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Greater London

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Founded in 1985 memorably in an Ealing garden, Midsummer Opera’s repertoire has since grown to encompass baroque and classical as well as romantic and modern opera.  The company has toured throughout the UK (including the Brighton, Holland Park and Edinburgh Festivals) and on the Continent (Tours, Halle, Luxembourg) and has visited the Bermuda Festival three times.
 
Since 2000 the company has been under the sole artistic control of David Roblou.  The relaunch was marked by a performance in St John’s Smith Square of Rossini’s revolutionary La donna del lago (based on the Walter Scott poem The Lady of the Lake).
 
Highlights of that time included The Marriage of Figaro (sung in English, directed by John Upperton, designed by Roy Bell), Dido and Aeneas (first performed at the 2003 Spitalfields Festival), Carmen, Werther, and Sorbet! Sorbet! (world première, music by Simon Milton and Véronique Souberbielle) in Carnoules, Provence.

2003 saw the launch of the Midsummer Opera Concert Series, developing a house style with non-operatic repertoire.  Roy Bell set about creating the company’s full-size Symphony Orchestra, and John Upperton its Chorus.  Then in 2007 the company returned to opera with concert performances of Puccini’s Turandot in St John’s Waterloo, our now regular venue, and in the Broadway Theatre, Catford, the first time opera had been performed in that Art Deco auditorium.

In those first few years operas were presented in “concert performance plus”:  loosely directed by John Upperton, singers made entrances and exits and then regrouped to suggest scenes, while touches of costume hinted at characterisation.  Then in 2012 for Fidelio our soloists took the leap of memorising their roles, and with ever more staging to elevate performers and facilitate sight-lines, more ambitious semi-staging became possible.  Two years later, in La clemenza di Tito, the chorus for the first time also memorised their music so that now they too could be integrated into the action.  With Un ballo in maschera in 2015 Lynne McAdam assumed direction and – with the exceptions of Hänsel und Gretel and Dialogues des Carmélites, both directed by John Upperton – has overseen the staging of all subsequent shows. 

As Artistic Director, David Roblou conducts, be it French, German, Italian or English repertory.  Next season will see the start of a cycle of Czech opera with Smetana’s The Bartered Bride.  Dramatic use will as ever be made of the space and acoustic of St John’s Waterloo – which with its aisles, many spaces, separate chapels and balcony, is much more versatile than a conventional opera house – to tell the story through the music with thrilling immediacy.

London, United Kingdom

Midsummer Opera

Company

Approved

St John's Waterloo

2023

2022

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2000

1998

Organization contributor ID

include virtual contributors

2024

Accordionist

Instrumentalist

Archlutenist

Baroque Flutist

Baroque Oboist

Baroque Trumpetist

Bassist

Bassoonist

Cellist

Clarinetist

Contrabassist

Cornettist

Flutist

Guitarist

Harper

Harpsichordist

Hornist

Lutenist

Mandoline Player

Musette de cour Player

Oboist

Organist

Percussionist

Pianist

Recorder Player

Saxophonist

Tenor Violinist

Timpani

Trombonist

Trumpeter

Tuba Player

Vibraphonist

Viola Pomposa Player

Viola da gamba

Viola d’amore Player

Violinist

Violino Piccolo Player

Violist

Actor

Broadcasting

Choir

Choreographer

Chorus Director

Chorus master

Composer

Conductor

Costume designer

Dancer

Dramaturge

Executive producer

Extra

Hairstylist

Illustrator

Librettist

Lighting designer

Makeup artist

Orchestra

Orchestra Operations

Other

Photographer

Poet

Repetiteur

Set designer

Sound designer

Stage Manager

Stage director

Teacher

Translator

Video designer

Vocal coach

Wig & Makeup Designer

Writer

Writing and performance

Mezzo-soprano

Singer

Bass

Soprano

Bass-baritone

Baritone

Contralto

Countertenor

Tenor

Alto

Child vocalist

Continuo

Silent

Spoken

422 views, 8 likes, 2 loves, 1 comments, 11 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Midsummer Opera: Tomorrow is the opening night of our exciting and immersive production of Smetana's comic masterpiece,...

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