"Second Chances” is a love story built around your favourite opera classics, arranged into 75 minutes of musical heaven.
Music from Die Fledermaus and Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, and the glorious works of Handel, Rossini, Beethoven and Verdi, with bonus classics from Sondheim and Rogers and Hammerstein.
All sung by the stars of tomorrow and played by a stunning string quintet.
The show will make you laugh and cry, and leave you wanting more, and you’ll be home in time for the 10 o’clock news.
What a magical evening - everything just perfect: a wonderful display of young talent - fabulous singers, five string players par excellence, genius arrangements and a programme perfectly put-together and presented. It doesn't get any better than that.
Stage Director Ben Morris
Musical Director Orlando Jopling
Starring
Ed Danon | Richard Dowling | Zoe Drummond | Milly Forrest | Xavier Hetherington | Martha Jones | Michael Lafferty | Julieth Lozano | Tim Nelson | Emily Vine
The orchestral scores expertly arranged for string quintet, played by five of the finest chamber musicians in the UK, including Julian Azkoul, Eli Bogdanova, Rebecca Chambers, Sijie Chen, Clio Gould, Ben Griffiths, Alex Jones, Georgia Lloyd, Will McGahon, Fran McGuinness, Sophie Mather, Marianne Schofield, Hannah Shaw, Milena Simovic, and Matthew Ward
1970s Cambridge. A bunch of buttoned up students are about to get a tutorial in fidelity ...
Wild Arts' fast-paced, entertaining version of Mozart's Così fan tutte is getting great feedback from their tour, and is coming to two fabulous venues, Layer Marney Tower in Essex and Childerley Hall in Cambridgeshire.
A wonderful evening last night. The whole event was a pure joy. It was a privilege to have been there. We travelled home on a cloud.
The shows take place in the beautiful newly renovated barn at Layer Marney Tower on 7 - 10 July, and Childerley Hall on Friday 15 July (almost sold out). Everyone is welcome - bring a picnic and enjoy the beautiful gardens and grounds.
Scroll down for more information.
FULL CAST AND COMPANY INFORMATION
At just 1 hour 40 minutes, the storytelling is nimble, the recits trimmed, and the comedy extremely un-operatic! A lighthearted, romantic production for our times, suitable for all ages.
Expect flowery shirts, serious flares, rock stars, and more ...
We thought last night was an absolute delight from beginning to end…. As for the music — we left feeling utterly elated. What a joy to be listening to marvellous singing in such an atmosphere. The orchestra was brilliant.
3 July Sherwood, Heronsgate, Hertfordshire
7-10 July Layer Marney Tower, Essex
15 July Childerley Hall, Cambridgeshire
FULL CAST AND COMPANY INFORMATION
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Director P Burton-Morgan
Designer Chantal Short
Musical Director Orlando Jopling
English translation by Jeremy Sams, in a new version for the Wild Arts 2022 tour
Fiordiligi Ella Taylor
Dorabella Martha Jones
Despina Joanna Songi
Ferrando Richard Dowling
Guglielmo Gareth Brynmor John
Don Alfonso Eddie Wade
FULL CAST AND COMPANY INFORMATION
It was an ecstasy of delight! Sitting so close to the singers last night was to be part of the opera itself. Stripped of the self-conscious pomp and splendour of the grand opera houses, the music, singing and acting were transporting. Wild Arts is a wonderful vision and initiative ... better than any Glyndebourne or Met.
Our 2023 tour is now taking shape and we are keen to receive expressions of interest from open-air theatres, festivals, concert halls and private gardens in the UK and Europe.
We will start in East Anglia, taking in Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, then Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and up to Arran. Then back via Lake District, Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and eventually back to London via Sussex and Kent.
We are hoping to make return visits to some of the 2022 venues, and we are also in early discussions with fantastic new venues in Devon, Gloucestershire, Sussex, Shropshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire and the Isle of Arran.
Our opera evening will consist of arias, songs and ensembles, informally staged to make a narrative, performed by four world-class singers and five fine chamber musicians. Music by Handel, Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Bernstein and Rodgers & Hammerstein, with some surprises and unusual gems; and the orchestral scores expertly arranged for string quintet.
The performance can run straight through for approx. 1 ¼ hours, or in two halves with picnic interval.
Above, the view from Brodick Castle, on the Isle of Arran in Scotland, one of the venues
The tour
Please let us know if you are interested in hosting our new touring productions of Donizetti's The Elixir of Love in 2023.
Donizetti’s Elixir of Love is one of the great Italian operas - full of tunes, romantic arias, and real comedy, rare in opera. Directed by John Ramster, and sung in English by a stunning cast of five young singers from the Royal Opera House and other major houses. Fully staged in costume, with the orchestral score played by between seven and 24 eminent chamber musicians (depending on the size of the venue).
After the production at the Essex Summer Opera Festival from 24 - 26 June 2023, we will be touring alongside the Opera Evenings - see the box to the left for the tour geography.
The performance will be in two halves of just over an hour each.
Above, a beautiful private house in Shropshire, hosting the opera in 2023.
We will pick you up from Witham station (and take you back there) in this vintage Routemaster bus, for the Saturday and Sunday performances.
There's no cost to you - it's all part of our commitment to making fantastic opera available to everyone, and attempting to live within planetary boundaries.