Grange Park Opera

About

It was like a fairytale and it began with a Duchess. When she died aged 99, she couldn’t have imagined that her ashes would be carefully placed in the orchestra pit of an opera house – and a rather extraordinary opera house at that. One modelled on the horseshoe shape of La Scala and tucked behind ancient walled gardens where children ran amok and fierce games of croquet were thrashed out.

Productions take place at the Theatre in the Woods, a new five-tier opera house based on Milan's La Scala, seating 750. Since 2017, more than 30,000 have been to the five-tier opera house at 500 year old West Horsley Place, which was inherited in 2015 by author and broadcaster Bamber Gascoigne from his aunt Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe.

Founded in 1998 by Wasfi Kani OBE, the company has staged more than 75 operas, including acclaimed productions of Rusalka, Tristan und Isolde and Peter Grimes. Fiddler on the Roof with Bryn Terfel was staged as part of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.

Grange Park Opera has become an integral part of the English summer season. The audience – invariably, but not exclusively in black tie and cocktail dresses – arrive in the afternoon and there are 47 vintage cars to hand to ferry you from London . . . Or the railway station. They have a glass of champagne at The White Wisteria Champagne Bar, and wander leisurely through this magical demi-Eden.

In the long, convivial interval, the audience can settle into one of the two restaurants: either inside the 15th-century house, where Henry VIII once enjoyed a 35-course luncheon, or in The Walnut Tree Restaurant. Alternatively they can book a picnic pavilion in the Crinkle- Crankle garden, on the Croquet Lawn, in the Rose Parterre. Then there are those who just fling their rugs under an ancient gnarled tree in the orchard.

And once the opera ends, the audience walks out into magical moonlit English woodland, watched by fairies and fireflies.

The 2019 season opens with Verdi’s Don Carlo, one of Grange Park Opera’s most acclaimed productions. Carlos, heir to the throne, is Leonardo Capalbo whose rich lyricism and dramatic intensity has received acclaim at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Lyon, Berlin, and Madrid. The Marquis of Posa is Canadian Brett Polegato (finalist, Cardiff of the World). Ruxandra Donose returns as the gorgeous aristocratic Eboli competing with Princess Elisabetta, US-born Marina Costa Jackson, for the heart of the prince. Spectacular sets, costumes and dark Verdian undercurrents make for a powerful evening.

Gianluca Marciano conducts The Orchestra of English National Opera.

Next on the list is George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess. There has always been a debate about whether George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess is an opera or a musical. But who cares? With songs such as Summertime, It Ain’t Necessarily So and I Loves You, Porgy, it’s an indisputable masterpiece. Gershwin’s epic tale stars Musa Ngqungwana as Porgy, praised by the New York Times for his “rich, glowing voice and elegant legato”. Laquita Mitchell first sang Bess with San Francisco Opera and subsequently with Boston Symphony, Cleveland and Tanglewood.

Stephen Barlow conducts The BBC Concert Orchetstra

Their third offering is Engelbert Humperdinck’s masterpiece Hansel & Gretel. Far more than just a fairy tale, it presents the haunting themes of the unsettling Grimm story with enchanting music that has earned it the status of one of the most loved operas in the repertoire. The witch is played by Susan Bullock who has sung Wagner the world over – from Australia to Japan. Following her 2017 triumph in our Jenufa (Susan Bullock takes ownership of the matriarch - this performance would grace any stage in the world, Sunday Times) returns to the Theatre in the Woods to terrify Hansel and Gretel and to bewitch you.

George Jackson conducts The Orchestra of English National Opera.

In addition to these three productions, the celebrated American mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato, will give a special recital on 11 July. Possibly the world’s most glamorous opera star, Joyce is also a consummate artist.

The season finishes with a final fling provided by charismatic baritone Simon Keenlyside and his jazz friends.

As Kani says, ‘You don’t need to know anything about opera to enjoy it. Just immerse yourself – 70 people in the orchestra, 50 people on stage, all performing live, right in front of you. There is no right or wrong on what one should feel. Just feel it.'