Polished Porgy: Gershwin triumphs in Surrey

By Matthew Rye, 10 June 2019

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“tells the story with focus and compassion”

Reviewed at The Theatre in the Woods, West Horsley on 8 June 2019

Gershwin, Porgy and Bess

Grange Park Opera

Stephen Barlow, Conductor

Jean-Pierre van der Spuy, Director

Francis O'Connor, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Musa Ngqungwana, Porgy

Laquita Mitchell, Bess

Sarah-Jane Lewis, Serena

Francesca Chiejina, Clara

Rheinaldt Tshepo Moagi, Sportin’ Life

Donovan Singletary, Crown

Robert Winslade Anderson, Jake

Chantale Nurse, Maria

Julia Daramy-Williams, Strawberry woman

Calvin Lee, Peter

BBC Concert Orchestra

David Plater, Lighting Designer

Lizzie Gee, Choreography

Taj Mahal by Nishat Khan premieres at Grange Park Opera

David Karlin, 10th July

Scion of generations of sitar players, Nishat Khan is the perfect person to tell the "greatest love story never told" behind India's most iconic building.

***11

Ukraine matters: Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa at Grange Park Opera

Roy Westbrook, 14th June

Why is Tchaikovsky’s very fine opera still a rarity outside Russia? David Pountney directs a new production at the Surrey festival.

****1

Pountney’s vivid Simon Boccanegra at Grange Park Opera

Mark Pullinger, 5th June

Sir David Pountney's 1997 staging for Welsh National Opera is given a welcome new lease of life at Grange Park Opera, splendidly cast... with one major exception.

****1

A confusing operatic take on The Tempest at Grange Park Opera

Nick Boston, 11th July

Strong vocal and orchestral performances, supported by impressive visuals, struggle to bring coherency to Anthony Bolton's Island of Dreams at Grange Park Opera.

***11

An impressive, minimalist Kátya Kabanová at Grange Park Opera

David Karlin, 27th June

A memorable performance, with Stephen Barlow conducting Janáček’s remarkable score with vividness and clarity, while David Alden's staging is a masterpiece of "less is more".

****1

Aleko on the Arno: Bryn Terfel leads fine new GPO double bill

Roy Westbrook, 6th June

An unlikely pairing opens Grange Park Opera's season, the two works united by the dominant central character of each opera – Sir Bryn Terfel.

****1

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Matthew Rye

Matthew read music at Oxford and worked in music journalism for 30 years as a writer, critic and editor. He wrote numerous programme and CD booklet notes, spent 13 years as a Daily Telegraph critic, worked at BBC Music Magazine and was reviews editor of The Strad. He also wrote for The Wagner Journal and Opera and blogged at ferneklang.blogspot.co.uk. He was general editor of 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die (Cassell Illustrated, 2007) and was the author of a new series of eBooks, Masterpieces of Music (Erudition).