Opera For All 2010

Get your wine, picnics and blankets ready! Greenham Common Trust has announced its latest Opera for All performance, Mozart's 'The Magic Flute', on Saturday 26th June at Newbury Racecourse.

The opera, which will be available at the incredibly subsidised price of £5 for an advanced ticket (£10 on the gate and free for under 16s), will be performed by professional touring opera company Opera Brava outside the Grandstand.

The plot

A tale of magic and mysticism, Mozart's last opera is set in ancient Egypt. The Queen of the Night is furious with the High Priest of Isis, Sarastro, because he has taken away her daughter, Pamina, in order to bring her up away from temptation. Tamino, a young Prince in search of adventure, is saved from a monster by the attendants of the Queen of the Night who, in return sends him on a mission to rescue her daughter from the hands of the High Priest. Tamino is joined on his quest by a merry bird-catcher, Papageno and given a magic golden flute to ward off danger.

The cast

Pamina - Amanda Forbes. Amanda has played major opera parts for Opera North.
Sarastro - Geoffrey Moses. Geoffrey has played Sarastro at Covent Garden.
Queen of the Night - Amanda Buckland. Amanda played The Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at Opera for All 2009.
Tamino - Stephen Brown. Stephen has sung for English National Opera.
Papageno - Yet to be cast.

The Trust has been hosting a subsidised opera every year since 2005 to make music more accessible to the whole family and community - see the Opera for All page.

After a very successful performance of 'The Marriage of Figaro' at last year's Opera for All event, Artistic Director of Opera Brava, Bronek Pomorski, said he was delighted to return to Newbury in 2010 with his new production of 'The Magic Flute'.

"Working with Greenham Common Trust has been a real privilege, as we both share the same vision in making opera available to everybody. The Magic Flute is Mozart's masterpiece as he links both tragedy and comedy together as two young lovers' journey together in their search for truth," said Mr Pomorski

Greenham Common Trust chief executive Stuart Tagg added: "Opera for All is a fantastic opportunity for the whole community to experience a professional, high quality opera at an affordable price. So if you've never been to an opera before why not come down, bring a picnic and enjoy a wonderful evening out."

The Trust has been advised to have the opera in front of the Grandstand again to maximise the acoustic benefits of the venue. As usual you can bring along your picnics, chairs and blankets, but to make the audience as comfortable as possible and enhance your viewing pleasure we will be laying down some artificial grass in front of the stage.

To book please contact the Corn Exchange on 01635 522733 or visit www.cornexchangenew.com. There will also be a licensed bar. Gates open at 5.30pm and the performance starts at 7pm.

Have you got the opera X Factor?

Could the next opera star come from Greenham? Greenham Common Trust has teamed up with professional touring opera company Opera Brava to host X-Factor style auditions at The Willows primary school to find the soloists for an exciting new operatic version of C S Lewis' 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'.

Three opera singers, a set designer and crew will visit the school, on The Nightingales, for a week in June and work with up to 80 children teaching songs, making costumes and designing the set. This all culminates in the pupils joining the opera singers on stage for a professional performance to parents and friends at Newbury Racecourse on Friday 25th June.

Since Opera Brava began in 1988 it has worked with over 300 schools and 25,000 children on their opera education projects 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' and 'Prince Caspian'. The performance has been completely subsidised by the Trust and Opera Brava and will be free for parents on the night.

For more information about 'The Magic Flute' or 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', contact Julian May on 01635 817407 or email julian@greenham-common-trust.co.uk.