Organization

Conductor

Michael Thorne

Singer

Soprano

Elaine McKrill

Lady Billows

Contralto

Anna Loveday

Florence Pike

Mimi Doulton

Miss Wordsworth

Baritone

Jonathan Finney

Mr Gedge

Tenor

Robin Whitehouse

Mr Upfold

Aaron Holmes

Alex Haig

Albert Herring

Mezzo-soprano

Emily Hodkinson

Nancy

Zoe South

Mrs Herring

Elizabeth Stokes

Emmie

Alicia Mallace-Goulborne

Child vocalist

Elizabeth Morland

Harry

Bass

William Stevens

Superintendent Budd

New Palace Opera

London

United Kingdom

St John's Church

Albert Herring Britten

Public

Approved

New Palace Opera returns to Benjamin Britten’s chamber operas with Albert Herring (op. 39) after its well-received performance of The Rape of Lucretia (op. 37) in 2021. 

First heard in 1947 at Glyndebourne, Albert Herring followed Lucretia, which had its Sussex premiere in the previous year.  

Post-war austerity was Britten’s main driver for these small-scale works as they could be toured with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Both have small casts of singers, with no chorus in the usual operatic sense.  His other main chamber opera, The Turn of the Screw, was written later in 1954 and was performed by New Palace Opera in 2019. 

Mike Thorne returns to conduct the New Palace Orchestra. “For me, Albert Herring is another of Britten's challenges to hypocritical beliefs but in this case through the medium of rip-roaring comedy rather than the tragedy of, say, Peter Grimes. 

“The opera is very much an ensemble piece and will therefore suit us extremely well following our critically acclaimed The Turn of the Screw and The Rape of Lucretia.”

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast