In the 2019 Garsington Opera season, at the Getty estate in Wormsley in the Chiltern Hills, four new productions and a concert performance will illustrate the endless variety of which opera is capable.
The season opens with a complicated but ultimately happy romance, Smetana's The Bartered Bride (29 May to 20 June). The exciting soprano Natalya Romaniw, wonderful at Garsington in 2016 in Eugene Onegin, returns to sing Marenka, the bride of the title. Stuart Jackson, marvellous recently in ENO's Salome, is Krusina. Look out for Romaniw in ENO's La Bohème too.
Soprano Natalya Romaniw sings Marenka in 'The Bartered Bride'. Photo: Patrick Allen
Mozart's enduring masterpiece Don Giovanni (30 May to 21 July) stars baritone Jonathan McGovern in the title role, with Sky Ingram as Donna Elvira. Tom Piper is the designer and, with Douglas Boyd conducting, a sparkling evening is guaranteed.
Jeremy Sams is a librettist who puts new life into translations, and his English text for the French composer Jacques Offenbach's Fantasio (14 to 20 July) is sure to be packed with genuinely funny gags. Hanna Hipp who gave a delectable performance in Garsington's sumptuous 2018 Capriccio sings the title role in this beguiling tale of unrequited love that finds a way.
Hanna Hipp sings the title role in 'Fantasio'. Photo: Matthew Plummer
The last opera in the season is Benjamin Britten's gripping interpretation of Henry James's terrifying The Turn of the Screw (1 to 19 July). Ed Lyon sings the role of the sinister Quint, with soprano Sophie Bevan as the Governess who finds the two young childen in her care have an uncomfortable double life.
Mary Bevan is joined by her soprano sister Sophie in the Monteverdi Vespers. Photo: Victoria Cadisch
As a coda to the season, the great Monteverdi Vespers are sung in concert (24-26 July) with soprano sisters Mary Bevan and Sophie Bevan. The very interesting new voice James Way is one of the three tenors: Benjamin Hulett and Robert Murray join him.
General booking opens on Tuesday 19 March 2019. Click here for details of a scheme for under-35s that is packed with advantages. Trains from Marylebone are met by a coach transfer to the opera house and back again.
| What | Garsington Opera 2019 |
| Where | Garsington Opera, Wormsley Estate , Stokenchurch, HP14 3YG | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Marylebone (underground) |
| When |
29 May 19 – 26 Jul 19, four productions, times vary |
| Price | £TBC |
| Website | Click here for more information and booking |
