Midsummer Opera

As we count down to Friday and Sunday's performances, discover the characters and artists behind this unforgettable pairing of passion and betrayal. We begin with the "La voix humaine".

In Poulenc's devastating one-woman tour de force, Elle is a woman clinging to the fragments of a disintegrating relationship through a single telephone call. Over forty minutes of raw emotional exposure, we hear only her side of the conversation with the lover who is leaving her - her desperation, fragile dignity, anger, and aching vulnerability laid completely bare. This demanding role requires both exceptional vocal stamina and the dramatic intensity to convey a complete and lonely emotional journey.

We are delighted to welcome back French mezzo-soprano Sophie Boyer. She graduated from the CNSMD of Lyon and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Recently she has been working on rediscovering female composers with pianist Marie-Elise Boyer, especially the music of Marguerite Labori. https://www.sophie-boyer.com

Some tickets remain for both performances. This is well worth seeing!

Friday 21 November 2025 at 7pm
Sunday 23 November 2025 at 5pm

https://wegottickets.com/midsummeropera

Just a week to go before the start of our 40th anniversary season and our unusual and fascinating pairing: Leoncavallo’s beloved dramatic verismo masterpiece, Pagliacci, preceded by the relatively seldom performed La voix humaine by Francis Poulenc.

Ever since its first appearance in 1892, Pagliacci has been a success. And no wonder, it contains what was without doubt (until ‘Nessun Dorma’ in 1990) the most famous tenor aria of all time: ‘Vesti la giubba’ in which Canio the clown bravely dons his jester’s uniform despite his breaking heart. Apart from ‘Vesti la giubba’, the opera is full of glorious arias and duets, not forgetting the famous prologue which explains the composer’s intentions to the audience. Our cast includes John Upperton (Canio), Nicola Ihnatowicz (Nedda), Nick Marsden (Tonio), Ben Watkins (Silvio), Paul Blundell (Beppe), Owain Gwynfryn and Maximilian Catalano (Contadini).

The Leoncavallo will be preceded by a performance of Francis Poulenc’s 1959 one-act monodrama La voix humaine; Poulenc adapted a Cocteau play in which his nameless heroine “Elle” is in despair over her lost lover. During its composition Poulenc worked with soprano Denise Duval who had just premiered the role of Blanche in his Dialogues des Carmélites. Echoing this, Sophie Boyer, our own Blanche in 2019, will return to sing the demanding virtuoso role in La voix humaine.

This thrilling double bill brings the acclaimed MSO Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Artistic Director David Roblou.