Saturday 23rd September 2006
featuring
Fiona O'Neill soprano
Andrew Forbes Lane tenor
Matthew Scrivener violin
The concert will be introduced and accompanied at the piano by
Tom Higgins
Opera South Director of Music
Time: 7.00 p.m. Reception with wine and canapés 6.15 p.m.)
Venue: The Ballroom, Frensham Heights School
Rowledge, near Farnham GU9 0AG
by kind permission of the Headmaster.
Tickets £30
with glass of wine and light refreshments in the interval
Details of the event
Soon it will be a hundred years since Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow conquered London. It was a time when the Widow was enjoying an unprecedented international success. This adulation confirmed Lehár’s position as the natural successor to Johann Strauss II, who was the first composer of Viennese operetta to achieve world-wide acclaim.
Devised by Opera South’s Music Director, Tom Higgins, Greetings from Vienna celebrates not only the music of Lehár, but his famous contemporaries too, including Robert Stolz and Sigmund Romberg, who carried on the tradition of Viennese operetta well into the 20th century, taking it as far as Hollywood. The great Austrian violinist, Fritz Kriesler was a fine composer also, writing much music for his beloved violin which can only be described as “Viennese”.
The participants
Tom Higgins Music Director, Pianist and Narrator
As Opera South Director of Music, Tom is well known to Opera South audiences.
Fiona O'Neill, soprano
Fiona has sung in La Bohème with Lyric Opera, in Madam Butterfly with London City Opera, and in a variety of other roles; she also sings in a variety of concert contexts and had made CD recordings.
Andrew Forbes Lane, tenor
Andrew has sung with ENO, Opera North, Glyndebourne, The Royal National Theatre, the Halle and CBSO. He performs regularly in the USA and was the first western opera singer to give recitals in Kathmandu.
Matthew Scrivener, violinist
Matthew is Leader of the Orchestra of English National Ballet. He also plays in a variety of other contexts and on CD records.
The venue
The Ballroom at Frensham Heights School must be one of the most beautiful venues in Surrey, and is often used for weddings. Decorated in elegant Regency style, it has an outlook across miles of open countryside. The early start is so that, if the weather is kind, we can have our reception on the terrace overlooking this magnificent view.