Vocal Scenes

Rossini La Cenerentola

Act 1 Quartet

​

Clorinda

Michelle Cheung

​

Tisbe

Georgia Tolson

​

Ramiro

Harun Tekin

​

Dandini

Cuan Durkin

​

​

Pianist

Alicia Hernández Huebra

 

A lavish party at Prince Ramiro’s country estate. Ramiro and his servant, Dandini, have swapped identities: Ramiro is searching for a bride who will love him for who he is, not for his title or wealth. His teacher, Alidoro, is convinced that one of Don Magnifico’s daughters is the ideal match.

 

When Ramiro and Dandini visited Magnifico’s house, they encountered two selfish sisters, Clorinda and Tisbe, along with a mistreated servant, Cinderella, who immediately captured Ramiro’s heart.

 

At the party, the men are trying to understand how Clorinda or Tisbe could possibly be the bride Alidoro envisions. Enter the sisters, each determined to dazzle the Prince—unaware that Dandini is only pretending to be royalty. “Prince” Dandini proposes a double wedding: one sister would marry him, while the other would marry his servant. The sisters are aghast. Marry a commoner? Absolutely not!

​

​

​

​

R. Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos

Opera opening scene                       

                         

Najade

Aldi Ho

​

Echo

Laura West

​

Dryade

Elizabeth Mwale

​

​

Pianist

Alicia Hernández Huebra

 

A woman has been abandoned by her lover and is consumed by grief. She spirals into torment, observed by three beings who monitor her condition but offer no empathy or comfort.

​

​

​​​

​

Purcell Dido and Aeneas

Opening Act 1 Scene

​

Dido

Dani Croston

​

Aeneas

Cuan Durkin

​

Belinda

Aldi Ho

​

Second Woman

Alice Hermand

​

Tenor Courtier

Harun Tekin

​

Bass Courtier

Saul Rothwell

 

Dido, founder and queen of Carthage, is drawn to the Trojan war hero Aeneas—not only by his commanding presence but also by poignant accounts of his experiences in the war. Yet she is plagued by forebodings about surrendering to a relationship with him. The voices around her urge her to cast aside her fears and embrace love and pleasure. As if on cue, Aeneas appears, pleading for her compassion and subtly exploiting her empathic nature to further sway her resolve.

 

 

​

 

Janaček The Cunning Little Vixen

Duet (in English)                      

         

Vixen

Laura West

​

Fox

Georgia Tolson

​

​

Pianist

Alicia Hernández Huebra

 

Vixen and Fox meet and are instantly intrigued by one another, though they both try to play it cool. As they talk, Vixen shares her story, and the two agree to meet again. Vixen marvels at being seen as “lovely” by someone else, while Fox, unable to contain the depth of his emotions, abandons his final attempt at small talk and lets his feelings take over.

 

 

 

​

J. Strauss II Die Fledermaus

Act 2 Watch Duet (in English)

​

Rosalinde

Hannah Hughes

​

Eisenstein

Harun Tekin

 

Rosalinde and Eisenstein are married, but their evening plans are anything but typical. Eisenstein, supposed to be serving time in prison for assaulting a public official, has instead sneaked off to a lavish party disguised as the Marquis de Renard, intent on wooing young actresses. Rosalinde, meanwhile, is supposed to be at home pining for him—but tipped off by an anonymous letter, she arrives at the same party, disguised as a glamorous Hungarian countess.

 

Unaware of her true identity, Eisenstein is immediately smitten with the “countess” and attempts to seduce her using his trusty chiming watch as bait. Rosalinde, playing along, schemes to pocket the watch as incriminating proof of his wandering eye.

 

​

​​

​

Humperdinck Hänsel und Gretel

Dance Scene             

​

Gretel

Michelle Cheung

​

Hänsel

Elizabeth Mwale

 

Two siblings play a dancing game.

 

​​

​

Smetana The Bartered Bride

Duet (in English)

               

Mařenka

Alice Hermand

​

Vašek

Harun Tekin

 

A marriage has been arranged between Vašek and Mařenka, two strangers. Vašek, timid and reluctant, fears defying his domineering mother, while Mařenka longs to marry Jenik, the man she truly loves—but she is forbidden to do so.

 

By chance, Mařenka meets Vašek and quickly realizes he is her unwanted fiancé. Sensing an opportunity, she conceals her identity and spins a tale: Mařenka, she claims, is in love with another man, and the entire village pities poor Vašek for being saddled with such a faithless bride. But, she adds slyly, there is hope—a girl secretly adores him but is too shy to confess her feelings.

 

Vašek, astonished and flattered, eagerly promises to abandon Mařenka for this other admirer. Little does he know, the “other girl” is Mařenka herself, posing as anyone but the woman he’s supposed to marry.

​

 

​

​

Mozart Le nozze di Figaro

Letter Duet

​

Contessa

Dani Croston

​

Susanna

Michelle Cheung

           

The Countess is in despair over her marriage to the unfaithful and predatory Count, who has set his sights on seducing her servant, Susanna—on Susanna’s wedding day, no less. But a plan is underway to teach him a well-deserved lesson.

 

Susanna, who has skillfully resisted the Count’s advances thus far, has just agreed to meet him that evening in the garden. The twist? She and the Countess will swap clothes, ensuring that the woman the Count believes he is secretly meeting will turn out to be his own wife.

 

It’s a risky and bold scheme, but the Countess is determined to go through with it. She instructs Susanna to write the Count a letter, finalizing the details of their nighttime rendezvous, setting the stage for a moment of reckoning.

 

 

​

 

Britten Peter Grimes

Act 2 Duet

                   

Ellen Orford

Hannah Hughes

​

Captain Balstrode

Charles Brocklebank

 

The Borough is a harsh seaside community, where life is unforgiving and gossip spreads like wildfire. Peter Grimes, a troubled fisherman, has a history of taking child apprentices to help him at sea. After the tragic death of his last apprentice, an inquest warned him against employing another child. Nevertheless, a new boy, John, was found for him, and Ellen Orford, the compassionate schoolteacher who plans to marry Peter, offered to fetch the boy and protect him. Balstrode, a retired captain, knows of Ellen’s efforts to shield John from harm.

 

But Peter’s volatile nature remains a grave concern. Now, he and John are missing at sea, and the Borough, long suspicious of Peter, is rising against him.

 

Ellen’s worst fears seem confirmed when she discovers John’s jumper washed ashore. Balstrode proposes a final, irreversible solution to end the unfolding tragedy.

 

​​​

​

​​​

Humperdinck Hänsel und Gretel

Sandman & Prayer Scene        

        

Gretel

Michelle Cheung

​

Hänsel

Elizabeth Mwale

​

Sandman

Aldi Ho

​

Voices

Dani Croston

Alice Hermand

Hannah Hughes

Georgia Tolson

Laura West

 

Since we last saw them, Hänsel and Gretel have been sent into the forest by their mother to search for food. But as they wander deeper into the woods, the atmosphere shifts, and strange, disembodied voices begin to echo around them…​​