Page 381 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

Garsington Opera
© Verity Mulligan
There’s a new (pandemic rescheduled) production of Verdi’s early comedy Un giorno di
regno, which will almost wipe my Verdi bingo card (please, someone, stage Oberto!). I will
also be interested to see Netia Jones’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream – not the show she
staged at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2017, but a new production which premiered at Santa
Fe Opera last summer. And – drumroll! – you can also see Britten’s Dream in London this
summer, as Garsington makes its BBC Proms debut.

Grange Park Opera & The Grange Festival

Grange Park Opera, in the Surrey Hills, punches above its weight when it comes to casting.
A new double bill of Aleko and Gianni Schicchi is mounted for Welsh knight Sir Bryn Terfel,
a festival favourite and a magnetic stage presence. Although it’s just been staged by Opera
North, Rachmaninov’s Aleko doesn’t get much of an outing and the title role should suit
Terfel’s rugged bass-baritone. GPO’s other must-see should be Kátya Kabanová, featuring
soprano Natalya Romaniw. The 2024 festival also boasts a new Daughter of the
Regiment (sung in English) and another Anthony Bolton opera, Island of Dreams.