Platée
★★★★★
“Garsington Opera… pulled off a huge success with this sparkling (in more ways than one), funny, engaging production…”
Melanie Eskenazi, MusicOMH, 29 May
★★★★★
“Rameau’s comic masterpiece receives a new and scintillating production at Garsington Opera”
Tim Hochstrasser, Playstosee.com, 1 June
★★★★
“Rameau’s earthy score, which The English Concert brings vividly to onomatopoeic life in the pit, excellently directed by Paul Agnew”
Rebecca Franks, The Times, 30 May
★★★★
“Director Louisa Muller finds a way through in a production that generates a steadily increasing degree of sympathy for poor Platée”
George Hall, The Stage, 30 May
★★★★
“Samuel Boden excels in a series of outrageous costumes by designer Christopher Oram: green sparkly swimsuit with matching flippers; peacock-tailed tutu; over-the-top wedding dress.”
Stephen Pritchard, The Observer, 2 June
★★★★
“Among the solo roles, Holly Brown as the scheming Muse of Comedy stands out for the delicate way she catches Rameau’s idiom.”
Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph, 30 May
★★★★
“Garsington has established itself as the most stylish and adventurous of Britain’s country-house opera companies.”
Michael Church, inews, 31 May
★★★★
“Overall this is a lavish, hugely entertaining show teeming with ideas.”
Claudia Pritchard, CultureWhisper, 31 May
★★★
“The chorus is superb – diction chiselled, phrasing in high-definition – and they move with enviable ease”
Flora Wilson, The Guardian, 30 May
★★★
“Ossian Huskinson’s Jupiter impressed with his strong bass-baritone voice”
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 31 May
★★★
“This production has a lot going for it: fabulously performed music, an engaging performance in the title role and an entertaining scenario with great visuals and plenty of comic gags.”
David Karlin, Bachtrack, 30 May
“Rameau’s score is a riot. The choral singing was as lithe as the dancing and the English Concert under Paul Agnew launched itself with enormous bounce and vim at all the bird effects, dissonances and chromatic slithers. It’s a shiny, raunchy, heartless spectacular: perfect Friday night viewing, in other words”
Richard Bratby, The Spectator, 6 June
“Mireille Asselin has a purity of tone and an innate Baroque sensibility that charms even as she descends in a lift dressed as a DJ dropping tunes in a DJ booth.”
Adrian York, London Unattached, 30 May
“Ossian Huskinson proves to be a suavely confident Jupiter, alongside Murray in his second part as Mercury, equally silver-tongued, and Henry Waddington’s dependable Chitheron, as they set about their mission.”
Curtis Rogers, Seen and Heard International, 3 June
“A talented company of singers delivered their crazy roles with vivid characterisation and impeccable French diction”
Mark Valencia, Musical America, 5 June
Figaro
★★★★
“As the Countess, Samantha Clarke sang a drop-dead gorgeous ‘Porgi amor’, accompanied by birdsong and warbling clarinets, while ‘Dove sono’ was no less beautiful”
Mark Pullinger, OperaNow, 3 June
★★★★
“Bethany Horak-Hallett was the pick of the bunch with her ardent, quivering Cherubino”
Melanie Eskenazi, MusicOMH, 31 May
★★★★
“John Cox’s production feels as fresh as ever. The strong cast in this latest reincarnation by revival director Bruno Ravella brings out the best of Mozart’s effervescent tunes and Lorenzo da Ponte’s comic brilliance, and the evening fizzes with fun.”
Charles Hebbert, Culture Whisper, 5 June
★★★
“The Philharmonia Orchestra – recently confirmed alongside the English Concert as Garsington partners for the next five years – plays dynamically under Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund”
Edward Bhesania, The Stage, 31 May
“Berglund’s pacing of the score is consistently sure and the sonorities of the Philharmonia’s modern instruments are sympathetically calibrated. It would be hard to leave Garsington’s Le nozze di Figaro without feeling a satisfied glow”
Yehuda Shapiro, Opera Today, 6 June
“David Ireland is a self-assured swaggering Figaro with a voice to match. Ireland’s projection is mighty, seemingly effortlessly filling the auditorium. His Act I Cavatina “Se Vuol Ballare” is jaw-dropping”
Andrew Lohmann, London Unattached, 12 June
“The Countess and her maid, more resourceful than the men, give us gold: liquid in the case of Claire Lees’s Susanna … highest carat in the case of Samantha Clarke’s Countess.”
David Nice, The Arts Desk, 29 June
“David Ireland was a wonderfully alert, responsive Figaro”
Robert Hugill, Planet Hugill, 8 July
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
★★★★★
“An outstanding British cast without a weak link, all of whom will be at the Royal Albert Hall in September when Garsington brings a version of this Dream to the Proms. Crowe is in gorgeous voice, her Come Now a Roundel luscious, and, under the influence of Puck’s narcotics, singing with honeyed inebriation.”
Neil Fisher, The Times, 17 June
★★★★★
“The Philharmonia Orchestra under conductor Douglas Boyd are suitably magical … and this inventive production by Garsington Opera does the other-worldly nature of the work full justice.”
Owen Davies, Playstosee.com, 4 July
★★★★
“Iestyn Davies’ ideally articulate and subtly voiced Oberon”
George Hall, The Stage, 17 June
★★★★
“Superbly played by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Douglas Boyd, bringing out all the unresolved tensions and sweet resolutions of the score”
Melanie Eskenazi, MusicOMH, 17 June
★★★★
“A dream cast and a sparkling orchestra”
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 17 June
★★★★
“Davies’ light but intensely focused sound seems to control everything, while Crowe’s voice rings out majestically, her deluded love-making with Bottom’s donkey being both comic and piercingly sad; the royal pair’s closing duet is exquisite”
Michael Church, inews, 17 June
★★★
“Each character – John Savournin’s pedantic Quince, Adam Sullivan’s slow-witted Snout and above all Richard Burkhard’s big-hearted Bottom – was nicely etched”
Ivan Hewett, The Daily Telegraph, 17 June
★★★
“The “fairy band” – Wormsley locals, not formally trained singers – were excellent: Britten would have loved that link to the community”
Roy Westbrook, Bachtrack, 17 June
★★★
“Stephanie Wake-Edwards was an impressive Hermia, sparking against Camilla Harris’ bright soprano Helena.”
“Caspar Singh and James Newby both displayed fine voices as Lysander and Demetrius and the lovers’ spat in Act 2 was well choreographed.”
Mark Pullinger, Opera Now, 20 June
“The real mechanicals, led by Richard Burkhard as Bottom, with James Way an enchanting, deb-like Thisbe, offered warmth and humanity”
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, 4 July
“It is always dangerous to call anything flawless, but this production seemed to be just that. That achievement owes much to the design, also undertaken by Netia Jones”
Simon Heffer, Weekend Telegraph, 24 June
“The Garsington Opera Youth Company was outstanding, not only singing with unaffected clarity and enthusiasm, but with tightly coordinated movement that was spot on … A credit to Jones and assistant director / choreographer Rebecca Meltzer”
Clive Paget, Musical America, 20 June
“The Garsington Opera Youth Company … sang splendidly, and with counter-tenor Iestyn Davies and soprano Lucy Crowe as Oberon and Tytania … this was musically close to perfection”
Mark Ronan, The Article, 25 June
“Jones’s direction of an outstanding cast is not only well-disciplined but full of bright ideas”
Hugh Canning, Operalogue, 8 July
“The human lovers all aptly embody passion and gusto in their various amorous and jealous ventures, James Geidt particularly impressive for his bold, urgent performance as Demetrius”
Curtis Rogers, Seen & Heard International, 25 June
Un giorno di regno
★★★★★
“The action never flagged, the ensemble pieces shone and the chorus made a splendid sound”
David Karlin, Bachtrack, 30 June
★★★★★
“Garsington’s musical standards are once again sky-high, with a busy and fully engaged chorus, the exceptional Philharmonia Orchestra in the pit, and conductor Chris Hopkins taking his career up a notch with a vital and witty realisation of Verdi’s score that it would be hard to match anywhere”
George Hall, The Stage, 1 July
★★★★★
“The combination of this witty staging and a superb cast, orchestra and chorus is dynamite”
Claire Jackson, Telegraph, 6 July
★★★★★
“Perfect for both opera newcomers and long-time fans, this is a show you shouldn’t miss!”
Josi Steinfield, Playstosee.com, 2 July
★★★★
“Alden is helped by having a cast that is as adept at knockabout comedy as at getting round the notes, of which there are many”
Richard Morrison, The Times, 30 June
★★★★
“The Philharmonia Orchestra under conductor Chris Hopkins gets the music to sparkle.”
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 4 July
★★★★
“Excellent singing from an enthusiastic young cast, notably the soprano Madison Leonard as Giulietta and Oliver Sewell as he lover Edoardo.”
David Mellor, Mail on Sunday, 7 July
★★★★
“The Garsington Opera Chorus may tend to get something of a passing mention in reviews, but here their regular presence onstage in itself demands more … they had plenty to get their teeth into at the dramatic level, with all manner of intricate stage manoeuvres to execute … Has the Garsington chorus ever sounded better?”
Andrew Green, Opera Now, 3 July
★★★★½
“Chris Hopkins, replacing a previously advertised Tobias Ringborg, elicits a highly accomplished sound from the Philharmonia Orchestra, while there is not a single weak link in the cast.”
Sam Smith, MusicOMH, 14 July
★★★
“Joshua Hopkins’ suave, smoothly sung Belfiore has just the right blend of nervous swagger, while Christine Rice as his love interest, the Marchesa del Poggio, sings with a supple elegance and acts with an understated irony that earns her plenty of chuckles”
Clive Paget, The Guardian, 30 June
“An opera production is arguably only as good as its singers, and the present cast could hardly be bettered”
Richard Whitehouse, Arcana.fm, 4 July
“The surprise hit of the season is Verdi’s early flop Un giorno di regno, in a sparky and often hilarious new staging by Christopher Alden”
Richard Bratby, The Spectator, 13 July