Falstaff

Falstaff by Verdi

Conductor: Timothy Dean

Director: Martin Lloyd-Evans

Designer: Bridget Kimak

Lighting Designer: Colin Grenfell

Wednesday 26 and Friday 28 January 2005, 7.15pm NEW ATHENAEUM THEATRE, RSAMD, GLASGOW

Wednesday 2 and Friday 4 February 2005, 7.15pm KING’S THEATRE, EDINBURGH

There will be two intervals of fifteen minutes.

Cast

Falstaff Marc Labonnette

Ford Patrice Lamure

Fenton Luis Garcia

Pistol Orlando Mason

Bardolph Austin Gunn

Dr Caius Abram Edewards

Alice Ford Emma Smith

Nannetta Joanne Boag / Edda Hrund Harðardóttir

Meg Madeleine Shaw

Mistress Quickly Elizabeth Key

Chorus

Roslin Agnew

Marie-Claire Breen

Heather Burns

Alexandra Cassidy

Louise Collett

Alistair Digges

David Douglas

Christopher Elliot

Ewan Gibson

Rowan Hellier

Elysia Leech

Raquel Luis

Assistant Conductor

Michael Bawtree

Chorus Master

James Grossmith

Synopsis

Act I Scene i The Garter Inn, Windsor. Falstaff’s morning snack is interrupted by the arrival of a very irate Dr. Caius. He accuses Falstaff’s companions, Bardolph and Pistol, of getting him drunk and stealing from his purse. Falstaff summarily dismisses Caius’ claims, forcing the Doctor to leave unsatisfied and in vengeful mood. The bill arrives. Sir John doesn’t have enough money to pay, blaming his poverty on the excesses of Pistol and Bardolph. But he does have a plan. There are two wealthy wives living in Windsor – Alice Ford and Meg Page. If he can get them to fall in love with him – a distinct probability, he feels, given his aristocratic bearing and noble figure – then they will unlock for him not just their hearts, but their coffers as well. To this end, he has written to both women, and asks Pistol and Bardolph to deliver the love-letters. Standing on their dignity, they both refuse, stating that honour forbids them from undertaking such a degrading task. Falstaff flies into a rage, lecturing them on the nature of honour, and ejects them from the Inn with the help of a broom.

Scene ii Outside Ford’s house. Alice and her daughter, Nannetta, have come to tell Meg of the letter delivered that morning. Meg, too, has received a letter, and has come with Mistress Quickly to tell Alice. The two women discover with horror that the letters are identical, except for the names. All four vow revenge on the bloated knight. Meanwhile, Bardolph and Pistol, disgruntled at their treatment at the hands of Falstaff, have come to warn Ford of Sir John’s intention to seduce his wife. Dr. Caius also regales Ford with his displeasure at Sir John, at the same time warning him not to trust the words of the two low-life ruffians. When the groups of men and women see each other, both retreat surreptitiously, while Nannetta and Fenton steal a moment to play lover’s games. The women decide secretly to send Mistress Quickly to see Sir John to offer a reply to his letters, relishing the prospect of tricking him in his pompous vanity. Unaware of his wife’s plot, the jealous Ford decides he will visit Sir John himself – but in disguise – the better to exact his revenge.

Act II Scene i Next day at The Garter Inn. Pistol and Bardolph return to Falstaff feigning penitence for their behaviour yesterday. Bardolph announces the arrival of a visitor and shows in Mistress Quickly. Playing on Falstaff’s vanity, she convinces him that both Alice and Meg have fallen in love with him. She very much regrets that Meg can’t see him, but reveals that Alice’s husband is always out between two and three, and that she would be only too delighted were he to pay her a visit. Mistress Quickly leaves, quietly triumphant. Falstaff’s unfettered joy at the success of his plan is interrupted when Bardolph announces the arrival of another visitor – a certain Master Brook – who has brought with him a flagon of wine as a gift of introduction. It is, of course, Ford in disguise. He tells Falstaff he is not short of money, and offers him a purse of gold if Sir John can help him win the heart of a certain lady of Windsor, named Alice Ford. He suggests that if a woman of such renowned virtue can be persuaded to fall for one man, namely Falstaff, then she will fall all the more easily for another – ‘Master Brook’. Falstaff, suitably flattered by implications of his superiority as a lover, reveals that he is to have a tryst with Alice that very afternoon between two and three, and leaves to dress appropriately. Left alone, Ford is devastated by his wife’s imminent infidelity.

Scene ii Just before two o’clock in a room at Ford’s house. Alice and Meg are delighted to hear how Falstaff has fallen into their trap, but dismayed when they see Nannetta so upset. She complains that her father has promised her in marriage to Dr. Caius, but brightens when her mother says she will never allow it. The women prepare the room for the arrival of Sir John. His romanticising is met with alluring demureness by Alice – who can barely contain her laughter when Mistress Quickly and Meg frighten Falstaff into hiding behind a screen by pretending that Alice’s husband is approaching in a jealous rage. Just as the women’s charade is going deliciously to plan, Mistress Quickly sees that Alice’s husband really is approaching in a jealous rage. Chaos ensues as Ford, Bardolph, Pistol, Dr. Caius and the servants ransack the house to find Falstaff. The old knight, now hiding in a laundry basket, is dragged to the window by the servants. Alice reveals to Ford the trick she has been playing on Falstaff, and all cheer as he is thrown out of the window and into the Thames below.

Act III Scene i Outside the Garter Inn. Falstaff bemoans his watery fate, and laments the relentless passage of time. The men and women, now working together, sneak in to set up one last lesson for the arrogant knight. They enjoy watching Mistress Quickly once again convince Sir John that Alice is in love with him, and inviting him to an assignation at midnight, under Herne’s haunted oak in Windsor. Alice plans to have everyone dress up as a fairy or imp, and frighten the self-deceiving vanity out of Falstaff. As the women leave to get ready, Mistress Quickly overhears Ford reassuring Dr. Caius that his marriage to Nannetta will take place that very evening. She plans a little surprise for him.

Scene ii Herne’s oak, just before midnight. Fenton waits for Nannetta in a state of delicious anticipation. When the women arrive, they bundle him into a costume. Before he has time to hear an explanation, Alice warns of Falstaff’s approach, and they all hide. The old knight arrives dressed as instructed, and, though impatient to meet Alice, is a little fearful of the sounds of the night. Alice emerges, and just as they are about to engage in passionate embrace, there is a scream offstage. Alice runs, and Falstaff is astounded as the ‘fairies’ appear. He becomes ever more terrified as imps and goblins taunt and tease him. They force him to beg for mercy when, just as things are getting out of hand, Bardolph’s disguise slips and Falstaff realises what has been happening. To round off the evening, Ford announces the marriage of the Queen of the Fairies. Dr. Caius steps forward and takes the hand of the Queen, believing her to be Nannetta. Alice interrupts and asks that another masked couple be allowed to take their vows. Ford cannot but oblige, and both couples are blessed. Only afterward is it revealed that the Queen was Bardolph, and that the other couple were in fact Fenton and Nannetta. With Ford suitably punished for his jealous suspicion, Alice urges him to accept Nannetta’s betrothal to Fenton. Ford finds it in his heart to forgive them.

Martin Lloyd-Evans Director

Martin studied physics at Manchester University and Theatre Arts at Bretton Hall College. This is Martin’s third visit to the RSAMD. Previously he directed Le Nozze di Figaro and a double bill of Ravel operas – l’Enfant et les Sortilèges and l’Heure Espagnol. Work for other companies includes: Opera Holland Park Le Nozze di Figaro, Stiffelio and Don Giovanni; Mid-Wales Opera Rigoletto and La Traviata;A Midsummer Night’s Dream for British Youth Opera; The Rape of Lucretia, Maskarade, Postcard from Morocco, The Beggar’s Opera, Weill-Krenek-Ullmann Triple Bill, the UK premiere of The Aspern Papers (Royal Philharmonic Award nominee) for The Guildhall School of Music and Drama; the premiere of Spirit Child for Lontano; Associate Director La Traviata and Idomeneo for Welsh National Opera. For Garden Opera he has directed Don Giovanni, Carmen, The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute, The Elixir of Love, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan Tutte. Theatre work includes Wallace and Gromit: Alive on Stage on tour and the West End; Dog in a Manger at Edinburgh and London. Martin teaches acting to opera students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and regularly runs workshops for young singers. Future projects include Andrea Chenier for Opera Holland Park, and Dove’s The Little Green Bird for GSMD.

Bridget Kimak Designer

Bridget started her career as a sculptor and began designing for the stage after a postgraduate course at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, UK. Designs for opera include Il Viaggio a Reims and Semele for Chicago Opera Theatre, La Cenerentola for the Royal Opera House, The Marriage of Figaro and Idomeneo for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, The Magic Flute and Midsummer Night’s Dream for British Youth Opera, The Maid of Norway for Norway’s Opera Vest, Agrippina for the Royal College of Music and The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat for The Bridewell Theatre in London. Other theatre credits include: The Adventures of the Stoneheads at the National Theatre (Lyttelton); the World premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night, After Magritte, On the Twentieth Century, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Antony and Cleopatra, The Jewess of Toledo, Othello and The Best of Times at the Bridewell Theatre; Othello at the Cochrane Theatre; Hamlet, The Tempest, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer NIght’s Dream for The Young Shakespeare Company; Hamlet at Greenwich Theatre, The Woman who Cooked Her Husband, George’s Marvellous Medicine, Mr Wonderful, The Thirty-nine Steps and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at Chester Gateway Theatre; Dick Daredevil at the Drill Hall; Midsummer Night’s Dream at the New Vic Studio; and The Skin of Our Teeth at the Redgrave Theatre. Bridget also leads workshops for The Royal Opera House.

Colin Grenfell Lighting Designer:

Colin’s designs for the RSAMD include: L’enfant et les sortilèges, Le Nozze di Figaro. Other opera includes La Boheme (English Touring Opera/OTC), The Rape of Lucretia (Guildhall),The Magic Flute, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (BYO), Passions,Charades (BAC) For Improbable Theatre: The Hanging Man (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith, Vienna Festival and US Tour, Lifegame (RNT,UK & US tour/Off Broadway run/Brisbane Festival), Animo (UK & world tour), Coma (UK Tour), Spirit (UK & US Tour, Brisbane and Berlin Festivals), and the multi award winning 70 Hill Lane (UK & world tour); Other Designs include: Kes (Manchester Royal Exchange); The Unthinkable (Sheffield Crucible); Playing The Victim (Told By An Idiot/Royal Court Theatre); Kosher Harry, Bodytalk (Royal Court Theatre); Old King Cole (Unicorn Theatre); Marie Luisa (Gate Theatre); My Dad’s a Birdman (Young Vic Theatre); Heavenly (Frantic Assembly, UK Tour/Off Broadway); Crime and Punishment in Dalston (Arcola Theatre); Breaststrokes (Stella Duffy/BAC); Ben Hur (BAC); For One Night Only (The Clod Ensemble); Maps of Desire (Wonderful Beast);The Split (Strausser Productions – Edinburgh Festival); Life in the Folds (out of inc); Charlie Lavender (Southwark Playhouse); Would Say Something, Consuming Songs, Bottle (Guy Dartnell, UK Tour/BAC); Dog (John Hegley, BAC); Ladies and Gentlemen Where am I? (Cartoon de Salvo); Stiff (Spymonkey, UK & World Tour); Two Dreamers (Primitive Science/Design Council); To The Island with the Goose (Park Music Ensemble, SBC)

Michael Bawtree Assistant Conductor

Michael was born in Devon in 1975. He spent the year before university as Assistant Organist at King’s School in Auckland, New Zealand; in 1994 he became Organ Scholar at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and graduated with a music degree in 1997. In the same year, Michael became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, winning three prizes as a result of the examinations. For five years Michael was Assistant Director of Music at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Suffolk. With the Cathedral Choir he broadcast frequently on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and toured to Washington and New England. Whilst in Suffolk, Michael became increasingly busy as a conductor, working frequently orchestras and choirs across the county. In September 2004, Michael took up a two-year postgraduate scholarship in conducting at the RSAMD, studying with Dr Alasdair Mitchell. He directs the Athenaeum Orchestra and the Glasgow University Wind Orchestra, prepares RSAMD orchestras for visiting conductors and remains busy as an accompanist and choir trainer. Also an active solo organ recitalist, Michael has performed at cathedrals across the British Isles and at venues in New England, Bermuda, California, Denmark and Switzerland. He is also one half of the Busch-Bawtree piano duo, a collaboration with American composer Richard Busch which has included annual duet recitals both sides of the Atlantic since 2000.

Anna Casson (Deputy Stage Manager)

Anna spent two seasons at National Youth Theatre and undertook an insightful 8 month work placement at York Theatre Royal before she decided to study at the RSAMD. She has recently worked as Technical Assistant at Diverse Attractions (Edinburgh Fringe), stage managed Tartuffe at the Academy and undertaken a work placement at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.

Dave Evans (Production Electrician)

Dave’s main interests are in Production Electrics, Effects and Lighting Design for live music, corporate and private events and diverse theatre. Most recently he has completed an RSAMD lighting design for The Bite of The Night, worked with Angus Farquhar’s NVA organization at the Hidden Gardens in Glasgow, and with JustFX Pyrotechnics in Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Louie Whitemore (Stage Manager)

Louie has always had a strong interest in Stage Management commencing with the launch of Primus theatre Group of which she was a founding member. She has since gone on to complete three seasons with The National Youth Theatre, Work experience placements with The Royal Shakespeare Company and the BBC as well as working with Glasgow Company Suspect Culture. She hopes to go one and specialise both in Opera and Ballet having just secured a placement with The English National Ballet and Grange Park Opera Festival.

Nicola Little (Make-Up)

Nicola will graduate from Clydebank College in June where she studied HND Make-up Artistry.

Nicola has won three top places national make-up competitions, worked on Annie Get Your Gun (Minerva Club) and designed make-up for Catwalk. Previous RSAMD productions include Tartuffe, The Bite of the Night and the Christmas pantomime Aladdin. Nicola plans to work in TV, film and theatre when she graduates.

Orchestra

Flute Katherine Punter Lindsey Ellis Stephen Clark

Oboe Sadah Webster Louisa MacPherson Kenny Sturgeon

Clarinet Gemma Carlin Linsay Wilson

Bass Clarinet Jennifer Stephenson

Bassoon Victoria Scott Fraser Gordon

Horn Christopher Owen Sarah Maxwell Sarah Parker Jessica Ortony

Trumpet Caroline Munro Vicky Blair Johan Hentze

Trombone Gavin Proctor Isla Cameron Tom Smith

Tuba Mark Davis

Timpani Nicola Miles

Percussion James Swan Philip Hague

Guitar David McGirr

Harp Annakate Pearson

Emma Smith (Alice Ford)

After completing her undergraduate degree at Huddersfield University, Emma moved to Glasgow to continue her studies at the RSAMD where she obtained a Bachelor of Music (Hons) and a Master of Music in Opera. She is currently in her final year of the Opera course under the tutelage of Stephen Robertson. During her time at the Academy Emma has covered roles such as Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Elettra in Idomeneo, and Diana in La Calisto. In Opera Scenes she has performed roles such as Tatyana in Onegin, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Leïla in Les Pêcheurs de Perles. Future roles include The Bride, The Wife and The Mother in Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom. Concert work includes Mozart’s Requiem, Rossini’s Messe Solennelle, Bach’s St Matthew & St John Passion, Schubert’s Mass in G and Haydn’s Little Organ Mass. Emma is supported in her studies this year by The Countess of Munster Musical Trust.

Orlando Mason (Pistol)

Orlando Mason was born in London in 1976 but grew up in Austria. After studying conflict resolution and moral philosophy he worked as a business journalist before returning to his first loves, music and performing. He took singing lessons with his father William Mason and Dr. Veronica Dunne before starting his studies formally with George Gordon at the RSAMD. He was a member of the Irish National Chamber Choir and the Opera Ireland chorus in 2000/01, and has sung in masterclasses with John Tomlinson and Philip Langridge. He has performed on BBC Scotland, RTE and ORF (Irish and Austrian radio and television) and national television in Trinidad. He recently performed Purcell’s Hail Bright Cecilia! longside Dame Felicity Lott at the Brucknerhaus in Linz. In addition to a diverse concert repertoire, Orlando has performed Sarastro, The Magic Flute, Polyphemus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and will be appearing as Seneca, The Coronation of Poppea, Arkel, Pelléas et Mélisande, and The Stranger, The Vanishing Bridegroom at the RSAMD this year.

Madeleine Shaw (Meg)

Since studying music at Goldsmiths, University College London Madeleine has completed a Post-Graduate Diploma and MMus in Opera with Distinction. She recently became a Samling Scholar and is currently in her second year at the Alexander Gibson Opera Studio studying with Kathleen McKellar-Ferguson supported be The Tillett Trust and The Mary Garden Entrance Scholarship. Madeleine sings with The Cambridge Singers, and European Voices, performing Così fan tutte and Cretian Woman in Idomeneo in the Salzburg Spring Festival, Berlin and Lucerne with Sir Simon Rattle. She took part in the ENO Baylis Programme ‘The Knack’ performance skills course and subsequently became a company principal for the programme in Palace in the Sky by Jonathan Dove and Rachel Leach’s South of the River. Operatic roles include Miss Jessel (The Turn of the Screw), Mrs Herring (Albert Herring), The Forrester’s Wife and The Owl (The Cunning Little Vixen), Female Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia) and The Grand Duchess of Monteblanco (A Dinner Engagement) for Opera East Productions, Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro), The Shepherd (L’Enfant et les Sortileges) and Cretian Woman (Idomeneo) at the RSAMD. Future Engagements include Duruflé Requiem (Paisley Abbey), Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Cadogan Hall, London) and Nerone (L’incoronazione di Poppea) at the RSAMD.

Marc Labonette (Falstaff)

Samling scolar, Marc was born in Orléans, France. Marc has won a scholarship to study on the opera course at the RSAMD with Stephen Roberston having previously studied with Laura Sarti at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Marc has taken part in masterclasses with leading artists including Graham Johnson, Thomas Allen, Malcolm Martineau and François LeRoux. At the Festival d’Aix-en Provence he has sung in masterclasses with both Christa Ludwig and Edda Moser and at a masterclass in the Abbey of Royaumont with Ruben Lifschitz. His repertoire has included the Fauré Requiem with the Brittany Orchestra and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Jean-Claude Malgoire. Future performances include the Nelson Mass with the Parliament Choir and Cité de la Musique in Paris with “L’Ensemble Pierre Robert”. His operatic repertoire includes Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with British Youth Opera at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro with RSAMD, the title role in Andre Campra’s Idoménée with Jean-Claude Malgoire and the role of Bottom at the RSAMD. Future plans include Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas and Mélissande at the RSAMD and Basilio in Bampton Classical Opera Company’s summer production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Paisiello.

Patrice Lamure (Ford)

Patrice was born in Angers, North-West of France where he started singing in the Cathedral choir at the age of eight. In 2003, Patrice completed his BMus (Hons) degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, under the tuition of David Pollard. He is currently studying on the Opera Course at the RSAMD, Glasgow, under the tuition of Patricia McMahon. Last year, in opera scenes, at the RSAMD, Patrice performed the roles of Zurga from Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Claudio from Béatrice et Bénédict, Don Giovanni, Dancaïre from Carmen, Figaro from Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Eugene Onegin and Junius from The Rape of Lucretia. Patrice also performed the role of Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and understudied the role of the Count from Le Nozze di Figaro in the RSAMD productions. He will also perform the rôle of Pelleas in Pelleas et Melisande in May at the RSAMD, at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and at Haddo House in Aberdeen. In June, he will perform the rôles of the Bridegroom, the Husband and the Father in The Vanishing Bridegroom by Judith Weir at the RSAMD. Future engagements include Baritone solo in Carmina Burana in Glasgow and Brahms’Requiem in Dingwall, and a recital in Helensburgh.

Edda Hrund Harðardóttir (Nannetta)

Edda was born in Reykjavík and studied music at The Reykjavík School of Singing. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London with a BMus(Hon.) degree in 2002 and a year later she completed her Postgraduate final recital with distinction, studying with Elizabeth Ritchie. During her studies, Edda has taken part in numerous masterclasses, she is the recipient of the RAM’s Jennifer Vyvyan Prize and was very highly commended in RAM’s Blyth Buesst Opera Prize. Recent concert performances include the Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Exultate Jubilate and Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, by Villa-Lobos. In 2002 she gave her debut recital in Reykjavik. Edda is presently working towards the Masters of Opera at RSAMD where her awards include the Thomas Sivewright Catto Award and the Sandy Orr Scholarship in 2003/04 and the RSAMD International Scholarship 2004/05, studying with Patricia Hay. Within the RSAMD in 2003/04 she took on the roles of Damon, Acis and Galatea and Barbarina, Le Nozze di Figaro, the latter of which she also performed for the Little Theatre of Alberes in South of France 2002. Rôles performed in excerpts are; Adina, L’elisir d’amore, Gretel, Hänsel und Gretel, Despina, Così fan tutte, Atalanta, Serse, Frasquita, Carmen, Ännchen, Freischütz, Susanna, Le Nozze di Figaro and Jemmy, William Tell. Future performances include Poppea, L’Incoronazione di Poppea for RSAMD, an Opera Gala concert with RSNO, Barony Hall.

Elizabeth Key (Mistress Quickly)

Elizabeth graduated in 2003 with a B.Mus (hons) degree from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama under the tuition of Alan Watt and is currently continuing her studies at the academy following the Master Opera course under the tuition of Kathlenn McKellar Ferguson.

She was selected by the RSAMD to compete in the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary for Young Singers, and was the only mezzo soprano to amongst the finalists. She has sung roles with the Alexander Gibson Opera School at the RSAMD in Vaughan Williams Riders to the Sea and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Elizabeth’s other roles include Mrs Noye form Britten’s Noye’s Fludde and Mistress Quickly from Verdi’s Falstaff.  
Elizabeth has sung oratorio throughout the UK, including works by Handel, Vivaldi, Schubert, Saint-Saens and Rossini. She has also taken part in masterclasses with renowned pianist Malcolm Matineau, baritone Roderick Williams and mezzo-soprano Ann Murray.

Joanne Boag (Nannetta)

Joanne is currently in the second year of the Masters in Opera at the RSAMD under the tuition of Pat Hay. Although training for a career in opera, Joanne is also an experienced oratorio and recital performer appearing in performances all over the U.K. She has also appeared on national television when she was asked to be guest soloist on the live edition of Songs of Praise for the memorial of the death of the Queen Mother. Her operatic experience includes many RSAMD productions, most recently as La Bergère in Ravel’s opera L’enfant et les sortilèges and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Joanne recently sung the role of Iris in Handel’s Semele for British Youth Opera.

Abram Edewards (Dr Caius)

American born but French bred, Ace returned to the States and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music from California State University at Sacramento where he was very active in the Opera department performing such rôles as Danilo in The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár, Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief by Gian Carlo Menotti, the title rôle of Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach, and Henrik in A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim. After starting as a baritone performing scenes from Don Pasquale, Pelléas et Mélisande, Les Mamelles de Tiresias, and The Rape of Lucretia, he is finishing his Master of Opera degree at the RSAMD as a tenor, studying with Peter Alexander Wilson and being cast in the Academy’s future productions of L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi (Second soldier, Lucano) and in The Vanishing Bridegroom by Judith Weir (Dying man, Preacher).

Luis Garcia (Fenton)

Tenor Luis, born in Lisbon, completed his BMus(Hon) degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he studied with Laura Sarti. He completed his Masters of Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2003 where he received the Thomas Sievewright Catto Award. Luis was awarded the Leverhulme scholarship 2004/05 and is completing his Masters of Opera at RSAMD, studying with Peter Alexander Wilson. He has participated in masterclasses with Nelly Miricioiu, Graham Clark, Philip Langridge and Nicoletta Conti. In Canada Luis performed Arithmetique, L’enfant et les Sortileges with Opera Buffa, El Remendado, Carmen with The Toronto Opera and Bill, Hand Of Bridge with the Victoria Conservatory Opera ensemble. Roles performed in part include; Ferrando, Cosí fan tutte, Don Ottavio, Don Giovanni, Lensky, Eugene Onegin and the title roles in Idomeneo, Faust and L’amico Fritz, Benedict in Beatrice et Benedict and Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore. Future plans in 2005 include performing the roles of The Lover, The Vanishing Bridegroom at the RSAMD. For Haddo House Opera he shall be performing El Remendado and covering Don José in the 2005 production of Carmen.

Austin Gunn (Bardolph)

Austin, from Newcastle, studied with Kenneth Ormston and then at the Royal College of Music, London where he received the dipoloma of Higher Education, the Mario Grissi award for outstanding performance and was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Young Singers competition. He then studied privately in Brussels with David L Jones and Gilles Denizot. Austin is currently in the first year at the Alexander Gibson Opera School of the RSAMD studying under the direction of Peter Alexander Wilson.

We would like to thank the following individuals and companies for their help with the production:

Steven McMenemy

Gary Macree from Alba Hires

The Fiddle Gallery

B & Q, Angelo Biello

Paul Gallagher from Keys Galore, based at Crockets

Claire and Scottish Opera

Margraret Carroll at Remmant Kings

Discount Fabric 2000 Ltd

Pauline Drummand at the Holiday Inn

Elaine Fyfe at the Thistle Hotel

Jackie Mcmillan Ibis Hotel

James Gardner

Fishers Laundry Staff at the Hilton Glasgow Hotel

Rosalind Ruthorford, Victorian Village, West Regent Street

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