|
Kent Opera was a British opera company in the period 1969-1989. Based in Ashford, England the Company presented its productions in several centres mainly in the southern part of England.〔Bent C. Kent Opera. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. London & New York, Macmillan, 1997.〕 These included The Orchard Theatre, Dartford, the Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, Kings Theatre, Southsea, Theatre Royal Norwich, the Derngate, Northampton. Operas were performed in English usually with new translations of the libretto, mainly by professor Michael Irwin but also by both Norman Platt and Anne Riddler. The orchestra was at first the Midland Sinfonia, though after two years the company employed its own orchestra. == History == Kent Opera was England's first regional opera company, founded in 1969 by Norman Platt, in response to a perceived need for first-class opera in England outside the main centres, in productions that were composer-centred.〔Platt N. ''Making Music.'' Ashford, Pemble Productions, 2001; and programmes of Kent Opera.〕 By 1974 there were usually three operas in the repertory at any time, typically a Baroque opera, a Mozart opera and a 19th or 20th century work. Wherever possible the company aimed to revive productions with the same team and singers and improve on the original production.〔Milnes R. Obituary for Norman Platt. ''Opera'', March 2004, p298.〕 The company's performances were broadcast on radio and television. The company was the subject of a series of programmes made by TVS entitled ''Staging an Opera''. Channel 4 broadcast the production of ''King Priam'' in 1986 in celebration of Michael Tippett's 80th birthday. Other television programmes were one on Kent Opera including rehearsals of Orfeo (Monteverdi) also a night at the Chinese Opera (Weir). Kent Opera did considerable work with children and in developing new audiences. This included commissioning children's operas from Alan Ridout, Adrian Cruft, Judith Weir, Christopher Brown and Ruth Byrchmore. Summer concerts from 1971 were presented in venues around the south east of England. The company appeared at major British festivals: Edinburgh (1979), the City of London, Aldeburgh and Bath; as well as in Lisbon and Oporto (1974), Venice (1980), Schwetzingen (1976) and Singapore. It was the first British company to appear at the Vienna Festival in June 1986 at the Theater an der Wien. It presented ''The Coronation of Poppea'' at the Proms in 1975. The founding Music Director of Kent Opera was Roger Norrington (1969-1984). He was succeeded by Iván Fischer (1984-1989). Chorus masters during its existence were Jonathan Hinden, Timothy Dean and Mark Tatlow. The company received critical acclaim for the clarity and imagination of its productions, of which Norman Platt directed 17; 〔Bent C. Kent Opera. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. London & New York, Macmillan, 1997.〕 Jonathan Miller directed his first opera at Kent Opera in 1974 (''Così fan tutte'') and returned to direct six further operas. Other guest directors included Adrian Slack, Elijah Moshinsky, Nicholas Hytner (his first opera direction), Christopher Bruce, Adrian Noble, and Richard Jones. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kent Opera」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|