✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Kids
  • Benefits
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Benefits
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Classical Music

A Feast in the Time of Plague, Grange Park Opera live

On 13 Sep 20, Single performance live to an invited audience; later streamed free, to be viewed on demand

The first live opera to be staged since lockdown – and it's a new commission with a topical theme and a starry cast

By Claudia Pritchard on 16/7/2020

Simon Keenlyside leads the cast of A Feast in the Time of Plague
Simon Keenlyside leads the cast of A Feast in the Time of Plague
A Feast in the Time of Plague, Grange Park Opera live A Feast in the Time of Plague, Grange Park Opera live Claudia Pritchard
A brand new opera, composed in six weeks, and with a distinguished pedigree and cast, is to be staged to a live, invited audience, the first opera to be performed since lockdown.


A Feast in the Time of Plague takes its name from one of the 'Little Tragedies' written by the Russian author Alexander Pushkin. Composed by Alex Woolf with a libretto by opera veteran David Pountney, it is given its premiere at The Theatre in the Woods of Grange Park Opera, in Surrey.


And the occasion has attracted a stellar cast, lead by baritone Sir Simon Keenlyside. Soloists include soprano Susan Bullock, Soraya Mafi and Claire Booth, and tenors Peter Hoare and Wynn Evans – the voice of Go Compare. Keenlyside (pictured above) plays a deadly guest at a macabre dinner.


Says Pountney: 'I responded to Pushkin’s little fragment by creating 12 – because of the Last Supper – very varied characters who arrive voluntarily and most of whom depart involuntarily – i.e. they die. In between they capture the defiance and solidarity that we have all experienced during these strange times.



Bring a teddy: seats left empty for safety at A Feast in the Time of Plague will be occupied by favourite bears. Photo: Grange Park Opera


'The virus exposes truths about all of us in surprising ways. A Feast in the Time of Plague captures this – as well as the essential lesson that we must carry on laughing.'


Woolf, at only 25, has already garnered a host of awards and much acclaim as a composer. BBC Young Composer of the Year 2012, Woolf worked on an ‘NHS Symphony’ for BBC Radio 3, broadcast on 30 June 2018 to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS.


The single performance of A Feast in the Time of Plague will be given to 250 guests who will be seated apart in the house and invited to place teddy bears in empty seats. It will be filmed and, in due course, that recording will be available free, on demand, to all opera-lovers.


In addition to careful spacing of audience, singers, players and crew, specially trained dogs will be on the lookout for the virus. In short, it sounds as though there will be drama off-stage as well as on. But what a breakthrough – performers and audience in the same space, and with this year's planned season replaced by the Found Season, another coup for the ever resourceful Grange Park Opera.

by Claudia Pritchard

What A Feast in the Time of Plague, Grange Park Opera live
Where Grange Park Opera, West Horsley Place, West Horsley,, Leatherhead, KT24 6AW | MAP
Nearest tube Waterloo (underground)
When On 13 Sep 20, Single performance live to an invited audience; later streamed free, to be viewed on demand
Price £Donations
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 16 - 18 April. © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2021 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Courtesy Gagosian
Things to do in London this weekend: 16 - 18 April
Kelly Macdonald in Line of Duty season 6, BBC One (Photo: BBC)
Line of Duty, season 6 episode 4, BBC One review
Eve Myles in Keeping Faith series 3, BBC One (Photo: BBC)
Keeping Faith series 3, BBC One review

Editor's Picks

Three cheers for Opera Holland Park, here in Isabeau, going live again on 25 July. Photo: Robert Workman
Live concerts, Opera Holland Park
Battle ready in Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd at Glyndebourne
Billy Budd, Glyndebourne Open House
Soraya Mafi, Nardus Williams and Douglas Boyd head for the live stage at Garsington Opera. Photo: Julian Guidera
Unmute: Garsington Opera review
Soprano Danielle de Niese champions a fund to support young singers
Mesdames de la Halle, live at Glyndebourne
Violinist Alina Ibragimova plays at Fidelio Café, Clerkenwell
Fidelio Unbound: live music and dinner
The Royal Albert Hall is the home of most BBC Proms
BBC Proms 2020: new live dates
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

Grange Park Opera

David Pountney

Alex Woolf



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×