Category Archives: Touring

Final Preparations for Reisopera’s new production of L’Orfeo

Well it’s been a very demanding and emotional six weeks here in Enschede for the Reisopera’s new production of L’Orfeo – putting all the various elements together for this quite audacious version of Monteverdi’s wonderful opera. Tonight is the dress rehearsal and we open the tour on Saturday, in the Wilmink Theatre. This show is a real labour of love and a totally collaborative project, incorporating contemporary movement (from both singers and dancers alike), an excellent vocal and dance cast, clear vision from Monique Wakemakers and choreographic wizardry from the force of nature that is Nanine Linning. To top it all, a groundbreaking moving art installation above the stage courtesy of Studio Drift, which aims to mirror the emotion of the human soul. There are photos and a mini-doc (below), there have been tears and there will doubtless be relief to get this beast of a show on the road! Huge congrats to all involved, especially my esteemed stage colleagues. It has been immense and we haven’t even started the run yet! The show will apparently be properly be videoed for a closed channel, so watch this space for more information about that…

Samuel Boden as Orfeo: Reisopera, January 2020. Photo by Marco Borggreve

L’Orfeo: Reisopera, January 2020. Photo by Marco Borggreve

Live Broadcast of Monteverdi’s ‘Vespers’

Following ten days in Italy with Collegium Vocale Gent to give two performances and make a recording of Monteverdi’s ‘Vespers’ we have today travelled to Poland and will give another performance of the piece this evening at the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall.

There will be a live broadcast of this concert which starts at 20:30 BST for those who would like to listen online.

Les Arts Florissants ‘Messiah’ Tour

This December I will be performing with Les Arts Florissants for their Messiah tour 2016. The tour visits Germany, France, Spain, Hungary and the UK.

Home turf supporters can see this Christmas classic in the Concert Hall at the Barbican on 19th December – visit barbican.org.uk for more information and tickets. For more exotic destinations please see the Les Arts Florissants website for full details of the tour or check out my Performance Diary.

Dutch Opera of the Year 2015: Orphée et Eurydice

Orphée et Eurydice has been voted Opera of the Year 2015 by the readers of Dutch magazine Place de l’Opera. The production received more than half of the hundreds of votes that were released last week.

There were five productions nominated for Opera of the Year 2015, compiled on the basis of the “top 3” lists of 16 opera critics. Four of them had Orphée et Eurydice as their number one choice. Here are the final results:

1. Orphée et Eurydice (Dutch Touring Opera)
2. Lohengrin (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra)
3. Dialogues des Carmelites (National Opera)
4. Benvenuto Cellini (National Opera)
5. Der Rosenkavalier (The National Opera)

“The editors of Place de l’Opera congratulate the Dutch Touring Opera, the Symphony Orchestra, Consensus Vocalis, Floris Visser, his artistic team, conductor Roger Hamilton, the soloists Samuel Boden, Kristina Bitenc, Hanna Herfurtner and Bernadeta Astari and all others involved with the success of this production and the impressive way in which the presentation demonstrated the power of opera.”

At a later date the editors will hand over the award of Opera of the Year 2015 in person.

The full article can be found on Place de l’Opera‘s website here.