Based on the great classic novel by Goethe that took Europe by storm, Werther is an entirely domestic story of an apparently idyllic middle class family, torn apart by uncontrollable passion.
The opera is dominated by the handsome, over-sensitive young artist (played by emerging talent Ed Ballard, and sung in the special version for baritone prepared by the composer) and the lovely Charlotte (Carolyn Dobbin), who is engaged to be married to his friend Albert (Simon Wallfisch).
Rarely in opera is the destructive power of love felt so close to the bone – and rarely, too, has...
Join Exeter Choral Society for a Night at the Opera on Wednesday 6 May 2015.
Exeter Choral Society will be performing Puccini Messa di Gloria and popular operatic choruses and arias, under the direction of Laurence Blyth.
Welsh tenor Andrew Henley will be making a welcome return, taking time out of a Glyndebourne season to join us. We also look forward to hearing local soloists Heloise West and Julian Rippon.
The concert is supporting local charity, Headway Devon, which helps people with acquired brain injury, from illness such as meningitis or accident.
The Olivier Award-winning English Touring Opera (ETO) is performing a new season of fully-staged Italian opera at Exeter Northcott Theatre this April and May.
Puccini’s masterpiece La bohème is joined by two rare Donizetti titles, The Wild Man of the West Indies (Il furioso all’isola di San Domingo) and The Siege of Calais (L’assedio di Calais). All three are sung in full costume, in Italian with English surtitles, accompanied by ETO’s chorus and 25-piece orchestra.
One of the greatest and most moving operas of all time, La bohème is a story of young love, starting on...
"…a beautiful voice, which just gets better and better"
There is something rather exciting and special about catching a future star in concert early on in their career, particularly when the star is home grown talent. This is certainly the case for Concerts in the West audiences who have the opportunity to see the Devon born tenor Rupert Charlesworth live at Lower Pulworthy, Highampton, Hatherleigh on 7 May.
This brilliant young singer has won a string of awards since he graduated from The Royal Academy of Music. He was Academy Laureate of the Festival D'Aix-...
2014 saw Pop-up Opera tour for three seasons, with over 60 performances at 42 different venues all over the UK and in Corfu. For Spring 2015, they’re coming back with Mozart’s comic opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) about a hero, Belmonte, and his servant, Pedrillo, attempting to rescue their lovers Konstanze and Blonde from an Ottoman harem.
All kinds of high jinks and mishaps occur as they don disguises, make merry with the servants and sing an ode to Bacchus, god of wine, in an attempt to save their beloveds. The music contains some of Mozart'...
La Bohème is a tale of young love, starting on Christmas Eve in a Paris garret. On this festive night Mimì and Rodolfo draw close, before poverty and ill-health force them apart. With some of the most memorable music in opera, ETO's new Italian-language production lifts every spirit and breaks every heart.
The Siege of Calais (L'assedio di Calais) enjoyed its first ever UK professional tour with ETO in 2013, when it was acclaimed as one of the company's greatest achievements.
Constructed of bel canto arias and ensembles of extraordinary quality, it tells the story of the citizens of Calais who offer up their lives to save their city from the besieging English army.
Proud, fierce, exhilarating – this is history on stage, in thrilling music.
Handel’s comedies Flavio, Xerxes and Agrippina have been hugely popular with ETO audiences in Exeter in recent years. Now the company presents one of the composer’s most successful serious operas, Ottone. Written for the greatest singers of the day, it dazzles with a treasure trove of tearful and brilliant arias, many of which are regularly performed in concert. The romantic story of a 10th century German Emperor and his Byzantine bride features unusual psychological complexity and, in the extraordinary second act, a dramatic sea cave setting. Sung in English.
Cal McCrystal, the comedy director behind the National Theatre’s smash hit One Man, Two Guvnors, directs this new production of Life on the Moon (Il mondo della luna).
Once the most popular of Haydn’s many operas, it is a fast-moving and funny treatment of a classic play by Carlo Goldoni.
To trick an old miser, his daughter and her suitor (disguised as an ‘astronomer’) convince him that he has flown to the moon – a topsy-turvy world in their control. Sung in English.
Tickets £17-£33
Pre Show Talks: 6.30pm Wed 19 & Thu 20 November (Venue TBC)
Henry Purcell meets Giacomo Puccini on a love journey through Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods with the help of all the great composers of their time.
Recital includes folk songs and poetry from the Cygnet Company. Music and words tell us how powerful a woman’s love can be.
Soprano Kaja Pecnik performing arias such as O mio babbino caro, Sweeter than roses and Una voce poco fa will guide us through the wonderful language of love and truly make us fall in love with love.
Again and again.
Adrian Hicks Pianist Adrian Hicks studied piano and singing at...
