Kennet Opera |
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The Kennet Opera web site is at www.kennetopera.co.uk. |
Last production
Open Air Concert, 23rd July 2010
at Hungerford Rugby Club
Bring a picnic. Bar available. Rugby Club grounds (inside if wet).
£10. Part of HADCAF.
Where
The Corn Exchange, Newbury
Box Office
01635 522733
Review of The Elixir of Love
24th to 26th June 2010.
From the Newbury Weekly News.
Just what the doctor orderedKennet Opera: The Elixir of Love, at the Corn Exchange, from Thursday, June 24 to Saturday; June 26 They were in good voice, they embraced the occasion, they made their enjoyment clear - and that was just the audience. Those who turned up to Kennet Opera's The Elixir of Love last week despite the World Cup, opera at the racecourse and the heat, had themselves a good time. Elixir, set here in 1930s rural Italy, tells how the 'magic potion' peddled by the iterant quack 'Doctor' Dulcamara changes the course of true love between the simple soul Nemorino and the lovely Adina, certainly more clued up but, it emerges, less in control of things than she thinks. As Adina, Olivia Hinman was a revelation to those who have only seen her in 'pretty-girl' roles with Kennet. She sailed into this more rounded character and her vocal presence in the several boisterous crowd scenes is an abiding memory. Gordon Fry's Nemorino fitted the part just as well, by turns abject, comical and lyrical but always, one felt, fundamentally decent. In the two fine vignette roles, Alan Fryer brought out the pomposity, and just a hint of depth, in the losing suitor Sergeant Belcore, while, got up to kill as Dulcamara, Duncan Powell had great fun as the huckster's huckster, just avoiding stepping out of his depth. Jenny Carkeet convinced and entertained as Adina's flirty girlfriend Giannetta, looking as though she had just stepped off the cover of a precursor of Hello! magazine. Under Justine Fry's artistic direction the Corn Exchange stage was a vibrant space: how good to see so many smiles, touches, embraces and impromptu dances adding to the flow of Donizetti's comic masterpiece. Kennet Opera last presented Elixir only seven years ago, at that time with a two-piano backing. This time around the company's new music director Rebecca Berkley had assembled a 13-piece orchestra, who produced just the right texture and volume. Add the 20-strong chorus, equally well schooled, and you see why the company's productions are substantial pieces of work. MICHAEL CHAPMAN |
Previous productions
1994 Cosi fan Tutte
1995 Carmen (abridged version)
1996 La Traviata
1997 La Boheme
1998 A Masked Ball
1999 Carmen
2000 The Marriage of Figaro
2001 Cavalleria Rusticana & I Pagliacci,
13th and 15th to 17th November. See the review in the Archive.
2002 La Traviata, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th November.
2003 The Elixir of Love, 11th to 15th November. See the review in the Archive.
2004 The Pearl Fishers, 11th to 13th November. See the review in the Archive.
2005 Eugene Onegin, 10th to 12th November. See the review in the
Archive.
2006 Sweeney Todd, 8th to 11th November. See
the review in the
Archive.
2007 Faust, 8th to 10th November.
2008 The Magic Flute, 13th to 15th November..
See the review in the
Archive.
2009 Carmen, 5th to 7th November.
2010 The Elixir of Love, 24th to 26th June.