Page 382 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024
P. 382
Into the Woods: Grange Park Opera
© Mark Pullinger
The Grange Festival, at Northington, Hampshire, has enjoyed its greatest critical successes
thus far in Baroque opera, which is little surprise when the Artistic Director is Michael
Chance, who enjoyed a long career as a countertenor. Indeed, in a competitive festival
market, The Grange should arguably focus on Baroque much more, marking it out as
something a bit different to the norm. This year’s offering is Monteverdi’s
masterpiece L’incoronazione di Poppea, with Raffaele Pe and Kitty Whately as Nero and
Poppea, Anna Bonitatibus as Ottavia, directed by Walter Sutcliffe.
The other two operatic Grange offerings are a new Tosca, directed by Christopher
Luscombe with Francesca Tiburzi as the Roman diva, and The Rake’s Progress,
attractively cast with young singers Adam Temple-Smith, Michael Mofidian and Alexandra
Oomens.
