Arcola’s Grimeborn Opera Festival, which is returning for its 14th year, will open with a new staging of Die Walküre at Hackney Empire.
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.
Die Walküre features 18 live musicians from the Orpheus Sinfonia and an exceptional cast of singers led by Mark Stone, who will be singing Wotan in this country for the first time.
Die Walküre will run for three performances at Hackney Empire, 291 Mare St, London E8 1EJ, from Wednesday 4 – Saturday 7 August. Tickets are on sale here.
The first-class cast of singers features many regulars of the Longborough Festival, renowned for its Wagner productions.
Director Julia Burbach, recently of the Royal Opera House, has directed ‘Die Walküre’ already at Bordeaux Opera, France and will soon do so in Iceland; she is a recent nominee at the International Opera Awards.
Conductor Peter Selwyn is an experienced Wagnerian, who has worked on many Ring Cycles, at opera houses and festivals including Covent Garden, Nuremberg, Strasbourg, Longborough, and Bayreuth, the home of Wagner himself.
The Grimeborn Festival has proven that opera can be for everyone, welcoming newcomers and established fans alike. Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’ is one of the most famous and sought after works in the opera repertoire. While it holds great fascination, many people have not been able to see it. This summer is now their chance with this brand new, accessible production.
