Event12067

12 June, 7pm
Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
venue Telephone booking: 01227 787787

23 June, 7.30pm
Sadler's Wells Theatre
London EC1
venue Telephone booking: 0870 737 7737

8, 16 and 20 July, 7.15pm
Buxton Festival
venue Telephone bookings from 1 April: 0845 12 72190

This summer the Classical Opera Company presents its first production of arguably the greatest opera ever written, The Marriage of Figaro. This promises to be a characteristically entertaining and intelligent exploration of Mozart’s masterpiece, and continues the company’s ground-breaking cycle of the complete Mozart operas.

The opera will be sung in Italian with English surtitles, and will be performed at the Teatro Ventidio Bassi, Ascoli Piceno, Italy (7 June), The Marlowe Theatre Canterbury (12 June), Sadler’s Wells (23 June) and the Buxton Festival (8, 16, 20 July).

Although The Marriage of Figaro is one of the most frequently performed operas in the repertoire, this is the first full-scale touring production in the UK to use period instruments. The combination of world-class young singers and a dynamic period-instrument orchestra brings thrilling vibrancy, lustre and freshness to Mozart’s work, offering new colours and insights throughout this magnificent score.

It’s Figaro and Susanna’s wedding day, and the Count seems to be being more than generous with his gifts to Susanna. Figaro’s suspicions are aroused as the follies of the day unfold…

“All modern husbands are like that… unfaithful on principle, capricious by nature, and jealous purely as a matter of pride.”

Markus Schwartz
Markus Schwartz (Figaro) was born in Sweden, and studied at University College of Music in Stockholm and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He is emerging as one of Scandinavia’s most exciting young singers, and is currently on contract at the Gothenburg Opera, where his recent roles have included Masetto (Don Giovanni), Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola), Leporello (Don Giovanni) and Lamoral (Arabella). Other roles include Papageno and Figaro in Finland, and Norbanor (Zoroastre) at the Netherlands Opera, Amsterdam and the Drottningholm Court Theatre. This is his UK debut.

Silvia Moi
Silvia Moi (Susanna) was born in Norway. Her operatic roles include Despina (Così fan tutte) in Denmark, Sweden, Vienna and London, Oscar (Un ballo in maschera) at the Confidence Theatre in Stockholm, and Lucia (The Rape of Lucretia) at the Royal College of Music, and in 2006 she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival, singing Ninetta in La finta semplice as well as further roles in Lo sposo deluso and L’oca del Cairo. She is currently singing Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) at Den Norske Opera, and can shortly be seen as Papagena in Kenneth Branagh’s film of The Magic Flute.

Anna Leese
Anna Leese (Countess) was born in New Zealand, and is an Associate Artist of the Classical Opera Company. Her numerous prizes include the 2004 Royal Overseas League Vocal Competition, the 2005 Richard Tauber Prize, the 2006 Great Elm Competition and the 2007 Maggie Teyte Competition. She recently made an acclaimed debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Musetta (La bohème), and she returns there next season as Micaëla (Carmen) and First Lady (Die Zauberflöte). Her forthcoming recordings include ‘An A-Z of Mozart Opera’ with the Classical Opera Company and a solo recital on EMI.

Ronan Collett
Ronan Collett (Count) studied at at Pembroke College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, where his operatic roles included Nardo in La finta giardiniera and in Chao Lin in A Night at the Chinese Opera. In 2004 he made his Edinburgh Festival debut in Der Freischütz, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, and was the first musician to be appointed a Young Artist at the Wigmore Hall. He is also a highly acclaimed recitalist, and has recently been awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and the Prix Thierry Mermod at this year’s Verbier Festival. In September 2006 he became a BBC New Generation Artist.

Rebecca Ryan
Rebecca Ryan (Cherubino) won the New Zealand Performing Arts National Award for Singing, and came to international prominence when she gave the UK premiere of the newly rediscovered Handel Gloria at the Royal Academy of Music. She recently received great critical acclaim as Angelica in Handel’s Orlando at Sadler’s Wells, and is currently singing Madame Silberklang (Der Schauspieldirektor) in Auckland. Her recordings include Handel’s Silente venti for Naxos and The Mozart Sessions for RTE TV.

Sally Harrison
Sally Harrison (Marcellina) studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and the National Opera Studio. For ENO she has sung Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Despina (Così fan tutte), Romilda (Xerxes), Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore) and Micaëla (Carmen), and other operatic roles have included La Musica (L’Orfeo), La Folie (Platée), Galatea (Acis and Galatea) for the English Bach Festival, Poppea (Agrippina) at the Buxton Festival and Despina for Scottish Opera. Her recordings include Mercédès (Carmen) for Chandos and Sultana Rose-in-Bloom (The Rose of Persia) for CPO.

Christopher Lemmings
Christopher Lemmings (Don Basilio/Don Curzio) studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He created the role of Bartholomew in Birtwistle’s The Last Supper (Staatsoper Berlin and Glyndebourne Festival), and recent roles have included Caliban (The Tempest) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Don Ottavio (Cologne and Verona), Ferrando (Opera Holland Park), Lechmere (Owen Wingrave) at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the title role in La clemenza di Tito for Glyndebourne Touring Opera. His disc of Ned Rorem Auden Songs was recently released on Sanctuary Classics.

Betsabée Haas
Betsabée Haas (Barbarina) studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music. She sang Elisa (Il re pastore) with the Classical Opera Company at the 2001 Brighton Festival, and has recently recorded the roles of Angelica in Porpora’s Orlando and Achille in Martin y Soler’s Ifigenia. She has appeared in operas by Monteverdi, Cavalli, Rameau, Handel, Mozart, Hahn and Bernstein in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden and Spain, and recently created the leading role in Dominique Le Gendre’s Bird of Night at the Linbury Studio Theatre (ROH).

James Gower
James Gower (Dr Bartolo/Antonio) was born in Newport, South Wales, and studied at St John's College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music. His operatic roles include Pinellino (Gianni Schicchi) and First Priest/Second Armed Man (Die Zauberflöte) at the Glyndebourne Festival, Doctor (Pelleas and Melisande) and Doctor Grenvil (La Traviata) for Glyndebourne on Tour, and Un Moine (Don Carlos) and Second Armed Man for Welsh National Opera, for whom he was an Associate Artist. His recordings include Mendelssohn's St Paul on Chandos.

Jo Davies
Jo Davies (director) divides her directing career between drama, opera and music theatre. In opera her work includes The Rape of Lucretia (Royal College of Music), Judith Weir’s A Night at the Chinese Opera (Royal Academy of Music) and La Fanciulla del West (Holland Park Opera), and future plans include a new production of Aïda for ENO, Houston Grand Opera and Den Norske Opera. In the West End and New York she worked with Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw on their award-winning production of Medea, and at the Royal National Theatre with Alan Ayckbourn developing his play House And Garden, with Nicholas Hytner on The Winter’s Tale and with Sir Trevor Nunn on Oklahoma.

Alex Lowde
Alex Lowde (designer) is one of the country’s most promising young designers. He attended The Motley Design Course having read Drama at The University of Hull, and spent a year on a bursary with Northern Stage. As an assistant designer he worked at Glyndebourne, the Metropolitan Opera, The Royal Ballet and the Donmar Warehouse, and his recent designs have included included Tobias and the Angel for the Young Vic, The Gentle Giant for ROH2 and The Nose, Candide and The Threepenny Opera for The Opera Group.

Johanna Town
Johanna Town (lighting designer) is Head of Lighting at the Royal Court. She has also worked extensively in the West End and on Broadway, at the National Theatre, the Liverpool Playhouse and the Royal Exchange. Her opera work includes Le nozze di Figaro and Otello for Nice Opera, Tobias and the Angel for Almeida Opera, La bohème, La traviata and Die Zauberflöte for Music Theatre London and Eugene Onegin, Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Le nozze di Figaro for Opera 80.