August News

Garden of Eden at Garsington Studios

We rounded up the summer months with a beautiful concert at Garsington Studios. The concert, entitled “Garden of Eden” was performed by our Young Artists Catherine Hooper (soprano), Brenton Spiteri (tenor) and Hugo Herman-Wilson (baritone). We were delighted that they could be joined by the wonderful Richard Gowers on the piano. The concert, which was sung and played wonderfully by all involved, explored music across a range of themes relating to the Garden of Eden, from "Creation" to "Transgression" to "Banishment". We were treated to wonderful pieces from Mozart, Faure, Strauss, Duparc and more! To top it all off, we got some wonderful  pictures from the event, which show the performers giving their all and highlight the wonderful building itself!

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 Out in the world of opera, Young Artists past and present were really excelling. 2022 Young Artist Patrick Alexander Keefe (baritone) and current Young Artist Brenton Spiteri (tenor) appeared as Figaro and Almaviva respectively in Waterperry Opera festival’s production of The Barber of Seville. The show was labelled “seriously impressive” by The Spectator, and both Patrick and Brenton received plaudits for their performances. We were so glad to see them thriving – the production photos looked incredible!

Patrick and Brenton in The Barber of Seville

Elsewhere, Joanna Harries gave a recital of Schubert, Wolf, Debussy and more in Sevenoaks, Kent with pianist Maya Irgalina. At the end of the month, soprano Shafali Jalota appeared in Vache Baroque’s production of Pergolesi’s L’Olimpiade in the role of Argene. Baritone Peter Edge started rehearsals for his Royal Opera debut in the Linbury Theatre in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet Place. And mezzo-soprano Annabel Kennedy made the move to Dusseldorf to join the Deutsche Oper Am Rhein Opernstudio – we are wishing her the very best on her new adventure!