What a week!

A crazy week! Starting with a recording session for Johhny Edward, the creator of the succesfull 'Metal Micky' TV series in the 80's - he has an exciting new project he has asked me to get involved with as one of the characters in his new 'popopera', great fun in his studio trying out some interesting voices to fit the characterisation he had in mind! Read more about Johhny and his new project by checking out his web site.

We've also been re-auditioning for some of the parts for a revival of our Don Giovanni production to be performed in Nth London next year and then we had the dress rehearsals and performances of our fab new Christmas double bill with a premiere of Debbie Rose's 'The Selfish Giant' > check out this short clip from the dress rehearsal with Vanessa playing 'Snow'!

The first performances of this and our revival of 'Amahl & The Night Visitors' performed at Waddesdon Manor this weekend went down a storm.I really think we have a tremendous hit on our hands. Rebecca Moseley-Morgan of Opera Festa has been at the forefront of the production, not only directing the staging but writing the script.
We had a bit of a scare with our programme production, printing 2000 glossy magazines that had left out one of our key characters and a member of the 'frost' family.. Gemma Pizey was very kind about it all and made me feel a lot better... we managed to solve the problem with a special programme supplement!
Amahl was better than ever with James Allen in the lead role, it's becoming a real family affair now with Pippa, his sister doing all our make up, his mum and dad, Caroline and Andrew managing our front of house. James is also performing as a treble in our Arias On Ice performances but unfortunately can't make the Isle Of White dates on the 8th and 9th December. However, in the Selfish Giant cast we discovered a real gem in Rhianna Johnson who will take over from James when he's not available, performing 'Walking In The Air'.
With all the exciting projects we are currently juggling with we've had to make a difficult and painful decision with regards to our potential Don Giovanni tour we had been planning for in 08. If there's anything we've learnt from Harvey it's to make sure we back the winners, and the Don, in the end, will never be a winner for us.... we are hoping the production can materialise with another company that can give it more focus.
We're now looking at a busy week ahead with lots of last minute event marketing work to be done prior to 2 more performances of our Christmas double bill...

Arias On Ice at Somerset House!

A fantastic night last night at Somerset House, we moved our Arias On Ice production on to a new level incorporating top Ice Dancers Kirsty Lanterman (of Ginger-Cat Productions - who also choreographed the performance) and her colleagues; Louise Walden and Owen Edwards -of the British Senior Ice Dance team. It was magical at the wonderful setting at Somerset House and our important banking clients seemed well pleased with our performances. Jeremy Vinogradov was also a big hit and sang some well known baritone arias and was joined by our regular ice singers Beth, Vanessa and myself. Lyndall managed the cold really well and came well prepared. What would have been a perfect evening was slightly spoiled by having to race to Heathrow to get Kirsty back to Scotland and Louise and Owen back to Manchester Airports on the last flights. Kirsty managed it with a minute to spare but couldn't take her luggage with her and I had to drive Louise and Owen through the night on a 500 mile round trip! It was a great night though and one which we all hope to repeat many times over, throughout this Christmas tour...

Hectic day on the M40!

We've had a crazy few weeks preparing for our Christmas season and doing one off concerts, Vanessa performed the world premiere of a song cycle composed by our friend Tony Gracie 'A Passage Of Life', a very moving and melodic composition that packed St Leonard's Church. The ISIS Orchestra proved to be very helpful and easy to work with, performing also a Finzi cycle with a great new baritone we discovered, Thomas Kennedy, they performed a magnificent 'Fear No More The Heat Of The Sun' - a really gorgeous sound. Have been visiting some of the venues today in preparation for our Christmas double bill including the very lovely 'Sulgrave Manor', pictured above...

O Mio Babbino Caro!

Have just come back from a concert and have been blown away with Beth Cameron's 'O Mio Babbino Caro' and 'Song To The Moon'. She is singing these pieces for our 'Arias On Ice' Tour, rehearsals for our Christmas double bill continue. Debbie Rose (composer of the Selfish Giant) and Rebecca Moseley-Morgan are beginning to crack the whip, tensions are mounting as the first performance at Waddesdon is less
than 20 days away! The Amahl production seems to be behind schedule too, the pressure is really on everyone, and not just with the performers, our staging and props are behind schedule too! Nicola Lisle has promised to write a preview on our Christmas productions in the Oxford Times, she's coming to a rehearsal on Sunday ... so we must not show we are panicking!
Waddesdon tell me they are nearly sold out so that's good and tickets for our Oxford Arias On ice are beginning to move.. which is just as well, we've got to sell 700!
This short clip is Mazurka, the 'Opera dog' - he starred in a scene from 'Albert Herring' which we performed last year and is the inspiration behind a song I sing called 'Sweet Chance' by Michael Head. He is truly wonderful and reminds me of 'Trigger'!