Admin

Organization

Lighting designer

John Bishop

Singer

Baritone

Bryn Terfel

Sir John Falstaff

Soprano

Natalya Romaniw

Mrs. Alice Ford

David Stout

Ford

Chloe Morgan

Nannette

Tenor

Luis Gomes

Fenton

Contralto

Sara Fulgoni

Mrs. Quickly

Mezzo-soprano

Janis Kelly

Mrs. Meg Page

Marc Le Brocq

Doctor Caius

Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts

Bardolph

Bass

Lukas Jakobski

Pistol

Conductor

Gianluca Marcianò

Stage director

Stephen Medcalf

Set designer

Jamie Vartan

Grange Park Opera

Others

BBC Concert Orchestra

Italian

Falstaff

Surrey

United Kingdom

Grange Park Opera, Surrey

As the saying goes, “Shakespeare invented him, Verdi made him immortal” – and, surely, it was Bryn Terfel who defined him. Terfel first sung Falstaff in 1999, and in 2021, the bass-baritone superstar returns once more to the role at Grange Park Opera. In a production by Stephen Medcalf first shown in the 17th century Farnese theatre in Parma in 2011 with designs that are truly Falstaffian including sensational backcloths by Italian supremo Rinaldo Rinaldi.

Natalya Romaniw, Janis Kelly and Sara Fulgoni are the conniving wives of Windsor in Verdi’s only comic opera, written when the composer was 80, contradicting the adage that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. The opera is a hymn to the irrepressibility of the human spirit.

As Terfel himself says, “it’s just a joy to portray on the stage this loveable old rogue who can’t help but lie, eat, cheat and drink”.

Falstaff Verdi

Public

English

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading