For immediate release as of 29 August 2007

English Touring Opera returns with a dazzling regency romp and a gripping tale of sorcery and passion

English Touring Opera will tour the UK this autumn with two eighteenth century gems – each very different from the other – performed on baroque and early classical instruments.

 ETO’s General Director, James Conway, said today: “Inspired by the keen audience response to our Baroque Festival tour in Autumn 2006, we decided to produce these two brilliant eighteenth century operas. We have done so because they are so good – and because we felt that we could do them well in our own family of regional theatres. Many fine players trained in the UK have specialized in baroque and early classical repertoire; notwithstanding the extraordinary vocal demands of both pieces there is here a great wealth of singers to meet them.

 “Country Matters is a stylish English (well, Irish, actually – I commissioned it there years ago, for an enormously successful stage and television production) translation of Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa, arguably the finest opera staged at the brilliant court of Esterhaza.  This new production by Liam Steel promises plenty of energy and wit.

 “I am directing English Touring Opera’s new production of Handel’s Teseo, an extraordinary opera that really focuses on the enchantress Medea.  It is an opera that I have loved for many years – its rich, varied score brings to life a classic story of strong passions, thwarted and rewarded.”

 HANDEL’S “TESEO”

 With sparkling arias and colourful music performed on period instruments, Teseo is a musical and emotional journey of epic proportion.  Based on the Greek legend of Theseus, the centre of the opera is really Medea, rejected in love by both Theseus and his father, King Aegeus.  A gripping drama of sorcery and desperate love, Teseo will be sung in Italian with the original English word-book in surtitle form.

 James Conway (Ariodante, Alcina, Tolomeo) directs a cast including famed Handel interpreter and recording star Derek Lee Ragin, (who sings the role on the recording by Marc Minkowski).  American newcomer Valerie Komar will sing the role of Theseus, with leading British sopranos Jeni Bern (Medea), Gail Pearson (Agilea), and Helen Withers (Clizia), and mezzo soprano Lina Markeby (Arcane). 

HAYDN’S “COUNTRY MATTERS” (L’infedeltà delusa)

 Country Matters was first performed in 1773 at the court of Esterhaza, one of the busiest centres of Italian opera and German singspiel.  It prompted Empress Maria Theresia to remark “when I want to hear good opera, I go to Esterhaza”.  A pacy Regency romp packed with charm and humour, Country Matters features some of Haydn’s most colourful arias and ensembles, together with skilful orchestral writing typical of the composer.
                                                                                                                 
ETO’s new production will be directed by Liam Steel (Complicité, Frantic Assembly, Stan Won’t Dance, DV8) and conducted by Justin Doyle, who is Artistic Director of the Ryedale Festival and was the first person to be awarded a Conductor Fellowship with the BBC Singers. 

Country Matters will be performed by a cast of the UK’s best young singers, including Lorina Gore (Blonde in ETO’s The Seraglio) and Charlotte Ellett (recently seen as Musetta in La Bohème for both Welsh National Opera and ETO).  The role of Nencio will be sung by emerging star tenor from the Royal College of Music Andrew Staples, who won the Song Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards in 2005 and recently made his Royal Opera House debut as Jacquino in Fidelio.

Please visit www.englishtouringopera.org.uk for audio and video samples, and for full touring information.

ENGLISH TOURING OPERA

In spring 2008, English Touring Opera will tour new productions of Don Giovanni, Anna Bolena and Carlisle Floyd’s lyric American opera Susannah.  ETO’s production of Susannah will be the first professional UK touring production, with Donna Bateman (who played another Susanna for ETO in The Marriage of Figaro, 2004) singing the title role.  The tour will open at the Hackney Empire from 14 to 17 March 2008.

ETO aims to present vibrant, innovative high-quality opera to existing and new audiences in communities across England. Every year it gives about 100 performances to nearly 50,000 people across the country. ETO visits 22 regional venues where arts provision, especially opera of such quality, is limited - more than any other national opera company in Britain. 

ETO has frequently led the way in developing new opera that engages with fresh audiences. In 2004 ETO teamed up with the Young Vic to present a new touring production of Jonathan Dove’s opera Tobias and the Angel. In June 2007 ETO performed A House on the Moon, a community opera involving nearly two hundred participants, including musicians from the UK, Afghanistan, Iraq and India and local communities around Wolverhampton.