Opera on The Lawn at Shaw House

Kennet Opera: Opera on The Lawn at Shaw House, on Saturday, July 1

Review by DEREK ANSELL

THE lawn outside Shaw House was an ideal place to present a series of extracts from a variety of operas, on a sunny late afternoon into early evening. Not quite ‘Newbury’s own Glyndebourne’, as MC Don Crerar suggested, but cool enough on a warm day.

The opening selection was Wedding Guests from Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor. It provided a bright, bubbly opening chorus for the entire company.

Via resti servita, from Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro gave Tamsin Slatter and Helen Ryan the chance to sing their way into a catfight where the two ladies sang their invective very convincingly.

Ant Goffard was featured on another Mozart selection and Duncan Powell on a piece from Rossini’s The Barber Of Seville.

Susan Moore gave a warm, studied reading to Art Thou Troubled from Handel’s Rodelinda. Handel wrote the music but Susan’s lyric came much later from someone called WE Rothery as late as 1910.

Music by Bizet and Verdi followed and Madeleine Smart tackled Puccini’s O mio babbino caro. Although most of this programme featured solid opera favourites, there was also music by lesser known composers.

Rosy Robinson sang the aria from Mascagni’s Silvano, Forse domani. This translates in English as ‘I’m not up for it, perhaps tomorrow’, but obviously sounds better in Italian.

Tamsin Slatter handled Porgi amor from The Marriage Of Figaro very well and Tamsin and Rosy gave us the Flower Duet from Delibes Lackme.

Madeleine Smart was impressive as the doll in the Doll Song from Offenbach’s The Tales Of Hoffman and Rosy Robinson impressed with her Tiara, The Enchanted Pig by Jonathan Dove.

Rosy returned to link up with Oliver Embourne for Mozart’s La ci darem da mano from Don Giovanni, that popular rogue of opera. Susan Moore was again in very good voice for He Was Despised from Handel’s Messiah. There were occasional drifts off key, but in general everybody was in good voice throughout.

Conductor Jim Petts kept everything moving steadily, Don Crera amused us with his introductions and a special plaudit to Oliver Williams whose accompaniment and solo piano was smooth and melodically bright to the end.