Event26097

26, 27, 28 September 2007
Wiltons Music Hall, London E1

7.30 pm free pre-performance talk
8.00 pm performance
9.15 pm champagne reception (separate tickets required)

The Classical Opera Company presents a rare staging of Mozart's first oratorio in the wonderfully atmospheric setting of Wiltons Music Hall. This remarkable work is being presented in a virtuosic and witty new English version by Nigel Lewis, whose translation of The Soldier's Tale has won widespread acclaim, and the cast features some of the country's most outstanding young vocal talent (see below). The production also marks the culmination of an enterprising collaboration with the Royal College of Art, whose students are designing the set and costumes. Artistic Director Ian Page conducts the company's vibrant period-instrument orchestra, and the director is Bill Bankes-Jones, artistic director of Tete a Tete.

Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots was composed just a few weeks before Mozart's first opera, Apollo et Hyacinthus, when the composer was only eleven years old, and represents the first part of a three-part sacred drama. The complete work was performed in the Knight's Hall of the Archbishop's Palace in Salzburg on 12 March 1767, but the music for the two remaining parts, written by Michael Haydn and Anton Adlgasser, has been lost.

Although the work is thus dramatically incomplete, Mozart's score, which runs for approximately an hour and a quarter with no interval, makes a dramatically coherent and satisfying whole, and has received various recent revivals, including stagings at last year's Salzburg and Pesaro festivals. This is believed to be the first UK production of the work for over 30 years, and continues the Classical Opera Company's complete cycle of Mozart's operas.

Allan Clayton (Christian) was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral and a choral scholar at St John's College Cambridge, and has just graduated from the opera course at the Royal Academy of Music. He is an Associate Artist of the Classical Opera Company, and was recently selected for BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme. His operatic roles include the title roles in Peter Grimes, Albert Herring and Rameau's Dardanus, Belfiore (La finta giardiniera), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia), and his concert work includes Handel's L'Allegro with William Christie and recitals with Graham Johnson and Roger Vignoles. Future engagements include his Opera North debut as Lampwick in Jonathan Dove's new opera Pinocchio and his Glyndebourne debut in the title role of Albert Herring.

Robin Tritschler (Christian Spirit) studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, London, and his many prizes include the Song Prize at the 2006 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and the Lieder Prize at the 2006 Internationaal Vocalisten Concours in 's-Hertogenbosch. As a recitalist he has appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival, the Britten Festival at the Köln Philharmonie, Germany, the Brahms Song Festival at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Dublin Hugo Wolf Festival. His opera engagements have included Soliman (Zaide) at the Aldeburgh Festival and 1st Jew (Salome) with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart, and future engagements include Euryanthe at La Monnaie, Brussels, and Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte) for Glyndebourne On Tour.

Sophie Bevan (Worldly Spirit) made her operatic debut at the age of fifteen, singing Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and further roles have included Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Flora (The Turn of the Screw), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and the title-role in Rodelinda. She made her Classical Opera Company in 2005 as Publio in the UK premiere of Gluck's La clemenza di Tito, and is an Associate Artist of the company. She has just graduated from the Royal College of Music's Benjamin Britten International Opera School, where her roles included the title role in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and her future engagements include Amor in Poppea at ENO and Alinda in Vivaldi's L'incoronazione di Dario at Garsington.

Rebecca Ryan (Compassion) 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 sang Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) with the Classical Opera Company earlier this year, and is an Associate Artist of the company. Other recent engagements include Angelica (Orlando) for Independent Opera, Micaëla (Carmen) for the University of Otago, Madame Silberklang (Der Schauspieldirektor) in Auckland, Handel's Messiah and Bach's Magnificat with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne and Mahler's 8th Symphony with the RTE in Dublin. Her recordings include Handel's Silete venti for Naxos.

Madeleine Pierard (Justice) was born in Napier, New Zealand, and was the winner of the prestigious Lexus Song Quest in 2005. She came to London last year to continue her studies at the Royal College of Music, where her roles have already included Erissena (Poro, re dell'Indie) for the London Handel Festival and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), and she is about to join the RCM's Benjamin Britten International Opera School. Further operatic roles have included Prince Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus) and 1st Blumenmädchen (Parsifal), and she is currently singing Marzelline (Fidelio) with NBR New Zealand Opera. Recent concert engagements have included a tour of China with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the premiere of Symphony No.2 by the New Zealand composer Ross Harris.