FANTASIO

14 June - 20 July 2019

Fantasio is a melancholy, moon-struck dreamer who yearns after an unreachable princess. Can he win her over with his disguise as her beloved jester and fulfil his promise to prevent her arranged marriage to the prince? Secret encounters and mistaken identities are eventually, and sometimes unexpectedly, resolved.

Offenbach was known for his witty and catchy melodies, poking fun at the establishment in tuneful scores of dazzling charm. Celebrating the composer’s bicentenary in 2019, we present the UK stage premiere of this enchanting and gently poignant opera in a specially commissioned new English translation by Jeremy Sams.

We welcome Hanna Hipp (Capriccio, 2018) in the title role, Jennifer France (Le nozze di Figaro, 2017) as Princess Elsbeth and director Martin Duncan (Il turco in Italia, 2017) with conductor Justin Doyle making his Garsington debut.

Sung in English with English supertitles.