Past Shows by Opera Minima

"Rainforest"

"Rainforest", a new opera by Martin Read and Philip Sealey. Commissioned by Opera Minima with funding from Arts Council England and HSBC, “Rainforest” is dramatic, thought-provoking and very topical.

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"The Bear"

"The Bear" is a witty one-act opera – or “extravaganza” as the composer dubbed it – by William Walton. It is based on one of Chekhov’s “vaudevilles” and is a sparkling and humorous tale about a pretty widow and her late husband’s boorish creditor.

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""Susanna's Secret" - by Wolf-Ferrari"

Count Gil suspects that his bride has a lover. How else can the smell of tobacco smoke about the house and her occasional sorties (without his permission) be explained?

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"Le Cinesi"

"Le Cinesi" an opera-serenade in one act by Christoph Willibald Gluck.
Three Chinese ladies are bored until their friend, recently returned from the Grand Tour, suggests an innocent way of passing the time.
Lovely lyrical music for soprano, 2 mezzos and a tenor

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"OPERA GALA"

A programme of trios, duets and arias from your favourite operas and some that might not be so familiar. From innocent first love through light-hearted flirtation to threatened suicide, includes pieces from
"Don Pasquale", "Magic Flute", "Don Giovanni", "Seraglio", "Don Carlo" and "Rigoletto".

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"Mainly Mozart"

A celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. Scenes from operas composed when Mozart was 16 years old ("Lucio Silla"), 25 ("Idomeneo"), 30 ("Le nozze di Figaro") and the last opera he wrote just before he died at the age of 35 – "La clemenza di Tito". Also included in the programme is a performance of the one-act Pergolesi comic opera, "La serva padrona", in which the servant does her best to become the mistress.
Cast ~ Lisajane Ellis, Amanda Watsham, Melanie Lodge, Susan Moore, Terry Saunders.

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"The last rose of summer"

Two nineteenth century operas - a Rossini farsa and Flotow's "Martha".
This programme takes its title from the English folksong that is featured in the opera "Martha" by Flotow. Two ladies of Queen Anne’s court, bored with their life of leisure, disguise themselves as farmhands and are hired by a couple of farmers at the local fair. Of course, they all fall in love, but differences in rank pose big problems. It all ends happily and in the meanwhile, we have some wonderful romantic music – the Spinning Quartet, the midnight quartet, the famous tenor aria “None so fair” and, of course, that folksong, sung as solo, duet and quartet. "Martha" is sung in English translation.

The programme also includes the Rossini farsa "L’inganno felice" – another case of mistaken identity. We have a duchess, falsely accused of a terrible crime and sentenced to death, her rescuer, and her husband, and two baddies. And some delicious Rossini music.

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"Wild thyme - a night with the Bard"

Fairy stories from Britten's "A midsummer night's dream" and the story of Romeo and Juliet as told by Bellini, Berlioz and Gounod.

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"No smoke without fire"

"Susanna's secret" by Wolf-Ferrari and A hand of bridge by Barber - and a dramatic cliff-top scene from Ethel Smyth's "The wreckers"

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"French touch"

A complete performance of "Djamileh" by Bizet, a one act opera, composed shortly before "Carmen", set in the sumptuous surroundings of an Egyptian palace. Scenes from "Faust" by Gounod, "Samson & Dalilah" by Saint-Saëns (including “Softly awakes my heart”), "Carmen" by Bizet and "Tales of Hoffman" by Offenbach.

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