Lunchtime recital for tenor and string quartet

Songs from Schubert’s Winterreise

Tenor, Jonathan Finney

String quartet

Jennifer Wigram, first violin (Leader)

Amanda Glauert, second violin

Jane Eldred, viola

Simon Thompson, cello

A selection of songs from Schubert’s Winterrise, in a version for singer and string quartet in the arrangement by Wim ten Have.

New Palace Opera continues its exploration of the work and influences of Richard Wagner, with a new piece, In Memoriam, by Jonathan Finney, inspired by a Wagner fragment. The other works are Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder and Act 3 of Die Walküre.

Cast

Brünnhilde, Shannon Roberts

Wotan, Gerrit Paul Groen

Sieglinde, Anna Loveday

Gerhilde, Charlotte Richardson

Ortlinde, Claire Filer

Waltraute, Grace Maria Wain

Schwertleite, Gráinne Gillis

Helmwige, Corinne Hart

Siegrune, Mae Heydorn

Grimgerde, Wendy Silvester

Rossweisse, Caroline Carragher

Jonathan Finney conducts the New Palace Opera Orchestra

Our two-act concert performance of Billy Budd continues our progress through the work of composer Benjamin Britten.

The cast includes:

Arthur Bruce: Billy Budd, foretopman

Jonathan Finney: Captain Edward Fairfax Vere, Captain of HMS Indomitable

Gerrit Paul Groen: John Claggart, Master-at-Arms

James Quilligan: Mr Redburn, First Lieutenant

Conall O’Neill: Mr Flint, Sailing Master

Ben Knight: Lieutenant Ratcliffe

Richard Milnes: Red Whiskers, an impressed man

Michael Temporal-Darell: Donald, a sailor

Gerard Delrez: Dansker, an old seaman

Bo Wang: Novice

Robert Felstead: Squeak, a ship’s corporal

Teyfik Kamal: Bosun

William Semple: First Mate

Joshua Lane: Second Mate

Robin Whitehouse: Maintop

Stephen Whitford: Novice’s friend and Arthur Jones, an impressed man

Spencer Turner, Jamie Whitley and Ava Williams: Midshipmen and Cabin boy (children)

Officers, sailors, powder monkeys, drummers and marines: Andre Andrade, Adam Brown, Richard Jackson, Sam Leggett, Ciarán O’Meara, Alex Riddell (Sailor and Gunner’s Mate), Gary Rushton

Michael Thorne conducts the New Palace Opera Orchestra.

Performed with the permission of Boosey & Hawkes.

Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress tells the tale of a Rake, Tom Rakewell, who abandons his truelove for the bright lights of London in the company of the Devil in disguise.

Cast

Tom Rakewell, a Rake, Kieran White

Anne Trulove, his Betrothed, Eleanor Penfold

Father Trulove, Anne’s father, Gerrit Paul Groen

Nick Shadow, a Devilish Manservant, Nicholas Morris

Mother Goose, a Whore, Anna Loveday

Baba the Turk, a Bearded Lady, Zoe South

Sellem, an Auctioneer, Jonathan Finney

Keeper of the Madhouse, Aleksi Koponen

The Ensemble of Roaring boys/Whores/Creditors/The curious/Inmates of Bedlam

Sopranos, Elizabeth Moreland/Liz Stock

Mezzo-sopranos, Vivien Easom/Anna Loveday

Tenors, Paul Blundell/Michael Wells

Basses, Aleksi Koponen/Thomas Stephenson

Richard Wagner: Parsifal Act 2, concert production

Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht, arranged for full orchestra by Jonathan Finney

Cast

Parsifal: Alex Haigh

Kundry: Catharine Woodward

Klingsor: Nicholas Morris

Flower Maidens: Ingeborg Børch, Corinne Hart, Kristel Vinter Knudsen, Charlotte Richardson, Wendy Silvester and Grace Wain

The orchestra of New Palace Opera

Conductor: Jonathan Finney

Jonathan Finney returns to St Peter’s in St Albans for another popular lunchtime recital to sing two English song cycles, accompanied by a string quartet.

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge used six poems from AE Housman’s ‘A Shropshire Lad’, while Gerald Finzi looks to the poems of Thomas Hardy for his By Footpath and Stile cycle.

New Palace Opera returns to Benjamin Britten for the third of his chamber operas, the comic Albert Herring.

Cast

Lady Billows, an elderly aristocrat, Elaine KcKrill

Florence Pike, her housekeeper, Anna Loveday

Miss Wordsworth, a schoolteacher, Mimi Doulton

Mr Gedge, the vicar, Jonathan Finney

Mr Upfold, the mayor, Robin Whitehouse

Superintendent Budd, Simon Grange

Sid, a butcher’s assistant, Aaron Holmes

Albert Herring, from the greengrocer’s, Alex Haigh

Nancy, from the bakery, Emily Hodkinson

Mrs Herring, Albert’s mother, Zoe South

Emmie, Elizabeth Stock

Cis, Alicia Mallace-Goulbourne

Harry, Elizabeth Moreland

Conductor, Michael Thorne

Tannhäuser            Edward Hughes

Venus                        Zoe South

Conductor Jonathan Finney

Prologue              Jonathan Finney

Governess           Nicola Ihnatowicz

Miles                    Elizabeth Morland

Flora                     Chiara Vinci

Mrs. Grose          Mae Heydorn

Quint                    Jonathan Finney

Miss Jessel          Zoe South

Conductor           Michael Thorne

Repetiteur           Jonathan Musgrave

Siegmund Andrew Friedhoff

Sielginde Cara McHardy

Hunding Oliver Hunt

Zoe South Brünnhilde

Wotan Julian Close

Conductor Jonathan Finney

Isolde Zoe South

Brangaene Mae Heydorn

Tristan Edward Hughes

Kurvenal David Mears

King Marke Julian Close

Melot, Cornish Sailor Peter Relton

Conductor Jonathan Finney

Der Komponist Mae Heydorn

Der Tenor/Bacchus Jonathan Finney

Zerbinetta Alinka Kozári

Prima Donna/Ariadne Zoe South

Conductor Michael Thorne