English Touring Opera Bring Two Nights Of Opera To Storyhouse

English Touring Opera announces its Spring 2018 season, featuring a host of new talent in Blanche McIntyre's Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro and a revival of the 2011 Puccini: Il tabarro & Gianni Schicchi.

English Touring Opera has been lucky to work with a diverse range of singers since James Conway joined the company as General Director 15 years ago. In the past 15 years, singers such as Dame Sarah Connolly, Amanda Echalaz and James Rutherford have stunned ETO audiences as unknown superstars.

Now ETO's Spring 2018 season looks forward to the next 15 years of opera and welcomes a whole host of new singing talent to the company.

Theatregoers can see two different shows from English Touring Opera at Storyhouse in Chester. Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro will be performed on Tuesday 20 March, followed by Puccini: Il tabarro & Gianni Schicchi on Wednesday 21 March.

The shows start at 7.30pm. There will be a pre-show talk starting at 6.30pm before both performances.

The shows feature Cheshire opera singers Bradley Travis and Andrew Slater, who both studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

In Spring 2017, Bradley starred alongside Ross Ramgobin, playing Bunthorn to Ross' Grosvenor in Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience. Bradley will perform the role of Betto in Gianni Schicchi.

Andrew Slater is a former physics teacher in Toxteth, Liverpool, which he gave up to train as a singer. Andrew plays Gianni Schicchi.

Firstly, English Touring Opera present a new production of Mozart's classic comedy, The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Blanche McIntyre (Tosca, 2017).

With period costumes and a beautiful, period, 'trompe l'oeil' set designed by Neil Irish, McIntyre's production shines a light on the inequalities that exist in modern society, from matters of class, ethnicity and gender through the lens of a comedy performed by a very modern and energetic company. The ETO orchestra will be conducted by Christopher Stark.

During the course of one eventful day, Figaro and Susanna must overcome every obstacle put in their way by Count Almaviva before they can finally be united as man and wife. After the success of last year's Tosca, McIntyre returns to direct Mozart's classic comedy, equally acclaimed for its sublime music and huge sense of fun. It will be sung in English using the Jeremy Sams translation, with surtitles.

The cast includes Dawid Kimberg (Count), Ross Ramgobin (Figaro), Rachel Redmond (Susannah), Nadine Benjamin (Countess), Katherine Aitkin (Cherubino), Omar Ebrahim (Bartolo), Gaynor Keeble (Marcellina), Abigail Kelly (Barbarina and two performances as Susanna), Devon Harrison (Antonio), John Colyn-Gyeantey (Basilio), and Stuart Haycock (Don Curzio).

The following evening (Wednesday 21 March), audiences can enjoy the ETO revival of the much-loved 2011 production of Puccini's Il tabarro & Gianni Schicchi double bill.

Performed on the same night, the combination of the two one-act operas provides the perfect introduction to opera for newcomers, as well as being incredible productions for any Puccini aficionado. Both will be conducted by Michael Rosewell, with direction by James Conway (Il tabarro) and Liam Steel (Gianni Schicchi). The production will be sung in Italian with surtitles.

Il tabarro (The Cloak) is a highly-charged drama with a haunting ending, set in working class Paris at the turn of the 20th Century. While in stark contrast, Gianni Schicchi is a sparkling comedy about a family inheritance set in a grand aristocratic palace in Florence, featuring one of Puccini's best-known arias 'O mio babbino caro'. The full running time is 2 hours 10 minutes, including a 25-minute interval.

Casting includes Craig Smith, Sarah-Jane Lewis, Luciano Botelho, Bradley Travis, Galina Averina, Andrew Glover, Ian Beadle, Charne Rochford, Timothy Dawkins, Clarissa Meek, Dominic Walsh, Ed Ballard, Maciek O'Shea, Jamie Rock, Joanna Skillett, and Emma Watkinson.

Storyhouse has a dynamic pricing policy on the majority of shows, ensuring the earlier you book your tickets, guarantees the best seats at the lowest price. Tickets range from £19.50 to £35.50 for both shows.

ENGLISH TOURING OPERA (ETO)

The winner of the 2014 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, English Touring Opera is the most prolific touring opera company in the UK, travelling annually to around 70 venues, more than any other English Opera Company. With its mission to offer opera to everyone, the company presents as many as 140 performances a year. ETO's outreach programme focuses on creative work, and ranges from community operas and music theatre workshops to productions for young people and their families, featuring artists from the company's main-stage shows, touring to schools across the UK. The company is also a national leader in the provision of arts for dementia sufferers. ETO has helped launch the careers of singers including Amanda Echalaz and Sarah Connolly and gave the world première of Alexander Goehr's opera Promised End in 2010.

James Conway - GENERAL DIRECTOR, ETO; DIRECTOR, IL TABARRO

James Conway has been General Director for ETO since 2003. James Conway has directed ETO productions of operas by Monteverdi, Handel (15), Mozart (2), Donizetti (3), Janá?ek (3), Puccini (2), Debussy, Ullmann, Britten and Tippet, as well as a world premiere by Alexander Goehr. James Conway is former General Director of OTC in Dublin, producing work that travelled to New York (BAM), Melbourne, London, Buxton, Paris, Dusseldorf, Prague, Brno, Lisbon and Porto. James Conway directed the notable and long running production of The Cunning Little Vixen at the Janá?ek Theatre, Brno.

Christopher Stark - CONDUCTOR, MOZART: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

Christopher Stark co-founded the Multi-Story Orchestra with composer Kate Whitley in 2011. In 2016 the orchestra's work was recognised with an RPS Award for their annual summer festival of orchestral music in a Peckham car park. In the same year, Christopher and the Multi-Story Orchestra made their BBC Proms debut.

Blanche McIntyre - DIRECTOR, MOZART: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

Blanche McIntyre is an award-winning theatre director and Associate Director at Nuffield, Southampton. Notably winning Best Director at the TMA 2013 UK Theatre Awards for The Seagull (Headlong Theatre) and Best Director and Best Production at Off West End Theatre Awards 2011 for Accolade at the Finborough Theatre. Blanche McIntyre has recently directed theatre for RSC, Nottingham Playhouse, Donmar Warehouse, HOME, Shakespeare's Globe, Nuffield, English Touring Theatre and Manchester Royal Exchange.

MICHAEL ROSEWELL - MUSIC DIRECTOR, ETO; CONDUCTOR, PUCCINI: IL TABARRO & GIANNI SCHICCHI

Michael Rosewell is ETO's Music Director. Michael began his career working at the Vienna State Opera, working closely with Claudio Abbado and singers including Pavarotti, Domingo, Gruberova, Freni, Carreras, Alfredo Kraus and Cappuccilli. He then took up the position of Senior Staff Conductor at the Nationatheater, Mannheim in Germany. Since his return, Michael has worked for all of the major international music festivals and opera houses in the UK.

Liam Steel - DIRECTOR, GIANNI SCHICCHI

Former Artistic Director of Stan Won't Dance, a physical theatre/dance company, Liam Steel is an award-winning director with an international reputation, working for productions that have toured the world for the National Theatre; Nottingham Playhouse; the Lyric Hammersmith; Headlong, Tamasha, Royal Exchange, Manchester and the Royal Shakespeare Company alongside three productions for the English Touring Opera. Liam Steel also created all the musical staging and choreography for the 2012 film Les Miserable - winner of the Golden Globe for Best Film, nominated for 8 Academy awards and 9 BAFTAS.

STORYHOUSE

Storyhouse is a new public attraction - a theatre, library and cinema, home to a year-round programme of home-made and touring theatre, film along with a host of activities across its considerable public spaces. Designed by Bennetts Associates and featuring an 800/500 seat-theatre; a 100-seat cinema; a 150-seat flexible Studio Theatre; library spaces; digital production and broadcast facilities; a café bar and restaurant. Storyhouse is carved from the Grade II listed art deco 1936 Odeon cinema and a brand-new state of the art glass extension. Storyhouse is predicted to receive 600,000 visits per year, it brings cinema and theatre back to Chester city centre after a decade long absence. Cheshire West and Chester council has committed an inspirational £32.5million to fund the creation of Storyhouse.

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