Arcola Theatre today announces the full programme of productions in the 2021 Grimeborn Opera Festival, which is returning for its 14th year.
Grimeborn 2021 opens with a new staging of Die Walküre for three performances at Hackney Empire, 291 Mare St, London E8 1EJ, from Wednesday 4 – Saturday 7 August.
Following Julia Burbach and Peter Selwyn’s thrilling version of Wagner’s Das Rheingold in 2019, Arcola is producing the first London performances of Jonathan Dove’s acclaimed reduction of
Die Walküre since its Birmingham premiere in the 1990s, when it caused a sensation.
It features an exceptional cast of singers, led by Mark Stone, who will be singing Wotan in this country for the first time, Finnur Bjarnason (Siegmund), Natasha Jouhl (Sieglinde), Simon Wilding (Hunding), Harriet Williams (Fricka), Laure Meloy (Brünnhilde), Elizabeth Karani (Helmwige), Bethan Langford (Waltraute), Katie Stevenson (Rossweisse). With 18 live musicians from the Orpheus Sinfonia. Julia Burbach (Director), Peter Selwyn (Conductor).
The other Grimeborn productions at Arcola Outside are:
25 – 29 August Alcina, Music by George Friedrich Handel
1- 4 September Hopes & Fears, Music by Claude Debussy
5 – 8 September Orfeo ed Euridice / Zanetto, Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck and Pietro Mascagi
11 September The Tango Collective: The Piazzolla Project
Tickets can be booked at https://www.arcolatheatre.com
Arcola Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen said: “After a year in which the act of singing has been largely prohibited due to the pandemic, Grimeborn 2021 feels more pertinent and essential than ever, and we are thrilled to be hosting much of the programme in our new and safe outdoor theatre, Arcola Outside. Our partnership with Hackney Empire to present ‘Die Walküre’ also provides us with an exciting opportunity to bring bold opera to even more audiences in East London.”