Culture

The best classical and opera in the UK this June

Grange Park Opera's Falstaff plus Der Rosenkalier at Garsington Opera

April 30, 2021
Bryn Terfel fills out some famous breeches in Verdi’s delicious adaptation. Photo: © Grange Park Opera
Bryn Terfel fills out some famous breeches in Verdi’s delicious adaptation. Photo: © Grange Park Opera
Der Rosenkavalier, Garsington Opera, 2nd June to 3rd July

Richard Strauss’s bewitching Der Rosenkavalier weaves a fairytale fantasy of Vienna that’s all gilded strings and giddy waltzes. Following on from their acclaimed Capriccio in 2018, Garsington Opera return to Strauss for their first staging of his comic masterpiece. Swedish soprano Miah Persson—a radiant Countess in 2018—returns too, leading the cast as the Marschallin who must set her young lover Octavian free to marry another woman. Rising star Jordan de Souza conducts a new production by Bruno Ravella, which promises to be the pick of the company’s season.

Falstaff, Grange Park Opera, 10th June to 18th July

It takes a big personality (and an even bigger voice) to tackle Shakespeare’s bibulous knight Sir John Falstaff. Who better, then, than bass-baritone Bryn Terfel to fill out those famous breeches in Verdi’s delicious adaptation? Terfel is the headline attraction of Grange Park Opera’s staging of the composer’s great comedy, but with award-winning soprano Natalya Romaniw and veteran Janis Kelly also joining, this is a production that shouldn’t be missed.

Allan Clayton & Aurora Orchestra London Unwrapped at Kings Place, 21st June

Fresh from a major role debut as Peter Grimes, British tenor Allan Clayton joins forces with Nicholas Collon and Aurora Orchestra for Benjamin Britten’s haunting Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. This is an evocative celebration of night and its fantasies, fears and desires, setting to music poetry by Tennyson, Blake and Keats. It joins Elgar’s ever-popular Introduction and Allegro and William Walton’s eclectic Sonata for String Orchestra in this highlight of Kings Place’s year-long London Unwrapped festival.