Despite being located in Kensington and Chelsea, one of the wealthiest boroughs in London, Opera Holland Park was established in 1996 to provide a wide audience with a high quality summer season of opera at an accessible price. Very much a beacon of the surrounding community, their ‘free tickets for young people scheme’ offers 1,200 free seats to those aged between 9 and 18 years and has proven a successful way of introducing many young people to opera. There is also a similar scheme offering older audience members the opportunity to enjoy the festival for free (which I’m sure the Chelsea Pensioners appreciate), plus the INSPIRE scheme giving individuals the chance to purchase subsidized tickets for just £15.
The temporary 1,600 sq metre structure, nestled in the tranquil environs of Holland Park, features a 1,000 seat tent-like auditorium which has a pleasantly cocooned environment ensuring audience members remain unaffected by even the most miserable of summer squalls. It is also one of the venues for The Luna Cinema, where I once enjoyed seeing Marilyn Monroe strutting her stuff in Some Like It Hot. Well at least cinema isn’t affected by the venue’s issues with acoustics, and the opera stars can be commended for almost always winning the ongoing battle to balance the sound. Whenever they don’t we all make allowances for it and toast their health all the more.
Named the Best Opera Company in 2010 by The Sunday Times, Opera Holland Park has successfully established itself as one of the leading opera festivals in the country and attracts world-class performers and directors, alongside the resident City of London Sinfonia Orchestra. What sets it apart in a really positive way is that unlike other strictly black-tie opera festivals, this event has a refreshingly relaxed and unpretentious air, with producer James Clutton an ever-present figure and an affable host who clearly takes a huge amount of pleasure in talking to guests and adding a touch of personality to the proceedings.
Returning for its 18th year, and supported by Investec Wealth & Investment, who have been the festival’s main sponsor since 2011, the 2014 season featured around 50 performances of well known classics from the opera repertoire, kicking off with Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Opera Holland Park’s first ever production of a Britten opera, The Turn of the Screw (based on the novel by Henry James), Bellini’s Norma, Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, and the return of composer Will Todd’s family-friendly take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
I was lucky enough to see the new production of Norma. Originally set in ancient Gaul during the Roman occupation, it isn’t the most appealing context for a modern audience so it was with a sigh of relief that I discovered directer Olivia Fuchs had updated it to the present day, albeit with an unspecified place and time and strong references to Druid beliefs. It was another feather in the cap of the production team, with a Norma that enthralled throughout and heightened all the drama of a passionate tale of love and betrayal, with Peter Robinson conducting with demonstrable power.
No matter what the setting, however, it’s impossible not to await ‘Casta Diva’ in the first act, the aria made famous by the great Maria Callas, and perhaps it’s just as well that it features early in the opera. It makes finding a soprano suited to the title role a challenge for any casting director, but this Norma had very much her own take on the character. With her hair braided with ribbons and wearing a long flowing gown, Yvonne Howard was matriarchal, maternal and peace-making as the high priestess Norma. She led Heather Shipp as the equally unfortunate Adalgisa in being the most dominant characters, opposite the weak-willed betrayer Pollione (Joseph Wolverton) to whom both women are fatally attracted.
The 2014 season finished on a high note; make sure you diarise the 2015 season and book your tickets well in advance. This is one central London opera festival not to miss.
To register your interest for Opera Holland Park 2015 visit the website.
