press release
SUMMER TOUR 2009 – A WORLD UPON THE MOON (Il MONDO DELLA LUNA)
OEP marks the bicentenary year of Haydn’s death in 1809 with a new production of his comic masterpiece. A World upon the Moon is a particularly apt choice. UNESCO has designated 2009 as International Year of Astronomy, this being the four hundredth anniversary of the first use in 1609 of astronomical telescopes to map the surface of the Moon. After the great success of The Rake's Progress (2007) and Le nozze di Figaro (2008), we warmly welcome back Jeff Clarke to direct the production, which will, as usual, be sung in English. We are delighted to announce that designs will be provided by Elroy Ashmore, a much sought after designer, both at home and abroad. As usual, there will be a strong cast of talented young singers. The performances will be conducted by OEP’s Artistic Director, Oliver Gooch, whose own career goes from strengh to strength, both in the UK, where his work this year includes further engagements at the Royal Opera House and Opera North, and in the USA, where his happy association with Dicapo Opera Theatre in New York continues and recently included the US première of Janáček’s Šárka.
Note for Editors
Since its creation a decade ago, Opera East Productions has been delighting audiences across East Anglia and beyond with its fresh and vibrant stagings of a wide variety of opera sung in English. Particularly memorable performances have included works by Britten, including The Turn of the Screw and Albert Herring, Janàček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and most recently Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.
“ … Oliver Gooch [and his players] mined the vein of melancholy that lies at the centre of Stravinsky’s music, and lent the evening …. a reflectiveness that you rarely hear.”
Robert Thicknesse, Opera Now