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Opera Gala
Sat 6 November, 7pm
If you are as yet undecided about attending this year’s opera gala, we thought you might like to meet the singers, you would be supporting.
To remind you of the format, the Opera Gala consists of a variety of well-loved opera arias, duets and ensembles, followed by some musical theatre classics, in a well-established operative prelude to Christmas, and is ideal for anyone who has not been to an opera before, but would like to dip their toe in the water, before committing to a full-blown one. Each item is set into context by the director, so no prior knowledge necessary.
The booking period for suppers has now closed, but picnic tables are still available.
We would also like to reassure you that with the continuing, and fluctuating, pandemic situation, should you need to cancel due to Covid, a full refund will be offered.
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Meet Charlotte Badham
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Meet Olivia Carrell
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Meet Jacobo Ochoa
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Meet Richard Shaffrey
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Meet Yuliya Shkvarko
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Biogs
Charlotte Badham – Mezzo-Soprano
Clonter is delighted to welcome Charlotte back to Clonter following her highly acclaimed participation in Clonter’s production of Papageno’s Quest, at the Just So Festival this year, a number of Clonter education programmes, and a Tea with Songs from the Shows in 2019. Plymouth born mezzo-soprano, Charlotte Badham, is a recent graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music. Her operatic roles include Hansel Hansel and Gretel for which she received The Eunice Pettigrew Prize, Hippolyta A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Willie Street Scene, and Léonie La Vie Parisienne in RNCM productions. As well as Dido Dido and Aeneas in concert with the Ilkley and Otley Choral society, Olga Eugene Onegin on the Opera Holland Park Young Artist Programme and Cretan Woman Idomeneo with Buxton Festival Opera. Furthermore, Charlotte has enjoyed working as a chorister with companies including Buxton Festival Opera (2017 / 18) and Garsington Opera on the Alvarez Young Artist Programme (2019). Charlotte’s highlight of 2021 has been returning to the Opera Holland Park Young Artist Programme to sing the role of Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro. Since 2018, Charlotte has been involved in several projects for Clonter Opera which include: delivering music-theatre workshops to over 1,000 children; performing musical theatre concerts, and creating a new Children’s Opera Show, ‘Papageno’s Quest’, in which Charlotte plays numerous familiar characters across the operatic repertoire. As an enthusiastic oratorio soloist, Charlotte has performed with numerous choral societies across the UK, most recently, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the Liverpool Welsh Choral and Bach’s Magnificat with the Amici Singers in Somerset. Internationally, Charlotte has sung in Florence for the VenCap annual opera gala dinner, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Garsington Opera and the Notre Dame Cathedral to commemorate the Holodomor in Ukraine.
Click here to watch Il segreto per esser felici, Lucrezia Borgia, Donizetti
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Olivia Carrell – Soprano
Clonter is delighted to welcome Olivia back to Clonter following both her success in the Spring Opera Showcase in 2019, returning to take part in the digital recital series and digital Christmas Tea Special in 2020. Olivia Carrell is a young lyric soprano based in London, singing under the tutelage of Alison Wells. She has recently graduated with Distinction in her Masters Degree from the Royal Northern College of Music where she was taught by Deborah Rees. Prior to this, she received a First Class BA in Music from the RNCM. Olivia was the happy beneficiary of the Countess of Munster Music Trust 2020 which helped fund the final year of her Masters degree. During this time, she performed roles such as Blanche de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogue des Carmelites, Dew Fairy in Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel, Helena in Britten’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Maria Bertram in Dove’s Mansfield Park. In July of this year, she was invited to perform in Viardot’s Cendrillon at the Buxton International Opera Festival where she received 5 star reviews for her comedic portrayal of the ugly sister, Maguelonne. Olivia has just been invited back to the festival to play the principle role of Louise in Donizetti’s “Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali” for their 2022 season. She also spent the summer 2021 season with Hampstead Garden Opera in their production of Cavalli’s opera “L’Egisto” where she played the role Venere. She has worked closely with composers in discovering the fascinating world of contemporary classical music, which resulted in her premiering a one-woman operetta – Growth of the Silk which received glowing revues at London’s Tete-a-Tete festival in August 2019. The performance was deemed “the highlight of the festival for me” by Tete-a-Tete’s founder, Bill Bankes-Jones. The piece was generously funded to enable a 2020 tour of UK Fringe festivals. Sadly this was interrupted by Covid.
Click here to watch Act 1, Scene 1, Dialogue des Carmelites, Poulenc
Click here to watch C, Poulenc
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Jacobo Ochoa – Baritone
Clonter is delighted to welcome Colombian baritone Jacobo Ochoa back to Clonter following his great success in the role of Masetto in Clonter’s Opera Production of Don Giovanni in 2019. Jacobo graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a First Class Honours degree. He was a member of the Tenerife Opera Studio (2019/20) during which time he performed the role of Belcore at Opera de Tenerife, National State Theatre of Tbilisi, and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. He has sung the role of Masetto with Clonter Opera and appeared with British Youth Opera (Caliban – The Enchanted Island). Most recently he has begun a series of summer concerts with the Marylebone Music Festival. Jacobo is the winner of the Colombian National Singing competition, where he was also awarded a scholarship to study in Barcelona for one year. He then went on to win 2nd prize at the Logroño international singing competion in Spain. During his time at the Guildhall he was awarded 2nd prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary for young singers. He has been supported by the Drake Calleja Trust and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Future engagements include, a return to Opera de Tenerife in spring 2022 for a production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach).
Click here to watch Di tua beltade immagine…, Poliuto, Donizetti
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Richard Shaffrey – Tenor
Clonter is delighted to welcome Richard back to Clonter following not only his vocal, but also physical acrobatic prowess in the 2019 Clonter Opera Gala. Richard completed his studies with Stephen Robertson on the RCS MMus Opera Course, where he was very grateful to be generously supported by the RCS Trust, the Irish Arts Council and the South Square Trust. At the RCS he performed the roles of Ferrando Così fan tutte, Lechmere Owen Wingrave, Tristan Le Vin Herbé, and Alfred Die Fledermaus. He sang in the Wexford Festival Opera Chorus (2013/14/16), Grange Park Opera chorus (2015) and the Wide Open Opera Chorus, performing in Tristan und Isolde, Alma Fetish and Nixon in China, understudying Mao. He also sang the role of Nemorino L’elisir d’amore in an understudy concert with Opera Theatre Company. After completing a DipMus Performance at the RIAM, he was accepted onto the Northern Ireland Opera Young Artists’ Programme, where he understudied Macduff Macbeth and Tamino The Magic Flute. In 2016, he played the role of Gastone in Clonter Opera’s La traviata, while understudying Alfredo and also performed the role of Il Cancelliere in Wexford Festival Opera’s production of Maria de Rudenz in the same year. In 2017 he performed the role of Rodolfo La bohème at the Rye Arts Festival and made his debut with Scottish Opera as The Officer Ariadne auf Naxos in February 2018. He has featured at the Wexford Opera Festival, where he was a PWC Young Artist, performing the roles of Dick Johnson Fanciulla del West, Il Messo Il Bravo, and Prince Charmant Cendrillon.
Click here to watch La donna è mobile, Rigoletto, Verdi
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Yuliya Shkvarko – Soprano
Yuliya Shkvarko is a Belarussian-Australian Soprano, who is an awardee of the Presidential Award for Young Talents of Belarus, prize-holder of the International Vocal Competitions in Kohtla-Järve and ‘I sing for you, Russia’ in Velikiye Luki. She is a recipient of Brisbane Junior Opera Championship Trophy, scholarships for Alion Baltic International Music Festival (Riga), MMus Int, AdvPgDip and IAD at RNCM. Yuliya’s recent Opera roles include: Blanche de la Force Dialogues des Carmelites, Geraldine A Hand of Bridge, Lauretta Gianni Schicchi, Antonina Milyukova Tchaikovsky, Angel of Music. In Latvia Yuliya won 1st Opera Prize in the VI Alion Baltic International Music Competition 2019. In 2020 Yuliya graduated from the most prestigious degree at the Royal Northern College of Music – International Artist Diploma. Despite the countless cancellations of performances during the Covid-19 pandemics, Yuliya was still able to make the most of these challenging times, thanks to the British Youth Opera. From November 2020 to July 2021 Yuliya was a member of their Serena Fenwick Artists Program. During these months Yuliya was also under the mentorship of a world-renowned mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard and achieved B1 level in German with her private languages tutor Carolin Koehler. Yuliya’s music journey in UK is kindly supported by Peter Heath patronage.
Click here to watch Song to the Moon, Rusalka, Dvorak
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Ticket Pricing & Covid Safety Measures
Whilst the government have lifted all restrictions, further to our Customer Confidence Survey, and feedback from our Summer Opera Production, we have decided to maintain the policy adopted for the last 3 performances of the opera, which was that masks be worn at all times when moving around the foyer and other common parts, maintaining a 2 metre distance, where possible, and hand sanitising on entry, but once seated for a show masks may be removed. In addition we will still be leaving one seat empty between groups. This latter measure will still mean that the capacity of the performance spaces (auditorium and Ramsey room) is reduced significantly. Whilst we did not quadruple (pre 19th July) and double (post 19th July) the ticket prices for the Barber of Seville, in order to have a sporting chance of being able to present a programme for 2022, it is necessary for us to consequently increase the price of the tickets for the remaining events planned for this year. We very much hope that this will not preclude you from attending this event. We pledge to review this in 2022, and restore the Early Bird and Group Discounts. We thank you in advance for your understanding, and very much hope you may be able to attend this event, and thereby help secure a future for Clonter.
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Refund Policy
With the continuing, and fluctuating, pandemic situation, Clonter would like to reassure bookers that should you need to cancel due to Covid, a full refund will be offered.
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Tickets £65, £80, £95, £110
Doors Open 6pm
Performance 7pm
Interval 70-minute supper interval; pre-order supper, or bring your own (indoor) picnic.
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