REGENTS OPERA JUNE NEWSLETTER!
Greetings all from a rare bit of both air conditioning and working WiFi I have found in London!
A bit of a bumper newsletter, this… Details below for:
RIGOLETTO at the Bloomsbury Theatre, our big summer offering
FROM THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD - our orchestral repertoire day on a truly remarkable (not to say difficult…!) piece of music
KATYA KABANOVA - more Janacek, this time from our friends at New Palace Opera
SIMON BOCCANEGRA - A quick plug for our friends at Midsummer Opera
The BRITTEN WAR REQUIEM - our Autumn Symphony Concert seems to get larger and larger…
ELEKTRA - this is Regents in association with New Palace Opera
TOSCA - Orchestra and Chorus workshop in December for your diaries.
PARSIFAL - This will be the focus of our July newsletter. And our August one. And our September one…
Rigoletto at the Bloomsbury, 17th July
Oliver Gibbs as Rigoletto and Luci Briginshaw as Gilda
Our London performance - one night only - of our touring Rigoletto performance will take place at the Bloomsbury Theatre on Friday 17th July at 7.30pm. It is AIR CONDITIONED, and there will be ICE CREAMS available! Tickets are £45 and £27.50 for concessions, and, as we can confirm from our recent performances at Walcot Hall, it is an EXCELLENT show!
If you absolutely cannot make it to Rigoletto, please do consider making a donation towards the production here.
Janáček Operas in London!
FROM THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD: Regents Opera Orchestral Workshop
We will be working on Janáček’s last opera, based on the play by Dostoyevsky, on Sunday 5th July. Observers are welcome to attend the run through at 6pm at St Hilda’s Church in Crofton Park. There are about 20 male roles in this opera, which will be shared by Robin Whitehouse, Evan Dunn, Ashley Mercer, Howard Hutt, Ian Massa-Harris and Roger Patterson. The two female roles (this opera doesn’t come close to passing the Bechtel test!) will be played by Kaylee Norris, who was a finalist in this year’s Elizabeth Connell Prize.
KATYA KABANOVA - New Palace Opera
Katya Kabanova in Concert performance: 6.30pm, Sunday 19 July 2026, St John’s Waterloo, London SE1 8TY
Don’t miss this chance to see New Palace Opera’s concert presentation of Leos Janáček’s ravishingly beautiful and tragic opera Katya Kabanova.
This story of one woman’s bid for escape from her suffocating community reflects the composer’s unrequited love for a woman resembling Katya herself. Janáček once wrote, “Katya’s suffering is my own,” bringing forth from the Czech composer a work of lacerating intensity, compelling tension and wondrous lyricism.
Katya herself is being sung by Philippa Boyle, and she is joined by other Regents Opera alumni including Ashley Mercer, James Schouten and Robin Whitehouse.
Tickets are available from Eventbrite at Katya Kabanova — New Palace Opera
Simon Boccanegra - from our Friends at Midsummer Opera - THIS WEEKEND
This Friday and Sunday, our friends at Midsummer Opera, with really quite a lot of Regents Opera alumni, are giving a fully staged concert performance of this marvellous piece.
Their ticket link
A date for your diaries, in case it wasn’t already there! SUNDAY 4th OCTOBER at 7pm at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, we are giving a yet bigger version of our autumn symphonic concert. This year marks 50 years since Britten’s death, and we honour him with this concert. If you would like to be a singer in it, please email me. If you would like to be a string player in it, please email Alison. Tickets will go on sale this week from the Fairfield Halls website.
Elektra, 1st November with New Palace Opera
Another important one for your diaries - in conjunction with New Palace Opera we will be giving a concert performance of Strauss’s remarkable Elektra, with Catharine Woodward (freshly off her recent success with the Longborough Isolde) in the title role, and Ella de Jongh and Karin Lovelius as Chrysothemis and Klytemnestra.
It’s in Blackheath Halls, and you can get tickets here.
È finalmente! TOSCA!
A workshop for chorus and orchestra on 5th & 6th December.
Ever wondered what it’s like to sing a big chorus opera with orchestra? This is your chance! Along with the wonderful, really rather luxury international cast of Kelly Glyptis (500+ Carlottas in the West End), Davide Basso and Oliver Gibbs.
The weekend will comprise a chorus rehearsal for two hours on Saturday 5th December, and then a day with orchestra on Sunday 6th, culminating in a run through at 6pm.
Get in touch to reserve your place!
That’s all for this very hot June day! Grateful thanks as ever to the team at Big Yellow Storage in Fulham. Thank you for looking after our stuff!
