About

Opening Times

Thursday 7 July 2022, 7.30pm – gardens open 6pm for picnics

Prices

£35 / £45. Boxes can be bought.

About

Picnic on the lawn and enjoy summer opera in beautiful surroundings. Gardens open 6pm for picnics. Dress for the opening night.

Mozart Così Fan Tutte, performed in the English translation by Jeremy Sams by a stunning cast of young singers, will inaugurate the Essex Summer Opera Festival.

The performance will be in two halves of just over an hour each, with a 30-minute interval.

Performed in the newly renovated barn in the gardens and grounds of the 500-year-old Layer Marney Tower, in Essex.

Mozart’s delightful comedy of young lovers tying themselves in romantic knots is given a new lease of life in this brand new Wild Arts production, transposing the action to 1970s Cambridge where a bunch of buttoned up students are about to get a tutorial in fidelity.

A lighthearted, romantic production for our times, suitable for all ages. Expect flowery shirts, serious flares, rock stars, and more …

 

CAST, CREATIVES AND INFORMATION

Director P Burton-Morgan

Associate Director Clare Packham

Designer Chantal Short

Conductor Orlando Jopling 

 

English translation by Jeremy Sams, in a new version for Wild Arts 2022

 

Fiordiligi: Ella Taylor

Dorabella: Martha Jones

Despina: Joanna Songi

Ferrando: Richard Dowling

Guglielmo: Gareth Brynmor John

Don Alfonso: Eddie Wade

 

A new realisation of the orchestral score by Orlando Jopling will be performed by the Wild Arts Ensemble:

 

Violin: Sijie Chen

Oboe: William Ball

Viola: Christine Anderson

Bassoon: Hugh Woolley

Horn: Caoime Glavin

Double Bass: Ben Griffiths

Fortepiano: Masumi Yamamoto

 

RICHARD DOWLING – FERRANDO

“Bright and smooth with clear diction, he powered through... with easy lyricism.” – Bachtrack

Tenor Richard Dowling has performed in Buxton International Festival, Birmingham Opera Company and Garsington Opera. He appeared in a number of innovative online broadcasts during the pandemic lockdown period, including a dystopian staging of Josquin’s madrigals.

 

GARETH BRYNMOR JOHN – GUGLIELMO

“John’s clarity, warmth and even spread held us gripped from the beginning.” – The Times

Baritone Gareth Brynmor John is the winner of the 2013 Kathleen Ferrier Award. He studied at St John’s College, Cambridge and the National Opera Studio where he was supported by the Royal Opera House.

 

MARTHA JONES – DORABELLA

“Outstanding performances from Martha Jones” – The Guardian

Mezzo-soprano Martha Jones was awarded the Susan Chilcott Scholarship by the Royal Philharmonic Society. She has appeared with English Touring Opera, English National Opera and Grange Festival.

 

JOANNA SONGI – DESPINA

“Meltingly beautiful” – Gramophone

Joanna Songi is a soprano working across opera, oratorio, song and theatre. A graduate of the Royal College of Music and Cambridge University, she was a Britten Pears Young Artist.

 

ELLA TAYLOR – FIORDILIGI

“Terrifically emotive and dramatic singing, absolutely commanding one’s attention.” – Opera Today

Winner of Second Prize at the 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, Ella Taylor is a soprano with a passion for performing contemporary music and works by women and gender non-conforming artists.

 

EDDIE WADE – DON ALFONSO

“Eddie Wade ... sang with style and panache.” – The Telegraph

Baritone Eddie Wade won First Prize and the Verdi/Wagner Prize at the National Mozart Competition in 1996 and made his Covent Garden debut the same year. He has worked with leading conductors, including Charles Mackerras, Mark Elder, Esa Pekka Salonen and Antonio Pappano.