Garsington Opera facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Garsington Opera

Address	Wormsley Estate Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire United Kingdom
Type	Opera house
Capacity	600
Construction
Built	2011
Architect	Robin Snell and Partners
Website
www.garsingtonopera.org

Garsington Opera is a special summer opera festival that started in 1989. It was created by Leonard Ingrams. This festival brings together amazing music and beautiful outdoor settings. The Philharmonia Orchestra and The English Concert are the main orchestras that play there.

For 21 years, the festival took place in the lovely gardens of Ingrams's home, Garsington Manor, in Oxfordshire. Since 2011, it has been held at Wormsley Park. This is the home of the Getty family near Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire, England. After Leonard Ingrams passed away in 2005, Anthony Whitworth-Jones became the General Director until 2013. Then, Douglas Boyd took over as the artistic director.

What is Garsington Opera?

Garsington Opera is known for performing both famous operas and less-known works. This makes their shows exciting and unique. They have even shown some operas for the very first time in Britain. These include Die ägyptische Helena by Richard Strauss and La gazzetta by Rossini. They also presented the first professional British performances of operas like La vera costanza by Haydn and Šárka by Janáček.

The Opera Pavilion

The performances happen in a special building called the Opera Pavilion. It's designed so you can see the beautiful outdoor scenery while inside. This keeps the connection to nature, which is a long-standing tradition at Garsington Opera.

Shows usually start in the early evening. There's a long break in the middle for dinner, similar to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. People often dress up in evening wear for the occasion. Operas are usually sung in their original language, but English surtitles (like subtitles for movies) are shown so everyone can understand the story.

In 2017, the Philharmonia Orchestra became a regular orchestra at the festival. They play for one show each season. The Garsington Opera Orchestra plays for three shows a year. Since 2020, the Philharmonia Orchestra and The English Concert have been the two main orchestras, sharing the four productions each year.

History of Garsington Opera

Garsington Manor Years

Garsington Manor in 1865

In 1982, a man named Leonard Ingrams and his wife Rosalind bought Garsington Manor. Leonard was a financier and the brother of Richard Ingrams, who started the magazine Private Eye. They soon realized their home's gardens would be perfect for outdoor performances. The Ingrams family became famous for hosting this yearly opera season.

The first opera performance at Garsington Manor was in 1989. A group called Opera 80 performed Le nozze di Figaro to raise money for the Oxford Playhouse. It was a big success, which led Leonard Ingrams to start Garsington Opera soon after.

In 1990, Garsington Opera had its first full season. They performed Così fan tutte by Mozart and the first British show of Orlando paladino by Haydn. Ingrams asked the Guildhall Strings to play for his new company. In just a few years, Garsington Opera had its own orchestra, with the Guildhall Strings as its core.

By 1993, Garsington Opera was putting on three different opera shows. As more people wanted to see the operas, a special seating area was built for about 500 people. It was designed by architect Robin Snell. This seating area was known for its great sound and clear views of the stage. The stage itself had a special roof that was open to the gardens behind it. Every year, after the season ended, the whole structure was taken down and stored carefully.

Leonard Ingrams also used the barn at Garsington Manor for chamber music concerts. He even put the old wooden panels from the Glyndebourne opera house into the barn when Glyndebourne built a new one. The barn also served as the restaurant during the opera season, where guests could eat dinner during the show's break. The operas were performed on a stone loggia (a covered walkway) that looked out over a beautiful flower garden. This garden was designed by Lady Ottoline Morrell, who owned the Manor before the Ingrams family. She used to host famous guests like T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf there.

Dealing with Noise

Later, sound-proofing screens were put up around the theatre. This was because some people living near the Manor complained about the noise from the operas. In 1996, they even won some money for the noise disturbance. When that decision was changed, some neighbors protested during a 1997 performance. They used electric lawnmowers, tractors, and even a private plane to make noise! However, local health services checked the noise levels from 2000 to 2005 and found that the opera was not causing a legal noise problem.

Leonard Ingrams passed away in 2005. In November of that year, Garsington Opera announced it would continue. Anthony Whitworth-Jones became the new General Director. He had previously led other famous opera festivals. He promised to continue Garsington Opera's tradition of excellent music, rare operas, and supporting young singers. In 2007, the Metropolitan Opera in New York even staged one of Garsington's past productions.

By April 2008, it became clear that the opera needed more space. The Ingrams family announced that Garsington Manor would no longer host performances after the 2010 season.

Wormsley Park Era

Garsington Opera Pavilion at Wormsley

In April 2010, Garsington Opera announced exciting news! They had made an agreement with the Getty family to hold the festival at Wormsley Park. The company's new performance space is a 600-seat pavilion. It's located in the amazing surroundings of Wormsley.

The first season at Wormsley Park in 2011 featured the first British performance of Vivaldi's La verità in cimento, along with Mozart's The Magic Flute and Rossini's Il turco in Italia. Today, the company gets its money from "The Friends of Garsington Opera," company and private sponsors, and support from foundations. The Garsington Opera Pavilion at Wormsley Park is used each year for the festival and was designed by Robin Snell & Partners.

Awards and Recognition

In 2020, Garsington Opera won a special award! Their 2019 production of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw won the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for opera and music theatre. This award recognizes outstanding achievements in music.

Talented Performers

Many famous singers have performed with Garsington Opera over the years. These include Susan Chilcott, Susan Bullock, Yvonne Kenny, Matthew Rose, Lesley Garrett, Toby Spence, Roderick Williams, and Miah Persson. Well-known conductors like David Parry, Ivor Bolton, and Jane Glover have also led the orchestras.

Past Opera Productions

Garsington Opera performs many different operas. While they do some popular ones, they are especially known for showing operas that are rarely seen or are being performed for the first time in Britain. Here are some of the notable productions:

See also

• List of opera festivals
• Country house opera