’s father, the

tenor Philip, sat on the Board when the company was formed in 1998, so there is a history here. There is also a link to Nevill Holt: Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded just 16 miles away at Fotheringhay.

Now comes the Oscar moment of thanks and praise. Michael, of course, must come first. Then in no particular order, there is Carol Butler, Rachel Pearson, Alison Ritchie, Anthony and Heidi Lane.

And there are many others of equal brilliance.

After 5 years of magnificent sweet-peas, Douglas de Lavison has decided to hang up his potting shed.

With the help of our donor Alan Titchmarsh, we have recruited the National Sweet Pea Society.

Corporate donors (page 8) have been generous.

Thank you all. In his pre-performance address, John will praise you individually.

Our chairman Sir David Davies, after unstinting backing of Grange Park Opera since its inception, is stepping down after this year’s festival. He was one of the first people I told of my dream to create a new opera company, and he and his wife Linda, both keen connoisseurs of opera, gave me priceless advice and guidance at a time when I most needed it. I shall forever be grateful to them both and I know that David will be around when I need him.

Our new chairman is William Garrett who brings different skills to what is becoming a mature company. William was of course one of the leading merchant bankers of the day and still has his finger in many pies – not least Grange Park Opera where he chaired the Endowment Fund.

The Fund is now becoming an element in the planning of projects. Massenet’s Thais in 2006 will be the first opera to benefit from an injection of funds and there are other splendours in store. More immediately the Fund has contributed towards Alexander Creswell’s ingenious installation in the restaurants.

Throughout this year’s programme there are paintings by William Nicholson, a leading portraitist in the early part of the 20th century. The cover, owned by a Grange Park member, is a Nicholson as is the dashing gentleman opposite: Duffadur Valayar Shah, an orderly to the Viceroy of India.

Sally and John Ashburton, our Vicereine and Viceroy, are everything and more than one could hope for . . . and we try to be Orderly.

wasfi kani obe 7

The Glass Ceiling Society A group of individuals has contributed towards projects to improve various technical aspects of the theatre. We are most grateful to them for their generosity Jane Bird Tom and Ann Black Mrs Toby Blackwell Jenny Bland Anonymous The Hon Sir Christopher Clarke Ian Clarkson & Richard Morris Steve & Linda Garnett Ian Gatt QC Susie Gaunt Marc & Melanie Gillespie Anonymous Liz Hewitt Mr & Mrs Robin Hutson Mr Anthony Johnson Timothy Jones & Martin Mason Mr & Mrs Andrew E Law Mr Richard Leonard Mr & Mrs Ian Maurice Roger & Jackie Morris Cameron & Heike Munro Pierre & Beatrice Natural Mr Charles Outhwaite Anonymous Mr & Mrs Dominic Powell Mrs Marveen Smith Len & Zara Tanner Mr & Mrs Kevan Watts

The chandelier in the south dining room at Grange Park

9

How the hospital became a theatre at Nevill Holt For the last two summers the operas at 700-year-old Nevill Holt have taken place inside a space-age bubble. For 2005, owner David Ross is creating a more intimate performance space – within the stable courtyard. Previous festival programmes have given a history of the house itself. Nick Hill tells us more about the stables, which on earliest drawings are intriguingly shown as a “hospital”.

As one of Leicestershire’s leading Roman Catholic families, with a resident Jesuit priest in 1629 –1640, the Nevills took an active part in the Civil War fighting for the king. Henry Nevill and his eldest son William were both colonels in the king’s army, but Henry’s participation was short-lived. On 9th January 1643 Lord Grey of Groby sent a declaration to Henry Nevill at Holt “to yield up his house and the arms contained in it”. Henry refused, so Lord Grey stormed the house, and Henry spent the ensuing years in prison at Peterhouse, Cambridge. The notebook of one Robert Symonds describes Holt as “razed to the ground” but this must clearly have been a misinformed exaggeration. Henry was faced with crippling fines and, though freed from prison by 1648, was forced to sell off large parts of his Essex estates. With the Restoration, Henry’s status was restored, and he was appointed one of several Deputy Lieutenants of Leicestershire in 1661, with his

younger son Thomas purchasing the title of Baronet of Holt. However, his large debts forced further sale of lands in Leicestershire, Yorkshire and Essex. With the curtailing of these wider interests, Henry was forced to focus more exclusively on Holt. The family dropped their alternative Essex name of Smyth and Henry commissioned a plan of his Holt property in 1661. Drawn in ink and black lead on parchment

by John Andrews, Surveyor, to a scale of 11 yards to the inch, the plan was discovered amongst the Peake Collection papers in the 1980s. It shows not only the outline of the house, but surrounding yards, gardens and outbuildings, and is remarkably accurate.

Given the misfortunes of the Nevills after 1642, the plan, though dated 1661, probably represents the pre-Civil War position. The plan shows a large stable block and coach house, further west than the existing stables, and later completely demolished. However, lying approximately on the site of the existing stables

A View of the Stables of Cos. Nevill Esq of Holt, Leics This is a curious drawing, described as “a clever imitation, it seems, of a C17 drawing” in the RIBA Papworth catalogue, since it is in the 17th century style but on later water-marked paper. Perhaps it is a copy of an original drawing, made for Cosmos Nevill (1747–1829) who was a distinguished fellow of the Antiquarian Society. The drawing shows the building after the addition of the cupola, but before the fitting of the exterior rainwater downpipes, dated 1815

16

is a “Hospitall” – an almshouse. Clearly it was not in use during this period, as a steward’s letter of 1639 refers to its use for storage of wheat, and winnowing “at the Bedehowse door” and by the later 17th century it had been demolished to make way for the new stable block.

The development of this new stable block, added one of the most attractive features at Holt. This fine long building had double-height stables to the main central part, with first floors only at each end. These ends formed coach houses, with wider openings, later blocked and made into windows instead.

Above the coach houses were grooms’ rooms. Above the central part was a long attic space. What appear to be ‘first floor’ windows here in fact provided toplighting for the stables.

The main front, typical of the late 17th century in the area, is a particularly attractive example of the mixing of earlier medieval style with classical detailing. The frontage had five Gothic style doorways originally. The central door surround, with fluted pilasters and segmental pediment, adds a contemporary classical touch to this otherwise conservative Gothic building. The whole is, however, of one build, (except the cupola) and all the features including the roof structure are consistent with a date of the later 17th century. The coat of arms over two doors is of no help in giving a firm date.

Alterations to the roof structure show the cupola was added later, perhaps in the earlier 18th century, and the clock may be later still. The lead rainwater pipes and hoppers are dated 1815 but do not seem to date a phase of building work.

Sir Bache Cunard led an active sporting life, and stabling for just 11 horses was insufficent. Whilst Master of Fox Hounds (1878 - 1888), he decided to greatly extend the stables, adding a whole courtyard behind. Besides further accommodation for horses, the new buildings provided coach houses, tackrooms and bedrooms for grooms. At the same time various modifications to the stables were made: the double height stabling was given a curved, plastered vaulted ceiling and the inner walls were all refaced in Victorian brickwork, with new joinery etc. Early in the 20th century, a room in the stables was given over to housing a generator and battery store for electric light.

Once a school (1919), the stables were extensively altered.

The attics became a shooting gallery and classrooms. On the ground floor there were craft rooms, a chemistry lab, a workshop, a gym and a swimming pool.

Having completed his restoration of the main house at Nevill Holt, David Ross’ plan to form an intimate theatre for opera within the walls of the stables seemed an inspired use for this elegant building.

nick hill 17

ASSASSINS

LI B BY PU RV E S , PI M LI C O O PE R A & PR I S O N E R S o f C O LD I N G LE Y

The strangest part is

always the curtain call: clapping, a bit of cheering, grins of triumph from reanimated victims and stage villains who can at last cast off the character and smile. Sometimes there are relatives in the audience, emitting whistles of appreciation and the odd stamp of feet. The orchestra starts up again with a lively playout, and the conductor hands the baton to an inmate for the final flourish.

And as you troop out past the wire and the walls, under the watchful but generally benign eye of the warders, an inconsequential thought comes into your head. It is always the same one. My student guests voiced it at Coldingley Jail this spring as we left Sondheim’s Assassins. “How odd.” said one “We’ve just been part of a really happy night, in prison”.

I have felt that too: in the dark Victorian chapel at Wandsworth after Guys & Dolls, and again in the gym at Coldingley that night. There is something about musical theatre and opera which always lifts the heart: perhaps it is the intensity of it, that reckless effortfulness combined with tight discipline. Perhaps it is just the way the music takes the story and gives it wings. It is a magnifying-glass for emotion. And somehow, whether in the slickest professional company or the sketchiest school play, the huge emotional themes of the piece itself always transfer themselves to the players and the watchers, at that moment of the curtain call. It is not uncommon for cast and audience alike to

feel a sudden surge of something like love. Thank you for the show, thank you for all that work. Thank you for coming, and for clapping. Isn’t life great?

Take musical theatre into prisons, as Pimlico Opera does, and you harness all that glee and gusto to remove for a while the sadness and boredom, the shame and depression surrounding imprisonment.

You create happiness which is shared between inmates, professionals and audience (and, of course, the audience of other inmates on other nights). You demonstrate and assert, beyond all contradiction, the fact that whatever has happened in the past prisoners are human beings, capable of changing for the better. The high standard of the work proves to outsiders that talent can flower in the strangest places; to inmates it reinforces the understanding that patient effort pays, and will be applauded. It affirms that there are people out there who do not want prisoners’ gifts to go to waste. When somebody has sung to you and moved you to a tear or a laugh, you are no longer strangers. When a prison has opened its doors to a slightly nervous, uncertain audience which has never seen inside one before, a social barrier is torn down.

There are other theatrical enterprises inside prisons; excellent ones, across a wide field. Increasingly the arts are accepted as useful in the penal system, on both a personal and a social level. But Pimlico Opera does what it does with particular pizazz, and mischief, and glitter, and patience, and faith.

It deserves to take a bow

The American Dream and three assassins Coldingley Prison March 2005 photo Laurie Lewis

The Guardian

Brian Abbs Richard Butler Adams Anonymous Christina Benn Mr Robert Bickerdike Bob & Elisabeth Boas Tony & Sarah Bolton His Honour Judge Guy Boney QC Consuelo & Anthony Brooke Rory & Elizabeth Brooks Mr & Mrs Thomas Buckley Anthony Bunker Anonymous Bernard Cazenove The Hon Sir Christopher Clarke Sir Anthony Cleaver Andrew & Donna Cooper Mrs Deborah De Groot Anonymous Mr J M Dyson Austin & Ragna Erwin Alun & Bridget Evans Mrs Heather Ewart Dr Tom & Dr Helen Foley Anonymous Mr & Mrs Robert Gray Mr & Mrs John Green Susie Gwyn Mr & Mrs Charles Haddon-Cave QC Mr Benjamin Hargreaves Ms Olive Heffill Mr & Mrs R H T Hingston Miss Charlotte Hobhouse David & Wendy Hunter Anonymous Lord & Lady Judd Abu Khamis Joachim Kerfack Drs A and Z Kurtz The Lilian Trust Mr Peter Luttman-Johnson Mr & Mrs John Malarkey Anthony & Celia Mason Andrew & Vivien May Joanna Mersey Richard & Patricia Millett Mr Michael Moss JP Sara Nathan John & Dianne Norton

8 March 2005 ★★★★✩

Pimlico Opera reaches parts of society other companies don’t – namely prisons, with which it has been creating productions for 15 years. The latest venture – into a Category B training institution – is certainly an outstanding creative achievement. Any further impact on the inmates, however, is harder to quantify. But judging from the comments in the programme from those taking part, some of whom have never seen a live play before, they could be profound.

Strengthened by professional opera singers and actors, the Coldingley company tackles Sondheim’s musical Assassins, a dark piece about those notorious individuals who have killed, or tried to kill, a US president. The list begins with Lincoln’s murderer, John Wilkes Booth, then traverses such half forgotten figures as Giuseppe Zangara, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and John Hinkley before climaxing with Lee Harvey Oswald, who in the weirdly surreal finale is persuaded to assassinate Kennedy by his predecessors and successors.

JAILBIRDS

GOVERNORS

The Band Trust Mrs Mary Bennett Lord Bittleston of Newnham Sir Peter & Lady Cazalet Jenny & Ewan Davidson Mrs Andrew Deacon Anonymous Anonymous George Goulding Alan & Karen Grieve Charitable Trust Mrs J Hall Lord Harris of Peckham Mrs M Hazeldine The Bulldog Trust The Headley Trust Mr & Mrs J B Holmes Lady Jacomb Neil & Elizabeth Johnson Andrew & Caroline Joy Ginny & Tim Kempster The de Laszlo Foundation David & Amanda Leathers The Linbury Trust James & Beatrice Lupton Minnie MacHale Mrs Clare Maurice Brigid & Freddie Monkhouse Andrew & Elizabeth Morison Allegra Mostyn-Owen Julian Ogilvie Thompson John Paterson Mr Erik Penser The Lord & Lady Phillimore Ernst Piech David & Alex Rhodes John & Victoria Salkeld Mr Peter Scott Sir James & Lady Scott Mr & Mrs George Seligman Richard & Victoria Sharp Richard & Helen Sheldon Mr & Mrs M G St.Quinton Johnny Veeder QC Rev John Wates Anonymous

Mrs Eugene O’Keeffe John & Jacqui Pearson Anonymous Jan & Mike Potter Mr & Mrs Julien Prevett Mrs Richard Priestley Libby Purves OBE Mr John Rank Mr M V Raphael Jean Ritchie QC Mr & Mrs James Roberts Maggie Robshaw Viv & Nigel Robson Dr Stephen & Mrs Mary Roe Mrs Faanya Rose Prof & Mrs D L Russell-Jones Tony & Jenny Shearer David Sigall Hon FTCL Anonymous Mr Peter Slot Mr & Mrs C D Spooner Mr J G Stanford Mr David Taylor Mrs Fleur Taylor Mr Harold Thrower Mr & Mrs G Westwell Sue Whitley Mr & Mrs Barry Wilkinson Mrs John Whiteley The Hon Geoffrey & Mrs Wilson Tessa Youell Richard Youell

Sondheim sets these overlapping mini-dramas with gleeful verve, allowing a range of parodies of homely national musical styles – vaudeville, country song, Sousa march, pop ballad – to cast the blackest of shadows over his clinical dissection of the American dream gone wrong. The result is funny and disturbing, usually at the same time. Originally an off-Broadway flop, it finds here a more congenial setting.

Ptolemy Christie’s direction is tight, Stee Billingsley’s routines are pacey and the show glides effortlessly from scene to scene.

Some of the voices may not be strong, but they are confident.

Music director John Beswick keeps everyone firmly on message.

Among the pros, Nathaniel Gibbs as the Balladeer, Robert Gildon as Booth and Lorna Stephens as Fromme made focused contributions. I’m not supposed to identify prisoners too closely but the ones who played Zangara and Czolgosz were memorable, and "Oswald", who had great presence and perfect timing, should look for an agent when he gets out. George Hall

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Grange Park Opera – a personal reminiscence by Sir David Davies Any account of Grange Park Opera must begin with Wasfi. Our first meeting, some 14 years ago, was through my wife Linda. This coincided with Pimlico Opera’s production of Falstaff at St John’s Smith Square in the summer of 1991 followed by the company’s head–line production of Sweeney Todd at Her Majesty’s Prison Wormwood Scrubs in the winter.

My programme contains a note from Wasfi to Linda: “I haven’t forgotten (a) to invite you both to supper and (b) to ask David for some advice about funding”.

I’d heard vague and tantalising stories about this redoubtable lady, born of Indian parents who had left at Partition, raised in the East End’s Cable Street, learning the violin at 12, playing in the National Youth Orchestra at 18, working her way to Oxford to take a degree in Music, running a computer consultancy in the City and concluding that music was her passion and the best way to realise this was to become a conductor.

Hence Pimlico Opera was set up in 1987.

Little did I know how those modest words – “to ask David for some advice about funding” – were to play such an important and entertaining part of my life for 14 years! I have done my best to oblige.

In 1992 sponsorship was arranged through Johnson Matthey, of which I was then Chairman, for a production of Cenerentola in Dublin. In 1994 Donald Kahn and NatWest supported the British première of Shostakovich musical comedy Cheryomushki conducted

by Wasfi at the Lyric, Hammersmith. In 1996 Pimlico took Ireland in its grip with a barnstorming Don Giovanni touring across the country from one splendid castle to another (Glin, Birr and Tullynally no less) ending up with a gala performance of West Side Story in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison with President Mary Robinson and Pierce Brosnan as unlikely joint guests of honour. As Wasfi wrote to Linda “Surely Mountjoy must be the ultimate venue for corporate entertainment. They’ve all been everywhere else”.

And all the while from 1993 through 1997 I found myself in countless discussions with Wasfi in her time as Associate Director of Garsington Opera about all

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aspects of country house opera.

It did not come as a surprise therefore when Wasfi indicated that she was determined to set up her own opera festival. The first idea was to build an 18th century opera house based on Drottningholm in Sweden and Joseph Haydn’s theatre at Esterhaza.

1997 was the year when hope turned into action.

Hampshire, it was concluded, would be the ideal location for a new opera festival – a financially well-heeled community, not overly competitive in the arts, close enough to London but sufficiently far removed from Glyndebourne and Garsington. With Michael Moody she chose the great garden of Coles, located between Alton and Petersfield, and Coles Opera was born. On April 30 1997 Wasfi asked me to become the Chairman “With your guidance I could confidently devote the next 10 years to creating an event of national standing”. I felt I should seek the consent of George Christie at Glyndebourne, on whose Board I had served for several years, and he graciously gave his blessing. The Board was appointed and included Mary Ann Sheehy and Philip Langridge. The Advisory Council was selected with care. Then the unthinkable happened. We were unable to conclude satisfactory arrangements for the lease of the property and Coles Opera was not to be.

This reverse, which would have been an enormous blow to most people, only served to galvanise Wasfi to find a replacement. One month later the dream took shape. By the middle of October 1997 Wasfi had discovered The Grange, one of the most extraordinary buildings in Britain, “looking as if the Parthenon has landed in the English countryside.” She reported that the two key parties, namely the Baring family, as owner, in the formidable person of John Ashburton and English Heritage, as guardian, in the equally formidable form of its Chairman Jocelyn Stevens, had concurred that a small opera festival would be an appropriate use of The Grange. By early December, the festival programme for the following summer was

Figaro and a concert with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. The Board and the Advisory Council were seamlessly transferred from Coles to Grange Park Opera, and the company was incorporated on January 6th 1998. The lease with the Baring family and the licence with English Heritage were concluded.

Corporate and individual fund raising was in full swing, with an initial target of £170,000 being later increased to £250,000. Michael prepared the drawings for the theatre, the planning application was filed, he had meetings with acousticians, engineers, electricians et al. Through it all Wasfi waved her baton as to the manor born.

Feverish activity continued throughout the first six months of 1998 and on Tuesday July 7th, what had first been an Orangery, then a Ballroom, then a Picture Gallery, became a fully-fledged Opera House, decked out with the old Royal Opera House red plush seats amidst the historic crumbling masonry. Even Rodney Milnes opened his critique in The Times “Where will country house opera pop up next? Wherever it is, it will be hard to rival the Grange . . . Grange Park Opera will be a winner”. Jocelyn Stevens ended his congratulatory note to Wasfi: “Your drive and passion are an example to us all”. In its first year, Grange Park Opera showed income of £438,000 and expenses of £446,000. Not bad!

By the following year, after the charming Poulenc/Ravel double bill, Hugh Canning was to write : “In only its second year of existence, Grange Park Opera has established itself as a summer opera festival of remarkable distinction and originality”.

In 2000 Michael Kennedy wrote : “Now in its third season, Grange Park can make a challenge for the most beautiful rural setting. I heard a delightful Mikado and a thoughtful Eugene Onegin”.

And then during the millennium year Wasfi and Michael, with their new Finance Director Carol Butler, brought their Grand Plan to the Board : the auditorium to be turned through 90 degrees and capacity increased from 360 to around 540. The Board which had been expanded to include Iain Burnside and Simon Freakley was supportive and a fund raising strategy and financial plan was agreed. This assumed a building cost of £1.8m with a further £1.2m be raised by way of an Endowment Fund. At a later stage the overall target was increased to £4m with

£2.2m of building costs. In May 2001 the Advisory Council was dissolved and an Appeal Committee was formed with William Garrett as Chairman.

Summer 2001 was the last festival in the old theatre and about £2m had been promised. At the beginning of 2002 Wasfi was awarded the OBE and we held a splendid dinner to celebrate this most deserved award. We girded ourselves for the opening of the new theatre later in the year. The Appeal had reached £3.3m, which put us in reach of the target of £4m with Donald Kahn agreeing to become the festival’s principal sponsor giving us a handsome gift of £500,000. At the same time, Carphone Warehouse confirmed their annual production sponsorship and Christopher Ondaatje agreed to become a production sponsor for the next five years.

Meanwhile the Executive Team and the Board had been exploring the idea of taking Grange Park productions elsewhere. With David Ross’s acquisition of Nevill Holt in Leicestershire these plans received a great boost. Immediately following the close of the 2003 Festival in Hampshire, there were two performances at Nevill Holt and in 2004 this was extended to five. With David transforming his stable courtyard into a theatre the future of opera at Nevill Holt looks assured.

Grange Park Opera has come a long way in just a few years. We have a licence until 2018, a new theatre, as many as 300 people under contract every night of the Festival. The annual budget is now close to £2m.

The company operates at a break even with a healthy Endowment Fund available in case of unexpected difficulties.

I had seven years with Wasfi preparing for The Grange and have now had seven years enjoying the fruits of this labour. My thanks to all those who have made this possible, in particular to the staff, management and Board of Grange Park Opera. My appreciation to John Ashburton for his wise and patient counsel (a much over-used phrase but in this case both accurate and deserved) and to Wasfi, the inspirational muse.

Finally my warm welcome to William Garrett who will be my successor as Chairman.

The present is assured. The future is glowing.

Sir David Davies

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Seven years of operas  MOZART Le Nozze di Figaro director Emma Jenkins ✣ designer Conor Murphy ✣ c onductor Elgar Howarth ✣ lighting designer Ivan Morandi cast includes Mary Hegarty Susanna, Patrick Donnelly Figaro, Quentin Hayes Count, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Basilio/Curzio, Lynton Black Bartolo

 ROSSINI Il Barbiere di Siviglia director Emma Jenkins ✣ designer Ti Green ✣ conductor Marco Zambelli ✣ festival lighting designer Zerlina Hughes cast includes Nerys Jones Rosina, Quentin Hayes Barber, Robert Poulton Bartolo, Mary King Berta, Paolo Pecchioli Basilio ✣

RAVEL L’Heure Espagnole director/designer Stewart Laing ✣ conductor Lionel Friend ✣ choreographer Linda Dobell ✣ language coach Béatrice Lupton cast Elena Ferrari Concepcion, Richard Suart Don Inigo, George Mosley muleteer, Kevin West Torquemada, Richard Edgar–Wilson poet ✣

POULENC The Breasts of Tiresias director/designer Stewart Laing ✣ conductor Lionel Friend ✣ translation David Pountney cast includes Susan Roberts Thérèse, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Husband, Richard Suart Presto, Kevin West Lacouf, George Mosley Director

 HANDEL Rinaldo director/designer David Fielding ✣ co-designer Andrew Walsh ✣ conductor John Toll ✣ festival lighting designer Wayne Dowdeswell cast includes Emma Bell Almirena, Sara Fulgoni Rinaldo, Yvonne Howard Goffredo, Susan Roberts Armida, Tim Mirfin Argante ✣

TCHAIKOVSKY Eugene Onegin director Ian Judge ✣ designer Deirdre Clancy ✣ conductor David Lloyd–Jones ✣ movement Lindsay Dolan cast includes Majella Cullagh Tatiana, Robert Poulton Onegin, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Lenski, Brindley Sherratt Gremin ✣

GILBERT & SULLIVAN The Mikado director Gordon Anderson ✣ designer Anthony MacIlwaine ✣ conductor Mark Shanahan ✣ movement Wayne McGregor cast includes Gareth Jones Mikado, Alfred Boe Nanki-Poo, Simon Butteriss Ko-ko, Richard Angas Pooh-bah, Clarissa Meek Katisha

 MOZART Così fan tutte director Janis Kelly ✣ co-designers David Roger / Gemma Fripp ✣ conductor Robert Dean ✣ festival lighting designer Chris Davey cast includes Sally Matthews Fiordiligi, Nerys Jones Dorabella, Jonathan Best Alfonso, Alfred Boe Ferrando, Mark Stone Guglielmo ✣

BELLINI I Capuleti e I Montecchi director Dominic Cooke ✣ designer Robert Innes Hopkins ✣ conductor Mark Shanahan ✣ movement Andrew George cast includes Emma Bell Giulietta, Finnur Bjarnason Tebaldo, Brindley Sherratt Capellio, Susan Bickley Romeo ✣

MESSAGER Fortunio director Daniel Slater ✣ designer Francis O’Connor ✣ conductor Harry Christophers ✣ language coach Béatrice Lupton cast includes Natasha Marsh Jacqueline, Quentin Hayes Clavaroche, Lorenzo Carola Fortunio, Joesph Corbett Landry

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   

VERDI La Traviata director Aidan Lang ✣ designer Deirdre Clancy ✣ conductor Mark Shanahan ✣ festival lighting designer Chris Davey cast includes Katarina Jovanovic Violetta, Alan Oke Alfredo, George Mosley Germont ✣

COLE PORTER Anything Goes director David Pountney ✣ set designer Johann Engels ✣ conductor Nick Davies ✣ choreographer Craig Revel Horwood cast includes Kim Criswell Reno, Graham Bickley Billy Crocker, Simon Green Lord Evelyn, John Guerrasio Moonface Martin ✣

BRITTEN The Turn of the Screw director David Fielding ✣ designer Andrew Walsha ✣ conductor Lionel Friend cast Natasha Marsh Governess, Janis Kelly Miss Jessel, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Quint, Clarissa Meek Mrs Grose, Megan Kelly Flora, William Sheldon Miles

 PUCCINI La Bohème (with performances at Nevill Holt) director Dominic Cooke ✣ designer Robert Innes Hopkins ✣ conductor Stephen Barlow ✣ movement Sue Lefton cast includes Anne–Sophie Duprels Mimi, John Hudson Rodolfo, Mark Stone Marcello, Andrew Foster–Williams Colline, Elena Ferrari Musetta ✣

GILBERT & SULLIVAN Iolanthe director Janis Kelly ✣ designer Francis O’Connor ✣ conductor Robert Dean ✣ festival lighting designer Chris Davey cast includes Mary Hegarty Phyllis, Richard Suart The Lord Chancellor, Richard Angas Private Willis, Jeremy Carpenter Strephon ✣

CHABRIER Le Roi Malgré Lui director Simon Callow ✣ designer Ashley Martin–Davies ✣ conductor Roderick Brydon ✣ choreographer Quinny Sacks cast includes Alison Roddy Minka, Stephan Loges Henri de Valois, Frederik Strid Nangis, Mary Plazas Alexina

 ROSSINI La Cenerentola (with performances at Nevill Holt) director/designer Nigel Lowery ✣ conductor Sergio La Stella ✣ festival lighting designer Wolfgang Goebbel cast includes Deanne Meek Angelina, Robert Poulton Magnifico, Franck Lopez Dandini, Frederik Strid Ramiro ✣

LEONARD BERNSTEIN Wonderful Town director/designer Antony McDonald ✣ conductor Richard Balcombe ✣ choreographer Philippe Giraudeau cast includes Sophie Daneman Eileen, Mary King Ruth, Graham Bickley Bob Baker, Mark Meadows Wreck, Derek Hagen Frank, David Curtiz Chick Clark, Victoria Ward Helen, Nathaniel Gibbs Tour Guide, Paul Featherstone Officer Lonigan ✣

TCHAIKOVSKY The Enchantress director/designer David Fielding ✣ conductor David Lloyd Jones ✣ choreographer Stee Billingsley cast includes Janis Kelly Enchantress, Vassily Savenko Nikita, Carole Wilson Yevpraxsia, Dan Jordan Zhuran, Harriet Williams Nenila, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Yuri, Lynton Black Foka, Stephen Richardson Mamirov, Deryck Hamon Potap, Andrew Friedhoff Paisii ✣

MOZART Così fan tutte (from Nevill Holt Young Artists) director Ptolemy Christie ✣ designer Adrian Linford ✣ conductor Martin Handley ✣ lighting designer Jon Clark ✣ movement Sue Lefton cast includes Lee Bissett Fiordiligi, Karina Lucas Dorabella, Henry Kerswell Alfonso, Benjamin Hulett Ferrando, John Lofthouse Guglielmo

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Founders

who contributed to the first opera festival at Grange Park in 1998

Olympians & Titans Mr Mark Andrews Mr Felix Appelbe BSc FRSA Mr Peter Arengo-Jones OBE Mr David Buchler Mr William F Charnley Professor Ian Craft

Lydia & Miles d’Arcy-Irvine Sir David & Lady Davies Mr Peter Foy Mr Simon Freakley Mr William Gronow Davis Mr Michael Hoare

Mr & Mrs Donald Kahn Mr T Landon James & Béatrice Lupton Mr & Mrs Charles Mackay Mr Harvey McGregor QC Greg & Gail Melgaard

Mr & Mrs Hugh Peppiatt Mrs Lucinda Stevens Mr & Mrs Anthony Townsend Mr & Mrs Max Ulfane Mrs Marie Veeder Mr & Mrs Graham John West

Argonauts, Pythagoreans & Arcadians Mr & Mrs Gerald Acher Richard & Delia Baker Mr & Mrs Nicholas Baring Mr & Mrs Tom Bartlam Dori Bateson Mr Peter Bedford Mr & Mrs Robin Behar Mr Alan Bell Mr Keith Benham Mrs M Bennett Sir Christopher & Lady Bland Mrs Gerald Bland Mr & Mrs Simon Borrows Mr Graham Bourne Mr Peter Braunwalder Mr & Mrs Keith Bromley Mr Robin W T Buchanan Mr & Mrs Mark Burch Mrs James Butler Sir Euan Calthorpe Bt Mr & Mrs Michael Campbell Mr Maximilian Carter Sir Peter & Lady Cazalet David & Elizabeth Challen Mr Oliver Colman Cynthia Colman Dr P M de Z Cooke Mr & Mrs Brian Cornish Mr Peter Davidson Guy Boney & Bente Dawkins Mr Peter Dicks Mr & Mrs Malcolm Edwards Austin & Ragna Erwin Mr T Alun Evans CMG Alastair & Robina Farley

Mr & Mrs J fforde Mr & Mrs Roger Fidgen Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Mr & Mrs Robin Fox Mr Andrew Frost Mr Stephen Frost Mr Nicholas R Gold Lady Shauna Gosling Mr & Mrs George Goulding Mr Verne Grinstead Mr Michael Gwinnell Mr Philip Gwyn Mr & Mrs Charles Haddon-Cave QC Mr & Mrs Philip Hallett Mr Clifford Hampton Mr Alan H Harrison Angela & David Harvey The Bulldog Trust Dr & Mrs James F Hill Mr & Mrs Hansgeorg Hofmann Mr Peter Holland Dr Jonathan Holliday Mr J P Hungerford Robin & Pat Ilbert The Countess of Iveagh Mr & Mrs Evan James Mr Martin Jay Mr & Mrs David Jervis Mr J T L Jervoise Neil & Elizabeth Johnson Mr & Mrs A N Joy Ms Walia Kani Mr Vincent Keaveny Maureen & Jim Kelly Mr Joachim Kerfack

Mr & Mrs David Leathers Mr & Mrs Adam Lee David & Linda Lloyd Jones Mr Simon Lofthouse Dr Peter Lyndon-Skeggs Mrs Stuart Macnaghten The Hon Dwight Makins Mr & Mrs Charles Marriott Mr John Marden Mr William Mather Wendy & Michael Max Mr & Mrs P N J May Mr & Mrs T McMaddy Mr Nigel McNair Scott Mr & Mrs A S McWhirter Mr James Meade Leni Lady Miller Mr & Mrs Patrick Mitford Slade Miss Charlotte Moore Elizabeth Morison Mr Michael J Morley Dr & Mrs Julian Muir Lord Neill of Bladen QC Sir Charles Nicholson Bt John & Dianne Norton John Julius Norwich Mr & Mrs Michael Orr Major General & Mrs Simon Pack Mark & Rachel Pearson Ron & Lyn Peet Mr & Mrs Nicholas Phelps-Brown The Countess of Portsmouth Mr & Mrs David Potter Bruce & Lizzie Powell Mark & Veronica Powell

Mr & Mrs Richard Priestley Mrs Barbara Rait Sir Peter & Lady Ramsbotham Mr Myrddin Rees MS FRCS Mr David Reid Scott Anonymous Mrs Eric Robinson Clare Rowland Mr & Mrs James Sabben-Clare Sir Timothy Sainsbury Mrs John Salkeld Lady Salomon Mr Richard Scopes The Countess of Selborne Mr & Mrs Mark Silver Mr Paul Skinner Mrs David Smith The Hon & Mrs Jeremy Soames Mr J G Stanford Mrs Donald Stearns Mr R Kirk Stephenson Mr & Mrs Richard H Sykes Mr Anthony John Thompson Professor & Mrs G M Tonge Adair Turner & Orna Ni-Chionna Mr & Mrs David Vaughan The Hon Mrs Lucy Vaughan Mrs Peter Vey Caroline Vroom Mr Hady Wakefield Lady Jane Wallop Dr & Mrs Oliver Wethered M Whalley & K Goldie-Morrison Mr F E B Witts Mr Charles Young

BT Alex Brown International Hays plc Wilde Sapte Barclays Private Banking

Catering & Allied Coutts & Co Biddle Denton Hall

Houston & Church Knight Frank (Winchester) Leopold de Rothschild Trust Well Marine Reinsurance Brokers

Corporate Founders Systems Union Group Ltd Ashe Park Mineral Water Baring Asset Management British Steel Distribution

Athenians Mr & Mrs James Airy John & Jackie Alexander Mr & Mrs R Atkinson-Willes Miss Anne Beckwith-Smith Mr & Dr J Beechey Sheila Lady Bernard Mr Robert Bickerdike Mrs M R Bonsall Mrs Cherida Cannon Mr Patrick Carter Mr & Mrs Bernard Cazenove Mrs Justin Clark

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Mr & Mrs M Cooper-Mitchell Mr & Mrs R G Cottam Mr David Crowe Mr Nicholas de Zoete Ms K Deuss Gillian Devas Mr Anthony Doggart Robyn Durie Mr & Mrs W L Eddlestone Stuart & Anne Fowler Archie & Henrietta Fraser Gen Sir David Fraser GCB OBE

Mr & Mrs Wyatt Gates Lt Col David R Gilbert His Honour Judge Martin Graham QC Mr Robert B Gray Mr & Mrs J C Green Mr John Hammond Mr & Mrs Peter Hobbs Mr & Mrs G Hollingbery Mr Charles Irby Mr & Mrs Malcolm Isaac Mr Barry Jackson

Mrs Julian Jeffs Mrs Lynette G Joly JP Mrs Z L Kelton Mr John Learmonth Mr Gerald Levin Mr & Mrs Mark Lomas Mr & Mrs David Maitland Anonymous Gordon & Julia Medcalf Lord Montagu of Beaulieu Mrs Jonathan Moore Mr Barry O’Brien

Mr Laurence O’Mara Mrs Deidre Pegg Miss Mahtab Pouria Mrs C H Powell Mrs Joan L Prior Mrs Thomas Redfern Mr John A Rickards Dr Janet Ritterman Mrs Martin St Quinton Mr Anthony Salz Anne Lady Scott Mr & Mrs Philip Snuggs

Mr David F M Stileman Mr & Mrs Ian Streat Mr R H Sutton Mr Peter Tilley The Hon Mrs W Tufnell K Sandberg & T Watkins Mr & Mrs T Wightman Andrew & Emma Wilson Olivia Winterton Dr Nicholas Wright Mr Tim Wright Mrs Paul Zisman

Gerry Acher seeks your views We aim to be inspirational and. . . slightly different from other country house opera. Any organisation taking its supporters for granted, does so at its peril. So it is time to check whether the facilities meet your expectations and how we might improve them. Please take a few minutes to tell us your views.

Completed questionnaires will be included in a draw for two free tickets for the 2006 festival.

Please specify to which your comments relate Grange Park

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Nevill Holt

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Ease of booking performance

Good

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restaurant

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picnics

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Adequate

effectiveness of ❐ portering arrangements

* Additional comments relating to areas rated "Poor" and any other non-artistic aspects of the event

Poor*

Finally . . . Please suggest two operas which you think would suit the size of the theatre

Travel Directions

Good

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Signs on leaving

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Ease of parking

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Décor/the look In the theatre

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Name

In the restaurants

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Address

In the long marquee

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Pre-performance (The Grange)

Good

Adequate

Adequate

Adequate

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Poor*

More unusual There is a form for new and existing members at the back of the Programme Book

Poor*

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Pre-performance orders are normally served in the magnificent doric portico looking over the Candover valley.

For a windy day, there is a new sheltered area by the oval lawn. Since the restaurants are being prepared for interval dining they normally cannot be used.

Your view of

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Theatre facilities

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Picknicking facilities

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Do you use our website? yes

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no

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Is this your first visit?

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no

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Adequate

yes

Mainstream repertoire

Poor*

If you have been before, how frequently? (tick one) Not every year ❐ Every year once ❐ Every year more than once ❐

David Manston of The National Sweet Pea Society (instituted 1900) has kindly grown the sweet peas for The Grange this year. To become a member of the Society ring 01202 734 088

PATRON The Rt Hon Lord Ashburton KG BOARD Sir David Davies (Chairman) The Rt Hon Lord Ashburton KG Iain Burnside Simon Freakley William Garrett Wasfi Kani OBE The Hon Mary-Ann Sheehy CHIEF EXECUTIVE Wasfi Kani OBE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Michael Moody FINANCE DIRECTOR Carol Butler MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING Rachel Pearson PRODUCTION MANAGER Alison Ritchie ADMINISTRATOR Stephanie Burrett HOUSE MANAGER Stevie Kavanagh COMPANY MANAGER Helen Sennett ORCHESTRA MANAGER Mark Lacey BOX OFFICE MANAGER Jan ????

PRESS & PUBLICITY Claire Willis PR CONSULTANT Franklin Rae Communications

GRANGE PARK OPERA The Coach House 12 St Thomas Street Winchester SO23 9HF Tel. 01962 86 86 00 Charity no 1068046 VAT no 710241984

THANKS TO ????????

HETRE OF ALRESFORD Mytrainers, Covent Garden Lever Faberge (washing powder) Rawlings Opticians of Alresford Beers of Russia

Wimex Kazakh Vodka Honeyrose Products Ltd Wallers Menswear

THE THERMOI AT THE GRANGE provide invaluable help before and during the Festival

NEVILL HOLT

Penny Akroyd Jean Amos Nikki Barker Sue Bristow Sue Brown Virginia Collett Louise Cox Pru & Douglas de Lavison

Andrea Harris Lizzie Holmes Inge Hunter Charmian Jones Angela Larard Susie Lintott Sue Paice Lucy Pease

Jo Seligman Katharine Sellon Mike & Ann Smart Sarah Tillie The Hon Gina Tufnell Don & Barbara Woods Louise Woods

revise this list Judy Bennion, Elise Alliston Edwina Johnson, Juliet Mortimer Chris & Helen Roberts Sarah Sharpley, Penny Allan Anne Elliott, Penny Polito Victoria Heyman

HOUSE KEEPER Lorna Clive

THE RESTAURANT Anthony Lane & Heidi Coles

Assisted by ??????? Victoria Hargreaves, June Brunton Tracy Freeman, David Gollins Rosie Kingsford, Kim Nutley, Sarah Stevens, Karen Wheeler, Kenneth Nash

Food by Kaye Thomson Champagne Laurent Perrier Water Hildon

TENT KEEPER Peter Paice Derek Lintott (assistant) ??

Ushers Stevie Kavanagh, Ben Cross Stephanie Burrett, Jill Hardy

THE GRANGE & GROUNDS James Jenner Richard Loader Ian Conduct John & Victoria Salkeld

NEVILL HOLT Fi Smith Bingham (event co-ordinator) Phil Oldham (gardens) ??? Susan Phurland (housekeeper)

NEVILL HOLT ADVISORY COMMITTEE The Duchess of Rutland William Guinness Tim Hart

Lady Heseltine Michelle Lineker Lady Sarah McCorquodale

Sir Bruce McPhail Mrs Robin Murray–Philipson David Phillips

David Ross Fi Smith–Bingham Sir James Spooner

Rehearsal répétiteurs Jeremy Cooke (Enchantress / Cosi) John Beswick (Cenerentola) Jonathan Williams (W Town)

Head of Lighting Jon Clarke

Festival Costume Supervisor Sarah Bowern

Chief Electrician Heidi Riley ??? Andy Morrell (Nevill Holt)

Deputy Costume Supervisor Sarah Surridge

Stage Managers Casey Norton (South Pacific) Bo Barton (Maria Stuarda) Fiona Greenhill (Don Giovanni) ?????? (Elixir of Love)

Technical Stage Manager Declan Costello Deputy Tech Stage Manager Frank Crossley tbc Stage technicians Anthony Bobb–Semple Martin Pettifer Michael Byrne Simon Godfrey Chief Dawethi Matthew Robinson ???? AT NEVILL HOLT Head of Stage ??? Nigel Vincent Deputy Head of Stage Adam Perkins Stage technicians Martin Byrne Rachel Frith Simon Mahoney Scott Masterson Programme Sutchinda Thompson (design) Wasfi Kani

Deputy Electrician Andy Turner John Mann Sound Designer Tom Lishman Set construction & painting Don Giovanni Set-Up Scenery South Pacific Bowerwood Scenery (build & painting) Promptside (backcloth) Matt Boyton & James Morgan (specialist props)

Costume Cutter Martin Roberts Wardrobe Mistress Alyson Fielden Amanda Brothwell (assistant) ???? Jinnette Hanna (Nevill Holt) ??? Costume Makers Chloe Simcox (milliner) Amanda Brothwell Elsa Threadgold Alan Selzer Judith Ward

Assistant Stage Managers Bella Lagnado (South Pacific) Jacqueline Carden (Maria Stuarda) ????? (Don Giovanni) Steve Herbert (Elixir of Love)

Costume hire Angels (Richard Green)

Student ASM Louie Whitemore ???? ????

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Printed by Earle & Ludlow Philip Ellis

Images Bridgeman Art Library Alastair Muir

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders. In some cases this has proved impossible. We would be pleased to hear from any copyright holder not contacted.

Accountants WILKINSON LATHAM Sophie Holborn

Planning Consultants NATHANIEL LICHFIELD Iain Rhind

Insurance Broker Richard Walton

Maria Stuarda Clearwater (build & painting) Green & Cream (frontcloth) Elixir of Love Visual Scene

Technical Improvements Stage Electrics (bridge) Clearwater (motors)

Carol Butler Rachel Pearson Solicitors FARRER & CO Alistair Collett

Deputy Stage Manager ????? (South Pacific) Iain Mackenzie (Maria Stuarda) Laura-Ann Booth (Don Giovanni) ?????? (Elixir of Love)

Lighting by White Light

Grange Park Opera is a registered charity. Its Directors are the Charity Trustees . Lord Ashburton and his family own the site; they placed The Grange in the guardianship of English Heritage in 1975 and have extended the term of the lease until 2018

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How the hospital became a theatre at Nevill Holt For the last two summers the operas at 700-year-old Nevill Holt have taken place inside a space-age bubble. For 2005, owner David Ross is creating a more intimate performance space – within the stable courtyard. Previous festival programmes have given a history of the house itself. Nick Hill tells us more about the stables, which on earliest drawings are intriguingly shown as a “Hospitall”.

As one of Leicestershire’s leading Roman Catholic families, with a resident Jesuit priest in 1629 –1640, the Nevills took an active part in the Civil War fighting for the king. Henry Nevill and his eldest son William were both colonels in the king’s army, but Henry’s participation was short-lived. On 9th January 1643 Lord Grey of Groby sent a declaration to Henry Nevill at Holt “to yield up his house and the arms contained in it”. Henry refused, so Lord Grey stormed the house, and Henry spent the ensuing years in prison at Peterhouse, Cambridge. The notebook of one Robert Symonds describes Holt as “razed to the ground” but this must clearly have been a misinformed exaggeration. Henry was faced with crippling fines and, though freed from prison by 1648, was forced to sell off large parts of his Essex estates. With the Restoration, Henry’s status was restored, and he was appointed one of several Deputy Lieutenants of Leicestershire in 1661, with his

younger son Thomas purchasing the title of Baronet of Holt. However, his large debts forced further sale of lands in Leicestershire, Yorkshire and Essex. With the curtailing of these wider interests, Henry was forced to focus more exclusively on Holt. The family dropped their alternative Essex name of Smyth and Henry commissioned a plan of his Holt property in 1661. Drawn in ink and black lead on parchment

by John Andrews, Surveyor, to a scale of 11 yards to the inch, the plan was discovered amongst the Peake Collection papers in the 1980s. It shows not only the outline of the house, but surrounding yards, gardens and outbuildings, and is remarkably accurate.

Given the misfortunes of the Nevills after 1642, the plan, though dated 1661, probably represents the pre-Civil War position. The plan shows a large stable block and coach house, further west than the existing stables, and later completely demolished. However, lying approximately on the site of the existing stables

A View of the Stables of Cos. Nevill Esq of Holt, Leics This is a curious drawing, described as “a clever imitation, it seems, of a C17 drawing” in the RIBA Papworth catalogue, since it is in the 17th century style but on later water-marked paper. Perhaps it is a copy of an original drawing, made for Cosmos Nevill (1747–1829) who was a distinguished fellow of the Antiquarian Society. The drawing shows the building after the addition of the cupola, but before the fitting of the exterior rainwater downpipes, dated 1815

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is a “Hospitall” – an almshouse. Clearly it was not in use during this period, as a steward’s letter of 1639 refers to its use for storage of wheat, and winnowing “at the Bedehowse door” and by the later 17th century it had been demolished to make way for the new stable block.

The development of this new stable block added one of the most attractive features at Holt. This fine long building had double-height stables to the main central part, with first floors only at each end. These ends formed coach houses, with wider openings, later blocked and made into windows instead.

Above the coach houses were grooms’ rooms. Above the central part was a long attic space. What appear to be ‘first floor’ windows here in fact provided toplighting for the stables.

The main front, typical of the late 17th century in the area, is a particularly attractive example of the mixing of earlier medieval style with classical detailing. The frontage had five Gothic style doorways originally. The central door surround, with fluted pilasters and segmental pediment, adds a contemporary classical touch to this otherwise conservative Gothic building. The whole is, however, of one build (except the cupola) and all the features including the roof structure are consistent with a date of the later 17th century. The coat of arms over two doors is of no help in giving a firm date.

Alterations to the roof structure show the cupola was added later, perhaps in the earlier 18th century, and the clock may be later still. The lead rainwater pipes and hoppers are dated 1815 but do not seem to date a phase of building work.

Sir Bache Cunard led an active sporting life, and stabling for just 11 horses was insufficent. Whilst Master of Fox Hounds (1878-1888), he decided to greatly extend the stables, adding a whole courtyard behind. Besides further accommodation for horses, the new buildings provided coach houses, tackrooms and bedrooms for grooms. At the same time various modifications to the stables were made: the double height stabling was given a curved, plastered vaulted ceiling and the inner walls were all refaced in Victorian brickwork, with new joinery etc. Early in the 20th century, a room in the stables was given over to housing a generator and battery store for electric light.

Once a school (1919), the stables were extensively altered.

The attics became a shooting gallery and classrooms. On the ground floor there were craft rooms, a chemistry lab, a workshop, a gym and a swimming pool.

Having completed his restoration of the main house at Nevill Holt, David Ross’ plan to form an intimate theatre for opera within the walls of the stables seemed an inspired use for this elegant building.

nick hill 17

Figaro and a concert with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. The Board and the Advisory Council were seamlessly transferred from Coles to Grange Park Opera, and the company was incorporated on January 6th 1998. The lease with the Baring family and the licence with English Heritage were concluded.

Corporate and individual fund raising was in full swing, with an initial target of £170,000 being later increased to £250,000. Michael prepared the drawings for the theatre, the planning application was filed, he had meetings with acousticians, engineers, electricians et al. Through it all Wasfi waved her baton as to the manor born.

Feverish activity continued throughout the first six months of 1998 and on Tuesday July 7th, what had first been an Orangery, then a Ballroom, then a Picture Gallery, became a fully-fledged Opera House, decked out with the old Royal Opera House red plush seats amidst the historic crumbling masonry. Even Rodney Milnes opened his critique in The Times “Where will country house opera pop up next? Wherever it is, it will be hard to rival the Grange . . . Grange Park Opera will be a winner”. Jocelyn Stevens ended his congratulatory note to Wasfi: “Your drive and passion are an example to us all”. In its first year, Grange Park Opera showed income of £438,000 and expenses of £446,000. Not bad!

By the following year, after the charming Poulenc/Ravel double bill, Hugh Canning was to write : “In only its second year of existence, Grange Park Opera has established itself as a summer opera festival of remarkable distinction and originality”.

In 2000 Michael Kennedy wrote : “Now in its third season, Grange Park can make a challenge for the most beautiful rural setting. I heard a delightful Mikado and a thoughtful Eugene Onegin”.

And then during the millennium year Wasfi and Michael, with their new Finance Director Carol Butler, brought their Grand Plan to the Board : the auditorium to be turned through 90 degrees and capacity increased from 360 to around 540. The Board which had been expanded to include Iain Burnside and Simon Freakley was supportive and a fund raising strategy and financial plan was agreed. This assumed a building cost of £1.8m with a further £1.2m to be raised by way of an Endowment Fund. At a later stage the overall target was increased to £4m with

£2.2m of building costs. In May 2001 the Advisory Council was dissolved and an Appeal Committee was formed with William Garrett as Chairman.

Summer 2001 was the last festival in the old theatre and about £2m had been promised. At the beginning of 2002 Wasfi was awarded the OBE and we held a splendid dinner to celebrate this most deserved award. We girded ourselves for the opening of the new theatre later in the year. The Appeal had reached £3.3m, which put us in reach of the target of £4m with Donald Kahn agreeing to become the festival’s principal sponsor giving us a handsome gift of £500,000. At the same time, Carphone Warehouse confirmed their annual production sponsorship and Christopher Ondaatje agreed to become a production sponsor for the next five years.

Meanwhile the Executive Team and the Board had been exploring the idea of taking Grange Park productions elsewhere. With David Ross’s acquisition of Nevill Holt in Leicestershire these plans received a great boost. Immediately following the close of the 2003 Festival in Hampshire, there were two performances at Nevill Holt and in 2004 this was extended to five. With David transforming his stable courtyard into a theatre the future of opera at Nevill Holt looks assured.

Grange Park Opera has come a long way in just a few years. We have a licence until 2018, a new theatre, as many as 300 people under contract every night of the Festival. The annual budget is now close to £2m.

The company operates at a break even with a healthy Endowment Fund available in case of unexpected difficulties.

I had seven years with Wasfi preparing for The Grange and have now had seven years enjoying the fruits of this labour. My thanks to all those who have made this possible, in particular to the staff, management and Board of Grange Park Opera. My appreciation to John Ashburton for his wise and patient counsel (a much over-used phrase but in this case both accurate and deserved) and to Wasfi, the inspirational muse.

Finally my warm welcome to William Garrett who will be my successor as Chairman.

The present is assured. The future is glowing.

Sir David Davies

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   

VERDI La Traviata director Aidan Lang ✣ designer Deirdre Clancy ✣ conductor Mark Shanahan ✣ festival lighting designer Chris Davey cast includes Katarina Jovanovic Violetta, Alan Oke Alfredo, George Mosley Germont ✣

COLE PORTER Anything Goes director David Pountney ✣ set designer Johann Engels ✣ conductor Nick Davies ✣ choreographer Craig Revel Horwood cast includes Kim Criswell Reno, Graham Bickley Billy Crocker, Simon Green Lord Evelyn, John Guerrasio Moonface Martin ✣

BRITTEN The Turn of the Screw director David Fielding ✣ designer Andrew Walsh ✣ conductor Lionel Friend cast Natasha Marsh Governess, Janis Kelly Miss Jessel, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Quint, Clarissa Meek Mrs Grose, Megan Kelly Flora, William Sheldon Miles

 PUCCINI La Bohème (with performances at Nevill Holt) director Dominic Cooke ✣ designer Robert Innes Hopkins ✣ conductor Stephen Barlow ✣ movement Sue Lefton cast includes Anne–Sophie Duprels Mimi, John Hudson Rodolfo, Mark Stone Marcello, Andrew Foster–Williams Colline, Elena Ferrari Musetta ✣

GILBERT & SULLIVAN Iolanthe director Janis Kelly ✣ designer Francis O’Connor ✣ conductor Robert Dean ✣ festival lighting designer Chris Davey cast includes Mary Hegarty Phyllis, Richard Suart The Lord Chancellor, Richard Angas Private Willis, Jeremy Carpenter Strephon ✣

CHABRIER Le Roi Malgré Lui director Simon Callow ✣ designer Ashley Martin–Davies ✣ conductor Roderick Brydon ✣ choreographer Quinny Sacks cast includes Alison Roddy Minka, Stephan Loges Henri de Valois, Frederik Strid Nangis, Mary Plazas Alexina

 ROSSINI La Cenerentola (with performances at Nevill Holt) director/designer Nigel Lowery ✣ conductor Sergio La Stella ✣ festival lighting designer Wolfgang Goebbel cast includes Deanne Meek Angelina, Robert Poulton Magnifico, Franck Lopez Dandini, Frederik Strid Ramiro ✣

LEONARD BERNSTEIN Wonderful Town director/designer Antony McDonald ✣ conductor Richard Balcombe ✣ choreographer Philippe Giraudeau cast includes Sophie Daneman Eileen, Mary King Ruth, Graham Bickley Bob Baker, Mark Meadows Wreck, Derek Hagen Frank, David Curtiz Chick Clark, Victoria Ward Helen, Nathaniel Gibbs Tour Guide, Paul Featherstone Officer Lonigan ✣

TCHAIKOVSKY The Enchantress director/designer David Fielding ✣ conductor David Lloyd Jones ✣ choreographer Stee Billingsley cast includes Janis Kelly Enchantress, Vassily Savenko Nikita, Carole Wilson Yevpraxsia, Dan Jordan Zhuran, Harriet Williams Nenila, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Yuri, Lynton Black Foka, Stephen Richardson Mamirov, Deryck Hamon Potap, Andrew Friedhoff Paisii ✣

MOZART Così fan tutte (from Nevill Holt Young Artists) director Ptolemy Christie ✣ designer Adrian Linford ✣ conductor Martin Handley ✣ lighting designer Jon Clark ✣ movement Sue Lefton cast includes Lee Bisset Fiordiligi, Karina Lucas Dorabella, Henry Kerswell Alfonso, Benjamin Hulett Ferrando, John Lofthouse Guglielmo

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PATRON The Rt Hon Lord Ashburton KG BOARD Sir David Davies (Chairman) ‡ The Rt Hon Lord Ashburton KG ‡ Iain Burnside ‡ Simon Freakley ‡ William Garrett Wasfi Kani OBE ‡ The Hon Mary-Ann Sheehy ‡ CHIEF EXECUTIVE Wasfi Kani OBE ‡

THE THERMOI AT THE GRANGE provide invaluable help before and during the Festival Penny Akroyd Lizzie Holmes Mike & Ann Smart Jean Amos Inge Hunter Sarah Tillie Nikki Barker Charmian Jones The Hon Gina Tufnell Sue Bristow Angela Larard Don & Barbara Woods Sue Brown Susie Lintott AT NEVILL HOLT Virginia Collett Sue Paice Judy Bennion Louise Cox Lucy Pease Elise Alliston Edwina Johnson Pru & Douglas de Lavison Jo Seligman Juliet Mortimer Andrea Harris Katharine Sellon

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Michael Moody ‡

THE RESTAURANT Anthony Lane & Heidi Coles

HOUSE KEEPER Lorna Clive ‡

FINANCE DIRECTOR Carol Butler

Food by Kaye Thomson Creative Catering, Hampshire Champagne Laurent Perrier ‡ Water Hildon Décor Alexander Creswell ‡

Assisted by Louise Potier Sarah Stevens Rosie Kingsford, Karen Wheeler

MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING Rachel Pearson ‡ PRODUCTION MANAGER Alison Ritchie ADMINISTRATOR Stephanie Burrett COMPANY MANAGER Helen Sennett ORCHESTRA MANAGER Mark Lacey ‡ BOX OFFICE MANAGER Jan Tuffield HOUSE MANAGER Stevie Kavanagh PRESS & PUBLICITY Claire Willis PR CONSULTANT Franklin Rae Communications GRANGE PARK OPERA The Coach House 12 St Thomas Street Winchester SO23 9HF Tel. 01962 86 86 00 Charity no 1068046 VAT no 710241984

‡ indicates those who in some capacity were involved in the first festival in 1998

TENT KEEPER Peter Paice Derek Lintott (assistant)

USHERS Stephanie Burrett, Ben Cross Jill Hardy

THE GRANGE & GROUNDS Ian Conduct James Jenner Richard Loader ‡ John & Victoria Salkeld ‡

AT NEVILL HOLT Fi Smith Bingham ‡ (event co-ordinator) Phil Oldham (gardens) Susan Phurland (housekeeper)

Sir Bruce MacPhail Mrs Robin Murray–Philipson David Phillips

David Ross Fi Smith–Bingham ‡ Sir James Spooner ‡

Head of Lighting Jon Clarke

Costume Supervisor Sarah Bowern

Chief Electrician Heidi Riley Andy Morrell (Nevill Holt)

Dpty Costume Supervisor Sarah Surridge

Stage Managers Casey Norton (South Pacific) Bo Barton (Stuarda) Fiona Greenhill (Giovanni)

NEVILL HOLT ADVISORY COMMITTEE The Duchess of Rutland Lady Heseltine William Guinness Michelle Lineker Tim Hart Lady Sarah McCorquodale Rehearsal répétiteurs Jeremy Cooke ‡ (Giovanni) John Beswick (Stuarda) Chris Dawe (South Pacific) Catriona Beveridge (Elixir) Technical Stage Manager Declan Costello Dpty Tech Stage Manager Frank Crossley Asst Tech Stage Manager Anthony Bobb –Semple Stage technicians Martin Pettifer Michael Byrne Simon Godfrey Chief Robson Dawethi Matthew Robinson Bob Belson AT NEVILL HOLT Head of Stage Nigel Vincent ‡ SOUND DESIGNER Tom Lishman (South Pacific) Programme Sutchinda Thompson (design) Wasfi Kani Carol Butler Rachel Pearson Solicitors FARRER & CO Alistair Collett

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‡

Sarah Sharpley Penny Allan Anne Elliott Penny Polito Victoria Heyman Fiona Thorne Debbie Watt Felicity Craven Chris & Helen Roberts

Dpty Chief Electrician Mim Spencer Stage Electrician Andy Turner John Mann

Costume Cutter Susan Casey Wardrobe Mistress Alyson Fielden ‡ Amanda Brothwell (assistant)

Costume Makers Set construction / painting Amanda Brothwell Marianne Brun Don Giovanni Classic Cuts (men) Set-Up Scenery Charles Hanrahan (men) South Pacific Sue Kay Bowerwood Scenery Sue Long (build & painting) M & H Costume (men) Promptside (backcloth) Anne Nichols Matt Boyton & James Alan Selzer Morgan (specialist props) Chloe Simcox (milliner) Elsa Threadgold (ladies) Maria Stuarda Clearwater (build & painting) Judith Ward (ladies) Mark Wheeler Green & Cream (frontcloth) Costume hire Angels (Richard Green)

Elixir Visual Scene Printed by EARLE & LUDLOW Philip Ellis

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Accountants WILKINSON LATHAM Sophie Holborn

Deputy Stage Manager Iain MackenzieHumphreys (Stuarda) Laura-Ann Booth (Giovanni) Assistant Stage Managers Bella Lagnado (South Pacific) Jacqueline Carden (Stuarda) Fiona Proffitt (Giovanni) Steve Herbert (Elixir) Student ASM Louie Whitemore ‡ Lighting by White Light ‡ Sound by Orbital Sound (South Pacific) ‡ Maintenance R J Smith R S Birch Stage Electrics Clearwater

Images Bridgeman Art Library Alastair Muir

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders. In some cases this has proved impossible. We would be pleased to hear from any copyright holder not contacted.

Planning Consultants NATHANIEL LICHFIELD Iain Rhind ‡

Architects STUDIO E David Lloyd Jones

Grange Park Opera is a registered charity. Its Directors are the Charity Trustees.

Lord Ashburton and his family own the site; they placed The Grange in the guardianship of English Heritage in 1975 and have extended the term of the lease until 2018

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Don Giovanni

is the sixth production to have been generously supported by

The Sir Christopher Ondaatje Foundation previous productions supported by the foundation La Cenerentola 2004 La Bohème 2003 La Traviata 2002 I Capuleti e I Montecchi 2001 Eugene Onegin 2000

great theatre, no doubt, to be stuck in one scene whilst picturing a mirrored series of priapic events, asserting the arts of peace and love. Do we accept that this Don is an actor in the cause of love, a man whose mask is invariably and involuntarily to love women? Is this love or mere lust, to see to them all, to give them what they crave – satisfaction, excitement, the sense of being central in an eternal sexual dance? As the Don says, to be faithful to one would be to deny the appeal of all the rest, an appeal acknowledged in fulfilling them.

But is he ruining them?

Masks and pretence are vital to the “art” of seduction. And pretence is the key to this opera.

The ordinary folk, with whom the Don loves to pass time, pretend to be grander than they are during the party at the end of Act 1. It’s the Don and the three masked guests who play at dancing like peasants – as aristocrats always enjoy doing. A mask is the perfect carnival excuse to “be” someone else. Leporello adopts Giovanni’s role, reluctantly at first, and pays a price.

It is while the Don recounts to Leporello a no doubt embroidered narrative of disguised canoodlings that the Statue interrupts. Anna’s story, right at the start, is that she mistook the Don for her beloved Ottavio.

People in this opera always seem to be getting into other people’s shoes – if not their beds.

The opera and plays about the Don are fantasies that deal with the illusion and reality of feelings. There is a necessary opacity about what people mean when they engage with each other. Mozart lets us watch and hear a morality play that raises fundamental but mysterious questions. The Church hated the theatre.

No wonder, since its trade was incarnation, and it reconciled nature, art and life so much better than sermons. Actors were often persecuted by the Church – though in Italy excommunicated more rarely than elsewhere. Pope John Paul II’s favourite theologian, Hans-Urs von Balthasar, writes in Theo-Drama that “As late as 1702 the Archbishop of Toulouse forbade confessors, under threat of suspension, to absolve those who had attended the theatre against his prohibition.” Molière’s death followed a long saga of hostility from the Church. There was the banning and unbanning of Tartuffe, a threat of Inquisition, defence by Boileau and the Papal legate Chigi, the Archbishop of Paris’s determination to excommunicate all who even read its text. In 1673

Molière, dying, summoned a priest. Two refused to come. A third arrived too late. Molière had a church burial only because the king commanded it. The bishop refused to allow any public service. Don Giovanni could be seen as toeing the Church’s line. But, with any performance involving the imagination, you can’t be sure of its precise message. This subject has the ambivalence of all human life.

Don Giovanni is not a tragedy. Yet its hero is unredeemed. There is no moment of repentance like the Count’s confession in Figaro – no reconciliation, no self-examination, no Aristotelian reversal and recognition, no conversion. The other characters, isolated in their self-centred panoramas, are no better equipped to save themselves than Giovanni. They also trade in delusions. How should you earn the love of man, woman or God? Acknowledge a need for something more than what you have. Serial infidelity, endless seduction, do not calm anyone. The Don’s lifestyle feeds on itself, stirs dissatisfaction. At the end audiences feel the frustration of the survivors. We all enter the dialogue. Mozart’s music has defined the instability, the nauseating panic and the inchoate despair that might lead – surprisingly – to a positive philosophy of life. tom sutcliffe Cafe Royal, London, 1912 (oil on canvas) by Sir William Orpen (1878-1931) Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France www.bridgeman.co.uk Lauros / Giraudon Portraits of painters James Pryde, Augustus John, William Nicholson, Alfred Rich, and the writer George Moore

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did not end with the Donizetti version. A few years later Pacini’s Maria, Regina d’Inghilterra (1843) enjoyed great success in Palermo. While in our own time Benjamin Britten presented Gloriana at Covent Garden during Coronation week in 1953. Like Donizetti his work was greeted with displeasure by the royal family of the day. Apparently Elizabeth ii found the subject matter of her ancestor’s amorous adventures distasteful. Time has since adjusted the initially poor reaction to Britten’s work, while Thea Musgrave’s worthy and well received Mary, Queen of Scots (1977) has failed to enter the popular repertoire.

Donizetti was not the first composer to set the sad tale of Mary. A successful London offering came from the Neapolitan Carlo Coccia who became director of the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket and professor of singing at the newly-formed Royal Academy of Music. A popular dandy in London of the time, he immediately recognised the growing popularity of Mary in the eyes of the British. His rather careful and diluted version of the story was produced in 1827 as Maria Stuart, Regina di Scozia. In England, King George IV was responsible in part for this romantic vision of Mary Queen of Scots. He visited Scotland in 1822, the first British monarch to set foot in the country since 1641. The king was painted wearing a kilt and, most importantly, he knighted Walter Scott who stage–managed the royal visit, eager to recreate the romantic Scotland which forms the backdrop to most of his novels, including Guy Mannering and The Fair Maid of Perth, which both became celebrated French operas as La Dame Blanche by Boieldieu and La Jolie Fille de Perth by Bizet. The Highland Games were re-introduced, including ‘twisting the four legs from a cow’, kilts were unpacked from dusty family trunks, clan histories were revived and embellished, while porridge and shortbread appeared on tables in the Home Counties. A warm Hibernian glow was created which still plays its role in the lives of our present day Royal family. Mary became the epitome of the Romantic heroine, pale, noble, suffering, approaching her execution with Catholic dignity.

Endearing stories were invented such as the alleged origins of marmalade as a cure for a seasick six-yearold Mary, administered by her French maids as a cure for Marie malade.

After suffering at the hands of the censors over

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) in Ceremonial Costume

by Federico Zuccaro (1540-1609) Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Italy www.bridgeman.co.uk

Maria Stuarda, Donizetti’s relationship with Naples slowly soured. He had always been regarded as a foreigner, and despite good relations with his pupils he was never offered the directorship of the conservatoire.

The authorities preferred to elect the more conservative figure of Mercadante, who still used Metastasian libretti and frequently stuck to safe Greco-Roman dramas, unlike the fiery Donizetti and his frightening blood thirsty tales of royal intrigue. Nor was his gregarious personal life in any way happy; his wife Virginia Vasselli, who he had married in 1828, died in 1837 of cholera or syphilis, and his three children all died in infancy. In any event the composer left Naples for Paris in 1838, only returning to Bergamo to die, paralyzed and insane with syphilis, in 1848. Perhaps aware of his own failing health he wrote to Giuseppina Appiani in 1844: “My heyday is over, and another must take my place. The world wants something new. Others have ceded their places to us and we must cede ours to still others . . . I am more than happy to give mine to people of talent like Verdi.” stephen mudge

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The Elixir of Love

and Nevill Holt Young Artists are supported by a generous donation from

Donizetti: genius and plagiarist Donizetti famously wrote L’Elisir in a fortnight. How did he do it? By borrowing from others, says Andrew Porter, who compares the opera with Bellini’s Sonnambula and others. On page 81 is an insight into the historic operas of Donizetti’s prodigious output.

From one donizetti book

to the next, the story of how L’Elisir d’Amore came to be written is copied without question, embellished, improved – and related always as fact. The earliest, and possibly most reliable, version that I have read comes in the study of Alborghetti and Galli, two Bergomasque writers whose book on Donizetti and his master, Mayr, appeared in 1875. Here it is, translated freely (but not embellished): “The management of the Canobbiana, the most important theatre [in Milan] after La Scala, was in despair: a composer who had undertaken to write an opera had failed to produce it, and there was only a fortnight to remedy the damage. The impresario, at his wits’ end, did not know what saint to turn to, unless it be Donizetti . . . and rushed to ask him to refashion an old score of his, so as to have something to offer the public.

“Are you being funny?” replied the Maestro. “I am not in the habit of touching up either my works or anyone else’s. Rather, see whether I have not the spirit to write a brand-new opera for you in a fortnight . . .

Send Romani to me!”

“I am obliged,” said the composer to the poet, with a smile, “to set a libretto to music in a fortnight. I allow

you one week to get the libretto ready for me. Let’s see which of us sets to work with the best will.”

The collaborators decided on a plot that Scribe had written for Auber the previous year. And a fortnight later, so the story goes – at any rate on May 12, 1832 – the curtain went up on the most successful and delightful comic opera that had appeared on the Italian stage since Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Let us fill in some detail. The Teatro alla Canobbiana had been built at the same time as La Scala, by the same architect (Giuseppe Piermarini), and for the same management. It seated 2,000. During most of the 19th century it was run as a kind of Piccola Scala, drawing its orchestra, chorus and ballet company, its conductors and designers, from the larger house. It specialised in comic operas, but also had a reputation for introducing interesting novelties from abroad, such as Le Comte Ory, Robert le Diable, L’Etoile du Nord, Martha. When the Scala was closed for any reason, opera moved to the Canobbiana. Quite often its bills show very grand performances: to take an example at random, Bellini’s Il Pirata of 1829, two years after its Scala première, with the original cast, Meric-Lalande, Rubini and Tamburini. But in 1870 the Canobbiana lost its state and municipal subsidies, and gradually

sank into obscurity. In 1893 it was bought by the publisher Sonzogno, was refashioned, and reopened in 1894 as the Teatro Lirico.

In 1832, Donizetti was 34. He had already composed forty operas, and in 1830 had set the seal on his reputation with Anna Bolena. The year had opened for him in Naples where the San Carlo staged his Fausta. He was now in Milan for the première of Ugo, Conte di Parigi on March 13. The talk there was all of Bellini’s new opera Norma which had opened the season. As in 1830, when the Teatro Carcano had commissioned operas from both Bellini and Donizetti, allotting them the same librettist (Romani) and the same cast (Pasta, Rubini), so now, it seems likely, that Scala wished to spur on the two composers by rivalry: the poems of both Norma and Ugo are by Romani; both were sung by Pasta, Grisi, Donizelli and Negrini. But Ugo ran into censorship difficulties; it had to be spoiled; Romani removed his name from the title-page of the libretto. Norma achieved 34 performances, and Ugo only four.

In Bellini’s letters there are many mean references to Donizetti; in Donizetti’s nothing but generous admiration for Bellini’s music. Towards the end of his life, Bellini gloated that on the three occasions when his works came into direct competition with Donizetti’s, his Sonnambula eclipsed Anna Bolena; his Norma, Donizetti’s Ugo; and his Puritani, Donizetti’s Marino Faliero. He was not to know that three days after his death, Donizetti was to produce Lucia di Lammermoor, an opera in the same vein as I Puritani, evidently sparked off by it, and far more successful. But he may have guessed that L’Elisir d’Amore owed more than a little to his Sonnambula. To be sure, they are not in the same vein.

La Sonnambula is semiserio, L’Elisir is buffo – but it is not simply buffo. The fascination of this exquisitely fashioned work is that it holds in perfect balance the sentiment of La Sonnambula and the comedy of Il Barbiere. When we compare Romani’s libretto with the Scribe one on which it is based, we may well feel that he had deliberately set out to create in a new genre.

Romani put a note on the first edition of L’Elisir to the effect that ‘the subject is imitated from Scribe’s Philtre. It is a jest [scherzo], and as such is presented to the gentle readers.’ Le Philtre had been staged at the Paris Opéra in June 1831, with a starry cast (Cinti-Damoreau, Nourrit, Dabadie, Levasseur). It is an opéra, not an opéra-comique, with recitativo secco, not spoken dialogue (the accompanying chords, however, are scored for strings); and though the music was found delightful, it was also considered too light a piece for that august stage. By December it had reached Drury Lane as The Love Charm, “Englished

by Planché and Bishop”, with Miss Paton as the heroine (and throughout the 19th century, Chorley went on proclaiming its superiority to L’Elisir). But it had not been heard in Italy; nor was it to be until 1900.

How did Romani get on to it? Well, Scribe’s libretti were regularly cribbed by the Italians. This same season one of the Scala novelties, Pugni’s La Vendetta, was a re-write of the Scribe/ Auber Muette di Portici or Masaniello (and in his libretto Callisto Bassi gracefully acknowledged that Romani would have made a better job of the adaptation). Two years earlier, when he had also been called on for a libretto in a hurry, Romani had borrowed La Sonnambula from a Scribe ballet scenario; there was nothing surprising now about this turning to ‘Scribe’s latest’.

But it has not generally been noted that Auber’s original Joli-Coeur was also Donizetti’s original Belcore: HenryBernard Dabadie.

It is tempting to surmise that it was the French baritone who first drew Romani’s or Donizetti’s attention to the

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opera in which he had just been having a success in Paris.

Romani’s libretto is close – today it would be actionably close – to Scribe’s. He follows him in detail, scene by scene, sometimes line by line, even word for word.

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Compare: Qu’elle est jolie! . . .

Elle sait lire; est-elle heureuse!

Moi, je ne suis qu’un ignorant With Quanto è bella! . . .

Essa legge, studia, impara . . .

Io son sempre un idiota Or Je suis riche, vous êtes belle, J’ai des écus, vous des appas . . .

Quel honneur – Un sénateur D’amour venir me supplier.

With Io san ricco, tu sei bella.

Io ho ducati, e vezze hai tu . . .

Qual onore! Ûn senatore Me d’amore supplicar!

Indeed, when reading the two operas in English translation, it is often hard to know which is which.

But Romani did make a few alterations and additions to Scribe’s scheme, and they are very important; they change the whole tone of the piece. Le Philtre is purely comic. At the end of the first scene, to put an end to Guillaume’s tiresome pleading, Térézine sings a sprightly aria, ‘La coquetterie fait mon seul bonheur’.

But in L’Elisir this is replaced by a duet of sentiment, two balanced verses of exquisite lyric poetry, Adina’s ‘Chiedi all’aura lusinghiera’, answered by Nemorino’s ‘Chiedi al rio perchè gemente’. And the direct inspiration for this, I have no doubt, is the similarly balanced duet in La Sonnambula, Elvino’s ‘Son gelso del zefiro errante’, answered by Amina’s ‘Son, mio bene, del zefiro amante’.

Dulcamara’s and Fontanarose’s oratory follow identical lines (though the French charlatan’s delicious-tasting elixir, ‘Bordò’ in Donizetti, is ‘du lachryma-christi qu’avec grand soin je réservais ici’).

Next, Romani adds the duet ‘Obbligato, ah! Sì! obbligato’. At the close of the act, ‘Adina credimi’ has no parallel in Le Philtre; and again we leave the world of comedy for one of deep and true feeling. In the second act, we may not note that Auber’s barcarolle à deux voix is a genuine barcarolle in a lilting 6 / 8, not Donizetti’s 2 /4 andantino. Romani’s widow (an unreliable witness, but possibly right here) declares that Donizetti used a tune he had composed before. She says the same of ‘Una furtiva lagrima’, adding that this Romance (originally ‘chamber music’!) was inserted against Romani’s wishes, that it holds up the action, that it spoils the second act! This aria – again a serious utterance – is Romani’s only significant addition to the second act.

L’Elisir, then, is more than a brilliant comedy, and, pace Romani, not just a ‘jest’. And though, heaven knows, one would not wish to go searching for ponderous significances, it is indeed ‘la storia di Tristano’ in a rustic setting. The Liebestrank did not cause Tristan and Isolde to fall in love, but only brought to the surface the love that was there; so the elisir d’amore, Bordeaux though it be, works truly, by giving Nemorino confidence, by causing him to shed self-pity and the hang-dog approach which had made his protestations seem, to Adina, so tiresome. These are real people, this is human nature. High spirits, wit and sentiment are held in perfect balance, and never was

Donizetti’s music more deft, more sparkling, or more beautiful. Some people would rate Don Pasquale even higher, and it is a possible view; but its libretto is no match for Romani’s wonderful verses. If you have any Italian at all, buy and read the Ricordi libretto; in itself it is a rare pleasure.

Two pages of ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ have been published in facsimile, and we can see how Donizetti went to work. He indicated the harp figure once only, wrote out the bassoon obbligato and the bass, then the tenor line and the bass. Another hand (so it seems to me) came back to continue the harp part and touch in the pizzicato string chords; and curiously enough, it is to this hand that we owe the little clarinet echoes which so effectively enhance the tenor’s phrases. The bassoon obbligato is an inspired exception: Donizetti’s normal practice is to introduce each tune in flute/ clarinet octaves over strings (varied in ‘Prendi, per me’ to flute/oboe octaves), and strengthen the cadences sometimes with a horn, sometimes a bassoon. It is simple, but done with delicate art.

Finally, a note on the first cast. The Adina, Sabine Heinefetter (the most renowned of six singing sisters) was no mere soubrette. She had learnt her musicianship from Spohr at Cassel, and her technique from Tadolini at the Théâtre Italien, where she successfully sang Elvira to Sontag’s Anna and Malibran’s Zerlina. We have mentioned the Belcore, Dabadie; he was a pillar of the Paris Opéra, Raimbault in Le Comte Ory, and William Tell. The Dulcamara, Giuseppe Frezzolini, father of the famous prima donna, was the Canobbiana’s regular buffo. The Nemorino, Genero, remains an unfamiliar name. On the other hand the Giannetta, Sacchi, is a familiar one; she turns up regularly singing such comprimaria roles as Clotilde in the first Norma.

Here is Donizetti’s pithy comment on his troupe, after the first rehearsal: ‘The tenor is passable, the soprano has a beautiful voice but you can’t tell what she is saying, the buffo is a cur [canino]’. The scenery was by Sanquirico, and Vincenzo Lavigna conducted. The opera achieved 33 performances that season, 33 more the next, and 11 at La Scala in 1835 (with Malibran, who added a final aria of her own composition). L’Elisir comes fifth in the list of operas most often performed at the two theatres during the 19th century, beaten only by Il Barbiere, Norma, Lucrezia Borgia and Mosé.

andrew porter 91

musical in two acts Music by Richard Rodgers (1902 – 1979)& Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (1895 – 1960) Book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan Adapted from James A Michener’s Pulitzer Prize winning “Tales of the South Pacifie” Presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd on behalf of R & H Theatricals of New York First performed in the Majestic, New York, April 7, 1949 First performance in England, Drury LaneTheatre, London, November 1, 1951 Performances at The Grange June 24, 25, 30, July 1, 2, 3, 2005

SOUTH PACIFIC Richard Balcombe Conductor

Craig Revel Horwood Director / Choreographer

Francis O’Connor Set Designer

Yvonne Milnes Costume Designer

Chris Davey

Lighting Designer

Heather Douglas

Associate Choreographer

Béatrice Lupton French Coach

the orchestra of grange park Leader Andrew Court

ensign nellie forbush emile de becque jerome & ngano Emile’s sons henry Emile’s servant bloody mary liat her daughter luther billis a wheeler–dealer stewpot Lt joseph cable US Marine Corps Capt george brackett US Navy Cmdr william harbison US Navy herbert quale sailor

lead nurse dinah nurse janet mcgregor nurse

Eliza Lumley Michael Cormick David Leach & Tian Chin–Wolf Ronnie V Del Nicola Hughes Kate Gillespie John Guerrasio Jeff Nicholson Matt Rawle Simon Clark David Curtiz Nathaniel Gibbs

Alix Longman Victoria Ward Lisa Reynolds

prejudiced upbringing permits her to accept, and she runs from Emile in her embarrassment and horror.

* dinner interval (100 minutes) *

act two A week later

The stage is set for the base’s Thanksgiving Follies.

Bloody Mary tells Cable that a rich old planter has offered to marry Liat, but Cable could have first refusal (Happy Talk). Despite his deep love for Liat, Cable is trapped by his own prejudices and refuses to marry her.

Top-billing in the festivities is Bosun Butch Forbush and Mademoiselle Lutheria Billis performing Honey Bun. Later Nellie tells Emile that she can’t marry him because of his relationship with the Polynesian mother of his children. She leaves, asking Cable to explain to Emile why she feels the way she

does. Cable’s response is surprising – that prejudice is not something one is born with (You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught). Emile rages that the ugliness he thought he had escaped once more has found him (I was cheated before) at the precise moment he has come so close to happiness (This Nearly Was Mine).

Emile agrees to accompany Cable on the mission (The Take Off).

The mission is successful in that Emile and Cable are able to send back useful intelligence (Communication Established) but eventually they are discovered. Back at base, the commander tells Nellie about the danger of the mission, that Cable is dead and that no recent contact has been made with de Becque.

Brought to her senses, she believes she has thrown away her moment of true love.

She goes to Emile’s house to care for the children.

note on military aspects of South Pacific Captain Brackett is the highest ranking officer, followed by Commander Harbison. Cable is a Marine Lieutenant and, as such, merits a salute from the enlisted men who are rated not ranked. The ratings are Sailors, who serve at sea, Marines, amphibious troops serving both on ships and on land, and SeaBees who are sailors in the Construction Battalion (hence the acronym CB) and responsible for the construction and maintenance of the bases and their equipment. As the action of South Pacific takes place one step removed from the battlefront, there is a decidedly casual aspect to the enlisted men – not quite in the war and not quite out of the war.

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Don Giovanni

is the sixth production to have been generously supported by

The Sir Christopher Ondaatje Foundation previous productions supported by the foundation La Cenerentola 2004 La Bohème 2003 La Traviata 2002 I Capuleti e I Montecchi 2001 Eugene Onegin 2000

dramma giocosa in two acts Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte Sung in Italian with surtitles by Kenneth Chalmers, by arrangement with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden First performance National Theatre, Prague, October 29, 1787 First performance in England, Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, April 12, 1817 Performances at The Grange June 6, 8, 10, 16, 18, 26, 28, 29, 2005 Performances at Nevill Holt July 9, 10, 16, 2005

Don Giovanni Stefan Solyom Conductor

Daniel Slater Director

Francis O’Connor Designer

Chris Davey Lighting Designer

Cathy Marston

don giovanni donna anna a lady betrothed to don ottavio commendatore Donna Anna’s father donna elvira a lady jilted by Giovanni leporello Giovanni’s servant masetto bridegroom of zerlina

George Mosley Stefanie Krahnenfeld Andrew Mackenzie-Wicks Vassily Savenko Natasha Marsh Henry Waddington Franck Lopez Susanna Andersson

Movement

Sam Wass Assistant Diector

Jonathan Howell Fight Director

continuo

the orchestra of grange park

Jeremy Cooke

Leader Andrew Court

Don Giovanni Don Giovanni kills the Commendatore who is defending his daughter’s honour. Anna and her fiancé Ottavio join Elvira, one of the many women cruelly wronged by Giovanni, in seeking revenge. From the other world, the Commendatore calls on Giovanni to repent – his refusal is fatal.

act one Scene 1 Leporello, discontented, is waiting for his master, Don Giovanni, outside Donna Anna’s house.

Giovanni and Anna emerge, fighting; the noise wakens Anna’s father, the Commendatore. Outraged, the Commendatore challenges Giovanni, but is killed by the younger man. Leporello and Giovanni escape just before Anna returns with her fiancé, Don Ottavio, to the scene of the murder. She asks Ottavio to help apprehend the killer.

Scene 2 Leporello expresses horror at Giovanni’s behaviour when a woman arrives. She recounts how she was betrayed by a man who wed her and left her.

Her aim now is either to win him back or to kill him.

She sees Giovanni – he is her betrayer. Giovanni flees again, leaving Leporello to explain to Donna Elvira that she is the latest in a long line of conquests.

Scene 3 A young peasant couple, Zerlina and Masetto, are preparing for their wedding. Giovanni arrives on the scene and he instructs Leporello to take Masetto home and entertain him. Though Giovanni successfully seduces the bride-to-be, their coitus is interruptus by Elvira, who removes Zerlina from harm’s way. His bad luck is compounded by the arrival of Ottavio and Anna, soliciting Giovanni’s help in finding the Commendatore’s murderer, and by the return of Elvira, who denounces Giovanni as a traitor. Left alone, Anna realises that Elvira’s betrayer is also her father’s murderer and describes in detail the events of that fateful evening. Ottavio reflects that his peace of mind is linked to Anna’s.

Scene 4 Giovanni is going to throw a party and tells Leporello to make arrangements. Meanwhile, Zerlina tries to persuade Masetto that she did nothing wrong.

“You can hit me if you want”, she says, “but then let’s make up.” Masetto’s suspicion and anger are no sooner quelled than it is rekindled by the arrival of Giovanni.

Masetto hides and spies on Giovanni trying his luck with Zerlina. Unfortunately, Giovanni leads her to the very place where Masetto is hiding. Recovering quickly, he invites them both to the party.

Scene 5 Three maskers – Elvira, Anna and Ottavio – plan to gatecrash the event. Spotted by Leporello, they’re invited to join the party. It’s an unusual affair, with a strange array of guests and no less than three bands. Whilst Ottavio dances a minuet with Anna, Giovanni leads Zerlina in a contredanse, and Leporello distracts Masetto in a German peasants’ dance. From somewhere in the house there is a scream – it is The Eastern Gown by Sir William Orpen (1878-1931) Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, Lancashire www.bridgeman.co.uk

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Zerlina. Everyone rushes off in search of her. In the confusion, Giovanni appears, grasping Leporello and accusing him of being Zerlina’s attacker. No one seems to believe him, the maskers unmask and Ottavio pulls a gun on Giovanni. How will he escape this situation?

* dinner interval (100 minutes) *

act two Scene 1 Leporello announces that he is leaving Giovanni and is deaf to his master’s pleas. But he returns, is paid off and agrees to participate in Giovanni’s latest plan.

The Don wants to exchange clothes with Leporello, apparently to facilitate a seduction of Elvira’s maid.

When Elvira appears on her balcony, Giovanni lures her with sweet words. Elvira meets up with Leporello, disguised as his master, while the real Giovanni sings a loving serenade. The Don’s intentions are thwarted by the arrival of Masetto, who tells “Leporello” of his plans to kill Giovanni. Masetto is beaten up and Zerlina comforts him.

Scene 2 Elvira’s romantic stroll with “Giovanni” is cut short when Ottavio, Anna, Masetto and Zerlina appear – all thrilled to have stumbled upon the object of their search. Terrified, Leporello reveals himself: Elvira is distraught, the others are disappointed.

Leporello begs their forgiveness and for his life. The cruelly-tricked Elvira admits how confused she feels about Giovanni.

Scene 3 The Don is surprised to come across his servant in a graveyard. They are busy swapping stories of their night’s adventures when an unearthly voice, seemingly from the grave of Anna’s father, booms out.

Giovanni bullies a reluctant Leporello into inviting the Commendatore to supper. The invitation is accepted.

Scene 4 Ottavio tries to persuade his fiancée to fix a date for their long-delayed wedding. But Anna refuses: how can she contemplate marriage with her father barely cold in his grave?

Scene 5 Giovanni enjoys supper, entertained by a small band. The first guest appears: not the ghost of Anna’s father, but Elvira. She has come to offer Giovanni one last chance to return her love. Cruelly mocked, Elvira

Mrs David Beatty, later the Countess Beatty

by Philip Alexius de Laszlo (1869-1937) Private Collection Courtesy of the de Laszlo Foundation www.bridgeman.co.uk

lets out a piercing scream: she suddenly knows what is about to happen. Leporello tries to warn his master of the impending danger, but Giovanni is determined to face his destiny. The Commendatore denounces him and urges him to repent. The dead man’s words resound in his ears like the voice of divine vengeance.

Giovanni takes the hand of the vengeance-seeker; it is ice-cold. Confronted by a stark vision of hell, he dies.

Giovanni’s pursuers arrive, but it is too late – the deed is done. Leporello tells a tale of how Giovanni was despatched by a vengeful spirit; the others accept and repeat this version of events. Their raison d’être gone, they resume their everyday lives. Anna again delays the wedding to Ottavio, Elvira will take the veil, Zerlina and Masetto decide to go out to dinner with friends, Leporello will find a new job. They all agree on the moral of the story: that wrong-doers meet a sticky end.

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The soul of the party The terrible moment, for which the whole opera has been preparing us, when Don Giovanni prefers damnation to repentance, should be tragedy. But, writes Tom Sutcliffe, Mozart’s music defines an instability, a nauseating panic and inchoate despair that might lead – surprisingly – to a positive philosophy of life.

(Eschatology = of the last things of existence) The Brown Veil (oil on canvas) by Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949) Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery www.bridgeman.co.uk

Is don giovanni

a hero or a villain? Is Da Ponte and Mozart’s opera telling a truthful Christian parable about how men really are – one that deserves to be taken seriously even by those who don’t see anything divine about judgement? Or is it just an entertaining resurrection of ancient Dionysiac excess, centred on a libidinous Jack the Lad? Is there in practice something different between this Don Giovanni and the old Don Juan? Mozart’s alluring treatment of the story is different from the theatrical versions of the story – and not just by virtue of its “soul” music.

There is an elusive and deeply mysterious quality about Mozart’s Giovanni. Of all Mozart’s characters, the Don tells us least (indeed almost nothing) about what he’s feeling in his heart of hearts. Even Pasha Selim in The Abduction from the Seraglio, who is prevented by Mozart from singing about his passionate emotions, explains himself better. Yet Giovanni’s attitude towards truthful confession, his economy with words, his preference for deeds, is not unique in the opera. His fellow six characters in search of an author (in the Pirandello sense) are also bewilderingly unreliable witnesses, isolated unhappily on an urban desert island where nobody behaves well. The others at least go through the motions of unbuttoning their souls for our benefit, though it’s doubtful whether we can trust practically anything anybody is made to say

by Da Ponte. In this story, neither the fragmented course of the action nor the reasons why anyone is present at any time are sufficiently stable to create a real sense of everyday life.

It is clear that the amorous adventurer with whom

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we are concerned, always on the move, is looking for something he doesn’t have. He might well, like Peter Pan, be seeking his shadow, his lost soul, in other words trying to discover who he really is. Certainly he is incapable of taking responsibility, and he never sees himself as doing anything wrong. This opera in performance perhaps succeeds best when the title role appears most charismatic, charming, seductive, when the loss of the Don creates the greatest void. Yet the terrible moment when Mozart’s Don decides paradise is not worth a mass, and refuses to repent, when he commits that heroic act of defiance for which the whole opera has been preparing us, feels like tragedy.

He who burnt so brightly in human terms has chosen to face demons, and even become nothing when his time is up. The endorsement of his epoch-making decision, which the opera manages to supply, shocked Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s contemporaries. It can still send a chill down an audience’s back. Despite the hellish chorus and the other-worldly harmony, here is a profoundly modern gesture that somehow manages to propose a rational disbelief in the whole process of judgement – in that sense in which the Church had long attempted to define it.

Don Giovanni is a name to conjure with in the history of the theatre. The character created by Mozart and Da Ponte has a Shakespearian status unique in Mozart’s work, rare in all opera. Perhaps only Carmen can really compete in these celebrity stakes. The Don, like Falstaff and Hamlet, exists in the popular imagination. He may even have the edge on the competition, despite his sexual reputation never being tested or satisfyingly demonstrated in

the opera. Why should this be so? Perhaps for a reason Stephen Greenblatt brilliantly explains while attempting to understand the mind of Shakespeare in his book Will in the World? With Hamlet, Shakespeare “found that he could immeasurably deepen the effect of his plays, that he could provoke in the audience and in himself a peculiarly passionate intensity of response, if he took out a key explanatory element, thereby occluding the rationale, motivation, or ethical principle that accounted for the action that was to unfold. The principle was not the making of a riddle to be solved, but the creation of a strategic opacity [my italics]. This opacity, Shakespeare found, released an enormous energy that had been at least partially blocked or contained by familiar, reassuring explanations.” Opera, of course, encourages a fundamental “opacity” – in that its primarily musical characterisation and exploration of the drama leave so much to the imagination.

A kind of moral theatre is the business of all religious systems, but especially of Christianity. The point of those theological structures which religions erect from science and philosophy is to animate a forum of moral discussion. The marketplace for the raw materials of religious concerns is the necessarily complex debate about how people should carry on existence. Especially with an incarnational religion like Christianity, that topic is inexhaustible. The idea that anybody can be certain “what God wants” is as dubious as the graven images that Jehovah told his chosen people to avoid. A God of simple rules is impossibly hard to accept in a universe as infinitely impenetrable as this one. Only one thing is certain. If God made the world, “strategic opacity” was part of the plan.

Mozart assumes we all accept that the reward for the Don’s sort of misdeeds must be damnation, unless he appeals to the sparing mercy of God which we have led ourselves to regard as infinite. Without repentance, a mortal sinner is beyond the pale of God’s grace. Even today, there is no difficulty in dramatising people’s sense of right and wrong along these lines. The iconic call to repentance by the Commendatore’s statue is a picture of Judgement Day when we all must present the balance sheet of our lives.

It is not an invitation to enter heaven, but a ticket to endure the labours of purgatory as a preamble to

salvation. When the Commendatore covers the Don’s hand by his own cold stone fist, he uses the everyday gesture of human friendship and recognition to consign the unrepentant sinner to eternal torment.

That is what hellfire sermons tried (and still try) to remind people. Molière, shortly before the Statue enters, gives the Don the following very reasonable words: “If heaven wants to put an opinion to me, it should speak a bit more clearly if it wants me to hear.” Adrian Hastings in the Oxford Companion to Christian Thought commented aptly: “the fading of hell strains traditional eschatology to an extent seldom admitted.”

Mozart’s opera is a long way from the scandalous crime on which Tirso di Molina probably based El Burlador de Sevilla – the original Don Juan play that Molière later explored. The historical Don seems to have been a homosexual Spanish gentleman who used his rumoured exploits with women as a cover for more unconventional sexual acts. So heinous were his deeds that the King of Spain executed him without trial.

Regardless of all that, our Mozartian Don Giovanni conforms to his Jupiter-Zeus-Wotan model. When the god-father-of-all wasn’t thundering on, wielding responsible power, he was usually busy in the art of illicit, hopefully undiscovered seduction, exercising a general droit de seigneur, which Hera-Fricka was always trying to suppress or at least control. Late romantic Slav opera (Christmas Eve, The Devil & Kate) often portrays the devil as a euphorically playful sex maniac.

The Pink Dress (oil on panel) by Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949) Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery www.bridgeman.co.uk

Don Giovanni’s forebears 1620 Tirso di Molina El Burlador de Sevilla [The Trickster of Seville] The first Don Juan was probably a Count called Don Juan de Tassis y Peralta who wore a hat with the legend “my loves are royal”, referring to his closeness to Queen Isabella. Her husband King Philip IV had him assassinated – possibly because of his homosexuality, which was a capital crime. Tirso’s play was in most respects a commonplace cape & sword drama. What set it apart was the ending – the dinner invitation to the dead man, the descent to hell and the moral. ‡

1665 Molière Le Festin de Pierre Molière’s Don abducts Elvira from a convent, marries her and deserts her. Le Festin is the source for Masetto and Zerlina. ‡

1676 Shadwell The Libertine The story by now is “famous all over Spain, Italy and France”. ‡ 1736 Goldoni Don Giovanni Tenorio or il Dissoluto Ottavio is the nephew of the king and heir to the throne.

Anna is not enthusiastic about her betrothal to Ottavio and her account of the “rape” suggests she is in love with Don Juan. She begs to be released from her betrothal to Ottavio on the grounds that, on the death of her father, he became her guardian. ‡

feb 1787 Bertati / Gazzaniga Il Convitato di Pietra The beginning is identical to da Ponte’s and this play was obviously known to Mozart’s librettist. ‡

oct 1787 da Ponte / Mozart Don Giovanni Yet Mozart is not just creating a sequel to The Marriage of Figaro. The Don and the Count are significantly different types. Where the Don seems an impermeable philanderer with no other plans at present, the Count is possessive and jealous, hypocritical and vulnerable, concerned with love, emotionally insecure and not in control. And he repents. Leporello is a partner more than a servant, a friend of the Don who likes playing to his disadvantages, where Figaro is no friend to the Count. Being the Don’s alter ego,

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Leporello hunts alongside Giovanni. The two are a pair, in a perversely playful relationship, even if only one is active, the other a voyeur. Where The Marriage of Figaro at least evokes the memory of golden summer afternoons, Don Giovanni is played against the background of a permanent escapist stag party in a hell-hole which barely supports life. All the Don’s pleasures are interruptus. He is not a rapist but a seducer. Even his killing of the Commendatore is not a crime by the standards of the age (a man challenged must defend himself, or he has no honour).

What should we make of the permanently unresolved quality of the plot of Don Giovanni, and the strange impression it makes that Act 2 of the opera is simply act 1 repeated in a Sartrean Huis-clos (Vicious circle)? The characters are caught in a line of incidents that involve the Don and usually Leporello in some evasive activity. Yet all of these people seem bizarrely unattached, except through their concern with the Don. As in The Magic Flute, there are two about-to-be-married couples at opposite ends of the social spectrum – both presumably in a heightened state of expectation about fidelity. There is the Don’s servant Leporello, whose attitude to his master’s activities resembles that of the publicist Max Clifford, accepting the consequences of celebrity. Leporello hopes that, under the Don’s mask, he may win the fruits of a skilled seducer. Donna Elvira is equally attached to the Don, believing herself actually contracted to him. The parallel between Leporello and Elvira is firmly registered, but usually disregarded. Both are magnetised by the Don. Both have mixed and barely explained motives. Both might seek revenge. The Don’s casting them together for his own convenience is much more significant than it looks.

Strange how all these people exist in a Pirandelloesque stasis. They need articulation. We can see their dramatic purpose – or at least the womens’ – but their inner lives seem remote and unfulfilled. What about the instant rapport between Zerlina and the Don? Most of us would be as depressed as Masetto if our fiancée suddenly wanted to spend time with a richer, more attractive man. Is Masetto what Zerlina needs?

Can we trust what the Catalogue aria tells us? Or is this just a myth or public relations? Does Elvira need to hear it (again?)? Does Leporello really enjoy it? Is he someone who relishes men behaving badly? It’s

great theatre, no doubt, to be stuck in one scene whilst picturing a mirrored series of priapic events, asserting the arts of peace and love. Do we accept that this Don is an actor in the cause of love, a man whose mask is invariably and involuntarily to love women? Is this love or mere lust, to see to them all, to give them what they crave – satisfaction, excitement, the sense of being central in an eternal sexual dance? As the Don says, to be faithful to one would be to deny the appeal of all the rest, an appeal acknowledged in fulfilling them.

But is he ruining them?

Masks and pretence are vital to the “art” of seduction. And pretence is the key to this opera.

The ordinary folk, with whom the Don loves to pass time, pretend to be grander than they are during the party at the end of Act 1. It’s the Don and the three masked guests who play at dancing like peasants – as aristocrats always enjoy doing. A mask is the perfect carnival excuse to “be” someone else. Leporello adopts Giovanni’s role, reluctantly at first, and pays a price.

It is while the Don recounts to Leporello a no doubt embroidered narrative of disguised canoodlings that the Statue interrupts. Anna’s story, right at the start, is that she mistook the Don for her beloved Ottavio.

People in this opera always seem to be getting into other people’s shoes – if not their beds.

The opera and plays about the Don are fantasies that deal with the illusion and reality of feelings. There is a necessary opacity about what people mean when they engage with each other. Mozart lets us watch and hear a morality play that raises fundamental but mysterious questions. The Church hated the theatre.

No wonder, since its trade was incarnation, and it reconciled nature, art and life so much better than sermons. Actors were often persecuted by the Church – though in Italy excommunicated more rarely than elsewhere. Pope John Paul II favourite theologian, Hans-Urs von Balthasar, writes in Theo-Drama that “As late as 1702 the Archbishop of Toulouse forbade confessors, under threat of suspension, to absolve those who had attended the theatre against his prohibition.” Molière’s death followed a long saga of hostility from the Church. There was the banning and unbanning of Tartuffe, a threat of Inquisition, defence by Boileau and the Papal legate Chigi, the Archbishop of Paris’s determination to excommunicate all who even read its text. In 1673

Molière, dying, summoned a priest. Two refused to come. A third arrived too late. Molière had a church burial only because the king commanded it. The bishop refused to allow any public service. Don Giovanni could be seen as toeing the Church’s line. But, with any performance involving the imagination, you can’t be sure of its precise message. This subject has the ambivalence of all human life.

Don Giovanni is not a tragedy. Yet its hero is unredeemed. There is no moment of repentance like the Count’s confession in Figaro – no reconciliation, no self-examination, no Aristotelian reversal and recognition, no conversion. The other characters, isolated in their self-centred panoramas, are no better equipped to save themselves than Giovanni. They also trade in delusions. How should you earn the love of man, woman or God? Acknowledge a need for something more than what you have. Serial infidelity, endless seduction, do not calm anyone. The Don’s lifestyle feeds on itself, stirs dissatisfaction. At the end audiences feel the frustration of the survivors. We all enter the dialogue. Mozart’s music has defined the instability, the nauseating panic and the inchoate despair that might lead – surprisingly – to a positive philosophy of life. tom sutcliffe Cafe Royal, London, 1912 (oil on canvas) by Sir William Orpen (1878-1931) Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France www.bridgeman.co.uk Lauros / Giraudon Portraits of painters James Pryde, Augustus John, William Nicholson, Alfred Rich, and the writer George Moore

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Wolfgang’s last letter to his father

April 28, 1787

This very moment I have received some news that distresses me very much – this all the more as I gathered from your last letter that you were, thank god, doing very well; – but now I hear that you are really ill! I need not tell you how much I am longing to hear some reassuring news from you yourself; and, indeed, I confidently expect such news – although I have made it a habit to imagine the worst in all situations – as Death, if we think about it soberly, is the true and ultimate purpose of our life, I have over the last several years formed such a knowing relationship with this true and best friend of humankind that his image holds nothing terrifying for me anymore; instead it holds much that is soothing and consoling! And I thank my god that he has blessed me with the insight, you know what I mean, which makes it possible for me to perceive death as the “key” to our ultimate happiness.

I never lie down at night without thinking that perhaps, as young as I am, I will not live to see another day – and yet no one who knows me can say that I am morose or dejected in company – and for this blessing I thank my Creator every day and sincerely wish the same blessing for All my fellow human beings.

Leopold Mozart died in Salzburg ‡ May 28, 1787 Don Giovanni was written later that year

The curious state of Mozart’s finances 1785 It was in the mid 1780’s that Mozart’s popularity was at it’s height. Viennese concert-goers were “subscribing” to commissions for new piano concerti.

He writes to his father that he has made 559 florins over the previous 3 days and soon he will be able to deposit 2,000 florins in the bank.

1786 Mozart’s masonic lodge Benificence runs into financial difficulties and is merged with others to form Crowned Hope. None other than Prince Nicholas Esterhaza was the Master of Ceremonies.

1787 Salieri is appointed Kappelmeister to Emperor Joseph II with a salary of 2,000 fl. Mozart is made junior court composer with a salary of 700. His rent is 350 fl. Prague commissions Don Giovanni but it is not a success in Vienna. Mozart‘s first mention of debt dates from this year. feb 1790 Emperor Joseph II dies and there follow three months of mourning with no operas or concerts.

To pay for the trip to Frankfurt for Emperor Leopold’s coronation, Mozart must pawn his silver. Wanting to give the right impression, he decides neither to use

public transport nor to rent a coach, but to buy one apr 1791 The kapellmeister of St Stephen’s Cathedral, Hofman, is very ill and his salary is 2,000 fl. and Mozart is his obvious successor. But Hofman recovers. The second half of the year sees an upturn in Mozart’s finances, largely due to the trite dance music commissioned by the new emperor. Mozart writes on an invoice “too much for what I did, and not enough for what I could do”. nov 1791 The conclusion of Prince Carl Lichnowsky’s law suit against Mozart for a debt of 1,435 fl. (plus 24 fl. of costs). Mozart’s royal salary of 700 fl. will be cut by half. dec 1791 Mozart dies He is interred in an unmarked grave outside the city walls.

1792 The young Beethoven arrives in Vienna to study with Haydn. Prince Carl Lichnowsky becomes a most generous and patient patron. It was said that all of Viennese society was ashamed of the misery in which they had allowed the genius Mozart to die.

Mushrooms (oil on canvas) by Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949) Nottingham City Museums and Galleries www.bridgeman.co.uk

Comedy ends with the assertion of the proper orders, but this assertion may not necessarily be the crown of a serene and sane society; it may indeed be a lid clapped on disorder and despair. Allanbrook

Maria Stuarda

is very generously supported by

The Carphone Warehouse

previous grange park productions supported by the carphone warehouse The Enchantress 2004 Iolanthe 2003 The Turn of the Screw 2002 CosĂŹ fan tutte 2001 The Mikado 2000

opera in three acts

Gaetano Donizetti (1797 – 1848) to a text by Giuseppe Bardari after Schiller Sung in Italian with surtitles by Andrew Huth First performance Teatro San Carlo, Naples, October 18, 1834 First performance in England, St Pancras Festival, London, 1966 Performances at The Grange June 7, 9, 11, 17, 19, 27 July 5, 2005

Maria Stuarda elizabetta Queen of England

Sergio La Stella Conductor

Stephen Langridge Director

George Souglides Designer

Chris Davey

maria stuarda her cousin and former Queen of Scotland anna Maria’s maid talbot a supporter of Mary’s lord cecil lord leicester

Lighting Designer

The young Mary The Dauphin

the orchestra of grange park Linlithgow Palace Scottish School 19th century Mary Stuart's birthplace Mallett & Son www.bridgeman.co.uk

Janis Kelly Majella Cullagh Harriet Williams Jonathan Best Quentin Hayes Adrian Dwyer Cosima Baring Finn Bruce

Leader Andrew Court

Maria Stuarda It is 1587 and Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587), has been tried and sentenced to death for plotting against her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603). Elizabeth has held her in prison for 18 years, during which time Mary has supported countless attempts to have her murdered and to restore the Catholic succession. Now, after four months of putting off signing the death warrant, Elizabeth is under intense pressure, mostly from Lord Cecil (Burghley) her private secretary. Elizabeth’s instincts are to be merciful – but she can delay no longer.

act one

The Palace of Westminster Courtiers await the return of Queen Elizabeth from a tournament in honour of French envoys from the Duke of Anjou, to whom she is considering marriage.

She is still uncertain: she will marry Anjou if British interests require it, but hints at another love. Talbot and the courtiers ask her to show mercy to the imprisoned Queen of Scots, but Cecil recommends her execution. Elizabeth silences them: on this question too her mind is divided. She gives Lord Leicester a ring to signify her provisional acceptance of Anjou, but is disappointed that this elicits no reaction.

Elizabeth departs, leaving Leicester to confer with Talbot, who has just visited Mary. He gives Leicester Mary’s letter which proposes a meeting with Elizabeth and includes her own portrait as a personal gift. Inspired by this, Leicester resolves to set her free. Talbot reminds him of Babington’s fate – he was executed for the same ambition. Talbot leaves and Leicester is confronted by Elizabeth demanding Mary’s letter. She forces him to admit his fascination with Mary. He suggests she visit Fotheringhay under cover of a hunting party and urges her to show mercy.

Elizabeth plans to punish her cousin who covets her crown and would deprive her of the man she loves.

act two Fotheringhay, Leicestershire

Mary and her attendant Hannah rejoice in temporary freedom. The beauty of the countryside reminds her of the happy days of her youth in France. Hunting horns are heard in the distance, and hunters salute Elizabeth. Mary shrinks from meeting her, and sends Hannah away when she sees Leicester approaching.

He hopes to free her but advises her to be submissive to Elizabeth. While thankful for his devotion when everyone else has deserted her, she urges him not to risk his life for her. Elizabeth and the hunting

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party enter; Leicester again asks for mercy, Cecil for retribution. In a sextet all the characters express their conflicting emotions. Mary kneels to Elizabeth, and, addressing her as sister, begs to be released from prison. Elizabeth replies haughtily, calling Mary a criminal, faithless to her husband and guilty of deceit and treason. Though Leicester tries to intercede with both sides, Mary is stung to the quick. She denounces Elizabeth as a bastard and an obscene prostitute whose presence sullies the English throne.

Elizabeth summons guards and orders Mary back to prison to await execution. Mary rejoices that this single moment of triumph has paid for her suffering.

Leicester laments that both he and Mary are finished.

* dinner interval (100 minutes) *

act three

The Palace at Westminster Elizabeth has the order for Mary’s execution awaiting only her signature. Cecil urges her to sign. She hesitates even though Mary’s insults have robbed her of her peace of mind. At last she signs as Leicester enters.

When he accuses her of condemning an innocent woman, she says he has only hastened the execution: his lover must die and he must witness her death.

Mary’s room at Fotheringhay Mary fears she may have endangered Leicester like all her other friends. Cecil brings the death warrant and offers her the services of a Protestant minister, which she indignantly refuses. She tells Talbot that she is haunted by the sins of youth and the bloody shades of Darnley, her former huband who had murdered her secretary Rizzio. Talbot reveals that he is a Catholic, willing to hear her confession. Taking the crucifix from him, she kneels to make confession, admitting complicity in Darnley’s murder and adultery with Babington. Talbot gives her absolution.

A hall next to the execution chamber Mary’s attendants express horror at the scaffold and the axe. Mary prays for God’s protection. Her entourage assure her of heaven’s pardon as the first cannon shot is heard and the door of the execution chamber is thrown open. Cecil enters with guards and says Elizabeth will grant her last request. She asks that Hannah may accompany her and sends a message to Elizabeth: may she have a long and happy life, untroubled by remorse, and may England enjoy

heaven’s grace. Leicester arrives and warns that God will avenge Mary's murder. She says farewell as the third cannon shot sounds and, turning to the whole company, hopes that heaven may be assuaged by the shedding of her innocent blood and refrain from taking vengeance on heretic England.

Sustained by Talbot and escorted by guards she goes to the block

The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots (1542-87) Anonymous c.1608 Scottish National Portrait Gallery www.bridgeman.co.uk

Take the forgiveness of a heart which is dying to she who injured me.

Tell her that she may be happy on her throne. I shall not trouble her glorious life. I shall implore the blessings of heaven on Britain and on her days. Let her not be troubled by remorse – all shall be washed away with my blood 75

The Monstrous & huge Dragon and Mass of the Earth Sir Anthony St Leger MP, Sheriff of Kent, on Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots

Described as “the most beautiful woman in all of Europe”, Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland when she was 6 days old, Queen of France at 17 and was widowed when she was just 18. But the crown she coveted was that of her cousin Elizabeth, Queen of England, even putting the English royal crest on her tableware. Fearing her claim to the throne, Elizabeth imprisoned Mary who continued to intrigue. Why did Elizabeth put Mary to death? Michael Fontes explains she had no choice.

Better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house Proverbs 21,9

Good protestants

knew their Bible and these words would have rung bells in the ears of courtiers of both Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England, and of her ‘cousin’ Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. The island of Britain was not wide enough to contain those two

brawling, intelligent and Machiavellian ladies, and from the moment that Mary took refuge in England in May 1568, aged 26, shaven to escape detection and penniless, after her defeat at Langside, it was hard to see how her head could long remain attached to her shoulders. That it did so for eighteen years says much for Elizabeth’s ability to withstand pressure from her advisors. She had great respect for Mary’s position as a monarch; they feared for Elizabeth’s life and the possibility of Catholic succession.

Mary, born in December 1542, was ten years younger than Elizabeth, and had a good claim to the English throne. She was the daughter of James V of Scotland by his French wife, Mary of Guise.

Her father’s mother was Margaret Tudor, Henry viii’s elder sister. Mary was, therefore, Henry viii’s great-niece and a great-grand-daughter of Henry vii.

Childbirth was hazardous in those days; Mary’s father, the King, died of a ‘marvellous vomit’ and a ‘great lax’, probably what a modem doctor would call dysentery, six days after she was born. Thus Mary was Queen of Scotland almost from birth. Henry viii wanted to detach Scotland from French influence and suggested Mary as a future bride for his young son Edward.

This plan didn’t suit Mary of Guise who sent the little Queen, aged six, to the French court, where she was educated, adored, and became the obvious bride for the dauphin, Francis, subsequently King Francis ii. Mary thereby became Queen of three kingdoms, she claimed: France, Scotland, and also England, for she quartered her arms with the royal insignia of England. Years later Cecil could not forget Portrait of Countess Livia da Porto Thiene and her Daughter, Portia, c.1551

by Veronese (Paolo Caliari) (1528-88) Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, www.bridgeman.co.uk The little girl could be the age of Mary Stuart when she left Scotland and her mother Mary of Guise to live at the French court in preparation for her betrothal to the dauphin, subsequently Francis II opposite page: a cat by embroidered by Mary during her 18 year captivity.

She likened her stand-off with Elizabeth to a game of cat and mouse

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that on her way to Chapel her French ushers would shout: ‘Make way for the Queen of England!’ When she returned to Scotland after the death of her frail husband, she was a beautiful young girl of eighteen, French-educated and Catholic: the Guises were the foremost Catholic family in France. A brilliant conversationalist, with a sharp wit, she had a sound political sense and a wonderful ability, much remarked upon, for giving the people she was dealing with the impression that they mattered more to her than anyone else in the world. Less profoundly intellectual than Elizabeth, who was a good linguist, a virtuoso on the virginals, and loved philosophy, Mary was more attractive, more sexy: she was a brilliant dancer who used her charms to manipulate her courtiers, much to the horror of the Calvinist Knox, who inveighed against the licentiousness of his female Catholic sovereign: ‘dancing is the vanity of the unfaithful, which shall cause the people to be set in bondage to a tyrant.’

Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry viii by his second wife, the Protestant minx, Anne Boleyn. She had seen her mother beheaded and had herself been declared illegitimate by her father and by parliament.

Henry viii’s will went back on that, specifying that, should his son Edward vii die without heirs, the throne would pass through the female side of the family, first to his daughter Mary and then to Elizabeth.

The will specifically debarred the Stuarts, but, by allowing that the crown could pass down the female side, it strengthened the Scottish Queen’s claim to the throne, deriving as that did from Henry’s elder sister. Elizabeth was considered illegitimate by many Catholics, for the Pope had refused to dissolve Henry’s marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

For a strict Catholic, therefore, and Catholics still counted for the majority of her subjects, Elizabeth was a usurper.

Elizabeth ruled her newly Protestant state with a wondrously sharp tongue which could reduce the most seasoned courtier to tears. In her old age she dressed down a Polish ambassador with a torrent of magisterial Latin concluding that, as he didn’t know

how properly to address princes, he must go back to Poland and hold his peace, Interea vero valeas, et quiescas. When the poor Pole had left she amused her courtiers by saying: ‘God’s death, my Lords, I have been enforced this day to scour up my old Latin that hath been long a-rusting.’ Her public speeches were often ‘mighty pithy’: she was devoted to her job and knew how to win and direct the loyalty of her people and her councillors, despite a continual shortage of funds which made her often seem on the mean side of stingy. She loved music, probably regarding the works composed for the Royal Chapel as a greater ornament to her reign than the works of Shakespeare and Marlowe. She employed Byrd, Tallis, Bull, Morley, and the great organist Christopher Tye: ‘the Queen would send the verger to tell Dr Tye that he played out of tune; whereupon he sent word that her ears were out of tune’. She was good at selecting ministers and wonderfully served, in particular, by her faithful secretary William Cecil, Lord Burghley.

Sandwiched between two great Catholic powers to the South, France and Spain, which had to be kept from combining, and little Scotland to the North, which vacillated between Calvinist fervour and the urge to get French help against the English, Elizabeth quickly learnt the importance of duplicity. ‘When the Queen of England gives you good words,’ wrote Maitland of Lethington, Scotland’s most able and formidably dishonest negotiator, to his representative in England, ‘you do well to make semblance to believe her, and to hope for goodness at her hands.

But, on my peril, in your heart trust never a word she speaks, for you will find all plain craft without true dealing.’ Elizabeth flirted with the possibility of Spanish, French and Imperial marriages, only to dash all hopes repeatedly, despite the obvious advantages for England were she to produce an heir. She saw that to marry was to lose the pawn of her eligibility, an important weapon in the diplomatic game. To marry would be to commit England, and that would restrict her freedom to pretend, and to shift her ground. Marriage might also dilute her power, make her less of a Queen. She loved being the dominant woman in a male court.

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Miniature of Mary Queen of Scots

by Clouet (c.1510-72) Victoria & Albert Museum www.bridgeman.co.uk

Mary had not been so frugal with her charms and, by the time of her flight to England in 1568, she looked, at the age of twenty-six, distinctly tarnished by her two Scottish marriages: first to her Catholic cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, who had been murdered, with her connivance thought many, by her second Scottish husband, the Protestant James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. Darnley was a disagreeable consort. The Scottish Protestant Lords were jealous of the growing influence of Mary’s Piedmontese secretary, David Rizzio, who had come to Scotland in the entourage of the Ambassador of Savoy and been taken on as a bass in Mary’s court vocal quartet. To ingratiate himself with them, Darnley let them persuade him, against probablility, that Rizzio was sleeping with the Queen. With a gang of Scottish lords, he had burst into the Palace of Holyrood and murdered Rizzio, once his homosexual lover, almost in front of his pregnant wife.

Tall like Mary, who was five foot eleven, Darnley was vain, vicious, and syphilitic. He could not resist playing the King, setting one faction against another, rendering Scotland ungovernable. Bothwell had Darnley strangled in the garden of Kirk o’ Fields, which was blown up. Foul-mouthed, hard drinking and

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unprincipled, he must have had hidden compensating characteristics, for Mary became besotted with him, and must have forgiven him his remark that she and Elizabeth couldn’t make one honest woman between them. Bothwell was still alive, on the run after their defeat at Carberry Hill; he was to die of drink in a Danish prison. Ironically, Darnley’s explosive murder came just at the moment when Elizabeth seemed to be planning to acknowledge Mary as her heir apparent.

All possibility of that disappeared in the rubble of Kirk o’ Fields.

Mary fled to England because she was desperate: her cause was lost in Scotland – she had been deposed and then defeated in battle – and she lacked the means of escape to France. She threw herself on the mercy of her ‘sister’ Elizabeth. Initially, the relationship between the queens had been cordial; they had exchanged affectionate letters and gifts of precious jewellery.

Elizabeth sent one of her finest rings to Mary, was godmother to her son, for whose baptism she sent a great gold font, subsequently melted down by Mary to pay for soldiers. Unfortunately, every time Mary reminded Elizabeth of their close relationship, she implicitly urged her own dynastic rights. Cecil, at Elizabeth’s side always, saw the relationship between the two queens as a struggle between the forces of good and evil. On arrival in England Mary was held prisoner, ostensibly because of her alleged complicity in Darnley’s murder. The English regarded Scotland as a subject kingdom, a view which allowed them to arraign her. When she refused to acknowledge the rigged court trying the case, she remained in custody, accused but with no prospect of trial, or of release.

Why did Elizabeth put Mary to death? Because she was a threat. She had shown herself at first an able ruler – even Cecil regarded Scotland as unmanageable – and many of Elizabeth’s Catholic subjects, very numerous in the North, where Mary was first held, regarded Mary as rightful Queen of England. Mary had repeatedly refused to ratify the Treaty of Edinburgh, by which she would renounce her claim over Elizabeth to the English throne: she hoped to bargain this claim for recognition as heir apparent, a position which would strengthen her hold over those of her rebellious subjects who thought of dealing with England behind her back. But should Elizabeth die, all government appointments, Ministers, Judges,

JP’s, lost authority. There would be nobody with formal power to prevent Mary taking the throne and returning the country to Catholicism, a move much feared by Cecil and Parliament, by the newly wealthy Protestant commercial classes, centred on London, thriving under Elizabeth. Elizabeth herself favoured Mary’s claim to succeed her, but baulked at openly acknowledging it: to do so would strengthen the Catholics, restrict her freedom of manoeuvre, and force her to face up to her own mortality: ‘think you I could love my own winding sheet?’

In 1570, Pope Pius v had deprived Elizabeth of her ‘pretended title’ to the English throne, excommunicated her, and formally freed a potential Catholic assassin from any danger of hell fire. The Jesuits were infiltrating the country, hardening Catholic opinion against ‘the heretic Queen’, urging armed rebellion. The two other main Protestant leaders in Europe had both been assassinated: Gaspard de Coligny, the Huguenot leader, during the St Batholemew’s Day massacre in 1572, and William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch rebels, shot by an assassin in the pay of Philip of Spain, on the staircase in his house in Delft in 1584. Mary was an obvious focus for any attempt on Elizabeth’s life.

On Mary’s death the heir apparent became her son, the Protestant James, to whom she had been forced to cede the throne of Scotland, and who was, of course, finally to become James i of England on Elizabeth’s death in 1603.

Elizabeth’s Protestant ministers, Cecil and Walsingham, had been pressing her to do away with Mary for years. They had deep emotional stakes in the Elizabethan Protestant settlement, and a lot to lose personally. Mary could not have been ignorant of their many moves against her and they could not expect kindness at her hands should Elizabeth die prematurely, something which had seemed very probable during her bad bout of smallpox in 1562.

Elizabeth hesitated, because that was her way, because she lacked her father’s taste for the blood of female relatives, because she loved peace, because she saw Mary’s execution as an assault on the principle of the inviolability of annointed monarchs, the constitutional principle that a sovereign was accountable to God alone, from which she gained her own authority.

Mary had become a hostage in the ongoing diplomatic battle with Catholic Europe: her death at Elizabeth’s

hands would concentrate the wrath of France and Spain against England. Philip of Spain had an army under an able general, the Duke of Parma, fighting the Dutch rebels just the other side of the Channel. Spain could easily put together an invincible armada to ferry this force across the narrow seas. While Mary lived these forces would not be deployed.

Finally, after they had executed many conspirators, when Norfolk and Throckmorton and countless others had been to the scaffold, Elizabeth still hesitated.

She knew that Walsingham employed skilled forgers and agents provocateurs, that the ‘casket letters’ suggesting Mary’s complicity in Darnley’s murder had almost certainly been forged. She must also have guessed, however, that Mary had turned desperate, and increasingly frustrated as her imprisonment became more stringent. The mind-world of plotting and ciphers and secret means of transmitting messages had become a substitute for riding and hawking. Mary didn’t realise that they had copies of her ciphers and were reading the secret notes put in little boxes through the bungholes of beer barrels.

She received a suggestion from Babington that ‘six gentlemen’ be chosen to murder Elizabeth, after which she would be freed by a combination of a Catholic rising and a Spanish invasion. She replied that when they were ready to spring her ‘then shall it be time to set the six gentlemen to work taking order, upon the accomplishing of their design’, and that was enough. They had evidence that she was party to an assassination attempt on Elizabeth Even then, Elizabeth struggled to escape responsibility. She dropped heavy hints that they should find someone to strangle Mary in prison. Even when she had signed the death warrant, she pretended to want to retrieve it. She needed a scapegoat; she sent her secretary, William Davison, to the Tower for a while.

The final scene at Fotheringay was as appalling as one might imagine. Mary carried herself with great dignity and outfaced all the Protestant ceremonial with Latin prayers. The headsman, ‘Bull’ from the Tower of London, could not have been out of practice, but may have been nervous, or, perhaps, drunk; he needed two hacks and a slice of the axe to sever the head. When he tried to lift it the head fell from his hands and rolled across the floor; he hadn’t realised she had been wearing a wig. Mary had always known

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Robert Dudley (1532-88) 1st Earl of Leicester, c.1560s (oil on panel)

by Steven van der Muelen (fl.1543-68) Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection www.bridgeman.co.uk

how to embarrass her enemies. When they moved the body they found her little Skye terrier, which had been hiding under her dress throughout.

Schiller takes liberties with history. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was never in love with Mary. Both his grandfather and father, Dukes of Northumberland, had been executed for treason. He had known Elizabeth since they were children and, under Mary Tudor, they were in the Tower under threat of death at the same time. Interested in mathematics and astronomy, rather than classics, he was probably as clever as Elizabeth though less obviously academic. He was a brilliant and flamboyant horseman; Elizabeth put him in charge of court ceremonial, a job which suited his gifts to perfection. He was said to be the most hated man in the kingdom, for he was clearly the Queen’s favourite.

She called him ‘two-eyes’; everyone else referred to him as ‘the gypsy.’ She might even have married him, but for the scandal concerning the timing of his wife’s death. He was thought to have poisoned her to make himself available for Elizabeth. She actually died from a fall on some stairs, probably as a result of her spine breaking: she had breast cancer. He did meet Mary, twice, briefly, on visits to Buxton, where they both went for the waters. Mary had emphatically

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rejected Elizabeth’s bizarre proposal that she marry Dudley instead of Darnley back in 1563. What caused Elizabeth to make the suggestion remains a mystery; perhaps it was just an intriguing off the cuff remark, which she knew would get back to Dudley, a move in a lovers’ jousting game; perhaps she was confident that with Dudley in Scotland she could better manage Scottish affairs.

The two queens never met. Mary, at many stages of her life, asked Elizabeth if they could, but Elizabeth may have been frightened of Mary’s charm and conversational powers, of the inevitable questions, and of the need to seem to commit herself. Although her life had been threatened, Elizabeth told a deputation of peers and members of parliament, two months before the execution, that she felt no personal malice against Mary, only grief that another woman, a Queen and her near kin, could have stooped so low. Even now, she said, ‘if we were but two milkmaids with pails upon our arms’, in other words, if it were only her life and not the welfare of the nation at stake, she would ‘most willingly pardon and remit this offence.’ That may even have been true.

Mary was forty-four at her death. Elizabeth survived her for sixteen years, dying in 1603 at the age of sixty-nine, after nearly forty-five years as Queen; at the time, the longest reign of any English monarch. Mary had taken as her device ‘In my end is my beginning’. Since Elizabeth’s death every English sovereign has been descended from Mary.

michael fontes

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow a reference to Mary’s garden at Holyroodhouse

With silver bells and cockle-shells

the sanctus bells used in Mary’s private

chapel at mass

the pilgrim badges worn by

devout Catholics, especially those who have visited the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain

And pretty maids all in a row

the four Maries

Mary Beaton, Mary Seton, Mary Livingston and Mary Fleming.

They were daughters of leading Scottish families and all of Mary’s age.

Her playmates, they travelled to France with the six-year-old Mary and from that moment shared so many of her joys and sorrows

Donizetti’s Scottish strain Why was Donizetti, the most traditional of composers, so obsessed with Scotland? His Scottish grandfather, Mr Izett, was partly to blame and the huge popularity of the novels of Sir Walter Scott.

Stephen Mudge explains the extent of the fashion.

Ah, by Bacchus, with this aria I shall receive universal applause. People will say to me, “Bravo maestro!” I, in a very modest manner, shall walk about with bowed head; I’ll have rave reviews – I can become immortal. My mind is vast, my genius swift – at composing, a thunderbolt am I

So wrote the 14-year-old Donizetti in 1811. With over 65 operas written between his first success Il Pigmalione in 1816 and the composer’s death in 1848, nobody could accuse the Bergamo ‘thunderbolt’ of slacking. By 1834, when he came to write Maria Stuarda for Naples, where he had accepted a teaching post at the conservatoire, he was riding high.

Few remember that this most Italian of composers had Scottish origins; his grandfather was one Mr. Izett who married an Italian lady and Italianised his name to Don-izett-i. Perhaps the composer had a predisposition for all things Scottish. His interest in the goings-on of the Tudors at home began with a setting of Sir Walter Scott’s Kenilworth, entitled Elisabetta al Castello di Kenilworth (1829), followed by his first major success, Anna Bolena in 1830. This passion for exotic royal families was shared across Europe with the rising popularity of Romantic historical novels, notably the work of Sir Walter Scott, whose Bride of Lammermoor later provided the libretto for the composer’s best known opera Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). The new romantics were happy to be freed from the formal constraints of Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782), whose work Artaxerxes has no less than 40 different operatic settings. Metastasian themes tended to be exclusively based on ancient history and mythology, and these stories provided the principal source of libretti for Italian Opera Seria prior to the Romantic era, while Italian Opera Buffa sprang from a parallel strand of operatic history with its genesis to be found in the comic interludes or Intermezzi inserted into otherwise serious evenings, with its apotheosis coming in the cheeky sophisticated comic operas of Donizetti and Rossini. At the same time in France, new blood and thunder dramas were all the

rage and French grand opera became ever grander and more unlikely – one thinks of the bizarre skating nuns in Meyerbeer’s Le Prophete. This craving for the foreign and spectacular was fulfilled by what we would today call faction.

The fashion for setting the widely-translated Scott had begun with Rossini, who had achieved great success with La Donna del Lago (1817) based on Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake. Like Donizetti and Auber, Rossini also set Scott’s Kenilworth, the occasionally revived Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra (1815). It is chiefly remembered as the work from which the composer stole his own overture for The Barber of Seville, providing munitions for those who criticize the give-me-a-laundry-list-and-I-will-set-it-tomusic style of Donizetti’s forerunner. Rossini himself was rather proud of his ability to borrow from his own work, boasting to a young composer in search of advice: “With Barber, I did better still. I didn’t compose an overture, but instead I made use of the overture to my opera Elisabetta though it is a serious opera (whereas the Barber is a comic opera). The public was delighted”.

Donizetti’s Elisabetta al Castello di Kenilworth is chiefly memorable as the composer’s first contact with Elizabeth i. Previously he had dabbled with an English setting in the endearingly named Emilia di Liverpool (1824), set in the apocryphal foothills of Liverpool, which was later renamed as the even more unlikely sounding L’Eremitaggio di Liverpool, while 1834 saw the premiere in Florence of Rosmonda d’Inghilterra (revised as Eleonora di Gujenna, 1839); in which Eleanor of Aquitaine and the fair Rosmonda battle it out for the love of Henry ii. The composer then considered writing an opera on the subject of the Count of Essex, which would later become Roberto Devereux (1837), and also a Maria Tudor, but his regular librettist Felice Romani failed to deliver the text.

It was the 17-year-old Giuseppe Bardari who came up with the libretto for Maria Stuarda based on Schiller’s drama of 1800. This featured a historically

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inaccurate but operatically irresistible confrontation of the two queens, rather quaintly entitled by the composer ‘dialogo delle due regine’. Two prima donnas on stage was an adventurous and controversial idea.

Rehearsals for the Naples premiere went well, until the final dress when the two divas in question Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis and Anna del Sere got carried away in their hatred and the famous scene ended with an onstage brawl. “The ill-will of Mary so enraged Elizabeth, by nature the more voluble of the two, that right in the middle of the finale, she threw herself on her enemy, pulling her hair, hitting her about the ears, biting her, slapping her, and practically breaking her legs by kicking her furiously”. (Teatri, Arti e Letteratura, a periodical of the time). It was the Bourbon King Fernando, however, who threw the final spanner in the works. Officially he feared that the final beheading of Mary could offend the first night audience, in particular his wife Queen Maria Cristina. Not only would the sight of a catholic queen “awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock” offend his wife, but the tradition of Neapolitan happy endings saw Schiller as a dangerous libertarian, and the historical realities of the relationship between Mary and Elizabeth in a politically unstable Italy were deemed a dangerous subject for public consumption.

The legend of Mary Queen of Scotts had remained a live political subject in Italy, a regular heroine of plays popular with a dissident public. The carbonari who were associated with anti-government rebels in pre–Risorgimento Italy had their genesis in a plot hatched by Tudor charcoal burners in England who plotted against Elizabeth when she passed a law limiting deforestation. Not surprisingly the Bourbon king of Naples would not have welcomed any subjects likely to involve anti royalist plotting.

Donizetti initially proposed renaming the opera Giovanna Gray based on the unfortunate life of Lady Jane Grey, an idea which was also rejected out of hand. Finally a new libretto was quickly cobbled together and the opera was presented with little success as Boundelmont (from Dante’s Paradiso).

The première of Maria Stuarda had to wait until the following year at La Scala when the great diva of the day, Maria Malibran, took on the title role. The Prima Donna sketched the designs for her costumes from tombs in Westminster Abbey, but apparently

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was voiceless at the premiere and none other than the painter Delacroix found the way she ripped her handkerchief and gloves to ribbons during a moment of high drama was a little excessive. However no doubt her legendary dramatic commitment allowed her to hurl out the most controversial lines of the libretto in the centerpiece duet with Elizabeth to devastating effect. The passage in question is probably one of the strongest moments in bel canto opera and Mary’s invective “Unchaste daughter of Boleyn, do you speak of dishonour? Base, lascivious whore, let my shame fall on you. Profaned is the English throne, vile bastard, by your foot” is a strong and vulgar outpouring even by today’s standards of royal invective. Typically Italianate language is shamelessly popped into the mouths of the British monarchy. This inability or refusal to ape the social or emotional reactions of another culture has remained a constant in Italian opera. Verdi's merry wives of Windsor in Falstaff have few blue stocking attitudes and Puccini's Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly retains only a dubious flirty reserve to suggest a Japanese geisha before settling down into a last scene which could just as easily be set in Naples. In any case, back in Milan the censors were quickly back on the case of Maria Stuarda and the offending phrases were officially suppressed. However, Malibran, with the composer’s tacit consent or even encouragement, continued to seize on the words with histrionic relish and the work was banned for a second time. It was not until the second half of the twentieth century that Donizetti’s Tudor queens claimed their rightful place in the bel canto canon, thanks in great part to the revival of Anna Bolena at La Scala in 1957 with Maria Callas, whose performance revealed, within the formal constraints, a dramatic truth and eloquence in the long flowing bel canto lines. The composer’s characterisation is also far more developed than some critics would believe; the nostalgic nobility of Mary contrasting with the haughty arrogance of Elizabeth is painted by simple but effective musical means, a stabbing staccato here or an unexpected change of key there all suggest that this prolific maestro was absorbed by his characters.

This was not the end of Donizetti’s fascination with Elizabeth. In 1837 he returned to his earlier idea of setting Roberto Devereux, further refining his portrait of Elizabeth i, whose operatic career along with Mary

did not end with the Donizetti version. A few years later Pacini’s Maria, Regina d’Inghilterra (1843) enjoyed great success in Palermo. While in our own time Benjamin Britten presented Gloriana at Covent Garden during Coronation week in 1953. Like Donizetti his work was greeted with displeasure by the royal family of the day. Apparently Elizabeth ii found the subject matter of her ancestor’s amorous adventures distasteful. Time has since adjusted the initially poor reaction to Britten’s work, while Thea Musgrave’s worthy and well received Mary, Queen of Scots (1977) has failed to enter the popular repertoire.

Donizetti was not the first composer to set the sad tale of Mary. A successful London offering came from the Neapolitan Carlo Coccia who became director of the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket and professor of singing at the newly-formed Royal Academy of Music. A popular dandy in London of the time, he immediately recognised the growing popularity of Mary in the eyes of the British. His rather careful and diluted version of the story was produced in 1827 as Maria Stuart, Regina di Scozia. In England, King George IV was responsible in part for this romantic vision of Mary Queen of Scots. He visited Scotland in 1822, the first British monarch to set foot in the country since 1641. The king was painted wearing a kilt and, most importantly, he knighted Walter Scott who stage–managed the royal visit, eager to recreate the romantic Scotland which forms the backdrop to most of his novels, including Guy Mannering and The Fair Maid of Perth, which both became celebrated French operas as La Dame Blanche by Boieldieu and La Jolie Fille de Perth by Bizet. The Highland Games were re-introduced, including ‘twisting the four legs from a cow’, kilts were unpacked from dusty family trunks, clan histories were revived and embellished, while porridge and shortbread appeared on tables in the Home Counties. A warm Hibernian glow was created which still plays its role in the lives of our present day Royal family. Mary became the epitome of the Romantic heroine, pale, noble, suffering, approaching her execution with Catholic dignity.

Endearing stories were invented such as the alleged origins of marmalade as a cure for a seasick six-yearold Mary, administered by her French maids as a cure for Marie malade.

After suffering at the hands of the censors over

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) in Ceremonial Costume

by Federico Zuccaro (1540-1609) Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Italy www.bridgeman.co.uk

Maria Stuarda, Donizetti’s relationship with Naples slowly soured. He had always been regarded as a foreigner, and despite good relations with his pupils he was never offered the directorship of the conservatoire.

The authorities preferred to elect the more conservative figure of Mercadante, who still used Metastasian libretti and frequently stuck to safe Greco-Roman dramas, unlike the fiery Donizetti and his frightening blood thirsty tales of royal intrigue. Nor was his gregarious personal life in any way happy; his wife Virginia Vasselli, who he had married in 1828, died in 1837 of cholera or syphilis, and his three children all died in infancy. In any event the composer left Naples for Paris in 1838, only returning to Bergamo to die, paralyzed and insane with syphilis, in 1848. Perhaps aware of his own failing health he wrote to Giuseppina Appiani in 1844: “My heyday is over, and another must take my place. The world wants something new. Others have ceded their places to us and we must cede ours to still others . . . I am more than happy to give mine to people of talent like Verdi.” stephen mudge

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The Elixir of Love

and Nevill Holt Young Artists are supported by a generous donation from

comedy in two acts Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) to a text by Felice Romani English version by Amanda Holden First performance Teatro della Canobbiana, Milan, May 12, 1832 First performance in England Lyceum Theatre, London, 1836 Performances at Nevill Holt July 14, 15, 17, 2005 before touring around Britain supported by the Arts Council

The ELIXIR

OF

LOVE

L’Elisir d’Amore

Christian Curnyn Conductor

adina

nemorino a young man in love with Adina belcore a sergeant Martin Constantine Director dulcamara, a travelling salesman giannetta Lez Brotherston

Katherine Wiles Nicholas Sharratt James McOran–Campbell Freddie Tong Claire Bessent

Designer people of the town

Sara Perks Assistant Designer

Jon Clark Lighting Designer

Tom Roden Movement

the orchestra of nevill holt

Leader Andrew Court

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The Elixir of Love L’Elisir d’Amore Nemorino loves Adina but she is indifferent. A salesman, Dulcamara, arrives in town with a miracle elixir – actually Bordeaux – which will make any man irresistable. Nemorino attributes his sudden popularity to the elixir. However, the rest of the girls have heard that he has inherited a small fortune.

Adina grapples with her true feelings.

act one

Tea break in a small town in the middle of nowhere Giannetta and the others are taking a few moments rest in the midday sun. Adina is reading leisurely but under the constant stare of Nemorino who is overwhelmed by her beauty, her intelligence – she even knows how to read! – and of the impossibility of his ever being able to win her. She finishes her book and is pressured into reading it aloud to the workers.

It is the story of how Tristan won the love of the fair Isolde by means of an elixir of love. Sergeant Belcore and his troop arrive in town. He immediately sets his sights on seducing Adina, advising her to surrender to his charms. Her reply is cool but this does little to allay Nemorino’s envy. The others look on in fascination and Giannetta urges them to return to work. Belcore leaves to find lodgings.

Alone together, Nemorino plucks up the courage to approach Adina. She ignores his entreaties but advises

Landscape with field and cottages, c. 1928 (oil and pencil on thin buff card)

by Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, UK www.bridgeman.co.uk

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that he makes a trip to visit his sick uncle. Adina seems unashamed of her capricious nature; her affections are changeable. Nemorino insists that he is the reverse; he will love her until the day he dies.

There is great excitement at the arrival of another outsider: a salesman, Dulcamara. He calms the crowd before getting down to the real purpose of his visit: selling a miracle cure for every trouble. It transforms septuagenarians into strapping fathers, eliminates wrinkles, kills rats and brings the dead to life!

Nemorino wonders if, by any chance, Dulcamara stocks the elixir that Queen Isolde was given. For a moment Dulcamara is thrown but recovers: he brewed Isolde’s elixir himself. He sells a grateful Nemorino a bottle of Bordeaux. The Instructions for Use are as follows: shake gently and drink (but there will be no effect for 24 hours – and by then Dulcamara will be on the road).

Nemorino takes a slug and the delicious warmth gives him confidence enough to play Adina at her own game: he simply ignores her. Adina is so puzzled and put out by Nemorino’s apparent disinterest that when Belcore appears she accepts his proposal of marriage and the wedding is fixed for the following week. Far from showing concern, Nemorino bursts out laughing, secure in his knowledge that long before their wedding day the elixir will have taken effect.

BUT . . . news reaches town that Belcore must leave the following morning and so the wedding date is brought forward – they will get married at once.

Nemorino begs Adina to wait just one more day but she can’t and invites everyone to celebrate.

* dinner interval (100 minutes) *

act two

At Adina’s wedding, Dulcamara wants to perform his party-piece. He takes the part of an amorous elderly senator and Adina the role of a kind girl who prefers her handsome gondolier to the old man’s bank balance.

The lawyer arrives to witness the signing of the marriage contract and as Dulcamara tucks into the feast, he is joined by Nemorino, heart-broken. Perhaps a second bottle of the elixir will produce the necessary immediate effect (for he is leaving in half-an-hour) – but Nemorino has no money. Meanwhile, Adina has postponed the ceremony, feeling that her triumph over Nemorino is incomplete unless he sees her wed another. Belcore returns, disgruntled, and proposes a solution to Nemorino’s financial problems: join up to his regiment. Committing himself to the perils of war to win Adina’s heart for a single day is but nothing to Nemorino who signs up and rushes off to find Dulcamara and the elixir.

Giannetta shares with the others the hottest gossip – Nemorino’ s uncle has died leaving him a small fortune. Unaware of this development, Nemorino appears, having polished off most of the elixir. He is gratified, but not altogether surprised, when the girls flock round him. Adina is surprised however – surprised, piqued, and not a little touched, when she learns that Nemorino joined up as a means to win her love. She realises how cruel she has been and that she loves Nemorino. Not one to miss an opportunity, Dulcamara offers Adina the elixir, but she prefers to use her own charms. Nemorino notices the change in Adina – the furtive tear in her eye which said it all – she does indeed love him.

When Adina appears Nemorino acts indifferently and she presents his army contract which she has bought back so that he won’t go away. Nemorino, irritated, responds that if she forsakes love he will join the army anyway. Adina admits she loves him. Belcore returns to find the couple in one another’s arms.

Dulcamara informs the gathered crowd the news of Nemorino’s inheritance and claims his wondrous elixir not only brings love but wealth. There is brisk trading before the salesman sets off for another small town in the middle of nowhere.

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Donizetti: genius and plagiarist Donizetti famously wrote L’Elisir in a fortnight. How did he do it? By borrowing from others, says Andrew Porter, who compares the opera with Bellini’s Sonnambula and others. On page 81 is an insight into the historic operas of Donizetti’s prodigious output.

From one donizetti book

to the next, the story of how L’Elisir d’Amore came to be written is copied without question, embellished, improved – and related always as fact. The earliest, and possibly most reliable, version that I have read comes in the study of Alborghetti and Galli, two Bergomasque writers whose book on Donizetti and his master, Mayr, appeared in 1875. Here it is, translated freely (but not embellished): “The management of the Canobbiana, the most important theatre [in Milan] after La Scala, was in despair: a composer who had undertaken to write an opera had failed to produce it, and there was only a fortnight to remedy the damage. The impresario, at his wits’ end, did not know what saint to turn to, unless it be Donizetti . . . and rushed to ask him to refashion an old score of his, so as to have something to offer the public.

“Are you being funny?” replied the Maestro. “I am not in the habit of touching up either my works or anyone else’s. Rather, see whether I have not the spirit to write a brand-new opera for you in a fortnight . . .

Send Romani to me!”

“I am obliged,” said the composer to the poet, with a smile, “to set a libretto to music in a fortnight. I allow

you one week to get the libretto ready for me. Let’s see which of us sets to work with the best will.” The collaborators decided on a plot that Scribe had written for Auber the previous year. And a fortnight later, so the story goes – at any rate on May 12, 1832 – the curtain went up on the most successful and delightful comic opera that had appeared on the Italian stage since Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Let us fill in some detail. The Teatro alla Canobbiana had been built at the same time as La Scala, by the same architect (Giuseppe Piermarini), and for the same management. It seated 2,000. During most of the 19th century it was run as a kind of Piccola Scala, drawing its orchestra, chorus and ballet company, its conductors and designers, from the larger house. It specialised in comic operas, but also had a reputation for introducing interesting novelties from abroad, such as Le Comte Ory, Robert le Diable, L’Etoile du Nord, Martha. When the Scala was closed for any reason, opera moved to the Canobbiana. Quite often its bills show very grand performances: to take an example at random, Bellini’s Il Pirata of 1829, two years after its Scala première, with the original cast, Meric-Lalande, Rubini and Tamburini. But in 1870 the Canobbiana lost its state and municipal subsidies, and gradually

sank into obscurity. In 1893 it was bought by the publisher Sonzogno, was refashioned, and reopened in 1894 as the Teatro Lirico.

In 1832, Donizetti was 34. He had already composed forty operas, and in 1830 had set the seal on his reputation with Anna Bolena. The year had opened for him in Naples where the San Carlo staged his Fausta. He was now in Milan for the première of Ugo, Conte di Parigi on March 13. The talk there was all of Bellini’s new opera Norma which had opened the season. As in 1830, when the Teatro Carcano had commissioned operas from both Bellini and Donizetti, allotting them the same librettist (Romani) and the same cast (Pasta, Rubini), so now, it seems likely, that Scala wished to spur on the two composers by rivalry: the poems of both Norma and Ugo are by Romani; both were sung by Pasta, Grisi, Donizelli and Negrini. But Ugo ran into censorship difficulties; it had to be spoiled; Romani removed his name from the title-page of the libretto. Norma achieved 34 performances, and Ugo only four.

In Bellini’s letters there are many mean references to Donizetti; in Donizetti’s nothing but generous admiration for Bellini’s music. Towards the end of his life, Bellini gloated that on the three occasions when his works came into direct competition with Donizetti’s, his Sonnambula eclipsed Anna Bolena; his Norma, Donizetti’s Ugo; and his Puritani, Donizetti’s Marino Faliero. He was not to know that three days after his death, Donizetti was to produce Lucia di Lammermoor, an opera in the same vein as I Puritani, evidently sparked off by it, and far more successful. But he may have guessed that L’Elisir d’Amore owed more than a little to his Sonnambula. To be sure, they are not in the same vein.

La Sonnambula is semiserio, L’Elisir is buffo – but it is not simply buffo. The fascination of this exquisitely fashioned work is that it holds in perfect balance the sentiment of La Sonnambula and the comedy of Il Barbiere. When we compare Romani’s libretto with the Scribe one on which it is based, we may well feel that he had deliberately set out to create in a new genre.

Romani put a note on the first edition of L’Elisir to the effect that ‘the subject is imitated from Scribe’s Philtre. It is a jest [scherzo], and as such is presented to the gentle readers.’ Le Philtre had been staged at the Paris Opéra in June 1831, with a starry cast (Cinti-Damoreau, Nourrit, Dabadie, Levasseur). It is an Opéra, not an Opéra-comique, with recitativo secco, not spoken dialogue (the accompanying chords, however, are scored for strings); and though the music was found delightful, it was also considered too light a piece for that august stage. By December it had reached Drury Lane as The Love Charm, “Englished

by Planché and Bishop”, with Miss Paton as the heroine (and throughout the 19th century, Chorley went on proclaiming its superiority to L’Elisir). But it had not been heard in Italy; nor was it to be until 1900.

How did Romani get on to it? Well, Scribe’s libretti were regularly cribbed by the Italians. This same season one of the Scala novelties, Pugni’s La Vendetta, was a re-write of the Scribe/ Auber Muette di Portici or Masaniello (and in his libretto Callisto Bassi gracefully acknowledged that Romani would have made a better job of the adaptation). Two years earlier, when he had also been called on for a libretto in a hurry, Romani had borrowed La Sonnambula from a Scribe ballet scenario; there was nothing surprising now about this turning to ‘Scribe’s latest’.

But it has not generally been noted that Auber’s original Joli-Coeur was also Donizetti’s original Belcore: HenryBernard Dabadie.

It is tempting to surmise that it was the French baritone who first drew Romani’s or Donizetti’s attention to the

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opera in which he had just been having a success in Paris. Romani’s libretto is close – today it would be actionably close – to Scribe’s. He follows him in detail, scene by scene, sometimes line by line, even word for word.

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Compare: Qu’elle est jolie! . . .

Elle sait lire; est-elle heureuse!

Moi, je ne suis qu’un ignorant With Quanto è bella! . . .

Essa legge, studia, impara . . .

Io son sempre un idiota Or Je suis riche, vous êtes belle, J’ai des écus, vous des appas . . .

Quel honneur – Un sénateur D’amour venir me supplier.

With Io san ricco, tu sei bella.

Io ho ducati, e vezze hai tu . . .

Qual onore! Ûn senatore Me d’amore supplicar!

Indeed, when reading the two operas in English translation, it is often hard to know which is which.

But Romani did make a few alterations and additions to Scribe’s scheme, and they are very important; they change the whole tone of the piece. Le Philtre is purely comic. At the end of the first scene, to put an end to Guillaume’s tiresome pleading, Térézine sings a sprightly aria, ‘La coquetterie fait mon seul bonheur’.

But in L’Elisir this is replaced by a duet of sentiment, two balanced verses of exquisite lyric poetry, Adina’s ‘Chiedi all’aura lusinghiera’, answered by Nemorino’s ‘Chiedi al rio perché gemente’. And the direct inspiration for this, I have no doubt, is the similarly balanced duet in La Sonnambula, Elvino’s ‘Son gelso del zefiro errante’, answered by Amina’s ‘Son, mio bene, del zefiro amante’.

Dulcamara’s and Fontanarose’s oratory follow identical lines (though the French charlatan’s delicious-tasting elixir, ‘Bordò’ in Donizetti, is ‘du lachryma-christi qu’avec grand soin je réservais ici’).

Next, Romani adds the duet ‘Obbligato, ah! Sì! obbligato’. At the close of the act, ‘Adina credimi’ has no parallel in Le Philtre; and again we leave the world of comedy for one of deep and true feeling. In the second act, we may not note that Auber’s barcarolle à deux voix is a genuine barcarolle in a lilting 6 / 8, not Donizetti’s 2 /4 andantino. Romani’s widow (an unreliable witness, but possibly right here) declares that Donizetti used a tune he had composed before. She says the same of ‘Una furtiva lagrima’, adding that this Romance (originally ‘chamber music’!) was inserted against Romani’s wishes, that it holds up the action, that it spoils the second act! This aria – again a serious utterance – is Romani’s only significant addition to the second act.

L’Elisir, then, is more than a brilliant comedy, and, pace Romani, not just a ‘jest’. And though, heaven knows, one would not wish to go searching for ponderous significances, it is indeed ‘la storia di Tristano’ in a rustic setting. The Liebestrank did not cause Tristan and Isolde to fall in love, but only brought to the surface the love that was there; so the elisir d’amore, Bordeaux though it be, works truly, by giving Nemorino confidence, by causing him to shed self-pity and the hang-dog approach which had made his protestations seem, to Adina, so tiresome. These are real people, this is human nature. High spirits, wit and sentiment are held in perfect balance, and never was

Donizetti’s music more deft, more sparkling, or more beautiful. Some people would rate Don Pasquale even higher, and it is a possible view; but its libretto is no match for Romani’s wonderful verses. If you have any Italian at all, buy and read the Ricordi libretto; in itself it is a rare pleasure.

Two pages of ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ have been published in facsimile, and we can see how Donizetti went to work. He indicated the harp figure once only, wrote out the bassoon obbligato and the bass, then the tenor line and the bass. Another hand (so it seems to me) came back to continue the harp part and touch in the pizzicato string chords; and curiously enough, it is to this hand that we owe the little clarinet echoes which so effectively enhance the tenor’s phrases. The bassoon obbligato is an inspired exception: Donizetti’s normal practice is to introduce each tune in flute/ clarinet octaves over strings (varied in ‘Prendi, per me’ to flute/oboe octaves), and strengthen the cadences sometimes with a horn, sometimes a bassoon. It is simple, but done with delicate art.

Finally, a note on the first cast. The Adina, Sabine Heinefetter (the most renowned of six singing sisters) was no mere soubrette. She had learnt her musicianship from Spohr at Cassel, and her technique from Tadolini at the Théâtre Italien, where she successfully sang Elvira to Sontag’s Anna and Malibran’s Zerlina. We have mentioned the Belcore, Dabadie; he was a pillar of the Paris Opéra, Raimbault in Le Comte Ory, and William Tell. The Dulcamara, Giuseppe Frezzolini, father of the famous prima donna, was the Canobbiana’s regular buffo. The Nemorino, Genero, remains an unfamiliar name. On the other hand the Giannetta, Sacchi, is a familiar one; she turns up regularly singing such comprimaria roles as Clotilde in the first Norma.

Here is Donizetti’s pithy comment on his troupe, after the first rehearsal: ‘The tenor is passable, the soprano has a beautiful voice but you can’t tell what she is saying, the buffo is a cur [canino]’. The scenery was by Sanquirico, and Vincenzo Lavigna conducted. The opera achieved 33 performances that season, 33 more the next, and 11 at La Scala in 1835 (with Malibran, who added a final aria of her own composition). L’Elisir comes fifth in the list of operas most often performed at the two theatres during the 19th century, beaten only by Il Barbiere, Norma, Lucrezia Borgia and Mosé.

andrew porter 91

Generously sponsored by who have previously supported Wonderful Town 2004

dancers Lisa Norman, Lisa Reynolds Heather Douglas, Ronnie V Del Laurent Coderch, Luke Redford Thomas Michael Voss

musical in two acts Music by Richard Rodgers (1902 – 1979)& Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (1895 – 1960) Book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan Adapted from James A Michener’s Pulitzer Prize winning “Tales of the South Pacifie” Presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd on behalf of R & H Theatricals of New York First performed in the Majestic, New York, April 7, 1949 First performance in England, Drury LaneTheatre, London, November 1, 1951 Performances at The Grange June 24, 25, 30, July 1, 2, 3, 2005

SOUTH PACIFIC Richard Balcombe Conductor

Craig Revel Horwood Director / Choreographer

Francis O’Connor Set Designer

Yvonne Milnes Costume Designer

Chris Davey

Lighting Designer

Heather Douglas

Associate Choreographer

Béatrice Lupton French Coach

the orchestra of grange park Leader Andrew Court

ensign nellie forbush emile de becque jerome & ngano Emile’s sons henry Emile’s servant bloody mary liat her daughter luther billis a wheeler–dealer stewpot Lt joseph cable US Marine Corps Capt george brackett US Navy Cmdr william harbison US Navy herbert quale sailor

lead nurse dinah nurse janet mcgregor nurse

Eliza Lumley Michael Cormick David Leach & Tian Chin–Wolf Ronnie V Del Nicola Hughes (to be cast) John Guerrasio Jeff Nicholson Matt Rawle Simon Clark David Curtiz Nathaniel Gibbs

Alix Longman Victoria Ward Lisa Reynolds

South Pacific world war ii “I wish I could tell you about the South Pacific. The way it actually was. The endless ocean.

The infinite specks of coral we called islands. Coconut palms nodding gracefully toward the ocean. Reefs upon which waves broke into spray, and inner lagoons, lovely beyond description. I wish I could tell you about the sweating jungle, the full moon rising behind the volcanoes, and the waiting. The waiting. The timeless, repetitive waiting . . . “ James A Michener Tales of the South Pacific 1946

act one

Emile de Becque, a French plantation owner, settled on this island some years before the outbreak of the war. His children, Ngano and Jerome, are playing on the terrace (Dites-moi). As the children run inside, Emile emerges from the garden accompanied by our heroine Ensign Nellie Forbush, a Navy nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas. She explains her sunny outlook on life (Cockeyed Optimist). Nellie had enlisted in the Navy to see what the world was like outside Little Rock and to meet different kinds of people (Twin Soliloquies). Emile says that, though they had first met just two weeks before, they should not risk losing what one waits so long in life to find (Some Enchanted Evening). He proposes and Nellie promises to think about his offer.

Stationed on the island are a group of American sailors, SeaBees and Marines who sing about Bloody Mary, the local Tonkinese trafficker in everything from grass skirts to shrunken heads. SeaBee Luther Billis, also in the souvenir business, wants to venture to the nearby island of Bali Ha’i to obtain prized ceremonial boars’ teeth. Bali Ha’i is off-limits to all but officers; the Frenchmen have sent their young women there for safekeeping away from the GIs. Hence the American sailors are sorely in need of female companionship. They lament the lack in no uncertain terms (There is Nothin’ like a Dame).

Lieutenant Cable, a handsome young marine, arrives on the island; Bloody Mary instantly sees in him a prospect as a husband for her lovely daughter, Liat. Mary now begins to stimulate Cable’s interest in Bali Ha’i describing its enchantments. Cable has been assigned to persuade de Becque, who is familiar with the nearby islands, to accompany him on a dangerous mission. His task is to hide out on a Japaneseheld island, watch for enemy ships and convey this

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information to pilots, who will use this first-hand intelligence to attack the Japanese convoys.

Nellie’s friendship with Emile is known to the island’s Commander, and she is asked to obtain all the information she can about the Frenchman. Nellie then receives a letter from her mother discouraging her relationship with de Becque because the two have such different backgrounds. She decides to heed her mother and jumps into the shower to sing I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out-a My Hair. Later Emile enters and Nellie, remembering her naval duty, starts quizzing him about politics and his past. De Becque says there are very few days in a lifetime and the moments he spends with her are precious to him. She dismisses her apprehensions about their differences Born on the opposite sides of the sea, joins Emile for a reprise of Some Enchanted Evening. There is no longer any question for Nellie that she loves Emile more than any man she has ever met I’m in Love with a

Wonderful Guy!

Having found the woman of his dreams, Emile has no intention of endangering his life by helping Cable. No argument can persuade him to change his mind and so the mission is postponed. Cable can now devote a few days to recreation so makes for Bali Ha'i, where Mary brings him to Liat, a sensitive Tonkinese girl of seventeen. Though she speaks only French, and Cable only English, they fall helplessly in love. Cable takes Liat in his arms and tells her of his feelings in song (Younger than Springtime).

De Becque invites Nellie to dinner so that his friends may meet her. Nellie accepts and has a wonderful time at Emile’s house (This Is How it Feels).

All seems right with her world and with her love until she learns that the two adorable half-Polynesian boys are Emile’s. Their mother, now dead, was a native woman. This is more than Nellie’s small-town

prejudiced upbringing permits her to accept, and she runs from Emile in her embarrassment and horror.

* dinner interval (100 minutes) *

act two A week later

The stage is set for the base’s Thanksgiving Follies.

Bloody Mary tells Cable that a rich old planter has offered to marry Liat, but Cable could have first refusal (Happy Talk). Despite his deep love for Liat, Cable is trapped by his own prejudices and refuses to marry her.

Top-billing in the festivities is Bosun Butch Forbush and Mademoiselle Lutheria Billis performing Honey Bun. Later Nellie tells Emile that she can’t marry him because of his relationship with the Polynesian mother of his children. She leaves, asking Cable to explain to Emile why she feels the way she

does. Cable’s response is surprising – that prejudice is not something one is born with (You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught). Emile rages that the ugliness he thought he had escaped once more has found him (I was cheated before) at the precise moment he has come so close to happiness (This Nearly Was Mine).

Emile agrees to accompany Cable on the mission (The Take Off).

The mission is successful in that Emile and Cable are able to send back useful intelligence (Communication Established) but eventually they are discovered. Back at base, the commander tells Nellie about the danger of the mission, that Cable is dead and that no recent contact has been made with de Becque.

Brought to her senses, she believes she has thrown away the her moment of true love.

She goes to Emile’s house to care for the children.

note on military aspects of South Pacific Captain Brackett is the highest ranking officer, followed by Commander Harbison. Cable is a Marine Lieutenant and, as such, merits a salute from the enlisted men who are rated not ranked. The ratings are Sailors, who serve at sea, Marines, amphibious troops serving both on ships and on land, and SeaBees who are sailors in the Construction Battalion (hence the acronym CB) and responsible for the construction and maintenance of the bases and their equipment. As the action of South Pacific takes place one step removed from the battlefront, there is a decidedly casual aspect to the enlisted men – not quite in the war and not quite out of the war.

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DRY ROT - a tale from the South Pacific “I won’t let it get me down” Joe used to say. He would mumble the sentence over and over to himself. “I ain’t gonna let it get me down! It ain’t gonna get me down.” What it was, Joe never stopped to say. It was the heebie-jeebies or the screaming meemies. It was rock-jolly, or island happy, or G.I. fever, or the purple moo-moo.

It was hellish stuff to get, and you got it when you had been on one island for a year or more. Joe had been on his rock for twenty-seven months, and he swore by God that it would never get him.

Not like it got some of the other guys! There was the soldier that stole a truck. On an island that had only three miles of roads he stole a truck. Then there was the other soldier that stowed away on a ship. Just a ship going anywhere.

One fellow hit an officer. Six others ran the still under the cliffs and were sent for terms at Mare Island. And then there was Louie, who sneaked into the nurse’s room that night the transport crashed. But that’s another story.

Joe watched these things happen, and hundreds of others. When something rough took place, there would be a court-martial. Everybody would say, “What the hell? You ain’t gonna send the guy up, are you? He was a rock-jolly!” But they sent him up, all the same. A steady stream of guys, just as good as Joe, went back to the States, under guard.

by James A Michener

“Not for me!” Joe promised himself. “When I leave here for good old Uncle Sugar, I’m goin’ on me own two feet, and they ain’t gonna be no guard taggin’ along! It ain’t gonna get me!”

But it got some of the officers. Just like enlisted men.

They weren’t exempt. Not by a long shot. There was the fine lieutenant who was always smiling. He stood the rock for about thirteen months. Day after day, doing nothing. Then one day he hitch-hiked a plane ride to New Zealand. He was so rockjolly he went on to Australia and they finally picked him up in Karachi, India.

It seemed as if old men didn’t stand the rock as well as young men did. There was that chief petty officer who started screaming one night. At first nobody knew what had hit him.

Anyway, he yelled his head off, and they had to put him in a straight jacket. It took them two days to quiet him down.

Found out he’d been drinking torpedo juice. They sent him home, too.

Now nobody on the rock liked a good drink of liquor better than Joe. Not a drunkard, mind you. But a damned good judge of liquor. Before he joined the Navy he had a little shoemaker shop in Columbus, Ohio. He worked pretty hard, saved his money, and drank with the boys every Saturday night. He liked beer, gin, and whisky. Wine and sweet drinks were for women. Rum tasted funny. Once or twice Joe had just about as much as he could handle. Went home singing till you thought his heart would break. Lullaby’s, mostly. Songs his mother sang to him a long time ago. She was dead, and he lived with a bricklayer north of the University. When he came home singing the bricklayer’s wife would tease him next morning.

Joe would blush, feel rough in the head, and swear he’d never get drunk again.

Joe wasn’t able to keep that promise to himself, but that was different from getting rock-happy. He could do something about not drinking. That was up to him. But there was nothing he could do about the rock.

He and eight hundred other guys were put on the rock. Somebody had to be there. If it wasn’t Joe, it would be somebody else. There he stayed! He was on the rock when the Marines went into Guadalcanal. He was there when a new general named Eisenhower landed in Africa.

Half the men on the rock thought he was a Nazi big shot.

But later on they learned. He was on the rock when Mussolini hauled tail, and on the rock Joe heard the news about Normandy. Some Marines flown out of Tarawa landed there, and then flew on. Eddie Rickenbacker was there for a few days. And so was Mrs. Roosevelt. They went on, but he stayed. For Joe the war was the rock.

It was a coral atoll west of the date line. From it you could see absolutely nothing but the Pacific Ocean. Only the flaming sun, almost directly overhead, told you where east and west were.

At night half the stars were upside down and the other half you had never seen before.

The island within the atoll was a mile and a quarter long and a quarter of a mile wide. The airstrip for landing planes used up practically the entire island. The seaplane base used up the rest. It was, everybody on the rock stoutly believed, the finest seaplane base in the South Pacific. No one told them that there were at least a dozen better.

Trees had once covered the rock, but now only a fringe remained, like hair on the head of a bald man. Living quarters clung to the sides or clustered at the Southwest end.

The rock had one great blessing and one great curse.

There was inadequate drinking water, and each night about seven a breeze blew off the ocean. Joe, in particular, used to say, “The only thing keeps me goin’ is that breeze. No matter how tough the day is, you can always look forward to the breeze.”

In a way, the water problem was not an unmixed curse. It gave the men something to think about and something to work on. What they said about the water could not be repeated, but what they did about it was amazing. Every spare piece of tin on the island, every chunk of canvas, every oil drum was put to use. First of all, men built a watershed. For this they used a large, flat, sloping surface. Most were of tin, some of wood, and a few of canvas. Then they built gutters around the sides, and sloped the principal gutter into a spout, which ran into a barrel. Ingenious men, like Joe, somehow procured lengths of rubber hose, which they fitted over the spouts. In this way they could fill three or four drums without shifting them. All they did was shift the hose. Joe was unusual, too, in that he invented the ready-made shower. He built his watershed out from a tree and placed his four drums on stilts. For a bath, he stood under one of the drums and let her go! The water was always warm.

He never had a cold shower, but at least he got clean. That was more than he had been able to do for the first five months he was on the rock!

But no matter how much Joe washed, he still got skin diseases. Everybody in the South Pacific got the same disease, but it was somehow worse when you got them over and over again, always on the same rock. Joe first noticed that something was wrong when he began to feel dizzy at two o’clock in the afternoon. He found out later he was short of salt. Sweating, sweating all day long for thirty days a month and thirty–one some months seeps the salt right out. Before Joe got wise, he had a case of prickly heat. One morning he woke up just as usual, but soon after he put on his shirt he felt somebody stick a handful of pins in his back. Right between his shoulder blades.

He jumped and looked around.

“Whassa matter, Joe?” one of his friends asked.

“Somethin’ hit me!” he claimed.

“Where?” they asked.

“Right here!” He pointed to his shoulder blade when he was hit again, in the back of his left knee. He started to scratch.

“Uh-uh!” the men shouted. “He’s got the itch!”

Boy, he had it! And he kept it! For three months. Every morning and afternoon he would be attacked by spells in which he could have sworn people sank darts into his body.

The War in the South Pacific By the middle of 1942 the Japanese advance across the Pacific seemed unstoppable. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese navy launched its infamous attack on Pearl Harbour, which destroyed the pride of the American fleet, including the battleships Arizona, Oklahoma, California and West Virginia, and brought the United States into the Second World War. Within a few months Japanese forces had taken Indonesia, Indo-China, Malaya, and the Philippines. British strongholds, including Singapore and Hong Kong, had fallen and the Japanese were pressing through Burma towards the Indian border. In May 1942, as a prelude to invading Australia, the Japanese sent an invasion force to take Port Moresby in New Guinea, but in what became known as the Battle of the Coral Sea the American fleet under Admiral Nimitz turned them back. Then a month later came one of the pivotal battles of the war, Midway Island, where Admiral Spruance’s forces sank three of the four Japanese carriers and damaged a fourth.

Japanese losses in carriers and aircrews were such that they never regained the strategic initiative. The myth of Japanese invincibility had been broken and the American counter-attack began to unroll.

After Midway, American carriers afloat numbered just three. A year later there were 50 and by the end of the war over 100. In a series of island hops starting with the bloody invasion of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and ending with Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Allies had crept up to within easy range of mainland Japan. They had also fought the biggest battles in naval history. In October 1944, at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, Admiral Halsey commanded the most powerful fleet ever assembled: five battleships, 13 fleet carriers, 14 cruisers and 58 destroyers, while General MacArthur’s invasion forces were also covered by the Seventh Fleet which was almost as large. A total of 282 ships and hundreds of aircraft were involved in a battle which destroyed Japan’s South Pacific Fleet.

On August 15, 1945, the Japanese formally surrendered.

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It was no good scratching. That only made it worse. After a while large areas of Joe’s body were covered with a red rash.

Acid perspiration had eaten away small flakes of skin. When new perspiration hit these spots, Joe would close his eyes and swear. He reported to sickbay finally, and there he joined a long line of other sufferers. A big pharmacist’s mate, who felt sorry for each of his patients, would appear with a bucket of white stuff and a paper-hanger’s brush. He would spend about twenty seconds on each man. Give him a real paint job. There was menthol in the white stuff, otherwise Joe could not have stood the furious itching that came back day after day.

As with all other men, the itch finally worked down between his legs. Then his misery started. At night the man who slept above him would shake the bed and yell, “Joe! Stop scratching yourself!” Joe would grunt and roll over. But in the morning, skin would be missing from his crotch.

It was then that his legs and armpits became infected.

In the morning line-ups Joe had noticed half a dozen men who stayed to one side until the big corpsman was through his paint jobs. He used to wonder what happened to them.

Now he found out. When the simpler cases were dismissed, the corpsman scraped away accumulations from each blister.

Then, upon the open wound, he placed a salve. The healing process was terribly slow. Sometimes a month. And all that time you had to work, just the same. Twenty minutes after you left sickbay, sweat was running over the salve. In twenty more minutes the sore was bare.

Then Joe noticed a funny thing. Everybody he met on the rock had some special medicine that was a sure cure for the itch. But everybody had the itch! The only thing Joe found that cured him was a preparation somebody sent from the States. The man who owned it tried it out, and it worked.

A solution of salicylic acid in Merthiolate. Four other men used it between their legs, and in half an hour it had eaten away their skin. They went to sickbay. But even after that some fellows went right on using the dynamite. On some it worked.

Joe was one of them. He would lie down, paint himself liberally, and then bite his knuckles. It hurt like the devil. “I’m lucky” he would say. “It works on me.” He continued to have heat itch, every month for twenty-seven months, but he had no more infections. He felt most sorry for those who did. He knew they had a tough time of it.

It was the atabrine that gave Joe his worst trouble. He hated the little yellow pills and wasn’t sure they did any good.

The American Medical Association said they were a waste of time, and Joe was pretty sure the doctors back home knew more than the sawbones on the rock. Hell, these guys couldn’t even cure the itch! All the same everyone had to take his atabrine tablets. That was not so bad until you began to turn yellow. Then you got worried.

Joe started to wonder if maybe those stories weren’t true after all.

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“As I got it straight from a doctor,” one of the men confided to him one night, “all this atabrine does is keep malaria down. It don’t show on you, see? You’re yellow, and it don’t show. But all the time malaria is runnin’ wild! Down here!” He slapped the fly of his pants. “And when they got all the work they can out of you, they send you on home. A livin’ wreck! They stop the atabrine and the disease pops out all over you.” Then he lowered his voice mysteriously and slapped his fly again. “But mostly here” he said in doleful tones. “You’re nothin’ but a burned-out wreck.”

The men in Joe’s hut wondered if there was any truth in what the man said. What if taking atabrine for three months, say, made you lose your power? Did it mean you couldn’t ever have any babies? Or did it mean something worse? With wonderful funds of ignorance and superstition Joe and his friends considered the question from all angles. They found no answer to their informer’s devastating insinuation: “All right!

All right! How do you know you ain’t losin’ your power?”

Joe had no way of knowing. In fact, like hundreds of men on the rock, he had no reason to believe that he had any power.

He had been in love once or twice, but he had never married.

Nor had he slept with a girl. He had wanted to, once or twice, but morals, lost opportunity and all those strange things that kept men from doing what they otherwise want to, had intervened. He had to guess about his power, but he sure didn’t want to lose it.

Fortunately, a smart young doctor got wind of what was troubling the men. He wrote to Washington for an official statement that atabrine did not affect virility. It was signed by a Jew, an Irishman, a Protestant, and a doctor from a little town in Missouri. Eight hundred copies were made, and each man on the rock got one. But the young doctor’s second idea was even better. He got a clever photographer who could copy pictures from magazines. Then he found two photographs of prominent movie stars who were attracting great publicity as bedroom athletes. He had the photographer make a poster seven feet by ten feet. The two movie stars were leering at one another. Below in big letters was their confession: WE JUST LOVE ATABRINE! Men came from all over the island to see the sign. It did a lot of good.

Joe had fought it out on the rock for sixteen months when two important events occurred in his life. He got a new skipper, and a liberty ship carrying some SeaBees stopped at the island for engine repairs. Joe’s old skipper was sent home under some kind of cloud. Either he went to pieces mentally or he got into trouble over the accounts of the officer’s club. Joe never got the right of it.

The new skipper was a Navy type. He was a commander, fifty-two years old. He would never go higher. He was a harddrinking man who could not be relied upon. Yet he was an excellent fellow, and no one would prefer charges against him.

So he dragged on and on, from one unimportant job to another.

Many loved him but few respected him. Ambitious young men sought to leave his command at any opportunity, but they buttered him up while he was their superior. Some of them even bit their lips in silence when he made passes at their lovely wives. Before he was on the rock a week even Joe knew that he had been sent there as some kind of punishment. Something he had done in the States. Joe never got the right of it.

The Skipper, as he was known, started innovations at once. By God, he was the boss and things were going to be different. If he had to come to this god-forsaken island, he’d show them a thing or two. His first order was that each man must sleep under mosquito nets at all times. He almost had a mutiny on his hands, and the ringleader was Joe. The huts in which enlisted men slept were foul things.

Quonsets for eight men housed twenty-four. Men slept in double deckers, and even though there was a breeze at night, it could not penetrate the crowded Quonsets. On some nights Joe lay in bed and sweated all night long. When the order came for mosquito netting, therefore, he rebelled. He tried it for two nights and found that he had what a doctor would have termed claustrophobia. He struggled with the net and almost strangled. In the hot, sweaty night he swore he’d not use a net again. He tore it off.

Next day he was before the new skipper. “I’m going to make an example of you” that red-faced man said.

When the words were spoken, Joe visibly trembled. For sixteen months he had kept out of trouble, and now he was in, up to his ears. “Get me out of this! Get me out of this!” he prayed. “I don’t want no trouble!”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the Skipper shouted. “You think you can get away with murder around here?” He looked up at the frightened seaman. Joe licked his lips. The Skipper was about to throw the book at Joe when he remembered why it was he had been sent to the rock. “Got to start over!” he muttered to himself. “This time I’m starting over!” he promised under his breath.

“Young man,” he said aloud, “don’t you like the Navy?”

“Oh Sir!” Joe replied in the seaman’s stock reply to the Skipper’s stock question, “I love the Navy!”

“You’d better show it!” the Skipper said gruffly. “If I catch you in trouble again, I’ll bounce you right out of the Navy.” Then he added the crusher: “And you’ll find yourself in the Army!”

Joe came to attention and left. After that he slept under mosquito netting. It was strange, but out there in the middle of the Pacific, with an island almost to himself, Joe was cramped and stifled. He would wake up at night gasping for breath.

He finally solved the problem by compounding

his earlier felony. He stole a dynamotor and rigged up an electric fan. “If they ask me about it,” he muttered to himself, “I’ll say I got it from one of them wrecked planes.” He scuffed the dynamotor up a bit to look like salvage. The fan was a wonder and helped him to breathe.

Once he stuck his hand in it, and several times mosquito netting got caught in the blades. But it was worth it!

The SeaBees landed late one evening. Joe was on the rude dock when they came ashore. He was surprised to see how happy they were to be on land again, even a place like the rock.

He guessed that everybody in the Navy wanted to be where he wasn’t. He often thought of that night in later years. It was the time he met Luther Billis!

Joe had never seen anybody quite like Luther Billis. The SeaBee was big, fat, and brown. He wore a gold ring in his left ear and several bracelets. He was beautifully tattooed.

Billis was accompanied by a young Jewish boy who trailed along behind him. He accosted Joe in a bright, breezy manner.

“Hiya, Joe! Whaddaya know?”

“Hello!” Joe replied.

“Got a ship’s store here?” Billis asked.

“Over there!” Joe pointed.

“Well come along, Joe, and I’ll set you up! Won a lot of money on this trip. Teaching the boys a few facts of life!” He whisked out a bundle of banknotes. “Come along, Hyman!” he shouted peremptorily at the Jewish boy.

The next three hours were the most wonderful Joe had spent on the rock. He didn’t know that sailors could be such fine people. Billis wasn’t afraid of anything, had been everywhere.

And Hyman could speak five languages. They talked about everything. Billis thought there was a God and that after the war there would be a big boom in aviation. Hyman thought France would be a great country again. “What do you think, Joe?” Billis inquired. Joe was flabbergasted that a stranger would want to know what he thought. But, encouraged by their inquiry, he blurted out his philosophy.

“I think it’s dumb to be on this rock when you guys are going out to do some fightin’. All I do is sit here day after day.

Three times a week planes come in, and I gas them up. The rest of the time I try to keep out of trouble. It’s a hell of a way to spend the war. I feel ashamed of myself!”

Billis was appalled at Joe’s statement. “Whatsa matter?” he demanded. “You ain’t thinkin’ right at all, Joe! You make me very surprised! I thought you was a much sounder man than that!”

“What did I say wrong?” Joe inquired.

“About you not bein’ of any use? If you wasn’t here, who would be?” Billis asked contentiously. “You know damn well who would be here. The Japs! And supposin’ the Japs was here when we broke down? Where would we go for repairs? We would be in a hell of a mess, wouldn’t we?” He appeared to be furious at Joe turning the island over to the Japs.

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“I never thought of it that way,” Joe replied.

“We can’t all fight the Japs,” Billis added sagely.

“That’s right, Luther,” Joe agreed. “Are you and Hyman goin’ up to the front?”

They didn’t know where they were going, but they had a lot of heavy machinery. Probably going to some island. Going to invade some island.

“What you goin’ to do when peace comes?” Billis asked.

“Back to my shop in Columbus, Ohio. I’m a shoemaker.”

“What you goin’ to do if we all start wearin’ plastic shoes?” Billis demanded. “Won’t have to have them mended?”

The thought shocked Joe. He had never thought of such a thing before. He had no answer. People would always have to have their shoes fixed. But Luther Billis’ agile mind was on to new problems. “You got a girl?” he asked.

“No,” Joe replied. “I ain’t.”

“You ain’t got a girl?” Billis shouted. “What the hell kind of a sailor are you?”

“I never went with girls very much,” Joe explained.

“I tell you what I do,” Billis said with his hand about Joe’s shoulder. “I’m gonna get you a girl. I like you. You’re a real Joe, ain’t he, Hyman?” Hyman agreed.

“Look at the moon over the water!” Hyman said. Billis turned to study the rare sight of moonlight upon tropic waters with palm trees along the shore and a ship at the dock.

“God, that’s beautiful!” he said. “You ought to come down here lots, Joe. You ought to look at that. Like Hyman just done.”

The three men sat there in silence and watched the moonlight wax and wane along the waves. Never before in sixteen months had Joe seen that strange and lovely thing. He suddenly wanted to go with Billis and Hyman. He wanted to be with men that talked happily and saw new things. He wanted . . .

But at midnight the boat pulled out. The SeaBees were gone. Joe followed the ship as long as it rode in the moonlight.

He had never before felt so strange. The world was beautiful that night. It was beautiful as only a tropic night on some distant island can be beautiful. A million men in the South Seas would deny it to one another, would ridicule it in their letters home. But it was beautiful. Perhaps some of the million would deny the beauty because, like Joe, they had never seen it.

It would not be fair to say that Joe had altogether forgotten Billis. But he had ceased thinking constantly about the strange fellow when a letter came to the rock. It was for Joe and came from Miss Essie Schultz, Perkasie, Pennsylvania.

Joe read the letter avidly: Dear Joe, Please excuse me for writing when we haven’t been introduced, but my good friend Mr. Luther Billis told me that you didn’t have any girl to write to. I write letters to seventeen sailors and one soldier. I think you boys are the bravest men in America. I would never be brave enough to fight for us. I wish I had a good looking photograph to send you, but you know how it is these days. One or two prints is all you can get. So I am sending you this one. The one in the middle is me. Skinny, eh? I work in a pants factory. At present we are making sailors pants, so if yours don’t fit, blame me. (Ha!) I like to dance and like Benny Goodman and Louie Prima the best. I listen to the radio a good deal and read some books every year. Mr. Billis said you were a very swell guy and that I would like you. I believe I would. Won’t you please write and tell me all about yourself? I promise to answer right away.

Yours (?) Essie Schultz P.S. Send me a picture The letter simply bowled Joe over! It passed his comprehension that Luther Billis would have taken the trouble to do such a thing. But that Essie should have written to him . . . That was a true miracle! He read the letter eight or ten times. It was so nicely written, in straight lines. And it smelled good. And there was Essie in front of a building. And there was snow on the ground! He looked and looked. Essie wasn’t the worst looking, either. Not by a long shot!

He got seven more letters from Essie, sweet, cheerful letters. He showed her picture to several of his friends. You couldn’t see much of her face, but what there was looked mighty neat and clean. Joe felt fine. Then one day he got a brief letter. “I am going to marry the soldier” Essie said. “He thinks

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The The The The The The The The The The The

fight between the KORMORAN and the SYDNEY attack on Pearl Harbour sinking of the REPULSE and the PRINCE OF WALES Battle of the Java Sea Battle of the Coral Sea Battle of Midway Battle of the Eastern Solomon Islands Battle of Guadalcanal Battle of the Philippine Sea Battle of Leyte sinking of the YAMATO (pictured page 98)

2 6 9 10 3

4

7

8

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I ought to stop writing to the rest of you boys. I tell him he’s jealous of the Navy. (Ha!)” Joe was glum for several days. He tore up Essie’s picture.

“Don’t want no picture of no married woman,” he said to himself. “I wanta stay out of trouble.”

But he was miserable. Essie’s letters had been . . . well, he couldn’t say it in words. All he knew was that weeks were a lot longer now. What if she had been writing to seventeen other fellows? She had also written to him, and that was what mattered. Joe tried four times to send her congratulations, but couldn’t find the words. Then one day he was at the airstrip when some enlisted men flew in from Noumea. One of them had a grass skirt, a lovely thing of yellow and red.

“How much you want for that, buddy?” Joe asked.

“Fifteen dollars,” the seaman replied.

“That’s a lot of money,” Joe answered.

“That’s right,” the seaman replied. “You can get ‘em cheaper in Noumea, but you ain’t in Noumea.”

Still, the skirt seemed such a wonderful present for a girl that Joe bought it. He wrapped it carefully, addressed the package to Essie Schultz, Perkasie, Pennsylvania, and had it censored. After the officer had finished looking at the skirt, Joe slipped in the little piece of paper: “All happiness, Joe.” It wasn’t that he didn’t see girls on the rock. Every three or four months some plane would come in with a vaudeville troupe. If they had time, the girls always danced or sang in the Red Cross hut. But that wasn’t like having a girl. . . Well, a special girl.

Some time later Joe received a letter direct from Billis. It was brief. “A girl named Alice Baker from Corvallis is going to write to you pretty soon. I know her big sister and her

brother. He is a dogface. (Ha!) She is a fine girl.

Her sister thinks I am an officer. Don’t tell her different. Your best buddy, L. Billis.”

Joe was delighted with news from Luther.

He wondered if Luther had worn an officer’s uniform when he was in Corvallis. That was dangerous stuff. They really threw the book at you if they caught you.

While Joe waited for news from Alice Baker, a strange thing happened. One night at 1 eleven-thirty he was routed out of bed by the guard. “You’re wanted at the Skipper’s shack!” he was told. In the darkness he went along coral paths to where the Skipper had had a mansion built for himself. It cost, men figured, about $9,000. The Skipper said that by God, if he was going to live on this rock, he’d live like a gentleman. He had quarters that many an admiral would envy.

“Joe!” he said, “when I was walking across the floor tonight, I felt a splinter over there.

There’s a sander in the closet. Rub the thing down, will you?”

Joe broke out the sander and went to work.

As he did so, the Skipper slid his bare feet from one board to another. “Give this a touch, will you?” “Sand that joint a little.” Joe worked till one-thirty.

“Better take the day off tomorrow,” the Skipper said.

Joe told nobody of what had happened. A few nights later he was called out again. This time the linoleum in the bathroom was loose. Joe fixed it. In the middle of his work the Skipper interrupted. “Joe,” he said, “in that cabinet there’s a bottle of very fine whisky. I’m going to walk along the beach for twenty minutes. If I catch you drinking it when I get back, I’ll raise hell with you. What time have you?” The two men synchronised their watches at exactly 0119. “Mind you,” the Skipper said, “I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

Joe worked on, keeping his mind off the cabinet. He liked whisky, but he didn’t want no trouble with nobody. At 0139 the Skipper returned singing gently. He went archly to the cabinet and peeked in. Then he snorted and pulled out the whisky bottle.

“I didn’t touch it, sir!” Joe protested.

“Goddamned squarehead!” the Skipper shouted, “I told you I was going to be gone twenty minutes.”

“I didn’t touch it!” Joe insisted.

“I know you didn’t, Joe,” the Skipper said in a tired voice.

“But I meant you to. You’re a good boy. You work hard. I’ll go out again. If you want a nip, help yourself. But if I ever see you doing it, I’ll throw you in the clink!” He went out again, singing. After that Joe spent a good deal of his time fixing up the Skipper’s shack. But he never told a soul.

At mail call one day Joe got a letter from Corvallis. It was from Alice Baker. She was eighteen and a senior in Corvallis High School. She had no boy friend, and her brother was a soldier in England. Ensign Billis had told her sister about Joe and her sister had asked her to write. She felt silly, but she

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of me took a long time ago. I will ask him to send it to you.

I am fatter now. Please answer this letter, Alice, as I think you are one fine girl.

Yours truly, Joe

A decade before the troubles in the South Pacific, Matisse leaves his home in the South of France for Tahiti. At 60 he plans to explore the Marquesas Islands in Gaugin’s footsteps and the coral atolls that enchanted Robert Louis Stevenson. The exhilirating otherness of the South Pacific explodes into life in the paper cut-outs of his last period which revolutionized modern art.

guessed it was all right. She concluded, “Ensign Billis said you were slow, but I like slow boys. Some of the boys in Corvallis are so fast they think if they look at a girl, why she falls in love with them. This picture of me is pretty much the way I look.

Sincerely, Alice Baker.”

Joe could not believe that any girl as lovely as Alice Baker’s picture would write to him. He looked at the picture eight or ten times a day, but would show it to no one. He was afraid they wouldn’t believe him. After two days he decided that he must reply to her sweet letter. He laboured over his answer a long time. It came out like this: Dear Alice, I nearly fell out of my chair when they gave me that letter from you. It was the nicest letter I have ever got from anyone.

I have read it twenty–four times so far and I will keep right on reading till another comes. I don’t believe you when you say you have no boy friends. A girl as pretty as you could have a hundred. I am afraid to show your picture to the men in my hut. They would all want to write to you. It is your picture, isn’t it, Alice? I suppose Ensign Billis told you all about me. I am a shoemaker in Columbus Ohio and right now I am riding nineteen months on this rock. I am not good looking and I like whisky but I never get drunk. I hope you will write to me. I would like to send you a picture, Alice, but we can’t get none made on this rock. It is no good trying. My uncle has a picture

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The correspondence went on from there. Finally Alice was writing to Joe three times a week. And finally Joe got up nerve enough to show her picture. In Navy fashion they went mad about her. Half of them called her “that bag” and the other half wanted to know who the movie star was. Joe stood in rapt pleasure. They kidded him a lot, and that evening an older man who knew a thing or two about sailors came by and asked if he could see the picture again. Joe practically fell over himself to think that anyone had remembered her.

They sat on the Quonset steps and studied Alice Baker’s picture. “A fine girl,” the older man said.

One day a letter from Alice arrived soaked with salt water. Joe could barely read the writing. He took it down to the post office to find what had happened. “A plane went into the drink somewhere up the line.”

“Anybody hurt?” Joe inquired.

“Ten dead. They got the mail bags, though. A diver went down for them.”

Joe handled the letter gingerly. It was a terrible thing. A letter from the girl you loved, passed on by the hands of dead men. Joe had seen little of death, but it frightened him vastly.

It was like getting into trouble. It ruined everything. One of the officers had said, when the lieutenant’s court martial was read for selling government property to the bootleggers, “I’d commit suicide!” But the lieutenant, who was sentenced to jail for three years, didn’t commit suicide. He lived on, and so did the bootleggers. They went to jail and lived. Joe was also one of the men who live on, no matter what happens.

He assured himself of that the night they found the yeoman hanging in the palm grove. Nobody ever understood exactly why he did it just then. His wife had a baby after he was overseas sixteen months, but he agreed to the divorce and she married the other man. The yeoman took it OK. Joe knew him well, and then seven months after it was all over he strung himself up.

A letter from Luther Billis reminded Joe of death on his hot, lonely, barren, sticky rock. It made Joe shudder with apprehension for his buddy. “The Navy took this pitcher of me,” he wrote, “You’d a thought it would of busted the camera.

You see I ain’t got the ring in my ear. They made me take it out but now it got back in. The pitcher is for the Navy when they give me my medal. What I did they should have had a hero do.

Anyway I got two Jap swords out of it and they are beauties. I am sending one to my mom and the other I give to my skipper, Commander Hoag, who was the best guy that ever lived, even if he was an officer. I hope you have heard from Alice Baker.

She is a fine girl I tried to kiss her once and she slapped my face. Your best buddy, L. Billis.”

These events deepened Joe’s perceptions. If a fine man like Luther Billis could risk his life why was he, Joe, sitting the war out on this rock? If Alice Baker’s brother could land in France what was Joe doing on a coral reef? Up to this time Joe had never thought about the men back home. But on the

evening of June 7, 1944, he thought about them a great deal.

Some men died in France. Some men like Luther Billis fought against the Japs. Some men like the yeoman lost everything they had and committed suicide. Some men like the bootleggers got heebie-jeebies on the rock. Some men worked in airplane factories or helped keep the country running. And some men did nothing.

But before his thoughts ran away with him, Joe stopped.

“It’s the same on this rock.” He mused, “Look how little some guys have! And look what I’ve got! Alice Baker, an electric fan, a shot of the Skipper’s whisky now and then, and a best buddy who is already a hero!”

Thoughts of death, however, persisted. One night he sat bolt upright in bed. He was sweating all over. Phantasms of horror assailed him! Luther Billis was dead! On an island teeming with Japs, Luther lay beside a coconut log. Joe wiped the sweat from his face and tried to go back to sleep. But all night in the hot Quonset, he could see Luther Billis and the coconut log. It was not until he received a short letter from Billis that his mind gained rest.

His worry about Luther decided him upon one thing, however. He wanted Alice and Luther to have pictures of him, just in case. He would have his picture taken after all! That was a solemn decision on the rock. First of all you had to find somebody who had stolen film and photographic paper. Then you had to arrange the sitting surreptitiously. And finally you had to get the photograph through the mail. So Joe, who

Breadfruit handcoloured c1825 Private Collection www.bridgeman.co.uk In 1791 the Navy exonerated Captain Bligh over his loss of The Bounty and he made a second voyage to the South Seas. This time he succeeded in collecting several breadfruit species for the botanical gardens at Kew. It was the breadfruit which also inspired Matisse’s cut-outs.

never wanted any trouble with anybody, set out in search of a bootlegging photographer. He found one on the other end of the island. He was a thin, round-shouldered man. Where he got his equipment no one knew. He had a big deal of some kind on the fire. They all knew that.

“It’ll be ten dollars,” the photographer growled. “You get two prints and the negative.”

Joe whistled. The photographer snapped at him. “You ain’t bein forced into this, buddy. I’m the guy that’s takin’ the chances.

You saw what them bootleggers got. The price is ten bucks.”

Joe took out his wallet and gave the man two fives. It was a lot to pay, but if your girl was in Corvallis, had never seen you, had no picture of you but that skinny one your uncle sent, well. . . what better you got to spend ten bucks on?

The photographer made ready with a cheap box camera.

“Don’t look so stiff!” he told Joe, but Joe was no dummy. If he was paying ten bucks for one photograph, it would be the best. So, like a ramrod, his hair smoothed back, he glanced stonily at the expensive birdie. The photographer shrugged his pale shoulders and went ahead. “Come back in three days.

Remember, you get two prints and the negative. I don’t want no beefing. I’m the guy that takes the risks.”

Three days later Joe got his two pictures. They were pretty good. Mostly you saw his uniform and pronounced jaw. But he looked like a clean, quiet sailor. Just like eight hundred other guys on the rock. Only the others didn’t look quite so sure of themselves when they’d been on the rock as long as Joe. He grinned at the pictures and all the way back to camp kept stealing furtive glances at himself.

When he arrived at the camp the chaplain was waiting for him. The padre was a Catholic and Joe was a Methodist, but they were friends. The chaplain’s business was brief.

Alice Baker had been killed. An auto accident. Her sister sent the news.

The padre had never heard of Alice Baker. All he knew was that a human being of greater or less importance to some other human being was dead. No message could transcend that. He cast about for words, which never seemed to be available for such emergencies. The day was hot. Sweat ran down Joe’s face until it looked like tears. “Brave people are dying throughout the world,” the chaplain said, “And brave people live after them.” There was nothing more to say. Joe sat looking at the priest for a few minutes and then left.

He went into the brilliant sunlight. Glare from the airstrip was intense. Even the ocean was hot. Joe looked at the waves whose beauty Luther Billis had discovered. They came rippling toward the rock in overwhelming monotony.

Joe counted them. One, two, three! They were the months he had been on the rock. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. That was when he met Luther Billis. Seventeen, eighteen. The yeoman had committed suicide. Nineteen, twenty, twenty-one. Alice Baker had become his girl. Twenty-five, twenty-six, twentyseven. They were all the same, one after the other, like the dreary months.

Joe dropped his head in his hands. A girl he had never seen. A funny town he had never visited.

“I want to get out of here,” he muttered to himself.

“I got to get out of here !”

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“I never thought of it that way,” Joe replied.

“We can’t all fight the Japs,” Billis added sagely.

“That’s right, Luther,” Joe agreed. “Are you and Hyman goin’ up to the front?”

They didn’t know where they were going, but they had a lot of heavy machinery. Probably going to some island. Going to invade some island.

“What you goin’ to do when peace comes?” Billis asked.

“Back to my shop in Columbus, Ohio. I’m a shoemaker.”

“What you goin’ to do if we all start wearin’ plastic shoes?” Billis demanded. “Won’t have to have them mended?”

The thought shocked Joe. He had never thought of such a thing before. He had no answer. People would always have to have their shoes fixed. But Luther Billis’ agile mind was on to new problems. “You got a girl?” he asked.

“No,” Joe replied. “I ain’t.”

“You ain’t got a girl?” Billis shouted. “What the hell kind of a sailor are you?”

“I never went with girls very much,” Joe explained.

“I tell you what I do,” Billis said with his hand about Joe’s shoulder. “I’m gonna get you a girl. I like you. You’re a real Joe, ain’t he, Hyman?” Hyman agreed.

“Look at the moon over the water!” Hyman said. Billis turned to study the rare sight of moonlight upon tropic waters with palm trees along the shore and a ship at the dock.

“God, that’s beautiful!” he said. “You ought to come down here lots, Joe. You ought to look at that. Like Hyman just done.”

The three men sat there in silence and watched the moonlight wax and wane along the waves. Never before in sixteen months had Joe seen that strange and lovely thing. He suddenly wanted to go with Billis and Hyman. He wanted to be with men that talked happily and saw new things. He wanted . . .

But at midnight the boat pulled out. The SeaBees were gone. Joe followed the ship as long as it rode in the moonlight.

He had never before felt so strange. The world was beautiful that night. It was beautiful as only a tropic night on some distant island can be beautiful. A million men in the South Seas would deny it to one another, would ridicule it in their letters home. But it was beautiful. Perhaps some of the million would deny the beauty because, like Joe, they had never seen it.

It would not be fair to say that Joe had altogether forgotten Billis. But he had ceased thinking constantly about the strange fellow when a letter came to the rock. It was for Joe and came from Miss Essie Schultz, Perkasie, Pennsylvania.

Joe read the letter avidly: Dear Joe, Please excuse me for writing when we haven’t been introduced, but my good friend Mr. Luther Billis told me that you didn’t have any girl to write to. I write letters to seventeen sailors and one soldier. I think you boys are the bravest men in America. I would never be brave enough to fight for us. I wish I had a good looking photograph to send you, but you know how it is these days. One or two prints is all you can get. So I am sending you this one. The one in the middle is me. Skinny, eh? I work in a pants factory. At present we are making sailors pants, so if yours don’t fit, blame me. (Ha!) I like to dance and like Benny Goodman and Louie Prima the best. I listen to the radio a good deal and read some books every year. Mr. Billis said you were a very swell guy and that I would like you. I believe I would. Won’t you please write and tell me all about yourself? I promise to answer right away.

Yours (?) Essie Schultz P.S. Send me a picture The letter simply bowled Joe over! It passed his comprehension that Luther Billis would have taken the trouble to do such a thing. But that Essie should have written to him . . . That was a true miracle! He read the letter eight or ten times. It was so nicely written, in straight lines. And it smelled good. And there was Essie in front of a building. And there was snow on the ground! He looked and looked. Essie wasn’t the worst looking, either. Not by a long shot!

He got seven more letters from Essie, sweet, cheerful letters. He showed her picture to several of his friends. You couldn’t see much of her face, but what there was looked mighty neat and clean. Joe felt fine. Then one day he got a brief letter. “I am going to marry the soldier” Essie said. “He thinks

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Henry Kerswell (Alfonso), Karina Lucas (Dorabella), Lee Bisset (Fiordiligi) Così fan tutte from Nevill Holt Young Artists 2004 Director Ptolemy Christie Designer Adrian Linford

The Orchestras VIOLIN

VIOLA

Andrew Court (leader)

Martin Humbey (principal) Zoe Davies (principal 2nd) Martin Fenn Alain Petitclerc John Murphy (co-principal 2nd) Justin Warde Nicolette Brown Fiona Chesterman Vernon Dean Matthew Fairman Ruth Funnell Jenny Gibbs Carole Howat Chris Koh Helen Pitstow Megan Pound

CELLO

Lionel Handy (principal) Jo Easthope Brian Mullan Paul Brunner Matthew Forbes DOUBLE BASS

Frances Richards

Caroline Harding (principal)

Catherine Smart

Paul Sherman

Jayne Spencer

Dawn Baker

Joanna West

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FLUTE

HORN

PERCUSSION

Alison Hayhurst

Richard Berry

Tim Palmer timpani

Janna Hüneke

Peter Merry

Mark Taylor

Richard Bayliss

Donna Maria Landowski

OBOE

Miles Hewitt

Andrew Knights Judith Allen

HARP TRUMPET

Louisa Duggan

Anthony Cross CLARINET

Miles McGuire

Mark Simmons

Clare Duncan

Mark Lacey Helen Bishop

TROMBONE

Karen Fotherby

Rob Workman

ORCHESTRA MANAGER

Emily White

Mark Lacey

BASSOON

Robb Tooley

ORCHESTRA MATRON

Julia Staniforth

Paul Lambert

Janna Hüneke

Constance Tanner

Biographies SUSANNA ANDERSSON Zerlina Don Giovanni Swedish–born Susanna studied at the Guildhall School of Music where she won the Gold Medal. In 2004 she won the Song Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. Roles include Susanna Nozze di Figaro, Atalanta Xerxes, Philine Mignon, Thérèse Les Mamelles de Tirésias and Queen of the Night Zauberflöte. On the concert platform, she has performed Messiah, Bach Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, Berlioz Messe solennelle, Fauré Requiem, Mozart Exultate Jubilate and Pergolesi Stabat Mater. Susanna appeared on worldwide TV as soloist at the annual Nobel Prize Ceremony.

Sophie Daneman (Eileen), arrested for causing a disturbance, joins her captors in an Irish dance.

Wonderful Town Grange Park Opera 2004 Director & Designer Antony McDonald

RICHARD BALCOMBE Conductor South Pacific Richard has conducted for Bryn Terfel, Jose Carreras and Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorgiu on BBC TV and has worked with Gothenburg Symphony, Orchestre National de Lille, Odense Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Estonian National Symphony, Stockholm Sinfoniette and Prague Chamber Orchestra. In the UK he has conducted LPO, RPO, Hallé, Ulster, BBC Concert, Northern Chamber and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Opera includes Wonderful Town (Grange Park), Barber (Castleward Opera), Rigoletto (English Touring Opera), Butterfly and Magic Flute (Central Festival Opera), Falstaff, Tosca, Così, Marriage of Figaro (London Opera Players), Fledermaus, The Mikado, HMS

Pinafore, The Gondoliers and Pirates of Penzance (Carl Rosa), La Bohème (London City Opera) and HMS Pinafore and The Mikado (D’Oyly Carte in the UK and America).

RICHARD BARROWCLOUGH (various roles) is from Mirfield, West Yorkshire and trained at the Royal College of Music under Neil Mackie and Ryland Davis. Recent appearances include Opera Project, Garsington Opera, Carl Rosa, Pavilion Opera and Pimlico Opera. He is returning to the Grange for a second season.

KATY BATHO (various roles) was born in Leicester and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2003. She since has worked for companies including: Glyndebourne Education (Tangier Tattoo), ENO Bayliss (Threepenny Opera), Garsington (Cosi fan tutte) and most recently Royal Opera (La Gioconda).

KRIS BELLIGH (various roles) was born in Belgium and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Scottish Academy. Roles include Figaro, Papageno, Dandini, Mercurio La Calisto, Aeneas, Ramiro L’heure Espagnole, Marco Gianni Schicchi and Thésée Hippolyte et Aricie for Pacific Music Festival.

CLAIRE BESSENT Giannetta The Elixir of Love Claire studied at Durham, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music where she won the Governor’s Recital Prize, and the Royal College of Music. Roles include Despina in Stradella’s Il Trespolo Tutore (New Chamber Opera), First Boy Magic Flute (British Youth Opera), Handel’s Susanna (Early Opera Company) and Giulietta The Tales of Hoffmann (Guildford Opera). Solo concert work includes Monteverdi Vespers (St. John’s, Smith Square).

JONATHAN BEST Talbot Maria Stuarda Jonathan made his debut in 1983 as Sarastro Magic Flute for WNO. He has since sung with all the major British companies. Abroad, he has performed at the Salzburg Festival, Maggio Musicale, Florence, Le Châtelet, Paris, and at the opera houses

Robert Poulton (Don Magnifico) in Cenerentola Grange Park Opera 2004 Director & Designer Nigel Lowery

of Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, Lisbon, Strasbourg and Tel Aviv. Recent opera includes Garibaldo Rodelinda (Glyndebourne on tour), Valens Theodora (Strasbourg), Zuniga Carmen (Glyndebourne Festival / BBC TV), Drunken Poet Fairy Queen (ENO), Rocco Fidelio and Doctor Wozzek (Birmingham Opera Company), Don Pedro Beatrice & Benedict (Netherlands Opera), King Ariodante (Opera Theatre Company, Dublin), Alfonso Così fan tutte (Grange Park Opera and Garsington Opera), Barbebleue Ariadne et Barbe-bleue, Sparafucile Rigoletto, Alfonso Così fan tutte, Leporello Don Giovanni, Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Villabella Thieving Magpie, Speaker Magic Flute, Bishop Caritas, Sirocco L’Etoile, King Love for Three Oranges, Radcliffe Billy Budd and Rambaldo La Rondine (Opera North).

LEZ BROTHERSTON Designer The Elixir of Love Lez won a Tony Award for Adventures in Motion Pictures Swan Lake and an Olivier Award for Cinderella. He is Associate Artist of New Adventures.

Opera includes Maria Padilla (Buxton), Sonnambula (Teatro Municipale, Rio de Janeiro), Hansel & Gretel (Opera Zuid & Opera Northern Ireland), Cunning Little Vixen, Ariadne auf Naxos, Werther (Opera Zuid), Falstaff (Sicily & Copenhagen), Dido & Aeneas / Venus & Adonis (Innsbruck & De Vlaamse Opera), Le Roi Malgré Lui, Butterfly (Opera North), Rosenkavalier (Hong Kong Festival) Cornet Rilke’s Song of Love and Death (Glyndebourne on Tour). Dance includes Soldier’s Tale (Linbury Studio), Play Without Words (RNT & New Adventures), The Car Man, Cinderella, Swan Lake, Highland Fling (AMP), Bounce (Stockholm / Roundhouse), Six Faces (K-Ballet Tokyo), Carmen, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dracula, A Christmas Carol, Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet (Northern Ballet Theatre).

Theatre includes Volpone, Design for Living, A Woman of No Importance (Royal Exchange), The Dark, Little Foxes (Donmar), The Crucible (Sheffield Crucible), Bedroom Farce, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Alarms & Excursions (West End), Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (Royal National Theatre). Musicals include Brighton Rock (Almeida Theatre & West End), Tonight’s the Night, My One and Only, Spend Spend Spend (West End).

EVE CHRISTIE (various roles) was a Churchill Fellow 1999 and Bayreuth Bursary finalist 2003. She has worked in New Zealand, Australia and the UK performing with The Mastersingers, Grange Park Opera, First Act Opera, Opera Omnibus and Wellington International Festival of the Arts.

SIMON CLARK Capt George Brackett South Pacific Simon trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Theatre includes Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano de Bergerac (RSC), Carson Night And Day

(Theatr Clwyd), Kydd High Society (Victoria Palace), Judge Turpin Sweeney Todd (Oldham), Zeller The Sound of Music (UK tour), Tony Weller The Pickwick Papers and Buffalo Bill Annie Get Your Gun (Ipswich), Archbishop of Canterbury Richard III and Olin The Music Man (Regent’s Park), Simon Veal Plunder (Savoy), Colas Bastien and Bastienne (BAC), Officer Krupke West Side Story (UK Tour), Alexander Molokov Chess (Denmark), General French Oh What a Lovely War (Derby), Aladdin (Old Vic). Among his work for television Colditz, How We Used To Live, A Dance to the Music of Time, Eastenders and Judge John Deed. Most recently Simon toured with Sam West’s production of Insignificance.

JOANNA COHN (various roles) trained as a dancer at Arts Educational School and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music and Juilliard School, New York. Recent appearances include Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Aldeburgh Festival and Titania in Sullivan’s The Foresters (Hyperion recording).

MARTIN CONSTANTINE Director The Elixir of Love Trained at University College London and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Martin’s directing credits include Si j’étais Roi (Opera Omnibus), War & Peace (semi-staged ENO / BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall), Pirandello The Man with the Flower in his Mouth, four short plays by Anton Chekhov (Chichester Festival Theatre), Reunion / Dark Pony by David Mamet (The King’s Head), Toby Farrows’ Aeroplane Bones, Gringos (Bristol Old Vic), The Woods (Theatre West), Our Country’s Good (Bloomsbury Theatre). For his own company Lifetime Theatre, The Fat Stock Show (Chichester Festival Theatre, Bristol Old Vic), Summer in the City (Bristol Old Vic, BAC), Gringos (BAC), Bath Time by Mary McNally (Bristol Old Vic, Pleasance Edinburgh, Southwark Playhouse), The Bald Prima Donna by Eugene Ionesco (Bristol Old Vic, Canal Café) and Richard II (Stratford, Buxton, Bloomsbury Theatre, Prague). He has co-written and directed a short film Lassie Don’t Come Home.

MICHAEL CORMICK Emile South Pacific Michael appeared recently as Wild Bill opposite Toyah Wilcox in Calamity Jane (Shaftesbury Theatre / tour), Alejandro Vega (workshop production) Zorro – The Musical, Mike (workshop production) EX! (Arts Theatre), and Che (staged concert) Evita (Zouk Amphitheatre in Beirut, Lebanon). Previous theatre credits include The Prince in the new musical version of Romeo & Juliet (Piccadilly Theatre), Raoul The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), Rockstar Time (Dominion Theatre), Kennedy King (Prince Edward Theatre), Edgar Wuthering Heights (Old Fire Station, Oxford), and The Arbiter Chess (Rossen & Ronnow

Productions in Denmark). Michael most recently worked in Australia playing Commissioner Grey in the new musical Eureka at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. Previous work in Australia includes Joe Gillis in a concert production of Sunset Boulevard at Luna Park, Sydney; the Beast in Beauty & the Beast, for which he received a MO Award; Munkustrap in the Australian production of Cats; Pharaoh in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat; Whizzer in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Falsettos; and Kenickie in the arena production of Grease.

MAJELLA CULLAGH Maria Maria Stuarda Irish soprano Majella Cullagh trained at the Cork School of Music, National Opera Studio London and presently with Gerald Martin Moore. Roles include Adina (Copenhagen, Dublin), Comtesse Adèle (Glyndebourne Tour), Elsie Maynard (WNO), First Lady, Micaela and Countess (Opera North), Melissa Amadigi (Covent Garden Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lisbon, Oporto with OTC), Fiordiligi (Canary Islands), Manon (Opera New Zealand), Donna Anna (Regensburg), Tatyana (Grange Park) and Gazza Ladra (Garsington). Recordings include Wallace’s Maritana, Mendelssohn’s Second Symphony (Naxos), Donizetti Zoraida di Granata and Pia de’ Tolomei, Matilda Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra, Rossini Bianca e Falliero, Mercadante Zaira (Opera Rara), Don Giovanni, Thieving Magpie and Magic Flute (Chandos).

Recent engagements include Death of Klinghoffer and Rossini Morte di Didone and Stabat Mater (Concertgebouw), Arminda Finta Giardiniera (Garsington), Musetta and Violetta Traviata (Glyndebourne on tour). Plans include projects with Opera Rara and Musetta (RAH).

CHRISTIAN CURNYN Conductor The Elixir of Love Christian was born in Glasgow, read music at York University and studied harpsichord at the Guildhall School of Music. In 1994 Christian founded The Early Opera Company whose productions have included Agrippina (New York), Ariodante (BOC Covent Garden Festival), Orlando (South Bank Early Music Festival), Partenope (Buxton / Aldeburgh Festivals), and Handel’s Susanna. Other engagements have included Dido & Aeneas, Charpentier’s Actéon (St John’s, Smith Square), Fairy Queen, Acis & Galatea, King Arthur (Wigmore Hall), Monteverdi’s Ballo delle Ingrate and Combattimento (York Early Music Festival), Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Poppea, Charpentier’s Medee and Rinaldo (GSMD). For Batignano Christian conducted Cestis Il Pomo d’Oro, Handel’s Acis, Galatea et Polifemo. Recent engagements include Rameau’s Platée (Lisbon), La malade Imaginaire (Blois and Reims), Semele (British Youth Opera). In spring 2005 Christian made his debut with Scottish Opera conducting Semele. In 2006 he conducts Figaro at Grange Park.

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DAVID CURTIZ Cmdr Harbison South Pacific David was Chick Clark in Wonderful Town (Grange Park 2004). He trained at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Grandishon College and Alexander Academy. TV credits for BBC include Bruce Eastenders, Lawrence Finkel So Haunt Me, David To Play the King, John Eastlake Grange Hill, Heyho To Serve Me All My Days. Other TV includes Tony Boyce The Bill (Thames TV), Ian Heart The Intruders, Del Powers Blue Leader Missing (EMI Tel), Jason Game On (Hat Trick). Film credits include Commander Two Men Went to War, John Hemmings Shakespeare in Love, Vic Midnight Movie (BBC Films), Tom The Unicyclist (C4 films), Gerald Fisher Secret Places (Virgin Films). Theatre credits include Tony Woman in Mind, Malcolm Macbeth (Watermill), Elmore Abundance (Riverside Studios), Antonio Twelfth Night (Nottingham Playhouse), Dauceny Les Liaisons Dangereuses (National Tour) and Jonas Jonas (Westminster Theatre).

CHRIS DAVEY Festival Lighting Designer Operas include Die Zauberflöte (WNO), Jephtha (WNO & ENO), three festivals at Grange Park Opera, The Fool (Gogmagogs), Picture of Dorian Gray (Monte Carlo), Traviata (Castleward Opera Belfast), Gli Equivoci Nel Sebiant (Batignano). Chris has designed extensively for RSC, Shared Experience, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Royal Exchange Manchester, Royal Lyceum / Traverse Edinburgh, Birmingham Rep, Royal Court and Hampstead Theatre. Other designs: The Odyssey, Beasts & Beauties (Bristol Old Vic), Blues in The Night (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Earthly Paradise (Almeida), One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest (Geilgud Theatre), A Dream Play, Iphigenia at Aulis, Baby Doll, War & Peace, The Colour of Justice (RNT), Yellowman (Everyman Liverpool/Hampstead), Rattle of a Simple Man Comedy (Rambert Dance Company), Romeo & Juliet (Chichester Festival), Guys & Dolls (Crucible Sheffield), The Vagina Monologues (Wyndhams & National Tour), My One and Only (Piccadilly and Chichester), Dangerous Corner (Garrick), Jekyll and Hyde (Northern Ballet Theatre), The Car Man (AMP).

ROBERT IAN DAVIS (various roles) Recent appearances include ENO chorus Gotterdammerung, Bercio / L’impiccato in Glanert’s Enigma (Montepulciano), First Armed Man Zauberflöte, chorus Der Freischutz and Idomeneo (Dutch Touring Opera), Don Ottavio Giovanni and Jenik Bartered Bride (Bristol University). This is Robert's second year in Grange Park ensemble.

RONNIE V DEL Henri/dancer South Pacific Ronnie V Del trained at the Actors Centre, Cultural Centre of the Philippines and the Manila Metropolis Ballet. Theatre credits

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include Rocky Horror Show (Philippines), Miss Saigon (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Hey Mr Producer (Lyceum), Royal Variety Show (Victoria Palace), and UK tour of Kokuma Dance Theatre as lead dancer. TV credits include Generation Game (BBC1), Gloria Hunniford (C5) and TNT (US TV). Ronnie is Artistic Director of the Lahing Kayumanggi Dance Co & the Cultural Dance Consultant of the Philippine Folk Dance Society. He is currently choreographing the dance scenes of a feature film Roguestars.

ADRIAN DWYER Leicester Maria Stuarda Born in Melbourne, Australia, Adrian graduated from the Australian National Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music, and the National Opera Studio.

He made his US debut as Rodolfo in Baz Luhrmann’s award-winning La Bohème in Los Angeles and his European debut as Benedict Béatrice et Benedict (Opera Comique, Paris), Other opera roles include Francesco Benvenuto Cellini (Orchestre de Paris’ Berlioz Centenary), Lenksy Eugene Onegin (Britten Pears School, Aldeburgh) and Vakula in Tchaikovsky’s Cherevichiki (Garsington Opera).

ALEXANDRA FEARON (various roles) studied as a postgraduate at the RCM prior to joining the Opera Course at the RSAMD. She has performed with European Chamber Opera, Opera Italiana, Opera Omnibus, Opera Holland Park, Garsington Opera, BYO. Operatic roles include Dido, Cherubino, Ruggiero Alcina, Tisbe Cenerentola, Dorabella, Nerone and Arsemene Serse.

CATHERINE FRIEL (various roles) was born and raised in Glasgow. She attended Douglas Academy Music School and danced professionally with the McLaren Dancers. Catherine went on to Royal Northern College.

She performed principal roles in fringe musicals and plays including the Wicked Witch of the West (Feelgood Theatre), Laurie Oklahoma, Cherubino, Despina, and many covers for Carl Rosa Opera. On TV Catherine presented City Nites (Channel 4), Smack the Pony (BBC 1).

JAMES GEER (various roles) was a Choral Scholar at Oxford before studying at TCM and Guildhall School of Music. Recent work includes Peter Grimes (Simon Rattle and Trevor Nunn at Salzburg Easter Festival), HMS Pinafore and Mikado (D’Oyly Carte) and

Princess Ida (Buxton). Plans include Curzio Marriage of Figaro (Grange Park Opera) NATHANIEL GIBBS (various roles) returns to the Grange for his third season. Recent credits include Balladeer / Proprietor in Sondheim’s Assassins (Pimlico Opera at HMP Ashwell and HMP Coldingley), Nicely Nicely Johnson Guys & Dolls (Pimlico Opera), Emperor of China Aladdin (Stageworks Worldwide) ,Tour Guide (Wonderful Town) and Caylus Le Roi Malgré Lui (Grange Park).

JOHN GUERRASIO Luther Billis South Pacific John Guerrasio was last seen at Grange Park as the mobster–parson Moonface Martin in Anything Goes. He is a New York theatre veteran and has performed extensively with America’s leading repertory theatres. His British theatre credits include Arsenic and Old Lace (Strand), Conversations with My Father (Old Vic), Pal Joey and The Man Who Came to Dinner (Chichester Festival), Aunt Dan and Lemon (Almeida), The Price (Bolton), The Taming of the Shrew (Nottingham) and Burleigh Grimes (Bridewell).

John wrote and presented the TV travel series A Practical Guide to Europe (Travel Channel) and In Search of Tuscany (PBS) and was featured in Cambridge Spies, Hoover Dame, As Time Goes By and Brass Eye among many others. His film credits include the Merchant-Ivory flop Jane Austen in Manhattan and the low budget “classics” Project Shadowchaser and Siamese Cop. John has

appeared in many commercials and voiced countless animals and aliens for cartoons and games. He is often heard on BBC radio, most recently in the Great Pursuit, Garbo & Gilbert in Love and Six Degrees of Separation. John has taught acting in American prisons and drug rehabs and more challengingly in London drama schools.

BRIDGET HARDY (various roles) trained at Birmingham University, Berlin and London. Recent appearances include WNO Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, for Carl Rosa Opera, Cousin Hebe and Buttercup HMS Pinafore, Edith Pirates of Penzance and Pitti-Sing cover Mikado. Other roles include Annina Traviata (Opera Holland Park), Papagena Magic Flute (Imperial Opera) and a season with D’Oyly Carte. With London City Opera in the USA she played Orlofsky Fledermaus in an opera gala in Palm Desert.

QUENTIN HAYES Cecil Maria Stuarda Quentin studied at Dartington and at Guildhall. He has sung for all the leading UK opera companies, most recently Glyndebourne (Le Dancaire, Carmen).

For five years he was a principal artist at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Roles there included Ping (Turandot), Herald (Lohengrin), Ned Keene (Peter Grimes) and Schaunard (Bohème), working with such eminent conductors as Haitink, Pappano, Rattle, Thieleman, Hickox and Jordan.

Recent engagements include Where the Wild Things Are (Berlin

Janis Kelly (The Enchantress, Kuma), Deryck Hamon (barman, Potap) Magnus Vigilius, Trevor Conner, Andrew Young (customers) The Enchantress Grange Park Opera 2004 Director & Designer David Fielding

Philharmonic), Elijah (Netherlands Radio Philharmonic), Tosca (CBSO), War Requiem (Concertgebouw, Amsterdam) and Billy Budd (LSO). Previously for Grange Park Quentin has sung Almaviva (Figaro), Figaro (Barber) and Clavaroche (Fortunio).

Next year he returns to sing Belcore (L’Elisir d’Amore).

Marschallin Der Rosenkavalier and Electra Idomeneo (Opera North), Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw (Grange Park) and Despina, Alcina and Mrs Nixon (English National Opera). She appears as Liu in the Hollywood movie The Life of David Gale and directed Così and Iolanthe for Grange Park.

NICOLA HUGHES Bloody Mary South Pacific Theatre credits include: Zarita Simply Heavenly (Young Vic and Trafalgar Studio), Nicola Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Derby Playhouse), The Woman Blues in the Night (Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Lead Fosse (Prince of Wales Theatre, Nomination for Olivier Award 2001 Best Actress in a Musical), Velma Kelly Chicago (Baalbeck Festival, Lebanon and Adelphi Theatre), Lola Damn Yankees (Adelphi Theatre), Donna The Goodbye Girl (Albery Theatre), Acid Queen Tommy (Shaftesbury Theatre), Margie Crazy for You (Prince Edward Theatre), Helene Sweet Charity (Churchill Theatre, Bromley), Cabaret the Cy Coleman Concert (International Festival of Musical Theatre, Cardiff). Solo cabaret work at Dulwich Picture Gallery and Pizza on the Park.

TV includes Phylicia Jonathan Creek, Debbie Heartburn Hotel (BBC TV), Shiree in Trial & Retribution 2 (ITV).

STEFANIE KRAHNENFELD Donna Anna Don Giovanni Stefanie studied at Folkwang School, Essen, Manhatten School of Music, New York. Studio appearances in New York included Violetta, Ginevra in Handel`s Ariodante and in Tel Aviv as Konstanze Entführung aus dem Serail and Armida Rinaldo.

Stefanie is currently a member of the ensemble at the Saarland State Theater in Saarbrucken where roles have included Norina Pasquale, Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Ilia Idomeneo, Despina, Sophie Rosenkavalier, Frau Fluth Lustige Weiber von Windsor, Cleopatra Julio Cesare, Ann Trulove Rake’s Progress, Antonia Les contes d’Hoffmann, Kontanze Entführung aus dem Serail. She has guest contracts with the Komische Oper Berlin, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Bregenz Festival and Opera North.

HANNAH JONES (various roles) graduated from Trinity College of Music.

She appeared as Maisie The Boyfriend (Dartington Festival), in principal roles in She Loves Me and City of Angels, and in Tosca and Die Fledermaus. Hannah toured with London City Opera in the USA (Madama Butterfly) and with the Carl Rosa Opera Company in the UK and Australia (HMS Pinafore).

JANIS KELLY Elisabetta Maria Stuarda Janis studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama in her native Glasgow and the Royal College of Music. She is a regular guest with most of our major opera companies in repertoire ranging from La Traviata and Der Rosenkavalier to Showboat and Zoe. Further afield she has sung in Aixen-Provence, Geneva, Zurich, Anchorage, Barcelona and Cannes and has a busy concert career. Recordings include Tchaikovsky’s Incidental Music to Hamlet (Chandos), Street Scene, A Little Night Music, Showboat and Brigadoon (TER), four award-winning albums for the Inspector Morse television soundtracks on Virgin Records and The Maid of the Mountains on Hyperion. Recent appearances include Kuma Enchantress (Grange Park), title role The Cunning Little Vixen, Magda Rondine,

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STEPHEN LANGRIDGE Director Maria Stuarda Studied Drama at Exeter University.

Plans include: world première of Birtwistle’s The Minotaur (Royal Opera House 2008), world première Tangier Tattoo, (Glyndebourne on tour 2005), Marriage of Figaro (Grange Park 2006). Recent work includes Birtwistle The Passion of IO (Aldeburgh, Almeida, Bregenz and Huddersfield Festivals and UK Tour 2004), For the Public Good (ENO). Other work includes: Arianna in Creta, The Turn of the Screw (National Reisopera, Holland), Le Nozze di Figaro (Ystad, Sweden), Orfeo (Japanese tour), Vrondos’ The Possessed (Greek National Opera), La Navarraise, Le Portrait de Manon, and L’Enfant Prodigue (GSMD), Zoe and Misper (Glyndebourne Education), Giulio Cesare (Opera de Bordeaux), The Mask of Orpheus (South Bank Centre). Stephen directed several productions for Pimlico Opera in the early 1990’s.

Lee Bisset (Fiordiligi), Karina Lucas (Dorabella), Benjamin Hulett (Ferrando), John Lofthouse (Guglielmo), Henry Kerswell (Alfonso) Così fan tutte Nevill Holt Young Artists 2004 Director Ptolemy Christie Designer Adrian Linford

DAVID LAWRENCE (various roles) was born in South Wales and studied at the Welsh College and Guildhall School of Music. Recent operatic engagements include Almaviva Marriage of Figaro, Figaro Barber of Seville, Enrico Lucia di Lammermoor (Pavilion), Baron Traviata (Pimlico and London City Opera). Concert work includes Elijah, Fauré’s Requiem with the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Narrator in a live radio broadcast of Copland’s The Second Hurricane under Leonard Slatkin. David is a founder member of The London Opera Trio.

ALIX LONGMAN Lead Nurse South Pacific Alix works as an actress, singer, comedienne & writer in film, television drama & comedy, theatre, musicals, radio & cabaret. London credits include Les Miserables, Prisoner Cell-Block H with Lily Savage. She runs Vocal Confidence Seminars assisting students from the Performing Arts, Education, Government & Corporate sectors. Most recently she featured in the Cannes 2004 Entry film Mothers & Daughters.

JAMES LONSDALE (various roles) was born in London and went to Dartmouth Naval Collage at 13. At 22 he returned from sea and went into the City. He began serious vocal study 5 years ago, first with Ingrid Attrot and, for the last year, with Arwel TreharneMorgan. His appearances include The Usher Trial by Jury (Wantage), Gherardo Gianni Schicchi (Opera Anywhere).

FRANCK LOPEZ Masetto Don Giovanni Born in Toulouse, Franck worked as a computer engineer before studying singing in Paris. He joined the chorus of the Opéra National de Paris and then studied at the Guildhall School of Music. In 2002 he joined the Glyndebourne Chorus and made his Glyndebourne Festival début as Le Guide Carmen and Captain Onegin (Glyndebourne Touring Opera). Other roles Dandini Cenerentola (Grange Park), Germano La Scala di Seta, Marco Gianni Schicchi, The Seven Deadly Sins and Going into Shadows, Mercurio L’incoronazione di Poppea (St John’s, Smith Square), Robert La Fille du Tambour Major (Sens), Papageno Die Zauberflöte (Festival de Gavarnie).

ELIZA LUMLEY Nellie South Pacific Eliza studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music. Theatre credits include Jumpers (RNT, Piccadilly Theatre, London and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway), The Duchess of Malfi (also RNT), Company (Derby Playhouse),

The Merchant of Venice (RSC), Jerry Springer The Opera (BAC), Is there life after High School? (Bridewell), Pal Joey (Chichester), Man of La Mancha (Covent Garden Festival), original cast Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward Theatre), Killing Rasputin (Bridewell), Die Fledermaus (Drill Hall, Malvern Festival & Amsterdam) and Dorian (Arts Theatre). TV credits include Peak Practice.

Eliza recorded Sweet Charity, Ragtime and Man of La Mancha for radio. Cabaret appearances at Pizza on the Park & The Green Room in London, and Joe’s Pub & Don’t tell Mamma’s in New York.

ANDREW MACKENZIE-WICKS Ottavio Don Giovanni Andrew was educated at Durham University and Royal Northern College of Music. Roles include Oronte (ENO), Ferrando (Glyndebourne), Almaviva (WNO), Don Ottavio, Tamino, Don Ramiro, Tom Rakewell, Peter Quint, Lysander, Jacquino, Scaramuccio, Rodolfo, Ernesto and Nemorino. He has appeared with ENO, Glyndebourne Festival, Welsh National, Scottish, Opera North, Dublin Opera Theatre Company, Opera Northern Ireland, English Touring and Aldeburgh. Concert work includes Bach and Handel with Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the Proms, Britten with the Northern Sinfonia and Flanders Symphony Orchestra, appearances at the Brighton and Bath Festiivals, and international tours with the King’s Consort and Gabrieli Consort VICTORIA MANDERS-JONES (various roles) studied at Leeds and Royal Northern College of Music and spent two years in Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and covered Pitti Sing for Carl Rosa Opera. College excerpts include Merecedes (Carmen), Genevieve (Pelleas et Melisande) and Smeton (Anna Bolena).

NATASHA MARSH Elvira Don Giovanni Natasha was born in Brecon, Wales, spent four years with the National Youth Music Theatre and later studied at Birmingham University. Recent roles include Governess Turn of the Screw, Jacqueline Fortunio (Grange Park), Micaela Carmen (Royal Albert Hall), Pamina Magic Flute (Opera Zuid), Musetta Bohème (Opera Holland Park), First Lady Magic Flute (Glyndebourne Touring Opera), Ilia Idomeneo (Opera North), Susanna Figaro (Teatro Calderón de Valladolid, Spain), Acis Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus (Birmingham Early Music Festival), Michael Berkeley’s new opera Jane Eyre (Music Theatre Wales), Belinda Dido & Aeneas and Vespina L’infedelta delusa (Snape Maltings). She made her Proms debut as Israelite Woman Samson.

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CATHY MARSTON Movement Don Giovanni Cathy studied at the Royal Ballet School and danced for Zurich Ballet, Luzern Ballet and Ballet of Bern before returning to the UK. Cathy was appointed the first Associate Artist for ROH2 and created for the Linbury Theatre Sophie and Stateless (her response to Nicholas Maw’s opera Sophie’s Choice), The Tempest and After the Storm (response to Ades’ The Tempest – filmed for BBC 4).

Other choreographic work includes Dividing Silence (Northern Ballet), Facing Viv (English National Ballet), Venetian Requiem (Royal Ballet at the Linbury). Later in 2005 Cathy creates a new full length piece based on Ibsen’s Ghosts for the Linbury Theatre.

SIMON MCENERY (various roles) tudied at the Guildhall School of Music. His oratorio The Resurrection was premièred at Salisbury Cathedral earlier this year. He has sung in opera houses in Paris, Frankfurt, Antwerp,

Stephen Richardson (Mamirov), Carole Wilson (Yevpraksia) plot to kill The Enchantress The Enchantress Grange Park Opera 2004 Director & Designer David Fielding

Ghent and Nancy and regularly with WNO and in Raymond Gubbay’s Royal Albert Hall productions. This is his second festival at Grange Park.

JAMES MCORAN-CAMPBELL Belcore The Elixir of Love James trained at the National Opera Studio and GSMD. Roles include title role Don Giovanni (Opera North), Dandini Cenerentola, Dunmow A Dinner Engagement (Opera East), Marcello Bohème, Harashta The Cunning Little Vixen and Masetto Don Giovanni (English Touring Opera) and Count and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro (BYO & Opera Brava). He created the roles of Mohammed and Alec Harvey in the premières of Manifest Destiny

by Keith Burstein and Brief Encounter by Peter Wiegold. He has appeared with the orchestras of WNO and Royal Ballet Sinfonia.

KEVIN MCRAE (various roles) came to the UK in 1991 from South Africa where he had sung with CAPAB Opera and Roodepoort City Opera. With Opera Inside Out, European Chamber Opera, Central Festival Opera and Pavilion, his roles include Bartolo Barbiere, Alidoro Cenerentola, Germont Traviata, Coppelius, Miracle, Dapertutto Tales of Hoffmann and Philippo Don Carlos.

YVONNE MILNES Costume Designer South Pacific Yvonne has worked in theatre and opera since 1980. Her costume design credits include A Slice Of Saturday Night (Arts Theatre, West End), One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (West End), Canterbury Tales (West End), She Stoops To Conquer and Playboy Of The Western World (Century Theatre, Keswick), One Careful Owner (Queens Theatre, Hornchurch), The Three Musketeers, Dracula, The Gift, Last Of The Mohicans, Frankenstein and A Tale Of Two Cities (New Vic), Doctor Who (Mark Furness Productions), If Only (DV8), Blackworks (ICA London), Fledermaus (Arts Theatre, West End), Bohème (National tour and film), Eugene Onegin (Music Theatre London), Watch My Lips (Drill Hall), Remember to Forget (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford).

Her most recent work was at the Washington Shakespeare Theatre Company as associate costume designer for Henry IV parts 1 and 2.

GEORGE MOSLEY Don Giovanni Don Giovanni Since winning first prize at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, George has sung with many of the major opera companies in Britain and Europe. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden he has sung Dancairo Carmen, for English

National Opera, Yamadori Madama Butterfly, and for Scottish Opera, Papageno. He has sung in many Italian houses including Teatro Strehler, Milan (for La Scala) in Il Processo, Teatro Maggio Musicale in Florence (Il Letto della Storia), Teatro Verdi, Pisa (Don Pasquale, Le Nozze di Figaro) and the Teatro Communale, Modena (Cosi, Don Giovanni) and for Flanders Opera (Patroclus King Priam). George recorded Aeneas Dido & Aeneas and Pallante Agrippina for John Eliot Gardiner and Philips, and a world première recording of John Taverner’s Eternity’s Sunrise with the Academy of Ancient Music for Harmonia Mundi which was nominated for a Grammy in Los Angeles in 2000.

JEFF NICHOLSON Stewpot South Pacific Jeff has been involved in musical theatre since an early age and recently completed his training at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts where credits included Sir Evelyn Oakleigh Anything Goes, Greg A Chorus Line and several roles in Elegies for Angels Punks and Raging Queens. Other credits include Billy Bigelow Carousel (Bridewell Theatre), Nick Fame and Showstoppers (Hertfordshire).

FRANCIS O’CONNOR Designer Don Giovanni / South Pacific Francis trained at the Wimbledon School of Art. His opera credits include Manon (Opera North), Der Vogelhandler (Komische Opera, Berlin), Maometto II (Opera du Rhin, Strasbourg), Fortunio (Grange Park Opera), 1001 Nights (Anvil, Basingstoke), Ariadne auf Naxos (Castleward), May Night (Wexford), La Vie Parisienne (D’Oyly Carte). Musical theatre includes How to Succeed in Business, Out of this World (Chichester); Forbidden City (Singapore); La Cava (Victoria Palace). Theatre credits include My Beautiful Divorce (Dawn French at the Apollo), Hinge of the World (Guildford), House of Bernarda Alba, The Plough and the Stars (Abbey, Dublin), Making Waves (Scarborough), Grestfall (Gate, Dublin), The Daughter in Law, Andorra, A Raisin in the Sun (Young Vic), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (RSC and transfer to Garrick), Romeo & Juliet and As You Like It (Regent’s Park Open Air), The Wonder of Sex (National Theatre of Brent / Royal National Theatre), Putting it Together (Chichester), Calico (Duke of York’s). His productions for Druid Theatre Company, Galway include Lonesome West (also Broadway), the award winning Beauty Queen of Leenane which transferred to Royal Court, London, Walter Kerr Theatre, New York – winning four Tony Awards on Broadway – Toronto, Sydney and Dublin. Plans include the complete canon of Synge plays.

SARA PERKS Associate Designer The Elixir of Love Sara trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and University of Kent. Design credits include Dancing At Lughnasa, As You like It, Romeo & Juliet and Habeus Corpus (Northcott, Exeter), Si J’etais Roi (Opera Omnibus), The Seagull, Twelfth Night, To Kill

A Mockingbird, Macbeth, Private Lives, Caucasian Chalk Circle (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Caucasian Chalk Circle, Steven Berkoff’s The Trial (RADA), Reunion and Dark Pony (Kings Head, London), The Owl & the Pussycat (Redgrave Theatre, Bristol), Aeroplane Bones, Gringos, Bald Prima Donna (Bristol Old Vic and BAC), Belle (Gate), Skylight (Dukes Theatre, Lancaster), Frankie & Tommy (Lyric, Hammersmith), Union Street, Monkey! and The Lost Domain (Plymouth Theatre Royal), The Old Curiosity Shop (Southwark Playhouse) and the original cult musical Saucy Jack and The Space Vixens.

SONYA PRENTICE (various roles) was educated in Melbourne, Royal Academy of Music and Hochschule fur Musik, Vienna. She won the 2000 Great Elm and the Croydon Symphony Soloist Award. Her roles include Ilia (Idomeneo), Countess (Figaro), Mabel (Pirates), and Romilda (Xerxes). Concerts include Elijah, Messiah, and Beethoven’s 9th. This is her second season at Grange Park.

MATT RAWLE Lt Joseph Cable South Pacific Matt trained at Mountview Theatre School. Theatre credits include Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Bristol Old Vic), Flute Midsummers Night’s Dream, Lancelot Camelot (Regent’s Park), Marius Les Miserables (UK tour and tour of Denmark), Tony Amor Carmen (New Vic, Stoke/Bolton), Young Man Putting it Together (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Soldier Hello Again (Bridewell Theatre), workshop of Mother Clap’s Molly House (National Theatre Studio), Sleary/Gradgrind Hard Times – the musical (Theatre Royal, Haymarket), workshop of The Go-Between (Pleasance Theatre), Rapunzel’s Prince Into the Woods (Donmar Warehouse), Ensemble Treasure Island (Lyric, Hammersmith), title role Martin Guerre (Prince Edward Theatre), Chris Miss Saigon (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), Ensemble Almost like being in love (National Theatre), D’Artagnan Three Musketeers Denmark Theatre).

CRAIG REVEL HORWOOD Director / Choreographer South Pacific Craig received Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award nominations for his work on Spend, Spend, Spend and My One and Only (Piccadilly Theatre).

He started his career as a dancer in his native Australia and in London’s West End. His choreographic work includes Anything Goes (Grange Park), Calamity Jane (Shaftesbury Theatre), Hard Times (Theatre Royal, Haymarket), Fred Astaire Tribute (London Palladium), Pal Joey, Arcadia, On the Razzle (Chichester Festival Theatre), Guys & Dolls (Crucible, Sheffield), Paradise Moscow (Opera North), and Commonwealth Games 2002 Opening Ceremony. Craig choreographed Fiddler on the Roof, Titanic (Carre Theatre, Amsterdam and tour), Traviata

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(Rotterdam), and directed / choreographed Copacabana (Carre Theatre). Recent work includes direction / choreography Beautiful & Damned (Lyric, West End), choreography Lido du Paris on the Champs Elysee, direction / staging Lion King (EuroDisney, Paris), Der Kuhhandel (Bregenz), Once Upon a Time (a TV spectactular filming in Copenhagen to celebrate the bicentenary of Hans Christian Anderson), and TV appearances as panellist on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and Fame Academy.

ANDREW RIVERA (various roles) was born in Los Angeles, and attended Loyola University on a choral scholarship for a Theatre Arts degree with a years’ placement at RADA in London. Principal roles include Germont Pere La Traviata and Scarpia Tosca (European Chamber Opera), UK premières of Zandonai’s La Farsa Amorosa, Neilson’s Maskerade and Nino Rota’s Silent Night. Other roles include Figaro (Marriage and Barber), Guglielmo, Don Giovanni, Papageno, Ford, Melitone, Frank, Alfio, Dulcamara, Malatesta, Gianni Schicchi, Paris, Strephon, Sharpless and Marcello. Ensemble work with Opera Factory, Garsington, Pavilion Opera, Broomhill Opera. With Pimlico Opera, Andrew played Riff West Side Story (Wandsworth / Mountjoy prisons) and Nathan Detroit Guys & Dolls (Wandsworth / BBC documentary).

TOM RODEN Movement The Elixir of Love Tom is Co-Director of the dance, theatre, comedy group New Art Club.

Their work The Short Still Show was a finalist at last years Place Prize and their two previous shows, The Electric Tales and the award winning This Is Modern, have toured Europe and America. He has choreographed work for Air Dance Company, Scottish Dance Theatre, Reckless Sleepers and The Glee Club.

Choreography for opera includes Hansel & Gretel and Magic Flute (Opera North) and Babettes Feast (Linbury, Royal Opera House).

As well as appearing in his own work he performed in the film of Twelfth Night directed by Tim Supple and danced the lead role in Cunning Little Vixen at Bregenz Festival .

IMOGEN ROOSE (various roles) Australian born Imogen studied in Adelaide, Sydney and London. Roles include Pamina, Susanna, Musetta, Helena, Fiordiligi and Treemonisha.

She sang two performances of Minka Le Roi Malgré Lui (Grange Park 2003) and Despina Cosi (Pimlico Opera).

Plans include Mahler’s Fourth Symphony in Australia.

VASSILY SAVENKO Commendatore Don Giovanni Born near Odessa, Ukraine, Vassily studied at Moscow Conservatory, winning both Mussorgsky and the Lysenko Competitions. He sang Prince Nikita Enchantress at The Grange

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last year. In the early 90’s he sang Iago Otello under Gergiev (Kirov) and then moved to Britain. Opera appearances include Ivan Susanin A Life for the Tsar, Baron Miserly Knight, Lanciotto Malatesta Francesca da Rimini (Chelsea Opera), Tomsky/Plutus Queen of Spades (Opera Ireland ), Prince Zhemchuzhny Oprichnik (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari), Commendatore (Opera de Nantes), Foka Enchantress (Teatro Nacional Lisbon), Baldassare L’Arlesiana (Opera Holland Park), Bonze Butterfly (Welsh National Opera) and Ibn-Hakia Iolanta (Royal Scottish National Orchestra).

JAMES SCARLETT (various roles) was born in Bromley, studied Fine Art at KIAD, Canterbury and completed the advanced post-graduate diploma course at TCM. Roles include Don Curzio, (SOC and BYO), Mercury Orpheus in the Underworld (BYO), Michele The Saint of Bleecker Street (Peacock Theatre), Don Ramiro Cenerentola and title role Comte Ory. KELLY SHARP (various roles) studied at Huddersfield University and Trinity College of Music. Roles include title role Iolanthe, Juno Orpheus in the Underworld, Second Bridesmaid Le Nozze di Figaro and Kit Kat Girl Cabaret. She has sung with British Youth Opera, First Act Opera, The Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, The Bold Balladiers and Grange Park  ⁄ .

NICHOLAS SHARRATT Nemorino The Elixir of Love Born in Nottingham, Nicholas read Commerce at Birmingham University, and went on to the Royal Northern College of Music and National Opera Studio. He made his Glyndebourne debut singing First Prisoner Fidelio (Chatelet, Paris) and was awarded the Erich Vietheer Memorial Award, 2002. Other roles include Rudolph Euryanthe (also BBC Proms), understudy, title role Albert Herring and Snout Midsummer Night’s Dream.

(Glyndebourne), Tamino Zauberflote, Chevalier Dialogues of the Carmelites (IVAI Tel Aviv), Eufemio di Siracusa Gli Equivoci (Batignano), Four Servants Tales of Hoffmann (Wexford), Ernesto Pasquale (Mananan Festival), Fenton Falstaff (Opera Project and RNCM), Ernesto La Vera Costanza (Bampton). Recordings include the Judge Schwanda the Bagpiper and Andres Maria del Carmen for NAXOS. He recently made his Opera North debut singing Eusebio Love’s Luggage Lost, Tinca Il Tabarro, Brother Seven Deadly Sins. Plans include Nencio L’infedelta delusa (Bampton) and Pedrillo Entfuhrung (Opera Project).

OLIVIA SHRIVE (various roles) was born in Norfolk and studied at the RWCMD, Cardiff. She has made recent solo appearances at St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. Martin in the Fields, The Mansion House and at a Royal banquet in Kuala Lumpur. Her roles include Dorabella Cosi (Starlight Opera) and Carmen (City Opera).

DANIEL SLATER Director Don Giovanni Daniel studied at Bristol and Cambridge. He was Associate Director of the Nottingham Playhouse and the Tricycle Theatre 1993-95. Opera credits include Fortunio (Grange Park), Manon Lescaut (Opera North), L’Elisir D’Amore (Opera North, WNO, New Zealand Festival Opera), Massenet’s Manon (Opera North), Magic Flute (Graz), Cunning Little Vixen (Bregenz Festival and San Francisco), Der Barbier von Sevilla and Der Vogelhandler (Komische Oper Berlin), La Gazza Ladra (Garsington), Maometto Secondo (Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg), Wozzeck (Santa Fe), Bartered Bride (Opera North, Opéra National du Rhin), Bohème (Scottish Opera and Opera Ireland). Theatre: Making Waves (Stephen Joseph Theatre), Confusions (Salisbury Playhouse), Life Goes On (Basingstoke Haymarket), The Mark (Soho Theatre Company).

STEFAN SOLYOM Conductor Don Giovanni Swedish conductor Stefan Solyom studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula and Leif Segerstam. At 21 he was a finalist and prizewinner of Sibelius Conducting Competition, making his debut with Stockholm Opera in 1999 in Lidholm's A Dream Play followed by Magic Flute, Barber of Seville, Sakrin's Hummelhonung, Tales of Hoffmann and Gefor's Christina.

Other appearances include Barber of Seville and Fledermaus (Komische Oper, Berlin), Romeo et Juliette (Frankfurt Opera) where he returns for Tosca in 2007. Orchestra engagements

Mary King (Ruth) teaches Brazilian cadets the Conga Wonderful Town Grange Park Opera 2004 Director & Designer Antony McDonald

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include Frankfurt Radio, Helsinki Philharmonic, Swedish Radio, Lahti Symphony and SWR Stuttgart Orchestras. He makes his debut with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in May 2006.

/Masetto Giovanni, Dulcamara L’Elisir d’Amore, Papageno Magic Flute, Henrik Masquerade, Second Elder Susanna, Sirocco L’Etoile, Ebn-Hakia Iolanta and Escamillo/Dancairo/Zuniga Carmen.

GEORGE SOUGLIDES Designer Maria Stuarda Current and recent productions: Arianna in Creta (Nationale Reisopera, Holland), Semele (Buxton Festival), Der Freischutz costumes (Nationale Reisopera, Holland), Marriage of Figaro (Ystad, Sweden and Guildhall School of Music), The Possessed by Harris Vronto (Athens), Xerxes and L’Elisir d’Amore (Greek National Opera). Previous work includes: Madame Butterfly (Opera on a Shoestring at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Aldeburgh Festival), Cosi fan tutte (Scottish Opera Go Round) and Rape of Lucretia (Britten Pears School, Snape). In 1999 and 2000 George designed the indoor version of Un Ballo in Maschera for the Bregenz Festival. Productions for Castleward Opera include La Traviata and Don Pasquale and for Opera Northern Ireland, Maria Stuarda.

HENRY WADDINGTON Leperello Don Giovanni Born in Kent, Henry studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. He sings regularly with the Glyndebourne Festival, Royal Opera House, La Monnaie in Brussels, Liceu in Barcelona, Opera North and Welsh National Opera. His repertoire includes title role Falstaff, Banquo Macbeth, Colline Bohème, Basilio Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Tutor Comte Ory, Geronimo The Secret Marriage, Publio La Clemenza di Tito, Plutone Orfeo, Valens Theodora, Bottom and Quince A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Soljony Three Sisters (Eotvos). His concerts have included engagements at the BBC Proms and the Salzburg Festival. Plans include Quince in Madrid and Glyndebourne, Don Magnifico Cenerentola and Alfonso Così for Glyndebourne on Tour, and a concert tour of Handel’s Solomon with the OAE and René Jacobs.

SERGIO LA STELLA Conductor Maria Stuarda Sergio La Stella made his conducting début at Rome Opera House in Manon Lescaut and his international début at the Marinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in Traviata and Aida. He has conducted throughout Italy, at the Gosudarstvennij Academy Theatre of Novosibirsk and with Taiwanese Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Württembergische Philharmonie and Reutlingen Philharmonic. He enjoys close collaborations with Ruggero Raimondi, Katia Ricciarelli and Placido Domingo. At Ricciarelli’s invitation he conducted Il Barbieri di Siviglia (Teatro Politeama in Lecce). He assisted Domingo in the Centennial television production of Tosca. Operas include Adriana Lecouvreur, L’Elisir d’Amore, Don Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, Zauberflöte, Carmen, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Paisiello), Butterfly, I due Foscari, Rigoletto, Trovatore, L’alba Italica (Leoncavallo), Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Merry Widow, Iris (Mascagni), La Rondine, Cenerentola (Grange Park), Turandot (Dublin and Tirana). In 1999 / 2000 he was responsible for coaching Sinopoli’s cast for the Ring at Rome Opera. His essay Aspetti musicali, estetici e filosofici della Tetralogia di Wagner was published by Bollati & Boringhieri.

MATTHEW WALDREN (various roles) studied at the Royal College of Music, Cambridge and Guildhall School of Music. He is a Thames Valley Young Musician. Matthew has performed for Grange Park, Les Arts Florissants, Raymond Gubbay, Holland Park & Carl Rosa. Credits include: Carpenter Pinafore, Zuniga Carmen, Vengeance Medée, Thesée, Fidelio, Tosca, Fledermaus, Enchantress.

He has worked in Europe, Australia, New Zealand & America.

FREDDIE TONG Dulcamara The Elixir of Love Freddie was born in Hong Kong.

He gained a BSc in Economics and Statistics at University College London and went on to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he took a First Class Honours Degree and a Masters in Music. Recent operatic roles include King of Egypt Aida, Figaro Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Magnifico Cenerentola, Grenvil Traviata, Commendatore

116

VICTORIA WARD Dinah South Pacific and other roles Victoria trained at Merseyside Dance and Drama Centre and Mountview Theatre School. Recent roles include Cousin Hebe HMS Pinafore (Carl Rosa company on tour in Australia), Helen Wonderful Town, Sleepwalker Cenerentola (Grange Park), Brenda Blood Brothers, Constance The Three Musketeers, Queequeg Moby Dick, title role Aladdin, Polly Peacham The Beggars Opera (ENO at Bridewell Theatre), Jaynie Don’t Misunderstand Me (English Speaking Theatre, Hamburg), Petra A Little Night Music (Mountview), Jen The Bill (Thames TV) and Sarah Jane Moore Assassins (Pimlico Opera at Coldingley and Ashwell prisons).

SAM WASS Assistant Director Don Giovanni Sam was educated at Winchester and Oxford. Directing credits include a semi-staging of Die Fledermaus (Royal Albert Hall) and his own production of Loves Labours Lost (Saitama Arts Centre, Tokyo). As a Staff Director in Graz, productions included

Don Pasquale, Die Fledermaus, Il Trittico, La Périchole, Peter Grimes, Zauberflöte and Adriana Lecouvreur. Work as Assistant Director includes Thieving Magpie and Manon Lescaut (Opera North), Fledermaus (Glyndebourne), Ring Cycle (Nuremberg), Masked Ball (ENO), Carmen (Opera del Mar) and Bella/Infinito Nero (Almeida Opera). Sam also works extensively in contemporary dance and childrens theatre.

KATHERINE WILES Adina The Elixir of Love Katherine studied in London, RSAMD Glasgow and her native New Zealand.

She was a Young Artist & Chorus Member 1996-1999 with New Zealand Opera. Recent roles include Susanna Nozze di Figaro (London Opera Players), Messiah (Rome/Umbria), Giannetta/Adina Cover L’Elisir d’Amore (NZO/NZ International Arts Festival), Despina Cosi fan tutte, Barbarina/Susanna Cover Le Nozze di Figaro (NZO), Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia (NZO/ Swansea City Opera), Euridice Orpheo e Euridice (NZCO), Olympia Les Contes D’Hoffmann (Guildford), Serse (British Youth Opera). RSAMD roles include Lauretta Gianni Schicchi, Parasha Mavra, Satirino La Calisto, Lucy Brown Die Dreigroschenoper.

HARRIET WILLIAMS Anna Maria Stuarda Harriet studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Recent roles include Nenila Enchantress (Grange Park), Old Sister I Babette’s Feast (Royal Opera / Linbury Studio), Marcellina Figaro (Cork City of Culture), Cherubino Figaro and Flora Traviata (Welsh National Opera), Parseis Esclarmonde (Chelsea Opera Group), Marcellina Le Nozze di Figaro (Music Theatre Kernow), Kate Pinkerton Butterfly and Angelina Cenerentola (Clonter

Opera), Dido Dido & Aeneas (Bath City Orchestra), Annina Traviata (Bath and Wessex Opera), Carmen (English Pocket Opera) and Ariodante (Early Opera Company).

IAN WILSON-POPE (various roles & cover Talbot) studied at Trinity College of Music where he was awarded a TCM Scholarship, and won the TCM Ricordi Opera Prize in 2001. His main roles include: Enrico VIII Anna Bolena, Banquo Macbeth, Colline La Bohème, Voice of Neptune Idomeneo, Potap (cover) The Enchantress (GPO), Vodnik Rusalka, Marullo and Court Usher Rigoletto, Don Marco Saint of Bleecker Street, Seneca, Mercury / Littore L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Nonancourt in Nino Rota’s Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze, Envy Purcell’s Indian Queen, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, The Speaker Magic Flute, The Father Seven Deadly Sins, Pallante Agrippina, The Doctor Vanessa, and Herr Schultz Cabaret. Future plans include Sparafucile Rigoletto and La Traviata with Swansea City Opera.

ANDREW YOUNG (various roles) took a BSc from the University of Adelaide and went on to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Helpmann Family Foundation Fellowship Award).

He was a member of the Young Artists programme at Opera Queensland in 2000, singing Guglielmo Così, Ruiz Il trovatore and Pish Tush Mikado. Since moving to the UK Andrew has sung Captain Corcoran HMS Pinafore, Arac Princess Ida (Buxton G & S Festival), Banquo Macbeth (Belcanto Opera) and Count Almaviva Le Nozze di Figaro (Beaufort Opera). Andrew was a member of the Grange Park ensemble in 2004 and recently toured Australia and New Zealand with Carl Rosa Opera.

Janis Kelly (The Enchantress, Kuma) The Enchantress Grange Park Opera 2004 Director & Designer David Fielding

Bali Ha’i

by Diva

16 solutions contain hidden islands that are not visible in the cryptic part of the clue e.g.Wicked plot that's up to you (8) Opt-IONA-l

The first correct solution opened on 30th August will receive two tickets for the 2006 festival.

Send solutions to : Grange Park Opera (Crossword), The Coach House, 12 St Thomas Street, Winchester SO23 9HF ACROSS 1 Psychologist left bollard outside urban complex (8,6) Lethal fart intake leaves one semiconscious (4-5) 10 11 Lost ring from precious metal? One ready for the golden handshake (7) 12 Indian turnover quadrupled in Ahmadabad (6) 13 Fire tile that's warmer on top in Russia (7,3) 15 Increased the offer on dictionary - put out half Cymric for binding (9) 17 Take pleasure in eluding translation (7) 19 The British stoic was trendy entertaining girl with argument during mealtime at Leatherhead ( needed to see 8 ?) (3,1,5,5,3) 21 Type of chic revolutionary (7) 23 I get a commission from the Art Museum (9) 24 Whelp's very loud inside when experiment becomes flaky (4,6) 26 War fanatic expressing delight? (6) 29 Ian's not staying with islander - 'e's not a big fish (7) 30 Scandinavian appears negative wearing dress (9) 31 Stone me! Brahms composed appoggiaturas without using oars! (14)

DOWN 1 Paddy with the truncated feature (5) 2 Floating menageries failing to express delight? (5,4) 3 Competitor not against the Middle Eastern fund (4) 4 Drool badly during burglary - the swine love leaving childrens' books (3,4,2,3,5) 5 T-thus Mungo made a movie (8,4) 6 Spotted a plain cake? (7) 7 Can't see the wood for the trees? Not with poplar, chestnut ..(5) 8 Spa worker, possibly, reportedly drunk on Perrier water? (15) 9 Take control with the wrist? Then pep daughter up (3,3,5,4) 14 Slippery customer takes on woman's vulnerable spot (8,4) 16 Troubled banks full of fish - like the Thames? (5) 18 Miss Rookh's intrinsically the girl all adore (5) 20 Gourmet's big story starts upsetting Ronay (Egon): one ... (9) 22 ... famous restaurant - fancy! - is only half nice (7) 25 Meeting point of no return, antithetically! (5) 27 Retreats when Tony and Cherie start late (3's retreating to start with) (5) 28 Lily gets married (4)

2004 puzzle I HATE MUSIC solution The puzzle’s title is a song cycle by L Bernstein 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13 14

15

18

17

16

19

20

22

21

23

2004 winner Pamela Grosvenor of Fareham 24

26

25 28

29

30

31

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27

Other correct solutions John Henly, Frank & Chris Judd, James Lindesay, Derek Mackay, William Mather, Jane Poulter, Philip Riley, James Sehmer, Michael Yeo Past winners 2003 Jane Poulter of Winchester 2002 Tony Phillips of Chalfont St Giles 2001 John Grimshaw of London SW18 2000 John Henly of Havant 1999 Michael James Apt John

a p p l ic at ion G R A N G E

PA R K

f or m ope r a

f or

&

n e w

m e m b e rs

OPERA

AT

2 0 0 6

N E V I L L H O LT

ar e bo yo ar u d on ?

Dear Opera Supporter Normally I write to supporters in the second part of July, once the festivals are over and before the August exodus. The reason I have this year included a donor’s letter in the Festival Programme is that many newcomers say they would like to be sent the paperwork to become a member and gain access to tickets. Here it is.

It is spring and there is much activity in London, Hampshire and Leicestershire but nobody has seen a performance – they haven’t even started to rehearse. There are workshops building the sets, costume makers are unpacking their sewing machines, and the final dancers are being auditioned.

At Nevill Holt, the new theatre is making good progress and at The Grange, John Salkeld has been threatening the roses: if they bud too early, they will be snipped. R J Smith & Sons are fitting a new curved handrail for the stalls and that is just a fraction of what is happening.

I do hope that you will support the 2006 festival. The suggested levels are given overleaf. When we receive your donation, we will acknowledge receipt and you will be sent the festival brochure in early November. If you manage to book by mid January, you will receive your tickets in February. Sometimes post does go astray, so if you have not received your brochure by mid November, please contact us so we can send a replacement.

The page size limits me to highlights of 2006. For Le Nozze di Figaro we welcome back director Stephen Langridge and designer George Souglides, the team behind Maria Stuarda. Sophie Daneman is Susanna, and Rebecca Lipinski the Countess with dashing Howard Reddy as her cruel, but ultimately repentent, husband. In June 2005 Howard represents Ireland in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition

Continuing our foray into French repertoire from the turn of the century, we present Massenet’s Thais. David Fielding, who directed our bloodthirsty Enchantress, has cast Ann-Sophie Duprel (Mimi in 2003) in the title role, Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts is her lover and Gary McGee the monk torn between his vows and the seductress Thais.

Rachel Pearson, Head of Operations, will be pleased to discuss your queries and arrange for copies of this form to be sent to your friends. She can also tell you about tailored Corporate packages.

It would be very helpful if you could return the form overleaf as soon as possible so that we can assess the increase in the number of performances and book performers accordingly. I very much hope you that you will help us to fulfil the company’s ambitions and potential by becoming a member.

Wasfi Kani OBE Chief Executive March 2005

Grange Park Opera, The Coach House,  St Thomas Street, Winchester   | telephone   | fax  

✄

info@grangeparkopera.co.uk | Charitable reg.  | VAT no.   

APPLICATION FORM grange

park

opera

& opera

at

nevill

holt

CATEGORIES OF SUPPORT



NOTE that tickets are for the use of the family of the registered individual and must not be sold on

I would like to support Grange Park Opera

THE glass ceiling SOCIETY The proposed donation (£1,000) will be acknowledged in the programme. Members may wish to support us further with an application for tickets for the season. Members will be invited to gatherings associated with the development of productions and the festival.

THE SCHOOL OF HIPPOCR ATES The proposed donation (£600 for one year) will be acknowledged in the programme.

Members may wish to support us further with an application for up to 16 tickets for the season and will be invited to a postperformance party and to the London presentation of the set model in the Spring.

THE SCHOOL OF ARCHIMEDES The proposed donation (£300 for one year) will be acknowledged in the programme.

Members may wish to support us further with an application for up to 8 tickets.

THE SCHOOL OF PLATO The proposed donation (£150 for one year) will be acknowledged in the programme. Members may wish to support us further with an application for 4 tickets for the season.

THE MAILING LIST £25 is the suggested donation and we will send you a list of available dates and ticket prices in February so that you can book promptly. The full calendar of dates can viewed on the website from November. The Schools of Plato, Archimedes, Hippocrates and The Glass Ceiling Society do not need to join the mailing list.

I would like to support the Opera at Nevill Holt THE captain’s table The proposed donation (£375 for one year) will be acknowledged in the programme. Members may wish to support us further with an application for up to 12 tickets for the Nevill Holt festival and 4 tickets for the Grange Park festival.

You will be invited into the Great Hall for a glass of champagne after a performance to meet the cast and conductor.

THE CLIPPER CLASS The proposed donation (£175 for one year) will be acknowledged in the programme. The Clipper Class may wish to support us further with an application for up to 8 tickets for the Nevill Holt festival and 2 tickets for the Grange Park festival.

THE stowaways The proposed donation (£75 for one year) will be acknowledged in the programme. The Stowaways may wish to support us further with an application for up to 6 tickets for the Nevill Holt festival.

Please send to Grange Park Opera, The Coach House, 12 St Thomas Street, Winchester SO23 9HF keeping a copy for yourself I enclose a personal cheque payable to Grange Park Opera for £ Customs & Excise have asked us to point out that donations of lesser and greater amounts are acceptable and that tickets are not guaranteed

Name __________________________________

Acknowledgement _________________________________

Please give your title, forename and surname and indicate how you would like to be acknowledged in the programme (for example Mr Michael Wood CBE)

Address ________________________________

Signature _________________________________________

________________________________________

Date _____________________________________________

________________________________________

tel day ___________________________________________

________________________________________

mobile ___________________________________________

Postcode _______________________________

tel eve ___________________________________________ email ____________________________________________

Two operas you would most like us to stage _______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________

GI F T A I D

declaration for grange park opera (charity no 1068046)

Please reclaim tax on all donations I have made since 6 April 2000 and all donations I make hereafter until further notice. The April 2000 Gift Aid regulations are financially advantageous to charities without costing you any more. All donations are eligible if you pay an amount of income tax or capital gains tax equal to the tax we may reclaim on your donations (currently 28p for every £1 you give). There is no longer a special form. We will assume that your donations are eligible for Gift Aid unless you strike out this section.

Biographies SUSANNA ANDERSSON Zerlina Don Giovanni Swedish–born Susanna studied at the Guildhall School of Music where she won the Gold Medal. In 2004 she won the Song Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. Roles include Susanna Nozze di Figaro, Atalanta Xerxes, Philine Mignon, Thérèse Les Mamelles de Tirésias and Queen of the Night Zauberflöte. On the concert platform, she has performed Messiah, Bach Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, Berlioz Messe solennelle, Fauré Requiem, Mozart Exultate Jubilate and Pergolesi Stabat Mater. Susanna appeared on worldwide TV as soloist at the annual Nobel Prize Ceremony.

Sophie Daneman (Eileen), arrested for causing a disturbance, joins her captors in an Irish dance.

Wonderful Town Grange Park Opera 2004 Director & Designer Antony McDonald

RICHARD BALCOMBE Conductor South Pacific Richard has conducted for Bryn Terfel, Jose Carreras and Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorgiu on BBC TV and has worked with Gothenburg Symphony, Orchestre National de Lille, Odense Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Estonian National Symphony, Stockholm Sinfoniette and Prague Chamber Orchestra. In the UK he has conducted LPO, RPO, Hallé, Ulster, BBC Concert, Northern Chamber and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Opera includes Wonderful Town (Grange Park), Barber (Castleward Opera), Rigoletto (English Touring Opera), Butterfly and Magic Flute (Central Festival Opera), Falstaff, Tosca, Così, Marriage of Figaro (London Opera Players), Fledermaus, The Mikado, HMS

Pinafore, The Gondoliers and Pirates of Penzance (Carl Rosa), La Bohème (London City Opera) and HMS Pinafore and The Mikado (D’Oyly Carte in the UK and America).

RICHARD BARROWCLOUGH (various roles) is from Mirfield, West Yorkshire and trained at the Royal College of Music under Neil Mackie and Ryland Davis. Recent appearances include Opera Project, Garsington Opera, Carl Rosa, Pavilion Opera and Pimlico Opera. He is returning to the Grange for a second season.

KATY BATHO (various roles) was born in Leicester and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2003. She since has worked for companies including: Glyndebourne Education (Tangier Tattoo), ENO Bayliss (Threepenny Opera), Garsington (Cosi fan tutte) and most recently Royal Opera (La Gioconda).

KRIS BELLIGH (various roles) was born in Belgium and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Scottish Academy. Roles include Figaro, Papageno, Dandini, Mercurio La Calisto, Aeneas, Ramiro L’heure Espagnole, Marco Gianni Schicchi and Thésée Hippolyte et Aricie for Pacific Music Festival.

a p p l ic at ion PA R K

ope r a

f or

&

n e w

m e m b e rs

OPERA

AT

2 0 0 6

N E V I L L H O LT

ar e bo yo ar u d on ?

G R A N G E

f or m

Dear Opera Supporter

Normally I write to supporters in the second part of July, once the festivals are over and before the August exodus. The reason I have this year included a donor’s letter in the Festival Programme is that many newcomers say they would like to be sent the paperwork to become a member and gain access to tickets. Here it is.

It is spring and there is much activity in London, Hampshire and Leicestershire but nobody has seen a performance – they haven’t even started to rehearse. There are workshops building the sets, costume makers are unpacking their sewing machines, and the final dancers are being auditioned.

At Nevill Holt, the new theatre is making good progress and at The Grange, John Salkeld has been threatening the roses: if they bud too early, they will be snipped. R J Smith & Sons are fitting a new curved handrail for the stalls and that is just a fraction of what is happening.

I do hope that you will support the 2006 festival. The suggested levels are given overleaf. When we receive your donation, we will acknowledge receipt and you will be sent the festival brochure in early November. If you manage to book by mid January, you will receive your tickets in February. Sometimes post does go astray, so if you have not received your brochure by mid November, please contact us so we can send a replacement.

The page size limits me to highlights of 2006. For Le Nozze di Figaro we welcome back director Stephen Langridge and designer George Souglides, the team behind Maria Stuarda. Sophie Daneman is Susanna, and Rebecca Lipinski the Countess with dashing Howard Reddy as her cruel, but ultimately repentent, husband. In June 2005 Howard represents Ireland in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition Continuing our foray into French repertoire from the turn of the century, we present Massenet’s Thais. David Fielding, who directed our bloodthirsty Enchantress, has cast Ann-Sophie Duprels (Mimi in 2003) in the title role, Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts is her lover and Gary McGee the monk torn between his vows and the seductress Thais.

Rachel Pearson, Head of Operations, will be pleased to discuss your queries and arrange for copies of this form to be sent to your friends. She can also tell you about tailored Corporate packages.

It would be very helpful if you could return the form overleaf as soon as possible so that we can assess the increase in the number of performances and book performers accordingly. I very much hope you that you will help us to fulfil the company’s ambitions and potential by becoming a member.

Wasfi Kani OBE Chief Executive March 2005

Grange Park Opera, The Coach House,  St Thomas Street, Winchester   | telephone   | fax  

✄

info@grangeparkopera.co.uk | Charitable reg.  | VAT no.   