It's business as usual this summer for Opera Holland Park - which means a selection of six diverse operas, both well-loved and almost unknown, performed in tranquil surroundings.
The good news is that the old tent that used to house the productions is to be replaced by a new, larger canopy, which will provide an even better environment for performers and audiences alike. Indeed, the new seating arrangements alone sound extraordinary: according to the OHP website, 'the legroom will be almost six inches greater than previously' and 'there will be armrests, high backs and deep, comfortable upholstery'. By these accounts, the visitor experience alone will make it worth the trip down to Kensington this summer.
But let's not forget the main business, which is the music. OHP's 2007 season is anything but safe: even the most familiar pieces, Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and Verdi's La traviata, require star singers of extraordinary technical capabilities. Yet after the many casting coups of recent seasons - for instance, French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels' brilliant Luisa Miller and Lucia di Lammermoor - it's likely that they'll deliver the goods once again this summer.
Duprels, indeed, returns to take the title role in a new production of Janá?ek's Jen?fa, one of the composer's most remarkable works. Set in nineteenth-century Moravia, it is a harrowing tale of infanticide and broken family relations in the suffocating society of a remote village. Anne Mason appears as Kostelnicka, while Olivia Fuchs' new production is conducted by the reliable Stuart Stratford.
Jen?fa is performed in repertory with Verdi's third opera, Nabucco, during June. Their dedication to productions of early Verdi is one of OHP's two major artistic achievements in recent years (the other being the performance of neglected verismo pieces by once-popular composers), and this Nabucco is almost sure to provide as many thrills as we have experienced from them in the past.
Although Verdi's first opera, Oberto, was a minor success on its premiere and was revived the following season, his second opera and the first of only two comedies, Un giorno di regno, was such a failure that, coupled with the death of his children and first wife, the composer went into deep depression. Yet he was spurred on by the themes of political freedom and slavery and the dramatic immediacy of the tale of Nabucodonosor, and eventually composed the opera that is best known for containing the nationalistic anthem 'Va, pensiero'. This is the perfect opportunity to discover that there's more to this work than just a popular tune. Brad Cohen - familiar from the Chelsea Opera Group's recent Beatrice di Tenda - returns to conduct a new production by John Fulljames; David Wakeman plays Nabucco to Elena Baramova's Abigaille (from June 5).
Early July brings with it two sharply contrasted works, Rossini's ever-popular comedy The Barber of Seville (starring Toby Stafford-Allen in a new production directed by Tim Caroll and conducted by Robert Dean, from 30 June) and the dark tragedy of Delibes' Lakmé (from 3 July). The latter is rarely performed, despite the ubiquity of the Flower Duet (known not least from various famous television advertisements), which makes this production of international importance. How many operas deal with the British Raj in late nineteenth-century India? Exoticism in the music is matched by a plot that surely has modern-day relevance in its exploration of the intolerance between clashing religions and cultures, resulting in death and destruction. Alison Bell takes the title role in this magnificent new production by Tom Hawkes; former Royal Opera Young Artist Grant Doyle sings the part of Frederic, while stalwart Graeme Broadbent is Nilakantha.
The final two operas in the season (starting in late July) are both Italian but were written sixty years apart and are at the opposite ends of the musical spectrum. Verdi's La traviata remains a timeless masterpiece and returns with an attractive new cast, including the superb tenor Sean Ruane (star of last year's OHP Manon Lescaut) as Alfredo (from 24 July); Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre re would be unknown to me, were it not for an excellent recording with Plácido Domingo and Anna Moffo (in itself an excellent vocal pairing and well worth exploring) and another recorded live at the Met with the composer also conducting. First performed in 1913, it goes beyond the conventional musical language of verismo opera and offers something starker and perhaps more evocative. Taking his cue from the early setting of the story - in tenth-century Italy - the composer often employs 'blank' sounding harmonies to suggest remoteness and suffocation, making this, in its own way, every bit as harrowing as, though considerably more direct than, Janá?ek's Jen?fa (from 27 July). It is without doubt the hot ticket of the summer, especially with such vocal stars as Julian Gavin and Amanda Echalaz heading a strong cast.
This summer, then, Opera Holland Park's productions promise to run the gamut of emotions, while the exploration of unfamiliar repertoire is of great artistic worth. The City of London Sinfonia returns as the resident orchestra and the casts are likely to be as talented as ever. Don't miss it.