Last year’s Barefoot Opera Young Artists Tour production of Carmen © Chris Parker

Opera – Barefoot and Emotional

St Marys in the Castle is to host the Barefoot Opera Young Artists Tour of Donizetti’s great comedy L’Elisir D’Amore (The Elixir of Love) on Saturday, 5 September  HOTs Zoya Mathison finds out more.

Well known for its strong production values and the demanding, genuinely educational rehearsal structure, The Barefoot Opera Young Artists Tour takes a fresh and experimental approach to the art form.  In order to create a new opera experience, The Barefoot Opera Young Artists Tour instructs the singers in an unorthodox intensive two-week advanced training programme.  The training doesn’t just focus on the classical voice but also the physicality of the piece, as co-founder Jenny Miller explains: “I am very interested in working in new ways with singers to express dramatically what we are doing, and using our classical voices but [also our] un-classical bodies. It’s seen as controversial as a training technique, because it’s not really trusted, people think you only need to focus on the area around the voice while I focus on the training of the whole body.”

Sophie Pullen, one of the fledgeling stars!

This new approach lends itself well to L’Elisir D’Amore, a comic opera in two acts. It is one of Donizetti’s most frequently performed operas . Nemorino,  a peasant, is besotted with wealthy landownerAdina, who rejects his declarations of love. Fortunately for Nemorino, a travelling, so-called doctor, Dr Dulcamara, sells him a love potion.

The music is lead by highly experienced international performer Lesley Anne Sammons. The talented young singers are advanced students of specialist music colleges and fledgling stars include Sophie Pullen, Laurence Panter, Chiara Vinci, Oscar Castellino, Andrew Sparling, Linda van Abel, Hiroshi Kanazawa and Helen May.

The opera opens in Hastings at St Mary in the Castle, and then tours to Worthing and London. Staged by Jenny Miller with musical direction by Lesley Anne Sammons and design by Jane Bruce, the opera is sung in Italian with sur-titles.

L’Elisir D’Amore is at St Mary in the Castle, Pelham Crescent, Hastings, on Saturday, 5 September, sung in Italian with sur-titles. Doors open at 7.00 pm and the show will start at 7.30 pm. Tickets are £16 with concessions available. Buy tickets online, or call 01424 451111 or 01424  715880 or from the Tourist Information Centre, Aquila House, Breeds Place, Hastings TN34 3AA.

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