7th May 2013
Join us for an evening of opera in support of Perth College’s Alzheimer’s Family Study at Methven Castle (pictured) near Perth on Wednesday 15 May 2013.
ETO soloists Paula Sides (Despina in our current production of Così fan tutte) and Cozmin Sime (Edward III in The Siege of Calais) will sing a selection of arias and duets from operas including The Magic Flute, La traviata, Eugene Onegin and Handel’s Agrippina.
To book your place call 01738 877275 or email: finla.chalmers@perth.uhi.ac.uk.
Evening’s programme
Der Freischütz (Weber)
Kommt ein schlanker Bursch gegangen (Paula Sides)
I puritani (Bellini)
Ah! per sempre (Cozmin Sime)
La traviata (Verdi)
Duet (Paula Sides and Cozmin Sime)
Werther (Massenet)
Frère! Voyez! (Paula Sides)
Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)
Kogda bi zhizn domashnim krugom (Cozmin Sime)
Agrippina (Handel)
Bel piacere (Paula Sides)
Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
Duet for Papageno and Papagena (Paula Sides and Cozmin Sime)
26th April 2013
Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham is upgrading its box office system from Sunday 28 April – Wednesday 1 May: during this time ticket sales will be suspended.
The box office is scheduled to re-open at midday on Wednesday 1 May.
Customers wishing to purchase tickets for ETO’s performances of Cosi fan tutte on Tuesday 30 April and Simon Boccanegra on Wednesday 1 May may do so in person on the day of the event at the Everyman Theatre box office.
Please note that during the upgrade period sales at the box office will be cash only.
11th April 2013
ETO’s ambitious and critically-acclaimed Autumn 2012 season has been shortlisted for the prestigious RPS Music Award for Opera and Music Theatre.
The season saw ETO collaborating with Aurora Orchestra on a nationwide tour of three highly theatrical twentieth-century operas – one paired with a staging of an eighteenth-century cantata.
The tour extended the company’s mission to bring opera to all by presenting opportunities for audiences at regional theatres and opera houses to see full-scale performances of strongly diverse and unusual works.
During the season, ETO toured new productions of Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring, Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse, and a paired staging of Viktor Ullmann’s short opera The Emperor of Atlantis and the Bach cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden.
ETO has been nominated for RPS Music awards in the past, but this is the first time the company has been shortlisted for the Opera and Music Theatre award. It is also rare that RPS chooses to celebrate a season of work, rather than individual operas.
The annual RPS Music Awards, presented in association with BBC Radio 3, are the highest recognition for live classical music in the UK. Awards, in thirteen categories, are decided by independent panels consisting of some of the music industry’s most distinguished practitioners.
The awards honour musicians, composers, writers, broadcasters and inspirational arts organisations. The list of previous winners reads like a Who’s Who of classical music.
This year’s RPS Music Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in 2012. The winners of all thirteen categories are revealed in May at a dinner at the Dorchester Hotel, London. The Opera and Music Theatre award is donated by the Incorporated Society of Musicians.
James Conway, ETO’s General Director, said: “I am honoured and delighted that the RPS has acknowledged our extraordinary – and risky – Autumn season of opera. Apart from scale, the three operas could hardly be more different, and we succeeded at least inasmuch as the productions reflected this.”
He added: “The most important award for this season was the warm and reassuring response of audiences all around the country. They said to us, in effect – ‘we aren’t in London, but we are relieved you take us seriously!’ ETO does take opera seriously – and the recognition of the RPS is very gratifying.”
John Harte, Chief Executive of Aurora Orchestra, said: “It’s difficult to overstate the importance of English Touring Opera’s contribution to the UK’s musical landscape. The autumn 2012 season seemed to me to epitomise the very best of what the company offers: outstanding quality; bold and innovative programming; and an ambitious commitment to the development of new audiences.”
He added: ‘In any circumstances we’d have been delighted to be part of three wonderful new productions, but ETO’s achievement in bringing these operas to such a wide and varied national audience meant that this was a particularly special project.’
ETO’s Autumn 2012 season was made possible thanks to the support of Arts Council England , Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and The Emperor of Atlantis Production Syndicate. We are extremely grateful for their support.
1st March 2013
People with dementia are tuning up for their moment in the spotlight as they work with English Touring Opera to put on a musical showcase at Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre.
They are penning their own songs to take part in Turtle Song, a project also involving WAVE – the museums, galleries and archives of Wolverhampton – and Wolverhampton City Council’s older people’s service.
Working with a writer, composer and musicians from ETO and taking their inspiration from pieces of art from WAVE’s collection, up to 30 people with dementia are busy writing their lyrics and music which will be performed before a specially-invited audience of family and friends at the Grand Theatre in April.
The arts, and particularly music, can have a profound effect on people with dementia, benefitting their health and well-being in many ways including helping to delay the progress of the disease.
Thanh Sinden, WAVE’s Arts and Social Care Coordinator, said: “Through our Arts and Social Care programme we’re seen that engaging people with the arts really transforms the lives of people with dementia – and this project is proving to be no different.
“We’ve held two writing sessions so far and those who have taken part are doing really well – they are getting fully involved and contributing to the composition of the songs.
“We’ve almost finished the first couple of songs, one which has been inspired by keys from our collection and the other inspired by masks from Africa and the Pacific Islands, and we’ll be working on more over the coming weeks.”
The collaboration continues over the coming weeks with regular writing sessions at the Molineux Hotel, and the final piece is due to be premiered at the Grand Theatre on Wednesday 17 April, 2013.
The project is a long-term partnership, now entering its sixth year, with Turtle Key Arts and the Royal College of Music.
28th February 2013
Carlos del Cueto, ETO’s Spring 2013 Assistant Conductor, has been awarded one of the BBC Performing Arts Fund’s inaugural Music Fellowships, giving him a unique opportunity to develop as a professional conductor.
The position of Assistant Conductor at ETO sees Carlos playing an important role in both the Spring season and this Autumn’s season of Venetian Baroque, working under the guidance of professional mentors such as ETO Music Director Michael Rosewell to develop his skills, showcase his work and experience the reality of working in the music industry.
Carlos will join ETO on the road throughout the coming Spring season, providing vital support to the season’s three principal conductors, including rehearsing cover singers and acting as a stand-by conductor for all three of ETO’s main-stage operas, Così fan tutte, Simon Boccanegra and The Siege of Calais. He has also been confirmed as conductor in his own right for at least six performances this season, in Norwich (Tue 26 March), Crawley (Tue 2 April), Poole (Fri 5 April), Cheltenham (Tue 30 April and Sat 4 May) and Cambridge (Wed 22 May).
To receive the funding necessary to provide the placement, ETO had to demonstrate that a Fellowship placement would offer significant professional development opportunities for a Fellow, that the placement would be realistic and achievable, and that the selection process to identify the Fellow was fair and transparent.
The Music Fellowship granted to Carlos is one of 19 such awards made across the UK, with a total of £190,000 awarded to a range of artists in bespoke placements, from a singer working with Urban Development in East London to a series of creative workshops in Whitley Bay in North Tyneside.
The BBC Performing Arts Fund is a registered charity originally set up as the Fame Academy Bursary Trust in 2003. The fund receives revenue from the voting lines of BBC One entertainment programmes that seek to find new performing talent, including The Voice, and has allocated to date more than £4 million to talented performing arts individuals and community groups.
25th February 2013
English Touring Opera is delighted to have won two of the four awards in whatsonstage.com’s annual opera poll, one of the few opera awards chosen not by committee, but by the opera-going audience.
ETO won in the following categories: –
1 Best revival: Eugene Onegin
2 Most Outstanding Contribution to London’s Operatic Scene: for an innovative and eclectic Autumn season.
James Conway, General Director of English Touring Opera said: “I’m honoured English Touring Opera has been recognised by the readers of whatsonstage.com for these two awards. It’s particularly satisfying that both Eugene Onegin, part of our large-scale Spring tour, and the Britten, Ullmann and Maxwell Davies operas in our adventurous Autumn season, have struck a chord with the people who matter – the opera-going audience. With our new Spring tour opening at Hackney Empire on Saturday 2nd March, we hope we can bring as much enjoyment to audiences around the country in the upcoming year.”
Keith McDonnell, opera editor at whatsonstage.com added, “Once again the whatsonstage.com Opera Poll has caught the imagination of the opera going public, and all of us at whatsonstage.com were delighted to see that well over 1000 people voted in this year’s Poll. All the winners and runners-up more than deserve their accolades, and it’s heartening to see that the opera companies went out of their way, mostly through social media, to reach out to their audiences, and encourage the voting process.”
Many thanks to everyone who voted for us.
The other winners were: –
Most Outstanding Achievement in a Main Role: Sarah Connolly for Octavian in ENO’s revival of Der Rosenkavalier.
Best New Opera Production: Laurent Pelly’s Ravel Double Bill for Glyndebourne.
30th January 2013
Venice, Queen of the Sea and centre of a vast trading empire, was also the origin of opera as we know it – a mixture of music and drama, nobles and comics, senses and spirit.
In Autumn 2013 English Touring Opera will tour three different operas written for Venice, and inspired by its humours – written by three composers of musical genius and theatricality.
In Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea political power and lust triumph over virtue, wonderfully. The same characters are viewed comically in Handel’s virtuosic bedroom farce, Agrippina. Lesser known now, Cavalli was the master of Venetian opera, and his ironic take on the hero of the Golden Fleece, Jason, is his most seductive work.
Alongside these very different operas, ETO singers and period musicians will collaborate with local choirs on performances of sacred music by Handel and Vivaldi.
Booking opens 11 February 2013
Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, London
Sat 28 September; Thu 3 – Sat 12 October 2013
Box office 0844 412 4314
Booking opens soon (more dates to be announced)
Please check back over the next few months for booking dates and further information.
Snape Maltings Concert Hall (Thu 17 – Sat 19 Oct)
Theatre Royal Bath (Mon 28 – Tue 29 Oct)
Harrogate Theatre (Thu 31 Oct – Sat 2 Nov)
Gala Theatre, Durham (Mon 4 – Wed 6 Nov)
Buxton Opera House (Fri 8 – Sat 9 Nov)
Exeter Northcott (Wed 20 – Sat 23 Nov)
Concerts at: Rochester Cathedral (Tue 15 Oct), Holy Cross Church, Crediton (Sun 27 Oct), St Wilfrid’s Church, Harrogate (Sun 3 Nov), Firth Hall, Sheffield (Sun 10 Nov), St Mary’s Church, Warwick (Tue 12 Nov), Exeter Cathedral (Sun 24 Nov). More to be announced.
25th January 2013
Singers Steve Jacobs, Ben Luxon and Jason Squibb from Tin – photo by Ainsley Cocks
Miracle Theatre and ETO’s exciting collaboration Tin, a drama delving deep into the lives and loves of a Cornish mining community, has been selected as one of Arts Council England’s cultural highlights of 2012
Tin was commissioned by the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, which also entered it in the Cultural Olympiad – the national celebration of British arts and culture that supported the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The drama brought together an extraordinary cast of professional actors and singers with schools and community choirs, breathing life into Edward Bosanketh’s original historic novel in a heady mix of theatre, multimedia magic and top notch singing.
With only 12 projects highlighted, one for each month, the production is ranked among ACE initiatives such as sculptor Anthony Gormley’s collaboration with choreographer Hofesh Shechter and the flagship Cultural Olympiad project ‘Unlimited Festival’ at London’s Southbank Centre which ran for the duration of the Paralympic Games.
Bill Scott, Artistic Director of Miracle Theatre, said: ‘I’m bowled over that Miracle Theatre and English Touring Opera have received this recognition from the Arts Council. Tin was a unique project and all two hundred or more people who collaborated in making it should feel extremely proud of their achievement.
Tin has been a large-scale project for us, which started life in 2010 with a script development project and rehearsed reading, funded by World Heritage Sites.With their continued support Miracle was able to attract further grants from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Heritage Lottery Fund to mount a full-scale touring production and roll out an extensive accompanying programme of community heritage activities.
Now we just have to complete the film version, which we hope to release by the end of the year, so everyone everywhere can enjoy this wonderful Cornish creation.’
ETO’s Tim Yealland, who worked closely with Miracle on Tin, said: ‘We’re also thrilled at the news. It was a pleasure to work with Miracle Theatre and all the many other participants on this unique and rewarding project. The relationship with Miracle continues as we’re currently working with their designer, Jude Munden, on our new space opera Laika the Spacedog. Also we can’t wait to return to Cornwall to round off our forthcoming spring tour with Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in May at Truro Cathedral.’
Redruth-based Miracle Theatre is currently seeking investors for the final stages of post-production for its micro-budget feature film of this story of love and money, opera and tin mining, using an imaginative combination of digital technology and hand-made 1/12th scale models.
For Tin the movie, the original cast of the theatre production, which included opera icon Ben Luxon, are joined by Jenny Agutter (The Railway Children, Call the Midwife) and Dudley Sutton (Lovejoy, Weekend Retreat). To see behind the scenes images and to keep up to date on the film’s progress simply go to facebook.com/TinFilm
Miracle Theatre has been touring innovative comic theatre across the UK for over 30 years, and is currently touring Frankenstein! until the end of February across the South West. For dates and details visit miracletheatre.co.uk
18th January 2013
Our thoughts are with baritone Thomas Eaglen, who has just undergone surgery to remove a brain tumour he was diagnosed with a week ago.
Tom was due to sing in ETO’s spring season productions, but has had to cancel all work commitments after being taken ill at home and then rushed to hospital following severe neurological symptoms. He has been blogging about his “uninvited visitor”, following his doctor’s suggestion, since he was first diagnosed. You can read about his experiences at baritonetom.blogspot.co.uk
All of us at ETO would like to wish Tom a complete and speedy recovery and look forward to having him back soon.
8th January 2013
Laika the Spacedog animation – please note this video has no sound
A sneak preview of ETO’s new space opera Laika the Spacedog forms part of the BBC Stargazing Live events at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich on Thursday 10th January.
The preview of Laika the Spacedog features four singers in full costume performing short extracts from the opera. The singers are joined by a professional puppeteer, and the performance also includes full sets, projections, and a new short animation created by children at Childs Hill School in Barnet (click above to watch the animation).
ETO’s performance is just one of the many events being held at Greenwich’s National Maritime Museum from 6pm-9.30pm on Thursday 10 January to mark the return of BBC TWO’s hugely popular programme, Stargazing Live. The stellar event is designed to encourage everyone – from the complete beginner to the enthusiastic amateur – to make the most of the night sky.
The event involves a number of spectacular free family activities. These include planetarium shows in the Royal Observatory’s state-of-the-art Peter Harrison Planetarium; live stargazing, telescope surgeries and astrophotography workshops from the Flamsteed Astronomy Society ; and Mission X activities from the NASA and UK Space Agency programme
Stargazing Live at Greenwich is now fully booked, but is being held in conjunction with BBC Two’s new series Stargazing Live, which returns to BBC TWO on January 8th, 9th and 10th 2013, hosted by Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain, with over three days of live stargazing featuring epic images from observatories around the globe.
Professor Cox said: ‘During the last series amateur stargazers were hunting for planets and this year we will be hunting for asteroids and strange ‘spider’ like features on Mars. Everyone can get involved and you never know what we will find – there are so many possibilities out there.’
Laika the Spacedog is supported by the PRS Foundation, and has won the PRS David Bedford Music Education Award. Generous support has also come from the Fidelio Charitable Trust, and the John Lyon’s Charity.
Laika opens at the Science Museum in London in late January, and subsequently accompanies ETO’s spring tour at London’s Hackney Empire in March and across the country until 30th May.
ETO plans to perform Laika in schools and theatres near to its touring venues: schools interested in the opera visiting them should contact Talia Lash on talia.lash@englishtouringopera.org.uk or call 020 7833 2555.
