Director Christopher Luscombe brings his new production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci to Longborough Festival Opera on 19th and 20th December. Peter Auty leads an all-star cast in this 50-minute chamber staging, including Elin Pritchard, Robert Hayward, Nicholas Lester and Aled Hall, led from the piano by Berrak Dyer.
The production marks Longborough’s first indoor performance since the coronavirus outbreak began, and follows the success of their fundraising campaign, which generated over £300,000 for freelance artists involved in the postponed 2020 festival and the generation of future work.
Longborough Artistic Director Polly Graham comments: “I am delighted that we are able to open up our theatre this winter, and keep live opera happening through such a challenging time. It’s great to be able to work together with Opera Ensemble to present Leoncavallo’s fantastic Pagliacci – I am sure audiences will be swept away by the intensity of the music and the drama.”
Pagliacci will be sung in Italian. Performances will take place in the Longborough theatre with a socially distanced audience and high standards of safety.
Pagliacci is the debut production from Opera Ensemble, which was founded by Welsh soprano Elin Pritchard and director Christopher Luscombe, and is produced by Hamish Mackay. The production received its debut at St James’ Church, London in autumn 2020, and was praised in The Sunday Times: “more visceral, raw, genuinely operatic power than any of the other lockdown offerings I have attended in the UK” (Hugh Canning, Sunday Times, October 2020). The company will also perform Pagliacci at the Grange Festival in Hampshire on 13th December.
How to Book:
Public booking is now open. Please visit https://lfo.org.uk/