Double helping of one act operas in Warwick - The Leamington Observer

Double helping of one act operas in Warwick

Leamington Editorial 18th Jun, 2022   0

THE DREAM Factory will become Warwick’s summer opera house for one night only on Sunday June 26.

As part of the first Warwick Choral Festival, Leamington Music promotes the Summer Opera Double Bill, at the home of Playbox Theatre, featuring students of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in one-act operas by French composers Charpentier and Offenbach.

The two contrasted works were both first given in Paris, with Marc Antoine Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissants, dating from 1685, one of 17 operas that he wrote during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King.

Mesdames de la Halle, a one-act comedy is a romp around a Parisian market, by Jacques Offenbach dates from 1858, the same year his most popular operetta, Orpheus in the Underworld – famous for its can-can – was premiered.




The operas have been produced and directed by Stuart Barker and will be conducted by Fraser Goulding. Jeffrey Skidmore, well known to Warwick audiences for his work with Ex Cathedra, has been involved in the preparation of the operas.

With an orchestra and many roles in the two works, it provides a showcase for the students of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The set and costumes have also been designed by students at Birmingham City University.


There will be a pre-performance talk at 6.30pm, given by experts on Charpentier, Prof Graham Sadler and Dr Shirley Thompson from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Visit www.leamingtonmusic.org for ticket and further details.

* The first Warwick Choral Festival, put on by Warwick – A Singing Town, runs from June 17 to July 24. Visit warwicksingingtown.co.uk/ for full details.

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