Hampstead Garden Opera
Encyclopedia
Hampstead Garden Opera (HGO) was founded in 1990 by Dr Roy Budden as an evening class at the Hampstead Garden Institute, and became a charitable trust (registered charity no. 1092649) in 2002.
This multi-ethnic company strives to achieve professional standards within an amateur framework, and performs two fully staged operas in English each year.
Upstairs at The Gatehouse
, Highgate Village, in the London Borough of Camden, has been HGO's home since March 2001. HGO is affiliated to NODA and Barnet Borough Arts Council.
The original intention was to concentrate on the major operas of Mozart, but the repertoire has since expanded to encompass works by Bizet, Donizetti, Flotow, Gounod, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Offenbach, Puccini, Johann Strauss and Verdi. Since arriving at Upstairs at The Gatehouse
, HGO has produced operas such as Mozart’s Idomeneo
, Così fan tutte
, The Marriage of Figaro
, Don Giovanni
, The Clemency of Titus
and The Magic Flute
, Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld
and The Tales of Hoffmann, Puccini’s Il Trittico
and Madam Butterfly
, Bizet’s Carmen
, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
, and Donizetti's Elixir of Love
The orchestra for HGO since April 2004 has been The Dionysus Ensemble, formed by ‘cellist Leonie Adams in 2003, which specialises in reduced orchestration opera performance and chamber orchestral concerts. It is composed of young professional musicians and is based in London.
The President, since 2007, is Penelope MacKay, AGSM, HonARAM.
The current Trustees are:
The music director is Oliver-John Ruthven. Anne Macgeorge is the Secretary of the Committee.
Reviews for Susannah included David Karlin for Bachtrack
and Michael White for the Ham and High
HGO's November 2009 production was a double bill of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and Blow's Venus and Adonis
Reviews for this production included Edmund Gordon for The Buzz
HGO's April 2010 production was Mozart's The Clemency of Titus
Reviews for this production included David Karlin for Bachtrack
HGO's November 2010 production was Mozart's The Magic Flute
, and marked the first time an English opera company used the acclaimed Stephen Fry
translation, as seen in Kenneth Branagh
's 2006 film version
.
Reviews for this production included David Karlin for Bachtrack
HGO's April 2011 production was Handel's "Semele".
Reviews for this production included Framescourer
HGO's November 2011 production will be Ralph Vaughan Williams
' - Hugh the Drover
opening at Upstairs at The Gatehouse
on November 11th.
This multi-ethnic company strives to achieve professional standards within an amateur framework, and performs two fully staged operas in English each year.
Upstairs at The Gatehouse
Upstairs at The Gatehouse
Upstairs at The Gatehouse is a pub theatre in Highgate in the London Borough of Camden.The venue is a refurbished 1895 auditorium, upstairs from the Gatehouse pub, that has served over the years as a music hall, cinema, Masonic lodge, and a jazz and folk music club that once hosted a performance by...
, Highgate Village, in the London Borough of Camden, has been HGO's home since March 2001. HGO is affiliated to NODA and Barnet Borough Arts Council.
The original intention was to concentrate on the major operas of Mozart, but the repertoire has since expanded to encompass works by Bizet, Donizetti, Flotow, Gounod, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Offenbach, Puccini, Johann Strauss and Verdi. Since arriving at Upstairs at The Gatehouse
Upstairs at The Gatehouse
Upstairs at The Gatehouse is a pub theatre in Highgate in the London Borough of Camden.The venue is a refurbished 1895 auditorium, upstairs from the Gatehouse pub, that has served over the years as a music hall, cinema, Masonic lodge, and a jazz and folk music club that once hosted a performance by...
, HGO has produced operas such as Mozart’s Idomeneo
Idomeneo
Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...
, Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, The Clemency of Titus
La clemenza di Tito
La clemenza di Tito , K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Metastasio...
and The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld
Orpheus in the Underworld
Orphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux....
and The Tales of Hoffmann, Puccini’s Il Trittico
Il trittico
Il trittico is the title of a collection of three one-act operas, Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi, by Giacomo Puccini...
and Madam Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
, Bizet’s Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
, and Donizetti's Elixir of Love
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
The orchestra for HGO since April 2004 has been The Dionysus Ensemble, formed by ‘cellist Leonie Adams in 2003, which specialises in reduced orchestration opera performance and chamber orchestral concerts. It is composed of young professional musicians and is based in London.
The President, since 2007, is Penelope MacKay, AGSM, HonARAM.
The current Trustees are:
- Alastair Macgeorge (Chairman)
- Martin Musgrave (Deputy Chairman and Publicity)
- Roger Sainsbury (Friends Secretary)
- Antonia Leach (Membership and Auditions Secretary)
The music director is Oliver-John Ruthven. Anne Macgeorge is the Secretary of the Committee.
Performances
HGO's April 2009 production was Carlisle Floyd's - SusannahSusannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
Reviews for Susannah included David Karlin for Bachtrack
and Michael White for the Ham and High
HGO's November 2009 production was a double bill of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and Blow's Venus and Adonis
Venus and Adonis (opera)
Venus and Adonis is an opera in three acts and a prologue by the English Baroque composer John Blow, composed in about 1683. It was written for the court of King Charles II at either London or Windsor. It is considered by some to be either a semi-opera or a masque, but The New Grove names it as the...
Reviews for this production included Edmund Gordon for The Buzz
HGO's April 2010 production was Mozart's The Clemency of Titus
La clemenza di Tito
La clemenza di Tito , K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Metastasio...
Reviews for this production included David Karlin for Bachtrack
HGO's November 2010 production was Mozart's The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, and marked the first time an English opera company used the acclaimed Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
translation, as seen in Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
's 2006 film version
The Magic Flute (2006 film)
The Magic Flute is Kenneth Branagh's English-language film version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's singspiel Die Zauberflöte. The film is a co-production between France & the UK, produced by Idéale Audience and in association with UK's The Peter Moores Foundation.In November 2005, it was announced...
.
Reviews for this production included David Karlin for Bachtrack
HGO's April 2011 production was Handel's "Semele".
Reviews for this production included Framescourer
HGO's November 2011 production will be Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
' - Hugh the Drover
Hugh the Drover
Hugh the Drover is an opera in two acts by Ralph Vaughan Williams to an original English libretto by Harold Child. According to Michael Kennedy, the composer took first inspiration for the opera from this question to Bruce Richmond, editor of The Times Literary Supplement, around 1909–1910:"I...
opening at Upstairs at The Gatehouse
Upstairs at The Gatehouse
Upstairs at The Gatehouse is a pub theatre in Highgate in the London Borough of Camden.The venue is a refurbished 1895 auditorium, upstairs from the Gatehouse pub, that has served over the years as a music hall, cinema, Masonic lodge, and a jazz and folk music club that once hosted a performance by...
on November 11th.