Welcome to the New Chamber Opera Studio Recital Series which is held on Fridays at 1.15 pm during term time in New College Ante-Chapel. The recital series has been running since 1994 and offers singers across the University and beyond the opportunity to perform a short programme in a relaxed atmosphere.
Week 1 – 2nd May No Recital Week 2 – 9th May Theo Peters Week 3 – 16th May No Recital Week 4 – 23rd May No Recital Week 5 – 30th May Zach Roberts Week 6 – 6th June Holly Smith Week 7 – 13th June Jiho Ro Week 8 – 20th June Sebastian Evans
Falstaff – Ben Gilchrist Mr Ford – Seb Evans Ms Ford – Becky Devlin Mr Slender – Theodore Nisbett Ms Slender – Anneka Vetter Maid – Emily Aldridge Bardolfo – Akbar Ali
Based upon The Merry Wives of Windsor, Salieri’s Falstaff remains one of the earliest operatic versions of Shakespeare’s play. It tells the story of the boastful Sir John Falstaff’s attempts to woo two wealthy married women, but his plans are haltered through witty and elaborate pranks. A central moment includes a scene in which Falstaff, hiding from Mr Ford in a laundry basket, is carried out of the house from under his nose. The work premiered at the Karntnertortheater in Vienna on 3 January 1799 and was much admired. It would seem the very features that cause Shakespeareans to look down upon the original work — his only small-town drama — are the aspects that benefit this successful opera buffa, in which trickery, chaos, and excellent music combine to make this a rambunctious event indeed. Theo Joly
Our first cantata, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (For Thee, O Lord, I Long) is often thought to be one of Bach’s earliest church cantatas (if not the earliest), possibly even being written as early as 1707 in Arnstadt. While the reason for the work’s composition remains unclear, the text would suggest that the cantata was penitential in theme. It is fairly unique both in the prominence of the chorus, and in its diverse and brief sections, making this cantata more in the style of Bach’s teacher Buxtehude than of his own more mature work.
Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (God’s time is the very best time), commonly known by the name ‘Actus Tragicus’ is another of Bach’s earlier cantatas, and one of his best known. While again the date is somewhat elusive, research has indicated that it was probably composed for the funeral of a mayor in Mühlhausen in September 1708. Curiously, the cantata is without violins – the recorders and violas taking centre stage eliciting a more sombre and mournful palette. After the opening sinfonia the cantata is through composed, although there are four clearly defined sections with text selected from both the Old and New testaments, as well as some funeral hymns written into the music.
Finally, Himmelskönig, sei wilkommen (King of Heaven, welcome) is a more joyous than the previous two, composed in Weimar for Palm Sunday, and first performed on the 25th of March 1714 which also happened to be the feast of the Annunciation. This was one of Bach’s first Weimar cantatas, after being promoted to Konzertmeister only a few weeks prior. In 8 sections, it opens with a lively sonata in the style of a French overture, as well as having a brief recitative from the bass as the “voice of Christ” and a closing choral in the style of Pachelbel as a sort of ‘chorale fantasia’ on the cantus firmus.
Cast Venus – Matilda Bates Adonis – Sam Chichester-Clark Mars – Rhys Williams
The Berlin-born Johann Christoph Pepusch spent much of his working life in in England arriving in 1704. He was an active musician, and is recorded as a violist, a theatre director, music theoretician, teacher, and organist. In 1726, he founded The Academy of Vocal Music with others; in around 1730–1, it was renamed The Academy of Ancient Music. He also founded the Madrigal Society, and in 1713 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Music by the University of Oxford. He is best known today for his arrangement of the music for the 1728 Beggar’s Opera.
In his second decade in London, Pepusch wrote for Drury Lane a number of masques, small entertainments which included a setting of Barton Booth’s Death of Dido, staged by New Chamber in 2023. In 1715, he set Colley Cibber’s libretto Venus and Adonis, a take on the myth in which Venus, with whom Mars is already captivated, falls for Adonis (he is only interested in hunting). In a jealous rage, Mars arranges for Adonis’s death by boar during the hunt. In setting the text, Pepusch set the role of Adonis for his wife, Margarita de L’Epine en travesty.
Welcome to the New Chamber Opera Studio Recital Series which is held on Fridays at 1.15 pm during term time in New College Ante-Chapel. The recital series has been running since 1994 and offers singers across the University and beyond the opportunity to perform a short programme in a relaxed atmosphere.
Week 4 – 14 February No Recital Week 5 – 21 February Daniel Atkinson Week 6 – 28 February Theo Peters Week 7 – 7 March Edward Beswick Week 8 – 14 March Margaret Lingas
Musical Director: Steven Devine Producer: Michael Burden
The Warden’s Garden
2 July (Preview), 5, 8, 9, 11 July 2025, 6.30pm
The Evening’s Events
6.00pm Drinks in the Cloisters 6.30pm Opera Act I 7.45pm Picnic Interval in the Cloisters (Bring your own picnic) 9.00pm; Acts II and III 10.30pm Curtain down
July 2: (Preview) New Chamber Opera – Tickets available from Ticketsource
July 5:New College Development Office – SOLD OUT
July 8: New Chamber Opera – Tickets available from Ticketsource OXPIP – Tickets available from SheepApp
July 9: Friends of the Oxford Botanic Gardens – Tickets available from the Oxford Botanic Gardens and Arboretum
July 11: New College Development Office – SOLD OUT
Cast
Blasio, a grain merchant: Arshak Kuzikyan Carlotta, a chambermaid: Stephanie Franklin Lumaca, servant to Blasio: Ben Gilchrist Ernestina, married to Blasio: Kate Semmens Countess Bandiera: Áine Smith Count Bandiera: Will Anderson Tenente, Blasio’s cousin and friend to the Count: Lawrence Thackeray
Salieri’s opera of jealous derring-do tells the story of the merchant Blasio’s jealous love for his wife Ernestina; of the Count of Baniera’s love for Ernestina; of the Countess’s supposed love for the Lieutenant; and of Blasio’s love for Lisetta (who we never see in the opera). All are reconciled in the finale which takes place in the woods. The plot has been understood as a set of dangerous (but unrealised) entanglements, in which the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, and the servant class come close to crossing established social norms.
First performed in Venice on 27 December 1778, the work was soon being seen in Vienna, and London, and it was much admired. Goethe’s well-known letter recounts: ‘Yesterday’s opera was charming, and well executed, it was the Scuola de Gelosi, Music by Salieri, opera favorite of the public, and the public is right. There is an astonishing richness, variety, and everything is treated with a very delicate taste. My heart was moved by every tune, especially the finales and quintets which are admirable’. And so they are!
Welcome to the New Chamber Opera Studio Recital Series which is held on Fridays at 1.15 pm during term time in New College Ante-Chapel. The recital series has been running since 1994 and offers singers across the University and beyond the opportunity to perform a short programme in a relaxed atmosphere.
Week 1 – 18 October Alaw Evans Week 2 – 25 October Zachary Roberts Week 3 – 1 November Joanna Barrett Week 4 – 8 November Week 5 – 15 November Emily Fraser Week 6 – 22 November Raphaël Maurin Week 7 – 29 November Jessica Edgar Week 8 – 6 December
Early Music at the Space A Handel on Jazz; Monteverdi’s Venetian Legacy; Les Femmes Illustres; French Collection 9, 16, 23, 30 May 2024 2.00 pm
New College has recently opened its new Gradel Quadrangles in Mansfield Road. The development includes a purpose-built recital hall, a space in which New Chamber Opera will be able to rehearse and perform.
For the first concerts in the Space, NCO has teamed up with New College to promote four concerts with baroque chamber groups.
Welcome to the New Chamber Opera Studio Recital Series which is held on Fridays at 1.15 pm during term time in New College Ante-Chapel. The recital series has been running since 1994 and offers singers across the University and beyond the opportunity to perform a short programme in a relaxed atmosphere.
Week 1 – 26 April Amy Higgins Week 2 – 3 May No Recital Week 3 – 10 May Edward Beswick Week 4 – 17 May Felicity Howard Week 5 – 24 May John Johnston Week 6 – 31 May Aiden MacLean Week 7 – 7 June Ischia Gooda Week 8 – 14 June Alaw Evans – Cancelled
Matilda Bates (Saxon Sorceress) Dara Collins (Saxon 2) Jessie Edgar (Venus, Honour) Alaw Grug Evans (Cupid, 2nd Syren) Sebastian Evans (Sylvan 1) Austin Haynes (The Cold Genius) Francesca German (Woden’s Hall Saxon, Nymph 3) Ben Gilchrist (King Arthur, Ecole, Berger, Pan, Man 4) Ischia Gooda (Philidel, Nereid, 1st Syren) Jemima Kinley (Nymph 1) Raphaël Maurin (Saxon 1, Sylvan 3, Man 3) Matt Pope (Saxon 3, Sylvan 2, Comus) Jess Norton Raybould (Nymph 2, Man 2)
King Arthur is Henry Purcell’s most complicated ‘dramatick opera’ and contains some of his most recognisable music. The text is by John Dryden, and the plot is based on the battle between the Britons and the Saxons; characters include King Arthur, Merlin, Cupid, and Venus, with the action centering on the recovery by Arthur of his fiancé Princess Emmeline from the clutches of his enemy, the Saxon King Oswald. The show is what Judith Milhous calls a ‘multi-media spectacular.’ In our version, the concentration is on the musical interludes, and the score includes the best-known music: the ‘Frost Scene’ sung by the Cold Genius, the hymn ‘Fairest Isle’ performed by Venus, and ‘Harvest Home’, the rollicking drinking song sung by peasants.
New Chamber Opera
