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Home , A Little Night Music, Birmingham Opera Company, Grange Park Opera, Hugh Wheeler, Jonathan Tunick, Josephine Barstow

WELCOME

It is a real pleasure to welcome you to the Quarry before last, and who share the role of Fredrika in Theatre for the first time in many months for our . It’s a thrill to be able to perform co-production of ’s A Little Night Sondheim’s work in ’s original Music. This latest collaboration between , with the brilliant Orchestra of Playhouse and represents a significant North conducted by one of the world’s leading step for both organisations on the road back to a full interpreters of classic , Jim Holmes. programme of performances for live audiences. Behind the scenes, our staff have been working The partnership between our two companies has incredibly hard to ensure a safe environment flourished since our work together five years ago for performers and audiences alike, and that on another Sondheim musical, , and will continue to be a top priority as we plan for has grown all the stronger during the pandemic. performances without restrictions in the coming Against the odds we made an all too brief return months. There is much to look forward to from to live performance together last October with both companies, with Pam Gems’ sensational play the Connecting Voices season, which included about the life of Edith Piaf at the Playhouse later Orpheus in the Record Shop, an extraordinary new this summer, and an autumn season that includes work by Leeds-based artist Testament, which was the magical Christmas show Wendy and Peter subsequently filmed for BBC4’s Lights Up festival. Pan. Opera North returns to Leeds Grand Theatre in October with one of the world’s most popular Many of the roles in A Little Night Music are cast , Carmen, and an intriguing Bernstein double from Opera North’s extraordinarily talented and bill that includes a new collaboration with Phoenix versatile Chorus, who have brought an abundance of Dance Theatre. imagination and creativity to the rehearsal room, just as they did in Into the Woods. We’re also delighted With travel so restricted at the moment, we hope to be joined by a number of hugely distinguished that for a few hours at least you’ll enjoy being guest artists, including Dame , caught up in Sondheim’s enchanted web of romantic Stephanie Corley and Quirijn de Lang, who are entanglements on a Scandinavian midsummer’s already part of the broader Opera North family, night when the sun won’t set. and Corinne Cowling and Laurence Kilsby, who are making their debuts with both Opera North and Leeds Playhouse. Making a very welcome return to the Quarry stage are Agatha Meehan and James Brining Richard Mantle Lucy Sherman, who shared the role of Dorothy in Artistic Director General Director The Wizard of Oz at the Playhouse the Christmas Leeds Playhouse Opera North

2 A Little Night Music - Welcome A Leeds Playhouse and Opera North co-production A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM Book by

Original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick

Suggested by a film by Originally Produced and Directed on Broadway by Harold

Performed by with Music Theatre International (Europe) Limited

First performance: 25 February 1973, Shubert Theatre, New York

First performance of this production: 26 June 2021, Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse

The performance lasts approximately 3 hours including one interval of 25 minutes

3 A Little Night Music CHARACTERS

Madame Armfeldt Dame Josephine Barstow Desiree Armfeldt her daughter, an actress Stephanie Corley Fredrika Armfeldt Desiree’s daughter Agatha Meehan* Lucy Sherman† Fredrik Egerman a lawyer Quirijn de Lang Anne Egerman his new wife Corinne Cowling Henrik Egerman Fredrik’s son from a previous marriage Laurence Kilsby Petra Anne’s maid Amy J Payne Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm Christopher Nairne Countess Charlotte Malcolm his wife Helen Évora The Quintet: Mrs Nordstrom Gillene Butterfield* Miranda Bevin† Mrs Segstrom Molly Barker* Amy Freston† Mrs Anderssen Claire Pascoe* Hazel Croft† Mr Lindquist Dean Robinson* James Davies† Mr Erlanson Tim Ochala-Greenough* Stuart Laing† Frid Madame Armfeldt’s manservant Ivan Sharpe Malla Desiree’s maid Sarah Blood Bertrand Page in Madame Armfeldt’s household Warren Gillespie Osa Maid in Madame Armfeldt’s household Kathryn Stevens

* 26, 30 Jun; 1, 7, 8, 16, 17 Jul † 29 Jun; 2, 3, 9, 10, 14, 15 Jul

Conductor James Holmes exc. 29 Jun; 8 (eve), 9, 10, 17 (mat) Jul Oliver Rundell 29 Jun; 8 (eve), 9, 10, 17 (mat) Jul Director James Brining Set and Costume Designer Lighting Designer Chris Davey Sound Designer Sebastian Frost Choreographer Lucy Hind Voice Coach Emma Woodvine

Assistant Conductor Oliver Rundell Assistant Director Anna Pool Chief Repetiteur Annette Saunders Stage Manager Kate Freston-Davy Deputy Stage Manager (Book) Rebecca Wing Assistant Stage Managers Lisa Ganley Abby Jones Production Manager Mick Cassidy Head of Wardrobe Victoria Marzetti Sound No. 1 Ian Penrose Trainee Assistant Director Xolani Crabtree Set Construction and Scenic Art by Leeds Playhouse Scenic Workshops

4 A Little Night Music - Characters ORCHESTRA OF OPERA NORTH

First Violins (3) Bassoon (1) For Leeds Playhouse For Opera North Andrew Long (Co-Leader) Adam Mackenzie Artistic Director General Director Byron Parish (Principal) David Baker * James Brining Richard Mantle OBE Michael Ardron * Brian Reilly * Horns (2) Executive Director Music Director Robert Ashworth * Robin Hawkes Garry Walker Second Violins (3) John Pratt Associate Director Principal Guest Katherine New * Alexander Amy Leach Conductor Cristina Ocaña Rosado Samuel Yates Antony Hermus Catherine Baker * Associate Director – Wendy Dyson * Trumpets (2) Creative Engagement Director of Planning Alison Dixon Jonathan Clarke Alexander Ferris Christine Jane Chibnall Adam Wood Technical Director Finance Director Violas (2) Michael Woodhead * Judith Cloke Kirsty Bullen David Aspin Lourenço Macedo Sampaio Trombone (1) Finance Director Director of Orchestra Anne Trygstad Blair Sinclair Chris Williams and Chorus Elizabeth Wyly * Robert Burtenshaw * Phil Boughton Director of Marketing & Communications Projects Director Cellos (2) Percussion/Timpani Hannah Hughes Dominic Gray Jessica Burroughs Mark Wagstaff Daniel Bull Director of Human Education Director Jonathan Pether Harp Resources & Learning Jacqui Cameron Céline Saout Chris Coates Director of Bass (1) Strategic Director External Affairs Genna Spinks Piano/Celeste of Fundraising & David Collins Diane Clark Annette Saunders Development Technical and Kath Russell Flutes (2) * Opera North Production Director member for 25 years Luke O’Toole or more Commercial & Kieron Docherty Sarah Whewell Operations Director Matt Bowman Oboe (1) Senior Producer Richard Hewitt * Wesley Bennett-Pearce Catherine Lowe *

Clarinets (2) Audio-described Our thanks to all Andrew Mason performances the freelancers and Sarah Masters Thursday 15 July the permanent and Adam Slater 7.30pm, Saturday casual staff at both 17 July 2.00pm Leeds Playhouse and Opera North for their Captioned performance contribution to the Friday 9 July 7.30pm creation and running BSL-interpreted of A Little Night performances Music during a Thursday 1 July challenging period for 7.30pm, Saturday performing arts. 10 July 2.00pm

5 A Little Night Music - Orchestra MUSICAL NUMBERS

Act One Act Two

OVERTURE ENTR’ACTE Quintet (Mrs. Nordstrom, Mrs. Segstrom, Mrs. Anderssen, Mr. Lindquist, Mr. Erlanson) THE SUN WON’T SET (NIGHT WALTZ I) Quintet FIRST WALTZ Company THE SUN SITS LOW (NIGHT WALTZ II) Quintet NOW Fredrik Egerman IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL Fredrik, Carl-Magnus LATER Henrik Egerman PERPETUAL ANTICIPATION Mrs. Nordstrom, Mrs. Segstrom, Mrs. Anderssen SOON Anne Egerman Desiree THE GLAMOROUS LIFE Fredrika Armfeldt, Desiree Armfeldt, THE MILLER’S SON Quintet, Madame Armfeldt Petra

REMEMBER? Reprises: Quintet SOON / YOU MUST MEET MY WIFE / YOU MUST MEET MY WIFE / Fredrik, Desiree EVERY DAY A LITTLE DEATH Quintet LIAISONS Madame Armfeldt Reprise: SEND IN THE CLOWNS IN PRAISE OF WOMEN Desiree, Fredrik Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm LAST WALTZ EVERY DAY A LITTLE DEATH Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Anne

A WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY Company

6 A Little Night Music - Musical Numbers In rehearsal: Dame Josephine Barstow (Madame Armfeldt) Photograph: Sharron Wallace

WHAT PASSES BY Conductor Jim Holmes and director James Brining in conversation with Stuart Leeks

‘Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul / says, ‘but I do think Covid affects the way we see But it’s bad for the heart’ things – certainly in this piece, which has so much to do with human interaction and intimacy. With So goes one of Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics in so many people having been denied the simplest A Little Night Music. Anyone involved in the current physical intimacy with family or friends, and having co-production of the show by Leeds Playhouse been denied it ourselves in the rehearsal room and and Opera North could be forgiven for demanding to a large extent in the staging of the production, the a rewrite: perpetual anticipation is good for question of what is truly valuable in life has become neither the soul nor the heart, and certainly not more urgent for me. What is most important? Is it the nerves. Originally scheduled to open in May the acquisition of status and possessions, or is it last year, the onset of the pandemic forced an relationships and emotional satisfaction? I wouldn’t indefinite postponement of the production. After claim these things are incompatible, and often the the government’s roadmap for the country’s route more you have materially the more comfortable life out of a third national lockdown was published in can be, and happiness can accrue from that. But February, plans were made to go ahead with the it certainly isn’t a given. So the big questions are: show this summer, based on the assumption that What do you really want in life? And what are the social distancing measures would still be in place, choices you have to make in order to be happy most in the rehearsal room and on stage, as well as in of the time? Where the piece lands I think is that the auditorium, with audience numbers limited to it’s important to be honest with yourself, to think 50% of capacity. All this required director James hard about what you really want and to take action Brining and set and costume designer Madeleine accordingly, rather than following conventional ideas Boyd to completely rethink the production – and imposed on you by society or by your inheritance, on a reduced budget. or chasing delusions of wealth or grandeur – or delusions of the heart’. Nevertheless, the context of the pandemic has made the reasons for producing A Little Night Music A Little Night Music opened on Broadway in more, not less, compelling than they were a year February 1973, and followed hard on the heels and more ago as far as James is concerned. ‘It’s not of Company and , the two shows that had that everything we do now has to be about Covid’ he firmly established Sondheim as the pre-eminent

7 A Little Night Music - What Passes By composer/lyricist of his generation. At first, Sondheim had reservations about Hugh Wheeler’s book for the show; many years later, having witnessed numerous productions, he concluded that it was ‘one of the half dozen best books ever written for a musical’. Jim Holmes explains what sets A Little Night Music apart from the two shows that preceded it: ‘In Company, and particularly in Follies, Sondheim employs a great deal of pastiche in the score, all brilliantly done. That’s something this show doesn’t have, and which links it to the two that followed it, and . In all of these the musical concept serves the dramatic purpose’.

In A Little Night Music, the musical concept plays in triple time. It’s sometimes asserted that the music is written entirely in waltz rhythm, but Jim points out that this is not entirely accurate. ‘If it’s not exactly a misnomer, it is a massive generalization’ he says. ‘Of course there are waltz numbers, but they are only part of a group of dance idioms in the show which all happen to be in triple time. So for example there is a little mazurka which accompanies Fredrika when she starts ‘The Glamorous Life’; and in ‘In Praise of Women’, our rather pompous Count, Carl-Magnus, is accompanied by a military-style polonaise. So it would be more truthful to say that it’s a musical in triple time, but even that is to slightly stretch a point’.

In a piece which is, as Jim observes, in large part about interlocking romantic triangles, the predominance of triple time is not simply an arbitrary stylistic choice; it is fundamental to Sondheim’s dramatic purpose. ‘It’s interesting to note that all the duets are about a third person’ he points out. ‘You Must Meet My Wife’, which is sung by Fredrik and Desiree, is about Anne. ‘It Would Have Been Wonderful’ is sung by Fredrik and Carl-Magnus about Desiree. Even ‘Every Day A Little Death’, which is sung by Charlotte and Anne about their respective husbands, is fundamentally about Carl-Magnus. The score emphasises this because a lot of the triple rhythms are divided – so if it’s a waltz rhythm you might get two bars of ¾ divided into three groups of two – the so-called hemiola. It’s the play of three against two, which is why the way the music is structured is such a powerful metaphor for what is happening dramatically’.

The metaphorical potency of triple time is also at work in the relationship between past, present and future, as Jim explains: ‘Mostly these are people who are

In rehearsal: James Holmes (Conductor) Photograph: Sharron Wallace

8 A Little Night Music - What Passes By governed by the past, so they haven’t come to terms with the present, and until they do they cannot move into the future. The exceptions are the people who are not locked in the triangles, most obviously Madame Armfeldt, for whom everything is past, and, at the other extreme, Fredrika, for whom everything is future’.

These triangular relationships are laced with irony. One involves the middle-aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman, his new wife Anne, and Henrik, Fredrik’s son from a previous marriage, who is about the same age as Anne. It might be argued that what a much younger wife represents for Fredrik is not his future but his past – a nostalgia for his own lost youth. It is the reunion with a woman from his past – Desiree – that reconciles Fredrik to the present and reinvigorates him. And it turns out that for Anne the future lies with Henrik.

For James, Desiree is the pivotal character in the piece. Ostensibly, A Little Night Music is set around 1900, but James and designer Madeleine Boyd have pushed their production forward to the middle of the 20th century. ‘Desiree is the daughter of a woman who belongs to an age that is passing. For us she looks forward to the modern world while Madame Armfeldt looks back to the 19th century. I respond to Desiree as a modern working woman, trying to balance the many different aspects of her life, rather than accepting a more conventional pre-designated role’.

Although A Little Night Music doesn’t feature a chorus in the traditional sense, a Quintet – otherwise known as the Liebeslieder singers – do perform a choric function. Jim says that some observers felt that the role of the Quintet was somewhat underdeveloped in the original Broadway production. ‘They are a bit of a conundrum’ admits James, ‘but for me they are inherently of the theatre, so what they represent is imagination and creativity and the possibility of change. And if the piece is about people who are stuck in dysfunctional relationships then the Liebeslieder are agents for change. The closest reference point I have is Puck and the Fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream – which takes place at the same time of year as A Little Night Music of course. The Liebeslieder have a Puck- like spirit: they are playful and have an almost child-like innocence about them. They want Jack to have his Jill, and although they don’t necessarily know how exactly to make that happen, they do try to nudge things in the right direction’.

In rehearsal: James Brining (Director) Photograph: Sharron Wallace

9 A Little Night Music - What Passes By The time of year casts as powerful a spell in A Little Night Music as it does in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The peculiar atmosphere of a Scandinavian midsummer night which suffuses Act Two is beautifully evoked in Jonathan Tunick’s original of the show, which Jim and the Opera North band are using in this production. ‘The orchestration is so suggestive of the Scandinavian twilight – the feeling of being in this limbo where in summer the sun never sets and everything is on the cusp of change. So there’s lots of alto flute, cor anglais, celeste and harp colouring the score. It conveys perfectly the mood of the piece’.

‘It does feel at the end like we’ve passed into a new phase’ says James. So does A Little Night Music have a happy ending? In essence, the response of both men to this question is ‘Yes, but …’ – because, as James points out, it’s truthful, not sentimental. If the past fifteen months have proved anything, it’s that the future is only ever provisional. In the meanwhile, we’re probably best to follow Petra’s advice in the show’s 11 o’clock number, ‘The Miller’s Son’, and celebrate what passes by.

In rehearsal: Amy Freston (Mrs Segstrom) and Hazel Croft (Mrs Anderssen) Photograph Sharron Wallace

10 A Little Night Music - What Passes By In rehearsal: Claire Pascoe (Mrs. Anderssen) with members of the Company Photograph: Sharron Wallace

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: STAGES OF SONDHEIM Stuart Leeks

Stephen Sondheim’s talent is unique if somewhat Sondheim. ‘I could see my name in lights. Next day paradoxical. Throughout his career as a composer/ when I got up he called and I went over to his house, lyricist he has been a compulsive innovator, never and he said, “Now you want my opinion as though content to repeat a successful formula. With I really didn’t know you? Well, it’s the worst thing Company in 1970, he – along with his collaborators, I’ve ever read.” And he probably saw that my lower the book-writer and the director/ lip began to tremble and he said, “Now, I didn’t say producer Hal Prince – reconfigured the form of the that it was untalented, I said it was terrible. And musical as radically as the team that had created if you want to know why it’s terrible I’ll tell you.”’ in 1957 – a team of which he was That afternoon, Hammerstein went through the entire part. Yet Sondheim’s work also exists in a continuum piece with Sondheim, scene by scene, song by song, with the ‘golden age’ of the Broadway musical. He line by line. ‘At the risk of hyperbole’, said Sondheim, has somehow contrived to be both the custodian of a ‘I’d say that in that afternoon I learned more about tradition and an iconoclast. songwriting and the musical theatre than most people learn in a lifetime’. Born in New York in 1930 into a Jewish family, Sondheim’s childhood was one of material The first serious work of Sondheim’s apprenticeship comfort and emotional neglect. His father, a dress was (1954), which did not, at the manufacturer, left him and his mother before time, reach the stage. It did, however, provide Sondheim had reached his teens. Sondheim’s Sondheim with a calling card that helped land him relationship with his mother was unhappy, but it the job of lyric-writer on West Side Story. It was a was her pursuit of celebrities that brought him into job that Sondheim was very reluctant to take, since with Oscar Hammerstein at the age of 13. he thought of himself primarily as a composer, not just a lyricist. Sondheim was precocious. He wrote his first musical, By George!, while he was still at prep It was Oscar Hammerstein who persuaded him to set school. He asked Hammerstein to take a look at the aside his qualms, reasoning that it could only help score with an objective eye, as if he didn’t know its his protégé’s development to work with talent of the composer, and give his verdict. ‘I went home that calibre of the show’s composer, ; night with delusions of grandeur in my head’, recalled its book-writer, Arthur Laurents; and the director and

11 A Little Night Music - choreographer, Jerome Robbins. It was Hammerstein, too, who nudged Sondheim into overcoming a similar resistance to supplying the lyrics for (1959), which was conceived as a vehicle for Ethel Merman. Merman wouldn’t countenance taking a risk on a score by a young, inexperienced composer, so it was who wrote the music.

Sondheim was happier with his own work on Gypsy than he was with West Side Story, but the project had forced him to take six months away from work on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the show that established him as a composer/lyricist in his own right. Forum was a success on Broadway, but the way had been rocky on the out-of-town try-outs. Jerome Robbins was brought in to doctor the show, and it was from him that Sondheim learned another valuable lesson. Robbins suggested that the main problem was that the opening number didn’t establish clearly enough the tone of the show, leaving audiences unsure of how to respond. Sondheim wrote a new opener, ‘Comedy Tonight’, and the problem was solved.

After the flop of (1964), Sondheim’s next two musicals ended up developing more or less concurrently, although the genesis of Follies (1971) pre-dates that of Company (1970). Both shows examine the phenomenon of modern marriage, although the tone of each is very different. The theme of Company might neatly be summed up in a line of Chekhov’s: ‘If you’re afraid of loneliness, don’t marry’. Part of what made Company innovative was its emotional realism. Also novel was its plotlessness – something that went against even Sondheim’s instincts. Nevertheless, Company was a hit at the Tonys, winning six awards, including Best Music and Best Lyrics.

The show that became Follies started life five years earlier as The Girls Upstairs, with a book by the playwright James Goldman. Set on the stage of a derelict theatre that was in the inter-war years home to the fictional Weismann Follies, the show pulls off a rare trick, making the metaphor of the theatre a meaningful metaphor for life, without being hackneyed.

Both Company and Follies were directed by Hal Prince, who was to helm all of Sondheim’s shows during the 1970s. After A Little Night Music in 1973 came two works which have both found places in the repertoires of opera houses. Pacific Overtures (1976), which concerns the Westernisation of Japan in the

In rehearsal: Stephanie Corley (Desiree Armfeldt) Photograph: Sharron Wallace

12 A Little Night Music - Putting It Together 19th century, has proved to be the most resistant to revival of Sondheim’s mature works; 1979’s Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, on the other hand, has become one of his most popular.

After the failure of the original Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along (1981) – now regarded with widespread affection and frequently revived – Sondheim and Prince were not to work together for another 20 years. So dispirited was Sondheim by the hostile reception of Merrily that he contemplated giving up on musical theatre altogether. It was the playwright and director who changed Sondheim’s mind, netting his interest with the idea of a show inspired by the French painter Georges Seurat’s pointillist masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte. Sunday in the Park with George won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and led to two further Sondheim/Lapine creations. Into the Woods (1987) goes beyond the happy-ever-after endings of a handful of familiar fairy tales, whilst in (1994), adapted from Ettore Scola’s 1981 film Passione d’amore, Sondheim again set himself new challenges: the work has been described as the world’s first epistolary musical.

Between Into the Woods and Passion came the off-Broadway (1990), a dark, -style show with a book by John Weidman on the subject of men and women who have attempted to assassinate US presidents. Weidman also provided the book for Sondheim’s most recent musical, which has had the most complex and protracted gestation period of any

Left - in rehearsal: Quirijn de Lang (Fredrik Egerman) Photograph: Sharron Wallace Above - Sweeney Todd, West Playhouse, 2013: David Birrell (Sweeney Todd) and Gillian Bevan (Mrs. Lovett) Photograph: Manuel Harlan

13 A Little Night Music - Putting It Together of Sondheim’s shows. Set in the early decades of the 20th century and centring on the stories of real-life brothers Addison and Wilson Mizner, the show was originally workshopped in New York in 1999 under the title Wise Guys. It was eventually staged as Bounce in and Washington in 2003 in a production that reunited Sondheim with director Hal Prince. Five years later, it was produced off-Broadway in its current form, as .

Sondheim’s 80th birthday in 2010 occasioned a host of tributes, as well as awards to add to the eight Tonys that are already his – he’s won more than any other composer. At a celebratory Critics’ Circle lunch in in March 2012, Sondheim was presented with an award for Distinguished Services to the Arts – which, as the critic Mark Shenton pointed out at the time, was ‘effectively a lifetime achievement award’. Some lifetime, some achievement.

Left - in rehearsal: Corinne Cowling (Anne Egerman) Photograph: Sharron Wallace Above - Into the Woods, West Yorkshire Playhouse/Opera North, 2016: Claire Pascoe (Witch) with members of the Company Photograph: Manuel Harlan

14 A Little Night Music - Putting It Together included: ‚ Marie ‚ ‚ Medea‚ Queen Elizabeth I , The Countess The Queen of Spades ARTISTS’ and Lady Billows . BIOGRAPHIES MIRANDA BEVIN Mrs Nordstrom MOLLY BARKER was born in and Mrs Segstrom studied at the Royal Northern is a mezzo-soprano, born in College of Music. After graduation Nottinghamshire, who came to she won a scholarship from the music after completing an Countess of Munster Musical Trust undergraduate degree in to study with Teresa Cahill. In 1998 agriculture and working for a time she became a full-time member of in that industry. In 2017 she went the Chorus of Opera North, where on to study for a master’s degree her roles and covers include: Queen of the Night The and postgraduate diploma at , Elisetta The Secret Marriage, Gianetta Royal Northern College of Music, under the tutelage of L’elisir d’amore, Barbarina , Jay Hilary Summers, and graduated in 2020. Whilst (Chief Hen) , Yvette La rondine, studying at the RNCM she performed the roles of La Zia Trixie Flynn/Mrs Lippman Let ‘em Eat Cake, Konstanze Principessa Suor Angelica, Zita Gianni Schicchi, Madame Die Entführung aus dem Serail, First Niece , de Croissy Dialogues des Carmélites and Julia Bertram Musetta La bohème, Sylviane and Olga The Merry Mansfield Park. Professional work includes Zana A Song Widow, Miss Wordsworth Albert Herring, Cricket/Parrot for the Future, Ino and Farmer’s Wife The The Adventures of Pinocchio, Pousette Manon, First Orphans of Koombu, and she has sung in the chorus of Nymph , Seller/Lady-in-Waiting The Portrait, the Buxton International Festival and Opera Chlöe The Queen of Spades, Violetta La traviata, Fire/ Company. Concert work includes soloist in Nightingale L’Enfant et les sortilèges, Nurse/Mother Not Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Bach’s St. John Passion, Rossini’s Such Quiet Girls, Greta Fiorentino and Petite Messe Solennelle and Handel’s Messiah. This Stepmother in the West Yorkshire Playhouse/Opera year, Molly joined the Chorus of Opera North and has North co-production of Into the Woods. She also sang been an Emerging Artist at the National Opera Studio. the solo voice role in Northern Ballet’s recording of This is her Leeds Playhouse debut and her solo debut Feeney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. with Opera North. Next season: Countess Ceprano . GILLENE BUTTERFIELD Mrs Nordstrom DAME JOSEPHINE BARSTOW is originally from Swindon and has Madame Armfeldt been a member of the Chorus of is recognised as one of the world’s Opera North since 2006. She leading singing actresses. She has studied at Trinity College of Music performed in Paris, Munich, and the Guildhall School of Music Vienna, Bayreuth, Berlin, New York and Drama. Roles for Opera North and elsewhere around the world, include: Julie Jordan , singing a varied repertoire of Verdi‚ Strolling Player Death in Venice, ‚ Puccini and Despina Così fan tutte, Zorah , Masha The Janácˇek among others. Roles have Queen of Spades, Second Woman , included Violetta La traviata‚ Natasha ‚ Rosaura the Puppet The Adventures of Pinocchio, First ‚ Elisabeth ‚ Leonora The Force of Mendicant Suor Angelica, Sylviane/Valencienne The Destiny‚ Leonore ‚ Katarina Lady of Merry Widow, Pat Not Such Quiet Girls, Papagena The Mtsensk‚ Tosca‚ Sieglinde‚ Emilia Marty The Makropulos Magic Flute, Rose Maurrant Street Scene, Elle La Voix Case‚ The Marschallin and (ENO); Denise in the humaine and Cinderella in the West Yorkshire Playhouse/ world premiere of Tippett’s ‚ Salome‚ Opera North co-production of Into the Woods. She has Ellen Orford‚ Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream‚ also performed with Opera Holland Park, Opera Minima, Santuzza‚ Leonore‚ Lady Macbeth and the Countess Much Loved Productions, British Youth Opera and the The Queen of Spades (Royal Opera House). Most recent National Youth Music Theatre (Into the Woods). She was appearances include: Heidi Schiller Follies (National part of the chorus for Grimes on the Beach at the Theatre); Bernstein’s Kaddish (Orchestra Aldeburgh Festival and has also sung at the Salzburg Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Roma/Pappano); Maud Jack Festival, Bregenz Festival, Buckingham Palace, the the Ripper and Mother Marie Dialogues of the Carmelites Linbury Studio and at the Handel House Museum. (ENO); Kostelnicˇka Jenu˚fa in Oviedo and with Vlaamse Opera in Luxembourg; and Mama Lucia in Barcelona. For Opera North her roles have

15 A Little Night Music - Artists’ Biographies STEPHANIE CORLEY (Barbican Hall); Cosette in Pimlico Opera’s Les Desiree Armfeldt Misérables; Peep-bo The Mikado (Charles Court Opera); Aréthuze in Charpentier’s Actéon and Bubikopf in studied at the Royal Welsh College Ullmann’s The Emperor of Atlantis (Lost and Found of Music and Drama and the Opera); Barbarina and cover Susanna Le nozze di Figaro National Opera Studio. Operatic (Clonter Opera); Ensemble , roles include: title role Madama and Die Fledermaus (West Green House Opera). This is Butterfly (Mid Wales Opera); her Opera North and Leeds Playhouse debut. Musetta La bohème (Nederlandse Reisopera); Freia , Woglinde/Third Norn HAZEL CROFT Götterdämmerung (Teatro Massimo, Palermo); title role Mrs Anderssen Ines de Castro, Tina Flight, Musetta and Mabel The was born in Leeds and joined the Pirates of Penzance (Scottish Opera); Contessa Almaviva Chorus of Opera North in 2000. Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira and First She sings regularly as a concert Lady Die Zauberflöte (Longborough Festival Opera); artist in both recital and oratorio Desdemona , Gayle , Emma performances throughout the (Birmingham Opera Company); Fiordiligi region and has sung with The Così fan tutte, Antonia Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Diva Black Dyke Band and Spa Pavilion Opera); Ines Il trovatore (Holland Park); title role Trio, Scarborough. In concert with Simplicius Simplicissimus (Independent Opera); the Chorus of Opera North, she has sung the Mezzo solo Micaëla Carmen (Blackheath Halls); Ginevra Ariodante in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle, Die Frau ohne (Cambridge Handel Opera Group); Arminda La finta Schatten and the Rachmaninov Vespers, Mother Jeanne giardiniera (Buxton Festival); Pamina Die Zauberflöte Dialogues des Carmélites, and also Mary Jarred’s solo in and Marzelline Fidelio for Glyndebourne Festival whilst Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music. In 2012 she covering. Concert highlights include: Verdi Requiem with sang the Mezzo solo in Howard Shelley’s recording of Carlo Rizzi; Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Lugano Radio Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia. Whilst covering the role of Orchestra, Switzerland); Vaughan Williams Sea Flosshilde Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung, she Symphony (Snape Maltings); Britten Les Illuminations sang in two Inside Opera events with Opera North’s then (Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham); Mahler Symphony No. Head of Music Martin Pickard. For Opera North: Maid 4 (St. James’s, Piccadilly); BBC Radio 3 In Tune session Jenu˚fa, Third Gentleman , Frugola Il tabarro, featuring her solo recital, St. John’s Smith Square. For Madrigal Singer Manon Lescaut, Suzy La rondine, Opera North: Hanna Glawari The Merry Widow, Kristina Countess Ceprano Rigoletto, Glasha Katya Kabanova, The Makropulos Case, Lilli Vanessi/Kate Kiss Me, Kate Beetle Doctor/Fantasy Rich The Adventures of Pinocchio, and title role Katya Kabanova. Mrs Gilhooley Let ‘Em Eat Cake, Mabel Ruddigore, Third Showgirl La bohème, German Mother Death in Venice, CORINNE COWLING Aunt Jenu˚fa, Jack’s Mother Into the Woods (co- Anne Egerman production with West Yorkshire Playhouse), Third Orphan , Third Lady The Magic Flute is an Australian/American soprano (schools’ performances), Old Woman The Greek Passion and actress. She holds a Master of and Second Nursemaid Street Scene. Next season: Music (Vocal Performance) with Giovanna Rigoletto. Distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as well as a Certificate II in Musical JAMES DAVIES Theatre, Bachelor of Music Mr Lindquist (Classical Voice) and Graduate is originally from Wales. He Diploma (Opera) from the Western Australian Academy graduated from Birmingham of Performing Arts. She was a finalist in the 2014 IFAC Conservatoire, where he studied Australian Singing Competition and won a full with Scottish Gordon scholarship to the GSMD, where she won the Schubert Sandison. He then went on to Institute Competition. She also trained in classical ballet complete his Masters at the Royal at the Charlesworth Institute, Western Australia, and the College of Music with Peter Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, where she was Savidge. Operatic roles include selected to perform pieces by Jirˇí Kylián on tour across Schaunard in scenes from La bohème, Second Priest The Netherlands for the Holland Dance Festival in 2010. Die Zauberflöte, Danilo in scenes from The Merry West End credits include: Ensemble/1st Cover Christine Widow, Hob in Vaughan Williams’ The Poisoned Kiss, The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s). Other Aeneas Dido and Aeneas and Balthazar in Menotti’s performances include: soprano soloist at major concert Amahl and the Night Visitors. He has also sung with halls across the UK and Istanbul for Raymond Gubbay’s the choruses of British Youth Opera and Longborough Johann Strauss Gala Tour 2017-2019; Other Love Songs Festival Opera. James joined the full-time Chorus of (Wigmore Hall); Guildhall Artist Platform recital Opera North in 2016, and his roles and covers for the

16 A Little Night Music - Artists’ Biographies Company include Second Prisoner Fidelio, Ping , and Aeneas, Dew Fairy Hansel and Gretel, The Plaintiff Silvio Pagliacci and Mizgir in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Trial by Jury, Despinio The Greek Passion, Shirley Kaplan Snow Maiden, as well as numerous smaller roles, solos Street Scene; and the West Yorkshire Playhouse/Opera and choruses. Next season: Morales Carmen. North co-productions of Into the Woods (Rapunzel) and Berlin to Broadway. Next season: Frasquita Carmen. HELEN ÉVORA Countess Charlotte Malcolm LAURENCE KILSBY is a British-Cuban Mezzo and was Henrik Egerman awarded a full Scholarship to train hails originally from the Cotswolds on the Guildhall School of Music and pursues his Masters in Opera and Drama Opera Course. Her at the Curtis Institute of Music operatic roles include: title role after recently graduating from the Carmen, Rosina The Barber of Royal College of Music. A former Seville, Maddalena Rigoletto, chorister with the Tewkesbury Dorabella Così fan tutte, La Abbey Schola Cantorum, he won Périchole La Périchole, Prince Orlofsky Die Fledermaus, the title of BBC Radio 2 Young Ninetta The Little Green Swallow (UK premiere), Chorister of the Year in 2009. He subsequently made Cathleen Riders to the Sea, Flora La traviata and Meg his solo debut at the and appears as Page . Recent concert highlights include: soloist on a number of recordings, including Mozart’s Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in Valencia; Opera Coronation Mass and Solemn Vespers (Schola Galas aboard the Queen Mary II; Opera Naked with the Cantorum), Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il award-winning Unexpected Opera; and the Mozart Moderato (Gabrieli Consort – Grammy nomination), Requiem at London’s Cadogan Hall. She is a member of and the recent album The Call with pianist Malcolm the Chorus of Opera North. Recently for the Company Martineau in association with Momentum. A Britten- she has covered the roles of Kate/Lilli Vanessi Kiss Me, Pears Young Artist, he recently performed at Snape Kate, Dinah Trouble in Tahiti, Hippolyta A Midsummer Maltings with pianist Roger Vignoles. Other recent Night’s Dream, Mrs. Mullin Carousel, and Kate Pinkerton engagements include: Venus and Adonis (Christian Madama Butterfly. She also performed the role of Curnyn/Early Opera Company/ Wigmore Hall); Arminy in Carousel, Little Red Riding Hood in the St. John Passion (Gabrieli Consort/Cathédrale de critically-acclaimed West Yorkshire Playhouse/Opera Lausanne); Elijah (Masaaki Suzuki/Orchestra of the Age North co-production of Into the Woods, Annina Der of Enlightenment/Théâtre des Champs-Élysées); Peter Rosenkavalier, Mme Bogdanovitch The Merry Widow, Sellars’ staging of the St. John Passion (Sir Simon Second Lady The Magic Flute and Justine Orpheus in Rattle/OAE/Elbphilharmonie); Messiah (Nicholas the Record Shop (also BBC Four). Next season: Chalmers/Britten Sinfonia/Nevill Holt Opera); Mozart Mercedes Carmen. Requiem (St. Martin-in-the Fields). Opera includes: Apollo/Pastore/Spirito Orfeo (Nederlandse Reisopera); AMY FRESTON Phoebus The Fairy Queen (Waterperry Opera Festival); Mrs Segstrom and Lucano/Famigliare L’incoronazione di Poppea (Longborough). This is his Leeds Playhouse and Opera was born in London and trained as North debut. a classical dancer before studying singing at the RNCM with Sandra Dugdale. She went on to the STUART LAING National Opera Studio where she Mr Erlanson was sponsored by Glyndebourne. trained at the West Australian She has been a soloist with many Academy of Performing Arts, of the leading opera houses in the Australian Opera Studio, West UK and abroad, including Glyndebourne, WNO, ENO, Australian Opera Company and ROH, Grange Park Opera, Garsington, Philharmonia Guildhall School of Music and Baroque San Francisco, Gottingen, and Opera North. She Drama. Opera includes: Jaquino has also performed with many of the leading orchestras Leonore, Lensky Eugene Onegin, including the City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestra title role Peter Grimes, , of the Age of Enlightenment, Royal Philharmonic, Tito La clemenza di Tito, Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Philharmonia and the BBC Symphony. She has worked Dream, Stage Manager , Squire Lovemore with many notable directors, including: , The Lottery, Tinca Il tabarro, Chaplitsky/Master of Robert Carsen, Peter Hall, Laurent Pelly, , Ceremonies The Queen of Spades, Froh Das Rheingold, Christopher Alden, Giles Havergal and . She is Don Basilio/Don Curzio Le nozze di Figaro, Nick a member of the Chorus of Opera North, where her roles , Horace Adams Peter Grimes, include: La Musica Orfeo, First Niece Peter Grimes, Elsa Remendado Carmen, Voltaire/Dr Pangloss Candide, Dick Skin Deep, Despina Così fan tutte, Rose Maybud McGann Street Scene, Mozart Mozart and Salieri, King Ruddigore, Valencienne The Merry Widow, Belinda Dido Ouf L’Étoile, Tiger Brown The Threepenny Opera,

17 A Little Night Music - Artists’ Biographies Nathanael and Dr Spalanzani Les Contes d’Hoffmann, AGATHA MEEHAN Witch Hansel and Gretel. Companies he has appeared Fredrika Armfeldt with include: Wexford Festival Opera, Buxton Festival Agatha is thrilled to be back on Opera, Grange Park Opera, Bury Court Opera, Fulham stage at Leeds Playhouse, playing Opera, Ryedale Festival, Guildhall Opera School, West the role of Fredrika in A Little Night Australian Opera and Australian Opera Studio. He is a Music. Her theatre credits include: member of the Chorus of Opera North, and his roles for Dorothy The Wizard of Oz (Leeds the Company include: Tinca, Peppe Pagliacci, Amelia’s Playhouse); title role Servant , Third Jew Salome, Berlin (, West End); to Broadway, First Armed Man The Magic Flute, Summer Hathaway School of Rock Parpignol La bohème, Daniel Buchanan Street Scene, (Gillian Lynne Theatre, West End); Jane A Little Princess Brother The Seven Deadly Sins, First Prisoner Fidelio. (Royal Festival Hall, UK premiere); (UK tour). This is Next season: Remendado. her Opera North debut. QUIRIJN DE LANG Fredrik Egerman CHRISTOPHER NAIRNE Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm is a Dutch baritone. He left his is a Samling Artist and recent Biology studies in Amsterdam to graduate from the Royal study singing at the CSdM in Milan Conservatoire of Scotland’s with bel canto expert Rodolfo Alexander Gibson Opera School. Celletti, before finishing his studies He is a member of the Chorus of with honours at the Curtis Institute Opera North, and his roles for the in Philadelphia. He made his debut Company include Novice’s Friend as Papageno The Magic Flute with Billy Budd at the 2017 Aldeburgh the Nationale Reisopera, returning for Ottokar Der Festival at Snape Maltings, Verva Osud, Prince Yamadori Freischütz, Malatesta Don Pasquale, Steward Flight Madama Butterfly, William Dale in the UK premiere of and Christus in Bach’s St John Passion. He is a frequent Silent Night, Schaunard La bohème, Dimitri The Greek guest soloist in the UK, especially with Garsington: Passion, and, next season, Morales Carmen. Other roles Harlekin Ariadne auf Naxos, Dandini , include: Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo Selim Il turco in Italia; Grange Park: Count Capriccio, Così fan tutte and title role (RCS); Yeletsky Pique Dame, Clavaroche in Messager’s Schaunard and Betto di Signa Gianni Schicchi (Opera Fortunio. Other significant appearances include: Bohemia); Marcello La bohème, Dapertutto The Tales of Pantalone The Love for Three Oranges (De Nederlandse Hoffmann and Silvio Pagliacci (Fife Opera); and title role Opera/Deutsche Oper Berlin); Le Surintendant Cendrillon Misper (Scottish Opera Connect). Concert engagements (La Monnaie); Ottone Agrippina (Combattimento Consort include: Butterworth’s setting of A Shropshire Lad at Amsterdam – also on DVD); Pete Dayton in Neuwirth’s Glasgow City Halls (BBC Radio); Handel’s Israel in Egypt Lost Highway (ENO); Count The Secret Marriage (Royal Northern Sinfonia); Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Scottish Opera); and Fred Graham/Petruchio Kiss Me, ( Chamber Orchestra); Vaughan Williams’ Kate (WNO). Recent engagements include: title role Fantasia on Christmas Carols (conducted by Bob Hamlet (Opera2day). For Opera North: Guglielmo Così Chilcott); and guest soloist at the Royal Edinburgh fan tutte, Schaunard, Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Military Tattoo. Christopher is grateful to have received Dream, Count Almaviva The Marriage of Figaro, Singer awards from the ABRSM, Caird Trust, Cross Trust, (flamenco) La vida breve, Dandini, Grandfather Clock/ Kathleen Trust, Robertson Trust and Royal Conservatoire Tom Cat L’Enfant et les sortilèges, Sam Trouble in Tahiti, of Scotland Trust. Fred Graham/Petruchio, Danilo The Merry Widow, Lieutenant Audebert Silent Night, Harry Easter Street Scene. TIM OCHALA-GREENOUGH Mr Erlanson studied piano at Chetham’s, music at Royal Holloway, musicology at the University of and singing with Neil Howlett at the RNCM, where staged scenes included Tamino Die Zauberflöte, Nemorino L’elisir d’amore and Lindoro L’Italiana in Algeri. Since leaving the RNCM he has sung nearly forty roles including Ernesto Don Pasquale, Camille Die lustige Witwe, Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Arturo Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Basilio Le nozze di Figaro, Spoletta

18 A Little Night Music - Artists’ Biographies Tosca, Almaviva Il barbiere di Siviglia, Nemorino L’elisir AMY J PAYNE d’amore (Pavilion Opera); Frederic The Pirates of Petra Penzance, Dr. Blind, cover Alfred Die Fledermaus (Carl hails from South Devon and holds Rosa Opera); Gastone La traviata (Opera Project and an honours degree in French and Longborough Festival); Remendado Carmen (First Act German from King’s College, Opera and Opera South East); and title role Albert London. She trained in opera at Herring (Operamus). He has also sung with ENO and the Guildhall School of Music and WNO. Currently a member of the Chorus of Opera North, Drama, where she won the he has appeared as Squeak and Arthur Jones Billy Budd prestigious English Song Prize and (including Aldeburgh Festival) and Kronprinz in the UK The Susan Longfield Competition. premiere and BBC broadcast of Kevin Puts’ Silent Night. She is also a Samling Artist. She was an emerging artist Concert repertoire ranges from Bach to Orff, with recent at and went on to sing roles for several appearances as First Prisoner Fidelio at Bridgewater Hall UK companies, including Florence Pike Albert Herring, (BBC Radio 3) and the soloist for the premiere of Suzuki Madama Butterfly (Mid Wales Opera); Moppet William Llewellyn’s On Earth in Concert Sing. Recordings Paul Bunyan, Second Lady The Magic Flute (English include Huntsman and ensemble in Edward German’s Touring Opera); Katisha The Mikado, Inez The Gondoliers Tom Jones (Naxos). Television/film appearances include (The National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company); Mrs Jonathan Miller’s Opera Works (BBC) and Grimes on Noye Noye’s Fludde (Kneehigh Theatre); and Third Lady the Beach. The Magic Flute (Iford Arts/Charles Court Opera). Amy became a full-time member of the Chorus of Opera North CLAIRE PASCOE in August 2016, and her roles for the Company include: Mrs Anderssen Infirmary Sister Suor Angelica, Tisbe La Cenerentola, was born in Hartlepool and, Interviewer Trial by Jury, Third Lady The Magic Flute, after reading History at Durham Cornelia Giulio Cesare and Olga Olsen Street Scene. She University, won an Entrance also appeared in the Opera North/West Yorkshire Exhibition to study with Julie Playhouse co-production of Berlin to Broadway. Kennard at the Royal Academy of Music. She attended the Opera DEAN ROBINSON School and graduated with a Dip. Mr Lindquist RAM in Opera. Having joined the was born in Australia and studied Chorus of Opera North in 1996, her roles for the at RNCM with major support from Company include: Rosina , the Peter Moores Foundation. He Dorabella Così fan tutte, Mayor’s Wife Jenu˚fa, Lucia has appeared as principal guest The Thieving Magpie, Lusya Paradise Moscow, Third artist with , ENO, Witch Dido and Aeneas, Mercedes Carmen, Dame WNO, Scottish Opera and Hannah Ruddigore, Innkeeper’s Wife and Chief Hen Netherlands Opera. Festival The Cunning Little Vixen, The Fish Seller Julietta, appearances include the Rossini Beggar Woman Death in Venice, Virtue The Coronation Opera Festival and Garsington. In concert he has sung of Poppea, La Ciesca Gianni Schicchi, Stage Manager under Gardiner, Haitink, Rattle, , Slatkin, Kiss Me, Kate, Novice Mistress Suor Angelica, Nagano, Pappano and Armstrong. Film appearances Bobylikha The Snow Maiden, Counsel for the Plaintiff include: First Officer The Death of Klinghoffer and Trial by Jury, Ambulance Driver/Father Not Such Quiet Goffredo in Judith Weir’s Armida. For Opera North: Girls, Emma Jones Street Scene, Witch Hansel and Fabrizio The Thieving Magpie, Zaccaria Nabucco, Gretel (Whistle Stop Opera) and, next season, Melissa Imperial Commissioner, Bonze Madama Butterfly, Alcina. She was also the Witch in the West Yorkshire Narumov The Queen of Spades, Montano Otello, Playhouse/Opera North co-production of Into the Woods. Swallow Peter Grimes, Theseus A Midsummer Night’s Her oratorio work includes Elijah at Truro Cathedral, Dream, José Castro La fanciulla del West, Doctor Messiah at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral and, in 2012, Macbeth, Doctor Grenvil La traviata, Bartolo Figaro, recording the ‘Pie Jesu’ from the Duruflé Requiem with Betto di Signa Gianni Schicchi, David Bascombe the Choir of Leeds Cathedral and Skipton Camerata. Carousel, Don Basilio The Barber of Seville, Foreman Jenu˚fa, Pietro Fleville/Fouquier-Tinville Andrea Chénier, Commissar Der Rosenkavalier, Bermyata The Snow Maiden, Mandarin Turandot, Konecˇny Osud, Count Ribbing Un ballo in maschera, First Nazarene Salome, Kromov The Merry Widow, British Major Silent Night, Speaker The Magic Flute, Old Man The Greek Passion, Curio Giulio Cesare, Mother The Seven Deadly Sins; and the West Yorkshire Playhouse/Opera North co-productions of Into the Woods (Baker) and Berlin to Broadway. Next season: Dancairo Carmen.

19 A Little Night Music - Artists’ Biographies IVAN SHARPE (1994) and Road Show (2008), as well as lyrics for Frid West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959) and Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965), and additional lyrics for Candide has enjoyed a richly varied singing (1973). Anthologies of his work include Side by Side life from his early days as a boy by Sondheim (1976), Marry Me a Little (1981), You’re chorister at Winchester Cathedral Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983), Putting It Together and then as a freelance tenor (1993/99) and (2010). He soloist, singing with Welsh composed the scores of the films Stavisky (1974) National Opera, Scottish Opera, and Reds (1981) and songs for Dick Tracy (1990) and , Flanders the television production Evening Primrose (1966). Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, His collected lyrics with attendant essays have been Hong Kong Festival Opera, Wexford Festival, Opera published in two volumes: (2010) Holland Park and City of Birmingham Touring Opera. and Look, I Made a Hat (2011). In 2010 the Broadway He spent four years as the principal tenor for Carl Rosa theater formerly known as Henry Miller’s Theatre was Opera, specialising in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, renamed in his honour. and then touring the world for eight years as one of Caledon, Scotland’s . Roles include: Tamino, Ferrando, Don Ottavio, Count Almaviva, Eisenstein, HUGH WHEELER Camille de Rosillon, Colonel Fairfax, Nanki Poo and the Book Novice Billy Budd. He has a passion for oratorio and has was a novelist, playwright and screenwriter. He wrote performed the tenor solos in much of the central more than thirty mystery novels under the pseudonyms repertoire, including Handel, Bach’s Passions, Haydn’s Q. Patrick and Patrick Quentin, and four of his novels Creation and Masses, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Rossini’s were transformed into films: Black Widow, Man in the Stabat Mater, Verdi’s Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream of Net, The Green-Eyed Monster and The Man with Two Gerontius and Britten’s War Requiem. He is a member of Wives. For films, he wrote the screenplays for Travels the Chorus of Opera North and his roles for the Company with My Aunt, Something for Everyone, A Little Night include the Captain Carousel, Cab Driver Kiss Me, Kate, Music and Nijinsky. His plays include Big Fish, Little Tsar Berendey The Snow Maiden, Chief Justice Un ballo Fish (1961), Look: We’ve Come Through (1961) and in maschera, First Priest The Magic Flute and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1966, adapted Schoolmaster The Greek Passion. Next season: Matteo from the novel). He co-authored with Borsa Rigoletto. the book for a new production of the 1919 musical Irene (1973), wrote the books for A Little Night LUCY SHERMAN Music (1973), a new production of Candide (1973), Fredrika Armfeldt Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979, based on a version of the play by Christopher Bond), trained at Stagebox, Damien Poole and Meet Me in St. Louis (adapted from the 1949 Theatre Arts and with Helen Leaf. MGM musical). He contributed additional material for Her theatre credits include: the musical Pacific Overtures (1976), and wrote a new Dorothy The Wizard of Oz (Leeds adaptation of the opera Silverlake, which Playhouse); Kylie Hastings Strictly was directed by at Opera. Ballroom (directed/choreographed He received Tony and Drama Desk Awards for A Little by Drew McOnie, UK premiere); Night Music, Candide and Sweeney Todd. Prior to his Jemima Potts Chitty Chitty Bang death in 1987 Hugh Wheeler was working on two new Bang (UK Tour). Television includes: Molly Annie musicals, Bodo and Fu Manchu, and a new adaptation of (musical), Keep It in the Family (ITV). For Opera North: The Merry Widow. Fairy A Midsummer Night Dream, La bohème, Snow child Carousel, Three Boys (Lead Soprano) The Magic Flute. Lucy was nominated for Yorkshire Young Achiever JAMES HOLMES of the Year 2020, and is delighted to be back on stage at Conductor the Playhouse as Fredrika in A Little Night Music. straddles the worlds of opera and musicals in a wide- ranging career. A former ENO staff conductor and Opera STEPHEN SONDHEIM North’s Head of Music from 1996-2008, he has become Music and Lyrics well-known in recent years for ‘classic’ musical theatre, including: Carousel (National Theatre); Pacific Overtures, wrote the music and lyrics for Saturday Night (1954), Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Street Scene A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (ENO); Sweeney Todd, , Arms and (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970), the Cow, Of Thee I Sing, Paradise Moscow, Carousel, Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Street Scene and The Seven Deadly Sins (Opera North); (1974), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd: The Into the Woods (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Opera North); Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll (Châtelet, Paris); One Touch of Venus Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), (Dessau); Street Scene (Berlin); Into the Woods, Magical Into the Woods (1987), Assassins (1991), Passion Night (ROH2); Pat Kirkwood is Angry (Royal Exchange

20 A Little Night Music - Artists’ Biographies Theatre/Tour); Sweeney Todd, Kiss Me, Kate (WNO); National Opera at Wales Millennium Centre as well as (Vienna Volksoper); and The Silver Lake in Brussels for La Monnaie and in Copenhagen for Royal (English Touring Opera). Recordings include: Pacific Danish Opera. For Opera North: The Magic Flute. Overtures (Grammy nomination); One Touch of Venus, Street Scene (DVD); and as pianist/arranger, Mercy MADELEINE BOYD and Grand – The Tom Waits Project. He has conducted Set and Costume Designer as wide a range of Kurt Weill’s work as anyone in the studied Theatre Design at Central Saint Martin’s College world, is Trustee of the Kurt Weill Foundation, New of Art and Design. Her designs include: set design York, and is currently preparing the Critical Edition of the La traviata (Komische Oper, Berlin); set and costume composer’s orchestral music. In 2018 he became only design Carmen (Nikikai Opera Foundation, Tokyo); the seventh ever recipient of the Foundation’s Lifetime set and costume design Wuthering Heights (Opéra Achievement Award for his services to the composer. National de Lorraine, Nancy); set and costume design A Quiet Place (Opera Zuid, Maastricht – Winner of a OLIVER RUNDELL Place de L’Opera Award for Best Opera 2018); set and Conductor costume design Powder Her Face (Royal Danish Opera, studied Music at Cambridge University and trained Copenhagen – Winner of the Arets Reumert Prize 2016 at the National Opera Studio. From 2002-10 he was a for Best Opera Production); set and costume design member of the music staff at Scottish Opera, where he Albert Herring (Maggio Musicale, Florence); set and worked on over 30 productions, including the Ring cycle, costume design the Donizetti Trilogy: Anna Bolena, and conducted touring productions of Die Fledermaus and Roberto Devereux (Welsh National and La Cenerentola. He has worked as resident coach in Opera; the last also opened Teatro Real, Madrid’s the opera school of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland 2015/16 Season); Meyerbeer’s Margherita d’Anjou and conducted their production of La rondine in 2014. (Martina Franca Festival); Fidelio (Longborough Festival Outside the opera house, he is a founder member of Opera); La Cenerentola (Teatro Regio, Turin).Her theatre the Beinn Artair Piano Trio and is a keen exponent of credits include: Schnitzler’s Liebelei (Vorarlberger contemporary music. He has worked on world premieres Landestheater, Bregenz); L’Histoire du soldat (Maggio for Scottish Opera, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Musicale, Florence); and Six Characters in Search of an Research Ensemble, and in 2010 he organized a rare Author (Guildhall School of Music and Drama). She was performance of Maurizio Kagel’s Eine Brise for 111 awarded the 2008 Design Fellowship from Independent cyclists. He became Chorus Master at Opera North in Opera. For Opera North: The Turn of the Screw, August 2016. Previous work for the Company includes: Cautionary Tales!, Don Giovanni and La traviata. Repetiteur The Adventures of Pinocchio and Carmen, Assistant Conductor Werther and Kiss Me, Kate, and CHRIS DAVEY Conductor Ruddigore, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lighting Designer Trial by Jury and Kiss Me, Kate. Opera includes: Roméo et Juliette (Opera Ireland); L’Heure Espagnole, La Voix humaine, Hippolyte et Aricie JAMES BRINING (Nationale Reisopera, Netherlands); L’Arbore di Diana Director (Valencia); (Melbourne, Sydney was born and brought up in Leeds and is Artistic Opera House); Skellig (Sage Gateshead); Aida (Houston); Director/Joint CEO of Leeds Playhouse. After studying Bird of Night (Royal Opera House); Duke Bluebeard’s English at University, he ran his own theatre company Castle (Bregenz); Jephtha (Copenhagen, ENO/WNO); in Newcastle on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme. The Magic Flute, Sweeney Todd (WNO); eight seasons He subsequently became Artistic Director of Proteus for Grange Park Opera; Illuminations, The Turn of the Theatre Company, a new writing company touring Screw, The Rake’s Progress (Aldeburgh Festival); The community venues and small theatres around the South Picture of Dorian Gray (Monte Carlo). He has designed of . He then moved to the Orange Tree Theatre extensively for the National Theatre and the RSC. Other in Richmond where he was Community Director. In recent designs include: Witness for the Prosecution 1997 he moved to Glasgow to take up the post of (County Hall, London); The Best Man (Playhouse Artistic Director of TAG Theatre Company, Scotland’s Theatre, London); Nightfall (); Rhinoceros national theatre for children and young people. In 2003 (Edinburgh International Festival); Vamos Cuba! (Sadler’s he was appointed Artistic Director/CEO of Dundee Wells); Sweeney Todd (La Monnaie, Brussels); 42nd Rep Theatre, where he directed new and classic work Street (Châtelet, Paris); Matthew Bourne’s The Car including Sweeney Todd and Sunshine on Leith which Man, Lord of the Flies (Sadler’s Wells, national and won UK Theatre Best Musical Award in 2010 and 2007 international tours); The Driver’s Seat (National Theatre respectively. Since joining Leeds Playhouse in 2012, he of Scotland); Carlos Acosta’s Classical Farewell (Royal has directed a range of shows from new plays to large Albert Hall and world tour); Doctor Dolittle, 84 Charing scale musicals including The Wizard of Oz, Into the Cross Road, Touching the Void, The Crucible, Wonderful Woods (co-production with Opera North), Chitty Chitty Town, The History Boys, Dial M for Murder (national Bang Bang and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of tours). For Opera North: I Capuleti e i Montecchi, The Fleet Street. He re-created Sweeney Todd for Welsh Queen of Spades, The Magic Flute.

21 A Little Night Music - Artists’ Biographies LUCY HIND ANDREW LONG Choreographer Orchestra Co-Leader was born and trained in South Africa and is an associate has given and recital performances throughout artist of the award-winning Slung Low. She has received Scandinavia and Europe including a live performance critical acclaim for her movement direction on Girl From of Elgar’s Violin Sonata on Polish television. He is the North Country (Old Vic/West End/Mirvish Produc- also a regular recitalist at the Duke of Westminster’s tions in Toronto) and which opened on Broadway in country home. After leaving his position as Assistant February 2020. Other recent work includes: Light in the Leader with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, he is Piazza (Royal Festival Hall/LA Opera/Chicago); Macbeth now Associate Leader of the Orchestra of Opera North (Royal Exchange, ); Local Hero (Lyceum, and Director of the New World Ensemble. He was also Edinburgh); Calendar Girls (UK Tour); Miss Littlewood leader of the Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra, (RSC); The Divide (Old Vic); Ugly Lies the Bone (National playing and showpieces to audiences of Theatre); The House of Bernarda Alba (Royal Exchange/ over 16,000 people. A keen exponent of contemporary Graeae); The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe/ music, he has commissioned and recorded many new Liverpool Playhouse/Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); works and his ensemble’s recording of Kevin Malone’s Somme 100 (national commemoration of the Battle of Eighteen Minutes was chosen by Naxos as one of the Somme, Manchester); The Effect, This is My Family their Top 20 tracks from their catalogue of 1.9 million. ( Crucible); Multitudes (Tricycle, London); The He also conducts, arranges for and presents the Andy Jacobin (Buxton Arts Festival); Moon Tiger (Theatre Long Orchestra where he indulges his passion for easy Royal, Bath); Stuart: A Life Backwards (Hightide); and listening and light music. His of popular the London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony. classics have made the orchestra regular guests at Television includes: Truth Seekers (Amazon Prime), The corporate events and at the Bridlington Spa Grand Snow Queen, The Nutcracker, Peter Pan, Thumbelina, Ballroom. His landmark recording with Ian Buckle of Andy and the Band, Hansel and Gretel (all BBC); and music for violin and piano by Sir Edward German was Banana (E4). For Opera North: The Snow Maiden. released worldwide, and their recording of the violin sonatas of Humphrey Procter-Gregg was released in SEBASTIAN FROST 2019 on the Toccata label. Sound Designer trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has been the Sound Designer for hundreds of projects from West End, Broadway and European theatre produc- tions to artistic installations, large-scale public events, exhibitions, product launches, awards ceremonies and other live events around the world. Theatre designs include: The Last Ship (UK, US, Canada); 170 Days in Nanjing (Nanjing Opera); Memoirs of a Sailor (Kuwait National Theatre); Kiss Me, Kate (WNO); Jekyll & Hyde (Old Vic); Queen Coal (Sheffield Crucible); White Christmas, Annie, A Christmas Carol (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Calamity Jane (Watermill/UK Tour); The Witches (Leicester Curve); If Only (Chichester); The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Kensington Gardens); Decade (Headlong); Antony and Cleopatra (Liverpool Playhouse); Little Shop of Horrors (Birmingham Rep); The Magic Flute (Duke of York’s); The Common Pursuit, Take Flight, Total Eclipse (); Trainspotting (UK Tour); Tonight’s the Night (Victoria Palace); Mysteries (Queen’s); Kat and the Kings (Vaude- ville, Broadway, Cape Town). He has a close working relationship with major equipment manufacturers in the UK and globally, and was the first to bring object-based sound design to musical theatre. He was awarded the first ever Tony Award nomination for Best Sound Design of a Musical on Broadway in 2008 for Sunday in the Park with George.

22 A Little Night Music - Artists’ Biographies ABOUT OPERA NORTH

Patron Opera North is a national opera company based in Leeds and one of HRH The Duke of Kent KG the leading arts organisations in the UK. Rooted in the north of England, Founder international in outlook, we create extraordinary experiences, every day. George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood We believe that opera and music are for everyone, and we champion President diversity in artists, repertoire, audiences and participants. Our aim is Keith Howard OBE to make bold, innovative, ambitious work and share it in new ways, General Director continually revitalising our approach to opera and musical theatre. We Richard Mantle OBE work in partnership with a wide range of artists and organisations, and Music Director commission new work, from operas to film scores to sound installations. Garry Walker Principal Guest Conductor Our award-winning work tours throughout the North and beyond. You’ll Antony Hermus find us in grand theatres and shopping centres; in community venues and city squares; in pubs and on our digital platform, ONDemand. Our ‘...Opera North, a company with a Projects department creates and curates an eclectic programme of site- terrific record for taking risks and specific touring work, as well as gigs, concerts, spoken word and film pushing the boundaries’ in the Howard Assembly Room in Leeds, which re-opens later this year Rupert Christiansen, following a major capital redevelopment project. Daily Telegraph, January 2020 Opera North connects with communities and inspires people of all ages and walks of life to explore opera, music and the arts. Thousands of young people and adults engage in the Company’s extensive Education programmes each year. Our ground-breaking Community Partnerships scheme helps us reach people who, for many reasons, face significant barriers to experiencing the arts, and we are the first opera company Opera North gratefully in the country to be awarded Theatre of Sanctuary status. Through our acknowledges the Education and Community work we aim to enhance health and well- support of the following: being through arts participation and performance.

Creativity is vital throughout the Company, from the versatility and artistry of our Chorus and Orchestra, to our highly skilled team of technical, production and management staff. Opera North is also a sector leader in developing partnerships between the arts and Higher Education.

Photo: Our work is made possible by direct support from Arts Council England The Seven Deadly Sins livestream, and Leeds City Council, sponsorship from the private sector, the 2020: Shelley Eva Haden as Anna II. Friends of Opera North, the Opera North Future Fund and the box office Photograph by Tristram Kenton income from audiences. The Company is grateful to the many business sponsors, charitable trusts and individuals who together assist Opera operanorth.co.uk North to continue to mount its award-winning programmes.

23 A Little Night Music - Opera North ABOUT LEEDS PLAYHOUSE

Artistic Director Leeds Playhouse is a theatre that has existed in the heart of Yorkshire James Brining for 50 years. The anniversary of its half century is being marked through Executive Director a series of new productions tracing stories from across the decades Robin Hawkes as well as celebrating the many wonderful artists, participants and Chair of the Board audience members who have shared this journey with the Playhouse. Rozina Breen As a registered charity (No. 255460) the Playhouse seeks out the best companies with which to create work that is pioneering and relevant. Leeds Theatre Trust Limited Leeds Playhouse recently underwent a £16m transformation which Charity Number 255460 includes improved access to and around the theatre, a new city-facing VAT No. 545 4890 17 entrance and the addition of a new studio theatre, the Bramall Rock Void. Company No. 926862, England Wales A dedicated collaborator, Leeds Playhouse works with distinctive, original voices from across the UK. Its Artistic Development programme, Furnace, discovers, nurtures and supports new voices, while developing work with established practitioners. It provides a creative space for writers, directors, companies and individual theatre-makers to refine their practice at all stages of their careers.

The sector-leading Creative Engagement team works with more than 12,000 people aged 4–95 every year connecting with refugee communities, young people, teachers and students, older people and people with learning disabilities, including working in specific areas of the city. The Playhouse pioneered Relaxed Performances ten years ago and more recently has developed Dementia-Friendly performances, both Leeds Playhouse gratefully acknowledges the of which are becoming the norm across the industry. Leeds Playhouse is support of the following: proud to be the first ever Theatre of Sanctuary for Refugees and People Seeking Asylum.

The Playhouse relies on support from many partners to make great things happen. The organisation is especially grateful for the continued support from funders including Arts Council England, Leeds City Council, The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation, as well as many charitable trusts, business partners and individuals.

Photo by Heather Whiston

leedsplayhouse.org.uk

24 A Little Night Music - Leeds Playhouse

A Leeds Playhouse and co-production By Pam Gems

PIAF Olivier Award-winning actress Jenna Russell stars in Pam Gems’ sensational and emotionally-charged play with music, featuring some of Piaf’s most famous songs, including La Vie en Rose, Hymne a l’amour and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien. 23 JUL – 7 AUG 0113 213 7700 leedsplayhouse.org.uk A Little Night Music Sondheim

June – July 2021

Opera North Grand Theatre 46 New Briggate Leeds LS1 6NU Tel: 0113 243 9999

Registered Charity No. 511726 © Opera North Ltd., 2021 operanorth.co.uk