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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
In a wood near Athens fairies, young lovers and ham actors play havoc in antic hay.
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In a wood near Athens fairies, young lovers and ham actors play havoc in antic hay.
Join the Grange Festival community and stay connected to a world of enchanting performances and exclusive events.
Anthony was educated at St Paul’s School and read Music at Bristol University, where he was also University Organ Scholar. Further studies followed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won the Ricordi Conducting Prize for his performances of Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Viktor Ullmann), and the National Opera Studio, supported by Welsh National Opera.
Anthony is now in demand as a conductor, chorus master and accompanist throughout the UK and Europe. He has worked for many British and European opera companies, including English Touring Opera, The Grange Festival, Garsington Opera, Almeida Opera, Bampton Classical Opera, Opéra National du Rhin (Strasbourg and the Rossini Opera Festival) (Pesaro). He was Organist of St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, and has worked extensively with the Royal School of Church Music. In 2000 he joined English National Opera as a trainee répétiteur, becoming a full member of the music staff later that year.
From 2003 until 2017 he was on the staff of Opera North, initially as Chorus Master, and subsequently as Acting Head of Music and Assistant Head of Music. While on the music staff there he conducted several productions, including The Marriage of Figaro, Così fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, Cautionary Tales! (Errolyn Wallen), The Bartered Bride, L’enfant et les sortilèges (Ravel), The Adventures of Pinocchio (Jonathan Dove), Carousel (Rogers and Hammerstein), Ruddigore (Gilbert & Sullivan) and Joshua (Handel). He was also Chorus Master for the critically acclaimed Grimes On The Beach at the 2013 Aldeburgh Festival.
Since leaving Opera North he has conducted Hansel and Gretel for the Royal Northern College of Music, Dido and Aeneas and Trouble in Tahiti (Bernstein) for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, La Scuoloa di Gelosi (Salieri), Gli Sposi Malcontenti (Storace) Amahl And The Night Visitors (Menotti). He has also appeared with the Chorus and Orchestra of Opera North and Sinfonia Viva in concert, and is Music Director of the British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, and Associate Music Director of Sinfonia of Leeds. He has also worked regularly with the Leeds Festival Chorus, and with Huddersfield Choral Society and The Sixteen, amongst others.
Future plans include a return to Opera North for both concert and opera work, and working with the opera students at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Award winning director, Paul Curran, is one of the most sought after stage directors of his generation. A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, he was Artistic Director of the Norwegian National Opera from 2007 – 2011. As a freelance stage director, his productions have been seen at the highest level internationally, including critically acclaimed productions for La Scala Milan, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera New York.
Engagements in the current and the forthcoming season include Il Trovatore for the Teatro Regio Torino, Carmen for Opera Philadelphia and the Seattle Opera, My Fair Lady for the Teatro di San Carlo, Der fliegende Holländer for the Teatro Comunale di Firenze and The Bartered Bride for Garsington Opera.
Recent production highlights include La Donna del Lago (DVD) Metropolitan Opera, New York; The Tsar’s Bride ROH Covent Garden; La traviata, Carmen Opera Philadelphia; The Golden Cockerel Santa Fe Opera; My Fair Lady Teatro San Carlo Napoli; La Cenerentola Teatro Maestranza Seville; Tristan und Isolde Teatro La Fenice Venice; Death in Venice Garsington Opera; La Donna del Lago Santa Fe Opera; World Premiere of Becoming Santa Claus Dallas Opera; Der Fliegende Holländer Ekaterinburg Opera, Bolshoi Theatre Moscow Golden Mask Festival; Man of La Mancha Utah Opera, Faramondo Göttingen Händel Festival, Brisbane Baroque Festival; Die Zauberflöte for Norwegian National Opera; Rusalka at the New National Theatre Tokyo; Pagliacci Royal Danish Opera, Norwegian National Opera; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Tosca and Otello Canadian Opera Company; Albert Herring Los Angeles Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Les Arts Valencia, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Peter Grimes Savonlinna Opera Festival; Baden Baden 1927 Gotham Chamber Opera NY; La Boheme Wolftrap
Other directorial credits include: Tannhäuser Teatro alla Scala, Milan; La Bohème, Billy Budd, Albert Herring and Peter Grimes Santa Fe Opera; Die Frau ohne Schatten and Lulu Chicago Lyric Opera; Ariadne auf Naxos Flanders Opera Antwerp, I Lombardi Teatro Comunale Florence; Die Fledermaus and L’Incoronazione di Poppea Royal College of Music, London; Ariadne auf Naxos and Daphne (DVD) Teatro La Fenice, Venice; Chérubin (DVD) Cagliari; Peter Grimes and Otello Teatro Giuseppe Verdi, Trieste; Tosca Canadian Opera; Peter Grimes Washington Opera and Otello Welsh National Opera; Pastorale (world premiere) Stuttgart Opera; Il Trovatore (DVD) Teatro dell’Opera, Rome, Teatro Comunale, Bologna and Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo; Tristan und Isolde BBC Symphony Orchestra; La Finta Giardiniera Garsington Opera; I Capuleti e i Montecchi Spoleto Festival USA; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Die Königskinder (Humperdinck) which won the Italian Critics’ Prize, Premio Abbiati, La Statira (Cavalli) and La Cenerentola (DVD) Teatro San Carlo, Naples; Mirandolina (Martinu) and Eva (Foerster) Wexford Festival; The Miserly Knight (Rachmaninov) and Eine Florentinische Tragödie (Zemlinsky) Teatro Sao Carlos, Lisbon; Prince Igor and Tosca Mariinsky Theatre; the British premiere of Kullervo (Aulis Sallinen) and I Gioielli della Madonna (Wolf-Ferrari) UCO London; Hamlet with designer Vivienne Westwood for the Clerkenwell Music Series, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Man of La Mancha at the Covent Garden Festival (also recorded on CD), A Little Night Music Columbus Ohio, The Bear (Chekhov) and The Rehearsal (a new play, both as writer and director) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at Disney Hall.
Gabriella Ingram trained as a theatre designer at Wimbledon School of Art. She has designed costumes for baroque and Indian dance, circus, fashion shoots, plays and TV commercials but she primarily works with opera companies.
She has designed shows for the Teatro Maggio Florence, Herod Atticus Theatre Acropolis Athens, Chateau de Blois and Chambord France, Teatro Massimo Palermo, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Palau de les Arts Valencia, Oldenburgisches Staatstheater and in London at Sadlers Wells, Holland Park Opera, Royal Opera House Linbury Studio, The South Bank Centre- Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, Almeida Theatre, Lyric Theatre, Royal College of Music and the Swan Theatre Stratford upon Avon. Gabriella also costume supervises for productions at the Opera de Lausanne, Opera de Oviedo, Dallas Opera, New York Broadway, Wiener Staatsoper, Goettingen Handel Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Garsington Opera and London’s West End.
She is based in London and Bibbiena Italy where she also designs handbags.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1973) in London and for almost 50 years working in Opera, Ballet, Musicals and Theatre worldwide including the London West End and on Broadway in New York.
Long associations in the UK with Glyndebourne Opera, English National Opera, The Royal Opera Covent Garden, National Theatre, English National Ballet, Chichester Festival, The Donmar Warehouse and The Almeida Theatre.
Work worldwide includes productions in America (Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington), Australia, Austria, Denmark, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Monte Carlo, New Zealand, Russia (Bolshoi and Mariinsky), Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke is the winner of the 2019 Guildhall Gold Medal and prize winner in the 2019 Grange Festival International Singing Competition. Samantha studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, as a Sir John Fisher Foundation and Independent Opera Scholar, under the tutelage of Mary Plazas.
She is a recent graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Opera School as a Baroness de Turckheim Scholar, Help Musicians, Tait Memorial and Countess of Munster Trust Scholar and studied with Yvonne Kenny.
In addition to the 2019 Guildhall Gold Medal, Samantha is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Leverhulme Royal Northern College of Music Award, the Dame Eva Turner Award and the Michael and Joyce Kennedy Award for the singing of Strauss. Samantha was awarded a 2017 RNCM Gold Medal and the Nora Goodridge Developing Artist Award through the Australian Music Foundation for 2017/18 and 2018/19.
The list of conductors and directors she has already worked with include Grahama Abbott, Ian Page, David Bates, Anthony Kraus, Mark Tatlow, Dominic Wheeler, Matthew Richardson, Timothy Redmond, Martin Lloyd-Evans and Olly Platt.
Her operatic roles include: Helena and Tytania A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte, Anne Trulove The Rake’s Progress, The Governess The Turn of the Screw , Georgiana Georgiana, Anna Gomez The Consul, Theodora Theodora, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni, Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Countess Le Nozze di Figaro, and Beth Little Women.
Recent and future engagements include her Proms debut in Mozart Requiem, Messiah and War Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in Tasmania, Golden Cockerel at the Adelaide Festival, Marzelline Fidelio and Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young, Flower Maiden Parsifal at Opera North, Tytania Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Grange Festival, Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte at Dorset Opera and The Grange Festival.
Samantha features on the Resonus’ newly released album Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs with accompanist Dylan Perez.
Alexander Chance was born in London in 1992, and educated at New College, Oxford, where he was a Choral Scholar and read Classics, graduating with a first-class degree and a university prize for Latin. During his time as a student, many opportunities for solo performances came his way all over the world – most notably in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, where he sang the alto arias in Bach’s St John Passion. He made a number of recordings with the New College Choir, including a disc of the Symphony Anthems by John Blow, on which he featured heavily as a soloist. At university he also developed a love of ensemble singing, especially of Renaissance works, and he continues to devote some of his busy concert schedule to this repertoire with groups such as The Tallis Scholars, Vox Luminis and The Gesualdo Six.
Recent solo appearances include Handel’s Triumph of Time and Truth at King’s Place in London with Edward Higginbottom and The Instruments of Time and Truth; Purcell’s King Arthur at Stour Music with Mark Deller; Messiah with Richard Cooke at Canterbury Cathedral; Bach’s St John Passion with Vox Luminis and Café Zimmermann; Christmas Oratorio with Robert Quinney at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford; Bach’s Magnificat with Edward Higginbottom at King’s Place; St Matthew Passion with Geraint Bowen at Hereford Cathedral; the role of ‘Micah’ in Handel’s Samson at Stour Music; Bach’s B Minor Mass at Utrecht Early Music Festival; works by Arvo Pärt at Nargenfestival in Tallinn; and regularly in Oxford with Tom Hammond-Davies and the Oxford Bach Soloists. In summer 2019, Alexander performed solo songs by the 20th Century Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi at the Salzburg Festival; a recital for solo countertenor by JC Bach, Schütz and others at Musikfest Bremen; and toured a programme of lute songs with the lutenist Toby Carr in Germany and Holland, featuring works by John Dowland, John Danyel and Thomas Campion.
2019/2020 solo projects include recording Bach Cantatas and touring St Matthew Passion with the Freiburger Barockorchester; Handel’s Messiah in Estonia with Voces Musicales, and in Saarbrücken with Le Concert Lorrain; and a recital with tenor Guy Cutting and pianist Roger Vignoles in Norfolk.
Originally from Malta, Chris trained at Central School of Ballet in London, where he graduated with BA (Hons) Degree in 2012. He then went on to study a postgraduate diploma in contemporary dance at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Chris’ credits include Phoenix Dance Theatre; New Adventures’ Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake; Jaschiu in Garsington Opera’s Death in Venice; Puck in Palau De Les Arts’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as its revival at Teatro Massimo; Mercury in the Royal Opera House’s Adriana Lecouvreur; Salzburg Festival’s Ariodante (2017); Theater St Gallen’s Premiere performances of On The Town, and its revival at Gärtnerplatz Theater. Chris is very excited to be revisiting the role of Puck for The Grange festival.
Roberto Lorenzi is a graduate of the “Luigi Boccherini” Institute of Musical Studies in Lucca, Italy. He won the First Prize in the AsLiCo’s Competition and took part at Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival and the Opernhaus Zürich International Opera Studio graduating in 2015. In these years he performed: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (F. Luisi conducting; DVD for Accentus), Médée by Charpentier (W. Christie conducting), Otello, Orlando Paladino, Il matrimonio segreto, La Straniera, La Cenerentola, Il Viaggio a Reims, Le Comte Ory, Carmen and La Clemenza di Tito (O. Dantone conducting).
Lorenzi made his La Scala debut in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of La Bohème, under the baton of Daniele Rustioni. Elsewhere he appeared in Tosca, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni (title role) in Lucca; Alidoro in La Cenerentola in Tuscany and Lille; Ferrando in Il Trovatore for AsLiCo circuit; Der fliegende Holländer in Rome, Bologna, Turin; Don Giovanni in Tel Aviv; Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in Pesaro; La Straniera in Amsterdam; I Puritani in Palermo; La Cenerentola (Alidoro) in Martigny, Lecce and on tour; Il Viaggio a Reims at the Musikverein in Vienna; Carmen in Rome; Don Giovanni in Bologna; Il Trovatore in Fermo and Jesi; Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Grange Festival in London; Verdi’s Requiem in Pisa; Mozart’s Requiem in Lucca and Händel’s Messiah in Madrid, Gdansk and Sevilla with Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante; Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Verdi Orchestra in Milan. Future plans: Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in Nice and Antibes; Leporello at the Guangzhou Opera House; Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Norske Opera in Oslo.
Mezzo-Soprano Angharad Lyddon is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, having studied with Janice Chapman, Audrey Hyland and Glenville Hargreaves on the college’s Advanced Diploma in Opera, B. Mus and M. A. degree courses. She continues to study with Janice Chapman.
While at the college, her roles for Royal Academy Opera included Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, Baba the Turk in The Rake's Progress, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin, Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillon and Polinesso in Ariodante. In opera scenes, she performed the Title Role in Carmen, 1st Maid in Elektra, Nancy in Albert Herring, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice, Older Woman in Flight and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro.
Angharad made her professional début for English National Opera in 2015 as Kate in Pirates of Penzance and performed the role again in their 2017 revival. She sang the role of Daughter of Akhnaten in their 2019 revival of Phelim McDermott’s Olivier Award-winning production, Akhnaten. She has also understudied Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Perdita in The Winter’s Tale and Schoolboy, Dresser and Waiter in Lulu for the company.
Other operatic roles include Olga in Eugene Onegin at the 2019 Buxton International Festival and Flosshilde in Das Rheingold for Grimeborn Festival in 2019, Hansel in Iford Arts’ 2018 Education Project, entitled ‘Gingerbread’, based on Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel, Suzuki in Madam Butterfly for Salon Opera, Julia Bertram in Mansfield Park for The Grange Festival, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro for Clonter Opera and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte at the Åbo Svenska Theater in Finland. She was a Jerwood Young Artist at Glyndebourne in 2013 and in 2016, sang Woodpecker in Cunning Little Vixen and covered Hermia. Other covered roles include Polinesso in Ariodante and Alto in Trauernacht, a staging of Bach Cantatas, for Festival d'Aix en Provence.
Angharad is a Samling Artist and among her concert highlights are performances at the Wigmore Hall, Stravinsky's The Faun and the Shepherdess and Requiem Canticles with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Bach Cantatas with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall. Recent concert performances include recitals at St David’s Hall, Cardiff and the Cowbridge Music Festival, the roles of Marta and Pantalis in a concert performance of Boito's Mefistofele for the Chelsea Opera Group at the Southbank Centre, a tour of Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Cardiff, St Davids and Berlin, Mahler 2 with the Horsham Symphony Orchestra, a concert celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth with the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera and BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC NOW’s St David’s Day concert.
Angharad represented Wales in the 2019 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and was a Finalist in the Song Prize competition.
Other awards include Semi Finalist at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition, 2nd prize at the International Voice of the Future, Llangollen International Eisteddfod, 3rd prize at Das Lied International Song Competition 2015 and Finalist and Maureen Leharne Competition, Wigmore Hall.
Recent engagements include Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Musico in Manon Lescaut for The Grange Festival and Olga in West Green House Opera’s Eugene Onegin.
Peter Kirk’s current and recent engagements include return to Lyon Opera as Funkchen Irrelohe and to the Grange Festival as Lysander Midsummer Night’s Dream and as Leonard Meryll The Yeomen of the Guard. At the Nederlandse Reisopera Enschede, Kirk debuts the role of Valère Les Indes galantes*, Hotel Porter Death in Venice at the Opéra du Rhin Strasbourg and at the Bergen National Opera, Second Jew Salome at Edinburgh Festival.
Peter Kirk’s recent season’s engagements included his appearances as Fünkchen Irrelohe in Opera de Lyon, at the Vienna Volksoper as Charlie Cameron Brigadoon, Tobias Ragg Sweeney Todd at the Bergen National Opera, and performances at the Grafenegg Festival under Maestro Yutaka Sado, Jubilee Hall Aldeburgh, Opera de Tours and Nevill Holt Opera, Sailor Dido and Aeneas with Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, Münchner Symphoniker, Pasek The Cunning Little Vixen l’Opéra national du Rhin.
Mr. Kirk made his debuts with Nederlandse Reisopera as Mr Erlanson in A Little Night Music, with Opéra National de Lyon as Nereo in Mefistofele, and with Opera de Tours and Nevill Holt Opera singing Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He performed Tamino Die Zauberflöte at the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra and Münchner Symphoniker under the musical direction of David Reilandfor and with the Opera Up Close under Yutaka Sado. Kirk took on the role of Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opéra Nomade and Sailor in Dido and Aeneas at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.
Mr. Kirk’s Royal Opera Covent Garden critically acclaimed debut took place in 2015 as Chulak in Bruce’s The Firework-Maker’s Daughter. Other engagements of note include Judas Maccabeus with the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra in Katowice, Dichterliebe at the Wiltshire Music Centre, Antonio in Das Liebesverbot at l'Opera National du Rhin and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Hyogo Arts Centre, Japan.
Kirk has performed Lucano in L’incoronazione di Poppea for English Touring Opera, Charlie in Mahagonny Songspiel with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Congressional Page Two Boys for English National Opera, Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Jubilee Hall Aldeburgh, Pasek in The Cunning Little Vixen with l’Opéra national du Rhin, 3rd Jew in Salomé, and the role of Paolino in Il Matrimonio Segreto in a UK tour.
Described as “ruling the stage” (Opera Magazine) in his debut as Pluto last season in English National Opera’s new production of Orpheus in the Underworld, British baritone Alex Otterburn delights audiences and critics alike with his bright tone and commanding stage presence. As an ENO Harewood Artist, Alex has appeared as Morales in Calixto Bieito’s production of Carmen conducted by Valentina Peleggi, and Squibby in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitehall, conducted by Martyn Brabbins. He returns this season in his debut as Ned Keene in David Alden’s production of Peter Grimes, conducted by Nicholas Collon.
Alex’s critically acclaimed debut as Eddy in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek at the Edinburgh International Festival defined him as an exciting and important artist of the new generation, with further performances given in Glasgow for Scottish Opera and on tour to the Brooklyn Academy of Arts, marking his US operatic debut. Further successes have included Chip in Antony McDonald’s new production of On the Town at the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre and on tour in Tokyo, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos for both Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park, Pallante in Agrippina for The Grange Festival, and his company debut at Opera North as Cascada in The Merry Widow under Martin André.
Blessed with “a lustrous voice, full of expression” (The Financial Times), Angela Simkin, originally from Lincoln, began her training at the Royal Northern College of Music, furthering her studies at the Royal College of Music, where she was a member of the International Opera School and an Ian Evans Lombe Scholar, studying with Dinah Harris.
She is a Britten Pears Young Artist, and also acknowledges support from the Josephine Baker Trust, the Norrah Popple Award, the Boris Christoff International Award for Young Singers, the Georg Solti Accademia, the Mario Lanza Society, the Verbier Festival and the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
At the Royal College of Music, Angela Simkin sang Nancy Albert Herring, Second Lady Die Zauberflöte, Concepción L’heure espagnole and Madama la Rose La Gazzetta, as well as singing Teseo Arianna in Creta and Iside Giove in Argo for the London Handel Festival.
Concert engagements have included Lucilla Il vologeso and Messiah for The Mozartists, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Orion Orchestra at London’s Cadogan Hall, Berlioz Les Nuits d’Été and Mahler Kindertotenlieder with Lucy Colquhoun at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and St John’s, Smith Square, Messiah with the London Handel Orchestra and Raymond Gubbay Ltd at London’s Royal Festival Hall, the Nelson Mass at both The Music Hall, Aberdeen, and The Snape Maltings, Mozart Requiem with the Orion Orchestra and Opera Galas with the Southbank Sinfonia and the Ten Tors Orchestra.
During the 2016 / 2017 and 2017 / 2018 seasons, Angela Simkin was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where she sang Mlle Dangeville Adriana Lecouvreur, the title role in Handel’s Oreste (at Wilton’s Music Hall), Second Lady Die Zauberflöte, Annina Der Rosenkavalier, Tebaldo Don Carlo and Flora Bervoix La traviata.
Her engagements have since included sang Second Woman / Second Witness / Second Singer Lessons in Love and Violence at the 2019 Stars of the White Nights Festival, St Petersburg, a return to the Royal Opera, London, to sing Mercédès Carmen and Flosshilde Das Rheingold / Götterdämmerung, Mercédès Carmen for Welsh National Opera, The Angel in Rubensteins’s The Demon for Chelsea Opera Group, and Siegrune Die Walküre with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Orion Orchestra at London’s Cadogan Hall.
Her recordings include Dorcas Haddon Hall with the BBC Concert Orchestra on Dutton Epoch SACD, selected as Critic’s Choice by Opera News, and Lucilla Il Vologeso with The Mozartists on Signum CD.
Angela Simkin made her debut at The Grange Festival as Meg Page Falstaff, returning as Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Scottish soprano Eleanor Dennis is a graduate of the Royal College of Music’s International Opera School and a former Harewood Artist at the English National Opera.
This season Eleanor makes her debut for The Grange Festival as Helena in a new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Her recent engagements have included Contessa Le nozze di Figaro for Scottish Opera and the English National Opera; Fiordiligi Così fan tutte for Opera Holland Park; Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw for Opera North; Helena at the Aldeburgh Festival and for the English National Opera; Micaëla Carmen for the English National Opera; Cominio in Caldara’s Lucio Papirio Dittatore for the Buxton Festival and Ginevra Ariodante for the Salzburger Landestheater.
On the concert platform, her engagements include Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (CBSO/Andrew Manze); Britten’s A Spring Symphony (Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra/Cornelius Meister & BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Ilan Volkov); Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Three Choirs Festival); Haydn’s Harmoniemesse (Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir András Schiff); Elgar’s Une Voix dans le Désert (CBSO/Andris Nelsons); Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins) and Beethoven’s Egmont (BBC Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena), Missa Solemnis (Three Choirs Festival & RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland/Macelaru), Christus am Ölberge (Bamberger Symphoniker/Rolf Beck) and Symphony No. 9 (Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España/David Afkham).
British bass James Platt was educated at Chetham’s School of Music and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music and the Opera Course of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden from 2014-2016.
Recent highlights have included Bottom in a new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Crespel Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia for the Deutsche Oper, Berlin; Sarastro Die Zauberflöte and Sparafucile Rigoletto for the Welsh National Opera; Ortel Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for Teatro alla Scala, Milan; First Soldier Salome for the Dutch National Opera; Il Commendatore Don Giovanni for Opera North; Dr Grenvil La traviata and Gremin Eugene Onegin for Scottish Opera and Notary Don Pasquale at the Glyndebourne Festival.
His concert appearances include Il Re in a European tour of Ariodante and Bach’s Weihnachts-oratorium with Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski, Shostakovich’s Four Romances on Poems by Pushkin with the Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Royal Northern Sinfonia/Lars Vogt, Handel’s Messiah with the Hallé Orchestra/Christian Curnyn, Verdi’s Requiem with the Orchestre National de Lyon/Leonard Slatkin, Dvorak’s Requiem with the BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jiri Belohlavek, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at the BBC Proms with the BBC Singers/David Hill and Nino’s Ghost in Rossini’s Semiramide also at the BBC Proms with the OAE/Sir Mark Elder
A recent graduate of the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and recipient of a number of major awards, British bass William Thomas is fast making a name for himself as one of today’s most promising young singers.
As a Jerwood Young Artist he sang the role of Nicholas in the British premiere of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa at the Glyndebourne Festival, he has sung Shepherd Pelléas et Mélisande for Garsington Opera and he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera as Snug in a new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other recent engagements have included Zweiter Priester/Zweiter Geharnischter Die Zauberflöte for Glyndebourne and Colline La bohème at Alexandra Palace for the English National Opera.
Upcoming engagements include Ashby La fanciulla del West with the Verbier Festival Orchestra/Valery Gergiev; Priest/Badger/Harašta in concert performances of The Cunning Little Vixen with the CBSO/Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla; Parsi Rustomji Satyagraha, Sciarrone Tosca and Colline La bohème for the English National Opera; a return to Glyndebourne and debuts with the Opéra de Rouen Normandie and the Opéra national de Paris.
Concert engagements have included Bach’s Johannes-Passion with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/Sir John Eliot Gardiner; Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestra of the English National Opera/Laurence Cummings; Bartok’s Cantata Profana with the London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre national de Lyon/Alan Gilbert.
Recent highlights have included his debut at the Royal Opera House in a new production of Shostakovich’s The Nose directed by Barry Kosky; Hans Schwarz Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg and Snug A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Glyndebourne Festival Opera); Quince A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stadttheater Klagenfurt); Snug A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Teatro Massimo Palermo & Aldeburgh Festival); Marchese d’Obigny La Traviata (Longborough Festival Opera); and he joins the roster of the Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv. In the current season Mr Goronwy returns to Welsh National Opera, English National Opera and Scottish Opera.
Previous seasons’ highlights have included Snug A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Opera North; Garsington Opera; Longborough Festival); Bass Roles The Nose (Aix-en-Provence Festival & Opera de Lyon); Bass Roles The Martyrdom of Saint Magnus (Den Norske Opera/Oslo Kammermusikkfestival); Rodrigo Gloria von Jaxtberg (Bregenzer Festspiele & ROH); Pistola Falstaff, Antonio Le nozze di Figaro, and Doctor/Herald/Servant Macbeth (Glyndebourne on Tour); Sarastro Die Zauberflöte, Dikoj Kát’a Kabanova & Osmin Die Entfürung aus dem Serail (English Touring Opera); Sarastro Die Zauberflöte, Gremin Eugene Onegin and Micha The Bartered Bride (Mid Wales Opera); Osmin Die Entfürung aus dem Serail, Caspar/Hermit Der Freischütz, Alvise Badoero La Gioconda, King Filippo Don Carlo, title role Mefistofele, Gremin Eugene Onegin (Opera Valladolid). Subsequent roles include Don Magnifico La Cenerentola, Banquo Macbeth, Ferrando Il Trovatore, Sparafucile Rigoletto, Sacristan Tosca, Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Vodnik Rusalka, Talpa, Betto and Simone Il Trittico, Truffaldino Ariadne auf Naxos, Tiresias Oedipus Rex, Zio Bonzo Madama Butterfly, Bartolo Le nozze di Figaro, and the title role Falstaff.
Engagements have seen him feature as guest soloist with orchestras including London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Royal Opera House, Opera de Lyon, Kristiansand Symfoniorkester with conductors including Sir Andrew Davis, Kazushi Ono, Vladimir Jurowski, Robin Ticciati, Steuart Bedford, Jonathan Cohen, Stuart Stratford, Daniel Cohen, Terje Boye Hansen, and Alexander Soddy.
Acclaimed for the clarity and beauty of his singing and dynamic stage presence, British tenor Gwilym Bowen performs internationally with orchestras and ensembles of the highest calibre.
Recent highlights have included Bach in the San Francisco Bay Area with Philharmonia Baroque; a role debut as Flute in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opéra de Lille; returning to BBC National Orchestra of Wales as Evangelist for Bach’s St Matthew Passion; debuts with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Norske Blåseensemble; and returning to perform with Concerto Copenhagen and the Academy of Ancient Music.
With repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the contemporary, with a specialist interest in Bach, Monteverdi and Handel, his operatic highlights include Damon Acis and Galatea and multiple roles in both L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno d’Ulisse with Academy of Ancient Music; Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Giove / Eurimaco Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria for The Grange Festival; Father in Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe with The Mozartists; Valletto L’incoronazione di Poppea for Angers Nantes Opéra; Sylph Zaïs with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Concert engagements have included B Minor Mass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Christmas Oratorio across Australia with Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Evangelist in the St John Passion with John Butt and BBC National Orchestra of Wales; the St Matthew Passion for Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and De Nederlandse Bachvereniging; J. S. Bach Cantatas with Masaaki Suzuki at Lincoln Center; Messiah with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Hanover Band, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra and West Australian Symphony Orchestra; Monteverdi and Schütz with the Dunedin Consort; Das Lied von der Erde with the City of London Sinfonia; and Ernst Wilhelm Wolf’s Passionsoratorium with Die Kölner Akademie.
His recordings include B Minor Mass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Hyperion), St John Passion with De Nederlandse Bachvereniging (All of Bach); Petrus Brockes Passion with Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) and Concerto Copengagen (cpo); and the world premiere recording of Dussek’s Messe solemnelle (AAM).
Born in Hereford, Gwilym Bowen was a choral scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with double-First class honours in Music, before studying at London’s Royal Academy of Music.
His current engagements include J. S. Bach Christmas Oratorio with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; the St John Passion with Academy of Ancient Music and Britten Sinfonia; the St Matthew Passion with Music of the Baroque, Chicago; Britten War Requiem with Croatian Radio Televison Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano; Alexander’s Feast with La Scintilla; Jephtha with Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra; Messiah with Polyphony; La Resurrezzione with Concerto Copenhagen; and Zelenka Te Deum with Les Ambassadeurs.
British baritone Johnny Herford is known for his fearless and passionate commitment to new approaches in opera. This has led him to premiere main roles in operas by Philip Glass, Pascal Dusapin, Péter Eötvös and Maxwell Davies and to collaborate with dancers, multimedia elements and act multiple roles in quick succession.
In 2014, Johnny was asked to create the central role of Josef K in Philip Glass's adaptation of The Trial by Kafka. This opened in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to five star reviews and Johnny's performance led to him being nominated for Best Male Performance in an Opera at the Welsh Theatre Awards.
Johnny has relished his collaborations with Mike McCarthy and Music Theatre Wales, which have seen him search for a missing tooth in Eötvös's The Golden Dragon, sing neo-baroque extended techniques from the top of a ladder in Passion by Pascal Dusapin, and most recently perform Philip Venables's score of Denis and Katya to an in-ear click track in sync with cellists from the London Sinfonietta, while switching between six different onstage personas.
Other operatic highlights have included roles in Deborah Warner's production of Billy Budd for Opera di Roma, Bernard Herman's Wuthering Heights for Opéra national de Lorraine, The Traveller in Curlew River for Opéra de Dijon, Samuel for a run of Mike Leigh's production of The Pirates of Penzance for English National Opera, understudying the role of Pelléas for Welsh National Opera and his recent American debut for Opera Philadelphia.
Johnny's lifelong love of song has been developed in a long and fruitful duo partnership with William Vann, with whom he won the Song Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Competition and the Jean Meikle Duo Prize at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. Will is the founder and curator of the London English Song Festival and Johnny has enjoyed many performances with Will's inventive programming. Johnny has collaborated with other outstanding recital pianists including James Ballieu at the invitation of the Wigmore Hall, Gary Matthewman for his Lied in London series, Libby Burgess for the Oxford Lieder Festival and her New Paths Festival and Joseph Middleton in the Leeds Lieder Festival.