SPRING OPERA SHOWCASE
Saturday 14 May 2022 - 7:00 pm
Spring is in finally here and with it heralds the annual Masterclasses, and the subsequent Spring Opera Showcase, which offers a rich variety of semi-staged opera scenes and arias, set into context, to entertain opera novices of all ages and seasoned opera lovers in equal measure. In 2020 we conducted this programme online, and last year it took place behind closed doors, so this will make this year’s showcase doubly special, and we hope that we can gather a goodly sized audience for these fine emerging artists.
This year there will be a change to the format of the evening. Rather than a straight gala style show, it will very much be a showcase in the true sense of the word, displaying the fruits of a week’s work, and extending that theme, it will reveal much more of the masterclass process, with a demonstration of what takes place in the rehearsal room, between director, conductor, and répétiteur, as part of the evening’s event. It will however still very much have the feel of a show, and each piece will be set into context, but this time around it is proposed that the singers do this themselves, creating an increased intimacy between singer and the audience.
Clonter is absolutely delighted to be welcoming the extremely eminent director Giles Havergal, alongside conductor Natalie Murray Beale, with Clonter already benefitting from their new ideas and wealth of experience in our continuing evolution. Satoshi Kubo will be returning as répétiteur and accompanist.
.
Whilst this year a demonstration of what has taken place in the Masterclass will be included in the Spring Opera Showcase, the usual access to the Thursday session (2-3.30pm) will still be on offer. Visitors to the Opera Masterclass are able to follow a performance’s journey from the rehearsal to production, offering a more in-depth view, at an earlier stage in the week, of what goes into the workings behind a performance.
“My enjoyment (of the Spring Opera Showcase) was greatly enhanced by attendance of the Masterclasses in the days before, where we watched the singers being trained into dramatic ensembles by some of the best teachers in the world.”
Clonter’s former Chairman, Patrick Furlong
.
.
The Company
Lluis Calvet I Pey – Baritone
Lluis Calvet I Pey began his studies at the Conservatori Professional de Sabadell with singing teacher, Elisenda Cabero. Soon after, he was given the opportunity to participate in music projects as a soloist, such as Handel’s The Messiah, Cimarosa’s Il Convito, and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Requiem. In 2017 he was awarded the Young Promises Scholarship by the Fundació de Música Ferrer-Salat to study a singing degree at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu with singing teacher Maria Dolors Aldea, vocal coach Marta Pujol, and chamber teacher Alan Branch. In 2019, Lluís participated in projects with the MA Opera course at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu, playing the role of Belcore in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amor, under the stage direction of Paco Azorín. After this, Lluís participated as a soloist in Camille Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalilah at the Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Mérida. Here, he shared the stage with Noah Stewart, Alejandro Roy, Maria José Montiel, Simón Orfila and David Menéndez, under the musical direction of Alvaro Albiach and stage direction of Paco Azorín. In September 2020, Lluís moved to Cardiff, Wales, to begin his final year undergraduate studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. He is currently studying with singing teacher Adrian Thompson, and vocal coach Nicki Rose. Lluís was awarded a scholarship to complete his MA in Advanced Opera at the RWCMD. He has recently been awarded a scholarship by Opera Fuoco Project in Paris, which will blend with his studies in Cardiff.
.
Rachel Duckett – Soprano
Rachel is a British soprano based between Paris, Nice and London. She is currently a young artist at the Centre d’Art Lyrique de la Méditerranée in Nice, France and is looking forward to singing the role of The Elements in Sergio Monterisi and Magali Thomas’ world premier of the opera Babel at Opera de Nice Côte d’Azure this summer. Rachel’s previous roles include Beketaten (Akhnaten) at l’Opéra de Nice, La Fee (Cendrillon VIARDOT) Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) in Theatre du Petit Monde, Paris; Adele (Die Fledermaus) in Wilton’s Music Hall; Elisetta (Il Matrimonio Segreto) at Jackson’s Lane Theatre (HGO). She has also understudied the roles of Violetta (La Traviata) and Mabel (Pirates of Penzance) during recent tours to Sicily (Teatro Garibaldi), and Saudi Arabia (KAUST Auditorium – Merry Opera) respectively. Rachel is a soprano member of the Philharmonia Chorus in London.
Rhydian Jenkins – Tenor
Welsh Tenor Rhydian Jenkins is completing his final year on the MA Opera Course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s David Seligman Opera School and is taught by Adrian Thompson and John Fisher. Rhydian is a recipient of the Sybil Tutton Opera Award, The Countess of Munster Musical Award and Musicians’ Company Award (David Goldman Award) as well as the 2019 Bryn Terfel Scholarship. Recent awards include winning the 2021 MOCSA Young Welsh Singer of the Year Competition. Rhydian has performed roles including Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva Il barbiere di Siviglia, Basilio Le Nozze di Figaro, Peter Quint The Turn of the Screw and Anthony Hope Sweeney Todd, and performed in the 2021 RWCMD Opera Gala conducted by Maestro Carlo Rizzi and accompanied by the WNO Orchestra, performing scenes as Nemorino L’Elisir d’Amore, Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress, Fenton Falstaff and Don Ramiro La Cenerentola. Upcoming engagements include performing as Alfred in RWCMD Summer Opera production of Die Fledermaus, and as Sergei in Welsh National Opera’s production of Cheryomushki in the Autumn.
.
Hannah Morley – Mezzo-Soprano
Mezzo-Soprano Hannah Morley currently resides in Birmingham, where she is studying for a Masters degree in Vocal and Operatic Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Hannah studies under the vocal direction of Louise Crane and is generously supported by the Conservatoire with a scholarship. Prior to her studies in Birmingham, Hannah trained at the Morley Opera School, and at Bath Spa University where she gained her BA in Music. Full operatic roles include Madge Williams in Stephen Mcneff’s Banished, Miss. Forcible/Other Miss. Forcible in Turnage’s Coraline (For RBC), Dorcas in Arne’s Thomas and Sally (Bath International Festival), The Sorceress Dido and Aeneas, Juno Orpheus in the Underworld, and Marchellina The Marriage of Figaro (Bath Spa Opera). Hannah looks forward to portraying the role of Croûte-au-pot in RBC’s summer opera double bill, of Offenbach’s Mesdames de la Halle and Charpentier’s Les arts florissants. For opera scenes excerpts, Hannah has sung Serafina Il Campanello (Morley Opera), Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice (RBC), Angelina La Cenerentola (RBC and Morley Opera), Baba The Rake’s Progress, Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lucretia The Rape of Lucretia, and La Maestra delle Novizie Suor Angelica all for RBC. Hannah recently won first prize in the Ashleyan Opera Prize and the Edward Brooks Lieder Prize and third prize in the Edward Brooks English Song Prize. Hannah and her duo partner Michael Rose have been selected as Leeds Lieder Young Artists for the 2022 Leeds Lieder Festival.
Gabrielle Sargent – Soprano
Gabrielle Sargent is a Maltese soprano currently studying for a Master of Music at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the tutelage of Jane Irwin. In 2020 she graduated from the Edinburgh Napier University with a First Class Honours in Music and awarded the University Medal. This year Gabrielle will be singing in the chorus for a semi-staged production of Madama Butterfly at the Bridgewater Hall with Sir Mark Elder and will also be performing as the guest soloist with the York Guildhall Orchestra with Simon Wright. In 2021, Gabrielle was invited to sing alongside internationally renowned tenor Joseph Calleja. Gabrielle made her opera debut in 2016 as Papagena in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. She has since performed solo roles as La Comtesse Cherubin, Elisetta Il Matrimonio Segreto, Despina Così fan tutte, Béatrice Béatrice et Bénédict (RNCM), Belinda Dido and Aeneas (ENU), Fairy Spirit Cendrillon (Fife Opera) and covered Tatyana Eugene Onegin (ESO). She has also performed as a soloist in an RNCM semi-staged production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen.
.
Giles Havergal – Director
Giles was a Director of the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow with Philip Prowse and Robert David MacDonald. He directed and acted with the Citizen’s Company. He also adapted many novels for the theatre and his version of Graham Greene’s TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT won an Olivier Award. He played his adaptation of Thomas Mann’s DEATH IN VENICE in Glasgow, New York and San Francisco. He has directed opera for among other companies Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Buxton Festival, Wexford Festival, Vancouver, Minneapolis, Manheim. He has worked regularly at RADA, National Opera Studio, Royal Conservatiore of Scotland, American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco and with the Adler Fellows at San Francisco Opera.
Martin André – Music Director
Due to Covid, Natalie Murray Beale has had to withdraw, but at exceedingly short notice Martin André has stepped into the breach. Martin André has a very wide operatic repertoire, but is particularly known for his Janáček, Verdi and Mozart. He has the rare distinction of being the only conductor to have performed for all the major British opera companies, including Un Ballo in maschera (Royal Opera House), the U.K. premiere of Matthus’ Cornet Christoph Rilke and The Makropoulos Case (Glyndebourne Touring Opera), Léhar, Mozart and Janáček (Scottish Opera), Prokofiev, Mozart, and the world premiere of John Buller’s Bakxai (English National Opera). He enjoyed a close relationship with Opera North, conducting many new productions by Falla, Gounod, Janáček, Lehár, Martinů, Puccini, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Verdi. After learning the violin and piano at the Yehudi Menuhin School, he studied music at Cambridge University, and made his professional début conducting Aida for Welsh National Opera in 1982. Very soon he will reach the landmark of 40 years conducting operas and concerts in nearly 30 countries around the world!
Satoshi Kubo – Répétiteur
Japanese-born pianist Satoshi Kubo began his initial training in Oita, Japan. He is a distinguished graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, studying with Itamar Golan, Jeff Cohen and Roger Muraro. He also discovered a passion for chamber music at the Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, where he worked as official class accompanist of its International Academy for several years. Kubo has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Prix de Duo Chant-Piano and the Rainier III de Monaco at the 6th Concours International de Chant-Piano Nadia et Lili Boulanger along with soprano Raquel Camarinha; and the Grand Prix at the Forum Musical International de Normandie, along with cellist Hee-Young Lim. Now based in London, Kubo works as a freelance pianist and opera répétiteur. He was a 2017-18 Young Artist at the National Opera Studio in London, generously supported by the Nomura Foundation during that time. He regularly collaborates with singers and works internationally for major and independent opera companies, including the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the Royal Opera House, The Opera Story, and New Sussex Opera. Since 2018, he has worked as coach for the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, Royal Opera House. His most recent work is researching the Takuboku songbook composed by Yasuji Kiyose, and the use of the Japanese language in art song performance.
.
Refund Policy
Whilst we seem well on the way to finally emerging from the pandemic (touching much wood) as Omicron is still very much about, Clonter would like to still reassure bookers that should you need to cancel due to Covid, a full refund will be offered.
.
Ticket Pricing & Booking Information
Masterclass
Thurs 12 May
Tickets £5, FREE for Friends & Students
Masterclass 2 – 3.30pm
.
Spring Opera Showcase
Sat 14 May
Tickets £19, £25, £31, £36, Students & Children (Under 16) £15
Early Bird Ticket (10% Discount) Available until 30 April
Group Discount (10% Discount) 10+
Doors Open 6pm
Performance Starts 7pm
Interval 70 minute supper interval; pre-order supper, or bring your own picnic
Dress Code Optional black tie
Drink Arrangements Starting in May, the bar will be under new management, and all drink consumed inside the premises must be purchased from the bar. These may be ordered in advance.
.
