SKEGNESS will be rolling out the picnic blankets as a nationwide tour aimed at bringing opera to coastal communities across the country will be making a return to this year’s SO Festival (2 July).
Visitors to the festival will be able to enjoy a free screening of Garsington Opera’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at 12.30pm on 2 July in a special garden party by the town’s boating lake.
The screening forms part of the opera company’s Opera for All touring programme, which aims to make the art form accessible to communities across the country, and will also include family sessions where visitors can write a postcard to the past, or dress up as a character from the story.
Young singers from Skegness will be performing live following a series of school workshops taking place in the run up to the festival.
Lorna Fulton, SO Festival director, said: “Garsington Opera has been a part of SO Festival for a number of years and we are pleased to be welcoming them back to Skegness for 2016.
“This year they will be hosting a special opera garden party on the Saturday afternoon in Skegness, as well as holding interactive family sessions during the screening – we’re really looking forward to it.”
Tchaikovsky’s powerful and moving opera Eugene Onegin (director Michael Boyd, designer Tom Piper, conductor Douglas Boyd) about youth and first love, features British baritone Roderick Williams in the title role and Welsh soprano Natalya Romaniw singing the young heroine Tatyana.
Clare Adams from Garsington Opera said: “We are delighted to be returning to Skegness and we are particularly pleased to be working with many young people in schools the weeks before the screening and giving them first-hand experience of opera. We hope many families will come to the event and enjoy the day.”
Aimed at a family audience, SO Festival remains one of the most exciting and innovative outdoor art festivals in the UK and entry to all the events at SO Festival are free.
For more information on SO Festival visit http://www.sofestival.org or follow @SOFestival on Twitter, or search SO Festival on Facebook.
Reviews for Eugene Onegin:
**** An altogether exhilarating performance THE TELEGRAPH
**** Inspirational as theatre EVENING STANDARD
SO Festival was awarded National Portfolio Funding from Arts Council England in 2014 with the aim to promote and present the best festival arts and entertainment to new audiences and creating new opportunities and experiences.
SO Festival is delivered by Magna Vitae Trust for Leisure and Culture in partnership with East Lindsey District Council and Arts Council England.
Opera for All is delivered in partnership by Magna Vitae, Garsington Opera and the Coastal Communities Alliance and has been awarded Strategic Touring funding from Arts Council England. Opera for All is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Find out more here: http://www.coastalcommunities.co.uk/coastalarts-opera/.
Garsington Opera is a summer festival giving performances of great artistic quality in a setting of extraordinary natural beauty www.garsingtonopera.org.