As the first rays of summer warm the English countryside, the outdoor music season emergences from the wings and takes centre stage.

 

 

©Richard Thomas 2006

Now in its 14th year, Opera Holland Park is gearing up for another season of interesting and eclectic live performance in one of London’s prettiest parks. Holland Park’s open air theatre nestles in the grounds of the ruins of Holland House, an attractive and historic setting for a summer of live performance. 


Opera Holland Park’s 2010 season kicks of on June 1 with Debussy’s only opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, an innovative early 20th century opera in which the composer employed the modified prose from a play, instead of a rhyming libretto, for his cast to sing. This is a brand new production and a premiere of the opera at Holland Park.


Pelléas et Mélisande continues to play throughout June, and is joined on the roster by two of the giants of the operatic canon, Bizet’s tempestuous Carmen and Mozart’s dramatic and bombastic Don Giovanni. Both are brand new productions designed for this year’s Holland Park season. 


On July 1, Beethoven’s only operatic work, Fidelio, opens. Like much of Beethoven’s work, it reflects its author’s fascination with heroism and the motivation of those that perform courageous acts. This production is a revival of a 2003 production from Holland Park.


Two brand new productions follow on: La forza del destino is an 1862 opera from the master of the enveloping dramatic love story, Verdi. The title translates as ‘the Force of Destiny’ and is some clue to the power and magnitude of the music featured in the opera.


Next up is Francesca da Rimini, a 1914 production by Italian composer Riccardo Zandonai. A tragic love story and melodrama in the finest Italian tradition, this production continues the Holland Park Opera’s dedication to staging fascinating works of the late Italian – giovane scuola – school.  


The final production of the season opens on July 26 with a flourish – The Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the novel by Roald Dahl, has been imaginatively reworked into a family friendly opera by composer Tobias Picker and librettist Donald Sturrock. This is a new production of the opera, designed specifically for the space within Holland Park, getting the very most out of the beautiful scenery.


The season draws to a close on August 14. Tickets and further information can be found on the Holland Park Opera website, here.