West Green House Season of Music and Opera 2009

After the enormous success of our 2008 festival culminating with Drottningholm Opera’s production of Haydn’s Il Mondo della Luna, our new season is headlined by two performances of Purcell’s masterpiece Dido and Aeneas with Yvonne Kenny singing the title role, preceded in this double bill by Lampe’s witty and outrageous Pyramus and Thisbe. Both operas were originally written for London audiences and are part of our musical heritage so we welcome you to an evening of sublime early English opera.

These new productions, commissioned for West Green House, are supported by a weekend of Mozart’s the Marriage of Figaro in a shimmering mnew production by our resident company Opera Project. Each year sees improvement to the festival and theatre and this year we continue this approach with a new undercover area for picnics which we hope will delight you whatever the weather.

The images used in 2009 West Green House publications are details taken from paintings by Criss Canning, one of Australia’s finest still life artists. We felt her work, capturing a garden’s vibrant colours, echo the joy we have of presenting our operas amidst a garden of flowers, colour and light that makes it an exceptional setting for beautiful music.

All that remains is to say we look forward to your company for another exciting season at West Green House.

The Marriage of Figaro

Saturday 1st August and Sunday 2nd August

Music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto Lorenzo da Ponte
(after Beaumarchais)
Conductor Jonathan Lyness
Director/Designer Richard Studer

Mozart’s greatest work is presented in a scintillating new production. This most sublime of classical works, capturing all that Mozart’s genius represents, is here sung in English by a vibrant cast of young singers, many new to West Green House.

Once again Figaro attempts to outwit the unwittingly witless Count Almaviva to secure a blemish free wedding night for his bride Susanna. What should all be in a day’s work for our roguish hero is thwarted by the unexpected arrival of the unexpectedly maternal Marcellina who has designs on marrying him herself. Assisted in his task by the selfless sacrifices of the neglected Countess, who seeks retribution and reunion with the wayward Count, and compromised by the overactive adolescent Cherubino, Figaro strives to secure his goal.

In this perfectly constructed comedy of situations, truth will out and love will conquer. With costumes and designs inspired by the pastoral figurines of the late 18th century this simple yet elegant production presents Mozart with clarity and hilarity.

Two Baroque masterpieces

Saturday 8th August & Sunday 9th August
Conductor Jonathan Lyness
Director/Designer Richard Studer

Dido and Aeneas

Music Henry Purcell
Libretto Nahum Tate

The first known performance of Purcell’s work was in the spring of 1689 at a girl’s school in Chelsea under the direction of Josiah Priest. The resultant simplicity of the writing contributes to the work’s greatness. Sparsely scored as it is for strings and continuo, the tragedy gently yet powerfully unfolds towards the sublime final lament of a dying queen, betrayed by her love under a sorceress’s spell.

This production, commissioned for West Green House, features the Australian soprano Yvonne Kenny in the title role. Yvonne returns to West Green following on directly from performances as Dido for Opera of Australia at the Sydney Opera House. Supported by a cast of courtiers and sailors, this new staging, designed to capture the elegant simplicity of Purcell’s score, draws heavily on the underlying tension of grief and betrayal that builds towards the work’s dramatic conclusion.

The story of Dido spans both Greek and Roman mythology. Purcell’s opera is but one of many retellings of the fabled myth. Few, however, have achieved such iconic status as this, the greatest and best loved of early English operas.

Pyramus and Thisbe

Music John Frederick Lampe
Libretto after William Shakespeare

Based on Act IV of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s famous play within a play, Pyramus and Thisbe, is a mock opera first performed at Covent Garden Theatre in January 1745. Its plot concerns the superiority of Italian operatic style and the promotion of due diligence regarding party wall disputes. Satirical throughout, both musically and artistically, we watch our two lovers as they attempt their courtship through their fathers’ Wall before eloping and then set on by an over enthusiastic Lion. A double suicide brings the opera to a happy conclusion. Lampe’s undisputed talent as a satirist of the fashionable Italian opera was first recognised with his smash hit The Dragon of Wantley in 1735. This piece, together with Pyramus and Thisbe, lifted his status from Handel’s bassoonist to his own echelon of fame throughout London’s cultured society in the mid 1700s. Enter a world of laughter, lampooning and outrageous over-enunciation in this delightful new production of a recently rediscovered gem of early English opera. A prepicnic divertissement before the tragedy of Dido and Aeneas.

“It is all quite pointless and perfectly delightful”
The Times

Click here to download the 2009 Opera Events booking form. (PDF 26KB)

Performances

• All performances will be held undercover in the specially designed auditorium in our Green Theatre.
• All seats are tiered with excellent sight lines and allocated ticket numbers.
• Parties will be seated together. Please bring the ticket you recieve to exchange for allocated seating at reception.
• Performances commence at 7.00pm with an interval of 1 hour 10 minutes for picnics.
• The grounds open at 5.00pm.
• The performance will not be cancelled and refunds are not given. However we will try to assist with exchanges wherever possible.
• Black tie is the customary dress code.
• All performances are sung in English.

Picnics

• Parties may pre- book either an entire pavilion or a shared pavilion with tables, chairs, tablecloths, candles and flowers provided.
• If it is fi ne weather the picnics will be set up by the lake.
• If it is unfortunate weather the tables will be set up in one of our flower filled conservatories.
• There is ample picnic space on the lake field for patrons who wish to bring their own tables and chairs – gazebos are not allowed.
• On arrival a staff member will escort you to your picnic area.
• Pre ordered picnic hampers can be provided. Picnic menus will be sent with your tickets and should be returned directly to the caterer.
• There is ample on site parking including disabled spaces.

The Gardens by Night

It has been said there are two performances at West Green House each opera evening. Firstly the music and then one of England’s most famous gardens is lit by a hundred flares with its water fountains and follies illuminated in a spectacular light display.

Click here to download the 2009 Opera Events booking form. (PDF 26KB)

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