Saturday 21st June 2008 |
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Midsummer concert and dinner in the beautiful surroundings of |
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Branksome PlaceHindhead Road, Haslemere, Surrey GU27 3PN. |
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A treat for lovers of Italian Opera and
the clarinet, including Puccini's
Love Duet from La bohème;
Parto, parto
from Mozart's La clemenza di Tito;
Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock;
arias and duets by Verdi & Leoncavallo;
and a surprise item by Offenbach.
The concert will be in the main part of the conference centre and the meal, which will be buffet style but seated at tables properly laid out for the occasion, will take place in the annex. |
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De Vere Venues have agreed special arrangements
for Opera South guests: Bed and Breakfast £75 per room per night including VAT and service. Please telephone 01428 664600 for reservation and mention Opera South to obtain special rate. |
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MENUHors d’oeuvresMeats, patés, cured & smoked fish, salads & breadsMain CoursesLamb simmered in Moroccan spices, apricot & almond couscous*Chicken in Thai herbs with coconut rice*Fillets of red mullet with pesto, new potatoes, olive oil and hazelnutsPanaché of vegetablesNew Potatoes with mintSelections of Desserts & CheesesCoffeeQuality red and white French wines |
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The participants
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Fiona O'Neill, soprano has sung in La Bohème with Lyric Opera, in Madam Butterfly with London City Opera, and in a variety of other roles; she also sings in a variety of concert contexts and had made CD recordings. |
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| Andrew Forbes Lane, tenor has sung with ENO, Opera North, Glyndebourne, The Royal National Theatre, the Halle and CBSO. He performs regularly in the USA and was the first western opera singer to give recitals in Kathmandu. | ||
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Hale Hambleton has for 35 years been Principal Clarinettist of the English National Opera and has also worked in the London Symphony Orchestra, where he recorded with composers such as Britten and Berio, and worked with conductors Andre Previn, Sir Georg Solti and George Szell, among many others. Most recently, he was a member of the orchestra for the Opera South production The Bohemian Girl. |
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| As Opera South Director of Music, Tom Higgins Music Director, Pianist and Narrator is well known to Opera South audiences. |
About Arcadia
Et in Arcadia ego by Nicolas Poussin (Louvre, Paris)
In ancient times, in classical Greece, Arcadia was a kingdom in the Peloponnese. Mind you, Arcadia still exists today; it is a province in modern Greece. It is still a sparsely inhabited area, with a mountainous landscape, and it is not difficult to see why the name came to represent an idyllic land supposedly uncorrupted by the pride and avarice rife elsewhere in the world. (There are also numerous cities in the USA named Arcadia, because of the associations of the name; they generally bear no resemblance to the mythical ideal.)
During the Renaissance, the name came to stand for the idea of an idyllic place with a warm, Mediterranean climate — a wild, untouched landscape inhabited by innocent shepherds. The name appears, famously, in the title of two paintings by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) with the title Et in Arcadia ego. One of these paintings, which is to be found in the Louvre and which also goes under the name "Les bergers d'Arcadie" ("The Arcadian Shepherds"), has been highly influential in the history of art, and more recently has been associated with the pseudohistory of the Priory of Sion popularized in the books Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Da Vinci Code.
However, as far as this Opera South summer evening concert is concerned, the significance is quite simple: Think of Arcadia simply as a sunny spot in paradise! Branksome Place is at the western edge of Haslemere, a hilly spot that includes Critchmere. Though tiny, and with very modest hills compared to the real Arcadia, the area is (like much of Haslemere district) hilly, with some steep slopes in the landscape and some beautiful wooded spots. Just to the north is the National Trust area "Polecat", and north of that (on the west side of the A287) is Craig's Wood and Nutcombe Valley — more National Trust hillside and woodland. The valley runs up to the famous A3 traffic light at Hindhead, just Londonwards from where is the Devil's Punch Bowl, so the area is in a spot of turmoil because of the huge and long-awaited project to move the A3 into a tunnel under the entire area to preserve all the beauty spots while removing the trunk route traffic bottleneck. But all that is about 4 miles away from Branksome, and the actual work site is further away still, so will not disturb the tranquillity.