| Grange Park Opera - West Horsley | 16 April 2024 |
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Tristan und Isolde
Tosca
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Otello
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Performance reviews
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Die WalküreGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 13 | |
This staging is set amid the display cases of an ancient museum with the Valkyries kitted out as Prussian officers |
 3 Jul 17 / The Times |
Grange Park Opera triumphs in the second part of Wagner's Ring cycle |
| 3 Jul 17 / What's on Stage |
The setting is contrived but Wagner’s characters come across as living, believable people |
| 3 Jul 17 / Financial Times |
more reviews [+]
Very much a director’s staging, but one that Medcalf has applied with great imagination |
| 1 Jul 17 / Classical Source |
Museum piece? Stephen Medcalf offers an intriguing Walküre at Grange Park Opera |
| 30 Jun 17 / Bachtrack |
Wagner’s epic shines in compelling staging with strong cast |
| 30 Jun 17 / The Arts Desk |
ToscaGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 13 | |
Un théâtre est né |
| 6 Jul 17 / Forum Opéra |
A full-blooded account of Puccini’s masterpiece in the Surrey countryside |
| 28 Jun 17 / Mark Ronan's Theatre Reviews |
Calleja’s powerful performance as freethinking artist Cavaradossi pulses with conviction |
| 19 Jun 17 / Express |
more reviews [+]
Grange Park's stunning new opera house provides a fitting setting for Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja's honeyed tones in Tosca
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| 18 Jun 17 / Daily Mail |
A straightforward Tosca |
| 13 Jun 17 / Music OMH |
Wonderful theatre deserves a more imaginative production |
| 12 Jun 17 / Evening Standard |
Grange Park Opera's new home Theatre in the Woods starts with 'Tosca' |
| 12 Jun 17 / Independent |
Grange Park Opera settles into its new home with a stirring Tosca |
| 12 Jun 17 / The Observer |
Grange Park Opera unveils its new home with Puccini's popular shocker |
| 10 Jun 17 / What's on Stage |
Grange Park Opera's inaugural Tosca |
| 10 Jun 17 / Seen and Heard |
A conventional production, a remarkable venue |
| 10 Jun 17 / The Stage |
Routine approach to a familiar old warhorse |
| 10 Jun 17 / Telegraph |
Puccini's Tosca is here uneven, although rescued with some standout moments |
| 10 Jun 17 / Classical Source |
JenufaGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 10 | |
Czech verismo with attendant Central European melancholy, this carries quite a punch |
| 28 Jun 17 / Mark Ronan's Theatre Reviews |
A quartet of strong performance illuminates a superb ensemble performance |
| 26 Jun 17 / Planet Hugill |
Superb performances do Janáček’s masterpiece proud |
| 21 Jun 17 / Telegraph |
more reviews [+]
Business as usual |
| 20 Jun 17 / The Critics' Circle |
A heart-rending Jenůfa at Grange Park Opera |
| 20 Jun 17 / Opera Today |
Grange Park Opera revives WNO's long-lived Katie Mitchell production |
| 19 Jun 17 / What's on Stage |
Natalya Romaniw’s Jenůfa and Susan Bullock’s Kostelnička stand out |
| 19 Jun 17 / Music OMH |
Natalya Romaniw leads an emotionally gripping Jenůfa for Grange Park Opera |
| 17 Jun 17 / Bachtrack |
With Natalya Romaniw in the title role, Janáček’s opera comes vividly to life |
| 14 Jun 17 / Financial Times |
Natalya Romaniw, making her role debut as Jenůfa, is beautifully cast as a young woman larger in spirit |
| 13 Jun 17 / Classical Source |
associated articles [+]
Natalya Romaniw
One of the outstanding sopranos of her generation.
One of the outstanding sopranos of her generation.
Don CarloGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 10 | |
Don Carlos y fin de fiesta |
| 29 Jul 16 / Mundo Clásico (Spanish) |
Bravo for the beggar's opera (are you watching ENO?) |
| 3 Jul 16 / Daily Mail |
in the confines of a smaller theatre Don Carlo comes over with visceral immediacy. |
| 29 Jun 16 / Mark Ronan's Theatre Reviews |
more reviews [+]
Grandeur and intimacy |
| 27 Jun 16 / Planet Hugill |
What Grange Park Opera loses in spectacular crowd scenes its staging of Don Carlo gains in emotional intensity |
| 26 Jun 16 / Express |
Gripping, gruesome and brutally convincing |
| 21 Jun 16 / The Guardian |
Verdi's Don Carlo a moody hit for Grange Park Opera |
| 20 Jun 16 / Telegraph |
This is an evening which makes a powerful impact |
| 20 Jun 16 / Music OMH |
A compellingly inward-looking presentation |
| 20 Jun 16 / Classical Source |
The Inquisition's dark days |
| 20 Jun 16 / Bachtrack |
associated articles [+]
An encounter with designer Leslie Travers
Not just the look, how the sets work is part of the narrative.
Not just the look, how the sets work is part of the narrative.
Tristan und IsoldeGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 6 | |
What a superb end to the season |
| 20 Jul 16 / Mark Ronan's Theatre Reviews |
A remarkable swansong |
| 18 Jul 16 / Planet Hugill |
Rachel Nicholls creates the impression that she is never going to put a foot wrong |
| 17 Jul 16 / Music OMH |
more reviews [+]
Grange Park marked the end of an era with a masterly Tristan |
| 17 Jul 16 / The Observer |
Despite some niggles, Brabbins paced the music effectively with an unerring sense of dramatic shape |
| 15 Jul 16 / Classical Source |
Much to admire in Grange Park Opera’s Tristan und Isolde |
| 15 Jul 16 / Seen and Heard |
La fanciulla del WestGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 5 | |
Claire Rutter heads a strong revival of Puccini's gold-rush opera |
| 4 Jul 16 / Planet Hugill |
Grange Park Opera’s revival of Stephen Medcalf’s 2008 production of Puccini’s ‘Western’ opera certainly strikes gold |
| 11 Jun 16 / Classical Source |
Genuinely moving |
| 10 Jun 16 / Independent |
more reviews [+]
The three central performances are very strong |
| 7 Jun 16 / Music OMH |
Emotionally powerful La fanciulla del West at Grange Park Opera |
| 7 Jun 16 / Bachtrack |
Oliver!Grange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 3 | |
Sheer joy! |
| 8 Jun 16 / Mark Ronan's Theatre Reviews |
The audience is left wanting more |
| 5 Jun 16 / Music OMH |
Great show, shame about the audience |
| 3 Jun 16 / Telegraph |
Samson et DalilaGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 9 | |
Represiva y decadente |
| 17 Aug 15 / Mundo Clásico (Spanish) |
Chutzpah is the word for Grange Park this summer |
| 1 Jul 15 / Mark Ronan's Theatre Reviews |
Gripping stuff! |
| 27 Jun 15 / Classical Source |
more reviews [+]
Saint-Saëns’ opera falls victim to a heavy-handed production |
| 25 Jun 15 / Financial Times |
A production that sizzles with invention, though not with sexual tension |
| 23 Jun 15 / The Stage |
The very striking set by Francis O’Connor is one of the most imaginative we’ve seen |
| 22 Jun 15 / Music OMH |
Carl Tanner’s Samson is the standout performance in this vibrant retelling of Saint-Saëns’s biblical opera |
| 22 Jun 15 / The Guardian |
Sumptuous, imaginative |
| 22 Jun 15 / Telegraph |
Israelites vs Philistines: Samson et Dalila at Grange Park |
| 22 Jun 15 / Bachtrack |
Eugene OneginGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 2 | |
The most consistently strong performance comes from Susan Gritton as Tatyana |
| 15 Jul 15 / Music OMH |
Verismo before its time |
| 13 Jul 15 / Bachtrack |
La bohèmeGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 4 | |
Stephen Medcalf has treated the whole thing as four young men putting on a play |
| 24 Jun 15 / Mark Ronan's Theatre Reviews |
April’s first kiss: Susana Gaspar’s Mimì shines in a frustrating Bohème |
| 16 Jun 15 / Bachtrack |
A straightforward staging designed to showcase singing |
| 16 Jun 15 / Music OMH |
more reviews [+]
Medcalf’s staging and Vartan’s Dickensian outfits were broadly traditional and non-interventionist |
| 13 Jun 15 / Classical Source |
Fiddler on the RoofGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 6 | |
To Grange Park congratulations, or in the words of the libretto, mazel tov! |
| 10 Jun 15 / Mark Ronan's Theatre Reviews |
Bryn Terfel gives a towering performance in the revived musical |
| 8 Jun 15 / Financial Times |
Terfel heads the cast of Grange Park Opera’s Fiddler on the Roof |
| 8 Jun 15 / Seen and Heard |
more reviews [+]
A production which is undoubtedly simple and yet unequivocally effective |
| 7 Jun 15 / Music OMH |
Bryn Terfel outstanding in focused, vigorous production |
| 6 Jun 15 / The Guardian |
Bryn Terfel stars in a pleasant but tame production of the classic musical |
| 6 Jun 15 / Telegraph |
Peter GrimesGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 10 | |
En un lugar bucólico |
| 13 Aug 14 / Mundo Clásico (Spanish) |
Not a vintage Peter Grimes |
| 28 Jun 14 / Musical Criticism |
Carl Tanner presents the stubborn, independent side of the character with convincing skill |
| 24 Jun 14 / Music OMH |
more reviews [+]
Flashback device is a mixed blessing |
| 3 Jun 14 / The Guardian |
Directed by Jeremy Sams, this is a huge production in an intimate setting |
| 3 Jun 14 / Southern Daily Echo |
Jeremy Sams’s production is like a Dickens novel set to music |
| 3 Jun 14 / Financial Times |
Grange Park’s new Britten staging shows the company operating on its grandest scale |
| 3 Jun 14 / The Stage |
It takes a brave opera company indeed to stage Peter Grimes this summer |
| 2 Jun 14 / The Arts Desk |
Barlow really had the measure of Britten’s genius for creating character in music |
| 1 Jun 14 / Classical Source |
Grimes ahoy! Suffolk's coast transplanted to the rolling Hampshire Downs |
| 31 May 14 / Bachtrack |
The Queen of SpadesGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 2 | |
Antony McDonald directs an engrossing, stunning production of Tchaikovsky’s divisive opera |
| 10 Jul 14 / Financial Times |
Carl Tanner repeats his vocally outstanding Herman |
| 8 Jul 14 / The Stage |
Don QuichotteGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 5 | |
The performances of Clive Bayley and David Stout fully brought out the drama and emotion of a man whose delusions are finally broken |
| 3 Jul 14 / Mark Ronan's Theatre Reviews |
Meta-operatic twist on Massenet |
| 23 Jun 14 / The Guardian |
Massenet becomes the lead character in his own opera |
| 23 Jun 14 / Financial Times |
more reviews [+]
A bit short on thrills |
| 21 Jun 14 / Telegraph |
Overall the sensitive production does justice to this bittersweet, reflective opera |
| 17 Jun 14 / The Stage |
La TraviataGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 2 | |
Visceral Verdi via 1950s Hollywood at Grange Park Opera |
| 3 Jun 14 / Bachtrack |
Lindsay Posner’s new production is unfussy, narratively clear, fresh without being patronizing |
| 2 Jun 14 / Music OMH |
Dialogues des CarmelitesGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 4 | |
Terapia contra el miedo |
| 2 Aug 13 / Mundo Clásico (Spanish) |
Key moments register like blows to the pit of the stomach |
| 8 Jul 13 / Opera Britannia |
For audience members willing to enter into this spirit, the experience is a unique one |
| 14 Jun 13 / The Huffington Post |
more reviews [+]
A pleasant surprise |
| 13 Jun 13 / Telegraph |
FortunioGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 4 | |
Full marks to Grange Park Opera for rounding off their 2013 season with a delightful French operetta |
| 23 Jul 13 / Musical Criticism |
A gentle, unobjectionable staging of Messager’s musical comedy |
| 15 Jul 13 / Financial Times |
Messager sets this half-tender, half-cynical tale with music of operetta lightness and operatic depth |
| 12 Jul 13 / The Guardian |
more reviews [+]
Messager crosses the boundaries between operetta and opera, Offenbach and Wagner |
| 12 Jul 13 / The Arts Desk |
Eugene OneginGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 4 | |
Utterly traditional, uncomplicatedly faithful |
| 27 Jun 13 / New Statesman |
Stephen Medcalf directs a sensitively intelligent staging of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin |
| 7 Jun 13 / Telegraph |
A Ronseal production faithful to Tchaikovsky and Pushkin |
| 1 Jun 13 / Opera Britannia |
more reviews [+]
The smouldering passion of Tchaikovsky's music only intermittently ignites |
| 1 Jun 13 / The Guardian |
I PuritaniGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 6 | |
La cabeza de Arturo |
| 7 Jun 13 / Mundo Clásico (Spanish) |
Glorious music almost managed to eclipse the muddle-headedness of the production |
| 4 Jun 13 / Financial Times |
Bel canto pleasures |
| 3 Jun 13 / Bachtrack |
more reviews [+]
Salvation is at hand in the shape of some impressive singing |
| 3 Jun 13 / The Guardian |
I Puritani at Grange Park suffers from the quarter-baked intellectual pretension that puts people off opera |
| 2 Jun 13 / Telegraph |
A too-complex treatment mars the simple beauty of Bellini's score |
| 1 Jun 13 / The Arts Desk |
The Queen of SpadesGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 7 | |
A fine achievement |
| 13 Jul 12 / Musical Criticism |
Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades was gripping both dramatically and musically |
| 24 Jun 12 / The Observer |
Stephen Barlow propels the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra through this night of rich pleasure |
| 21 Jun 12 / The Oxford Times |
more reviews [+]
This impressive staging of Tchaikovsky's opera manages to be both playful, and deadly serious |
| 17 Jun 12 / Independent on Sunday |
Grange Park Opera's The Queen of Spades needs its edges sharpened |
| 15 Jun 12 / Telegraph |
Grange Park Opera shows its mettle in another late-Romantic blockbuster |
| 15 Jun 12 / The Guardian |
Overall this is an appreciable achievement |
| 15 Jun 12 / The Stage |
Eugene OneginGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 1 | |
A lucid, affecting and extremely good-looking production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin |
| 12 Jul 12 / The Oxford Times |
IdomeneoGrange Park OperaNo. of reviews: 6 | |
Mozart's most inventive operatic score is boisterously played by the English Chamber Orchestra |
| 24 Jun 12 / The Observer |
David Danholt supplies a powerful portrait of the Cretan King |
| 21 Jun 12 / The Oxford Times |
A hellcat Elettra prowls a Georgian drawing room |
| 11 Jun 12 / Independent on Sunday |
more reviews [+]
The Grange Park show is more sober, but that can hardly be counted a sin
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| 9 Jun 12 / Financial Times |
There is thrilling drama in Charles Edwards’s stylised early 19th century-set production |
| 7 Jun 12 / The Stage |
Charles Edwards's self-designed production mixes imagery from different periods |
| 5 Jun 12 / The Guardian |
Reviews search
Performance schedule
Rachmaninov
6 Jun to 7 Jul 2024
Puccini
6 Jun to 7 Jul 2024
Donizetti
8 Jun to 6 Jul 2024
Janacek
16 Jun to 12 Jul 2024
Bolton
11 to 13 Jul 2024
News & Articles
| Grange Park Opera announces its 2022 Season |
Grange Park Opera, Surrey has announced its 2022 season, which will feature operas by Janáček, Ponchielli, Verdi, and Wagner. |
| 30 Sep 2021 / OperaWire |
| Grange Park Opera announces 2021 season |
It’s been a ‘challenging’ year, but what has kept us going is to focus on the future: 2021 at Grange Park Opera, Surrey, 10 June - 17 July 2021. |
| 6 Aug 2020 / Opera Today |
| Grange Park to stage first new opera since lockdown |
The newly commissioned work, A Feast in the Time of Plague, is based on a poetic fragment by Alexander Pushkin, and will be performed at The Theatre in the Woods in September. |
| 4 Aug 2020 / Opera Now |
| Grange Park Opera launches ‘Found Season’ of original performances |
Grange Park Opera, which was due to launch its 2020 summer festival this week, has announced that the show will go in its ‘Found Season’ of live performances. |
| 2 Jun 2020 / Opera Now |
| Grange Park Opera |
A look inside the company's new Surrey home. |
| 7 Jun 2019 / Evening Standard |
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