An exclusive onscreen encore for Puccini’s supernatural thriller, Le Villi, launches a series of online and in person events as we look forward to the 2023 Opera Holland Park Season.
At the heart of the series, Prelude returns to the newly restored Leighton House, with a full programme of music from our principal artists, including the first public performance of an aria from Jonathan Dove’s opera, Itch. From gingerbread cookies to bitter curses, the creation of new work and a reassessment of the classics, Opera Holland Park’s panel events offer insight, entertainment and stimulating debate from a range of creatives, performers, critics and cultural historians, with live music from our principal artists, generous hospitality, and the opportunity to put your questions to the panel.
Priority booking for Members and Supporters is now open, with general booking opening on Monday 13 March.
Opera Holland Park on film: Puccini’s Le Villi
Broadcast via our website at 7pm on 20 March to Members and Supporters, and at 7pm on 21 March to the general public. Donations are welcome after viewing.
Hailed in The Stage as ‘dramatically convincing and gripping’, and described in The Guardian as ‘very creepy and thoroughly entertaining’, Martin Lloyd Evans’s production of Le Villi was the surprise hit of the 2022 Season. A dynamic performance from Anne Sophie Duprels, Peter Auty, Stephen Gadd, the Opera Holland Park Chorus and City of London Sinfonia under conductor Francesco Cilluffo is enhanced by Jami Reid-Quarrell’s vivid choreography of the Villi: the undead spirits of abandoned brides who take their revenge on unfaithful suitors in a dance to the death. Recorded last summer, Simon Wall’s film brilliantly captures the live theatrical experience in Holland Park and the alluring effects of takis’s set designs and Jake Wiltshire’s lighting.
Meet the Young Artists: Introducing the 2023 cohort of new talents
7pm, 22 March, Royal Overseas League, Park Place, SW1A 1NN. For Young Artist Supporters and members of the Young Artists Circle only.
Established in 2012 to identify and nurture emerging talent, Opera Holland Park’s Young Artists Scheme has launched the careers of scores of singers, directors, conductors and répétiteurs. This annual event is an opportunity to meet and hear our newest artists, to discover how they are preparing for this year’s Young Artists performance of Hansel and Gretel, and to celebrate the far-sighted opera-lovers who support this vital scheme.
For more information, contact development@operahollandpark.com.
Pari siamo: power and powerlessness in Rigoletto
6.30pm, 5 April, Italian Cultural Institute, 39 Belgrave Square, SW1X 8NX
Director Cecilia Stinton, John Allison, editor of Opera magazine, and cultural historian Fay Bound Alberti, author of This Mortal Coil: The Human Body in History and Culture, join Opera Holland Park’s Anna Picard to explore the themes in Verdi’s propulsive tragedy, with music from Stephen Gadd and Fran Hills. Free of charge. Reservation required.
Inside the gingerbread house: the toothsome tale of Hansel and Gretel
6.30pm, 26 April, Biscuiteers Belgravia, 14-15 Eccleston Yards, SW1W 9AZ
Cultural historian Gavin Plumley, food historian Angela Clutton, director John Wilkie and Professor Mererid Puw Davies join Anna Picard to discuss the Grimm Brothers’ fairytale, the genesis of Humperdinck’s opera and the allure of sugar and spice in a calorific collaboration with Biscuiteers Belgravia, with Prosecco and macarons on arrival, music from Paul Carey Jones and Berrak Dyer, and a Jolly Gingerbread to take home. £20 for general public. £15 for Members and Supporters.
Prelude: A celebration of opera and song from our principal artists
6.30pm, 9 May, Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ
The return of our most popular annual pre-Season event sees Opera Holland Park’s principal artists convene in the beautifully restored setting of Leighton House for an evening of music by Verdi, Humperdinck, Puccini, Sullivan and others, the first performance of music from Jonathan Dove’s Itch, and a sparkling reception. Featured singers include Eleanor Dennis, Meeta Raval, James Laing, Katie Bird, Adam Temple-Smith and Stephen Gadd, with pianists Berrak Dyer and Stuart Wild.
£100 for general public, £90 for Members and Supporters.
From page to stage: introducing Itch
6.30pm, 16 May, Opera Holland Park Theatre, Ilchester Place, W8 6LU
Ahead of the world premiere of Itch, composer Jonathan Dove, librettist Alasdair Middleton, director Stephen Barlow and Opera Holland Park’s CEO and Director of Opera James Clutton join Anna Picard in a conversation about transforming the narrative of a best-selling adventure story into an opera, with music from countertenor James Laing.
£15 for general public. £10 for Members and Supporters.
Romance and realism: Puccini’s La bohème
6.30pm, 26 June, Opera Holland Park Theatre, Ilchester Place, W8 6LU
Director Natascha Metherell, conductor George Jackson, critic Robert Thicknesse and cultural historian Claire Lozier join Anna Picard to discuss Puccini’s portrait of life in the Quartier Latin, the history of Paris as a place of romance, and the curious life of Henri Murger, whose stories inspired the opera, with music from Barnaby Rea and Stuart Wild.
£15 for general public. £10 for Members and Supporters.
Ancestral ghosts: an insider’s guide to Ruddigore
6.30pm, 24 July, Opera Holland Park Theatre, Ilchester Place, W8 6LU
Singer and director John Savournin, pianist and conductor David Eaton, critic Robert Thicknesse and singer Stephen Gadd settle in with Opera Holland Park’s Anna Picard to trade tales about things that go bump in the night, daily acts of wickedness, Gothic sensibilities and the lasting appeal of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas.
£15 for general public. £10 for Members and Supporters.
