Hailed as marking the birth of German Romantic opera and inspiring Wagner, Der Freischütz tells the story of a young marksman who finds himself in league with the devil as he attempts to win his girlfriend’s hand in marriage. Based on a popular German fable and rarely performed in the UK, this opera has it all – a struggle between good and evil, the supernatural, and of course, romance.
Performed in German, with English subtitles
Director: Richard Tegid Jones
Musical Director: Ashley Beauchamp
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Max, a young assistant gamekeeper, is in love with Agathe, the head gamekeeper Kuno’s daughter. Once an excellent marksman, Max seems to have lost his touch. Unfortunately, the shooting competition the following day is his last chance to impress & secure his future as head gamekeeper. Without this, he cannot hope to receive Kuno’s blessing and marry Agathe.
Kaspar, another of Kuno’s assistants, has sold his soul to the dark huntsman, Zamiel, and persuades Max to use some magic bullets to win the shooting contest. Max hesitates and then decides to accompany Kaspar that night to the Wolf’s Glen, where the bullets are to be cast. Kaspar is delighted. Max will take his place: in exchange for the magic bullets, he must forfeit his soul to the Devil.
Agathe is worried and does not want Max to go to the Wolf’s Glen. Her cousin, Aennchen, trys to cheer her up. Meanwhile in the glen, Kaspar prepares the ritual for casting the seven magic bullets and asks the dark ranger, Zamiel, to make the seventh and final bullet hit Agathe when Max shoots. Max arrives, and to the sound of spirits, the bullets are cast.
In her room, Agathe is putting on her bridal gown. She prays and tries to forget a nightmare in which she saw a white dove shot down by Max. Meanwhile, a chorus of hunters celebrates the upcoming shooting contest. During the contest, Max uses his magic bullets, but the fatal bullet hits Kaspar instead of Agathe – Zamiel had no hold over Agathe, and so claimed Kaspar’s soul instead. Will the Prince forgive Max for his mistake? Will Max become head gamekeeper, and thus marry his love?
Cast
Max – Philip Clieve
British tenor Philip Clieve was born in Lancashire. He gained both his MMus and Bachelors’ from the Royal Northern College of Music.
Operatic roles include Max Der Freischütz, Alfred Die Fledermaus, Prince Philippe A Dinner Engagement, Gherardo Gianni Schicchi, Zorn Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Ralph H.M.S. Pinafore, The Defendant Trial by Jury, Mr Box Cox and Box and Colonel Fairfax Yeoman of the Guard. He has also performed many Oratorios, including Handel’s Messiah, the Mozart Requiem, Elijah Mendlesohn, Gloria Puccini, Petite messe solennelle Rossini, Magnificat J.S. Bach and The Crucifixion Stainer.
Philip enjoys a varied concert portfolio, having sung Strauss, Schubert and Schumann lieder, English song of the 19th and 20th century and the songs of Paolo Tosti.
Philip returns to the National Opera Studio as an Associate artist for the 21/22 season.
Agathe – Isolde Roxby
Isolde Roxby graduated with distinction from GSMD in 2015. She was supported in her studies by The National Opera Studio and The Ruby and Will George Trust. Isolde is an International Opera Awards Bursary recipient and the 2016 winner of the John Kerr Award for English Song.
Over the last few years, Isolde has performed with Buxton International Opera Festival, Bury Court Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Clonter Opera, The Helios Collective, The International Opera Awards, and ‘The Opera Company’ and has been heavily involved with the contemporary opera scene.
Pre-Covid Engagements include Cendrillon (Viardot) with Wexford Festival Opera [2019], Tatiana at Grimeborn [2018], cover for the role of Tatiana at Buxton International Opera Festival [2019]; Doria in ‘Il Letto’, an opera play about the Puccini Scandal [2019]; and the title role of Aurora, a new opera by Noah Mosley with Bury Court Opera [2019]
Isolde will be singing Adele in Fledermaus with Guildford opera in the spring.
Kaspar – Martin Lamb
Martin Lamb was born in Southport and studied at St John’s College, Oxford and GSMD. He has appeared as a soloist with many of the country’s leading opera companies, including ENO, Scottish Opera, ETO, Diva Opera, and Garsington Opera. His repertoire encompasses character bass and bass-baritone roles including Don Pasquale, the Mozart and Rossini Dr Bartolos, Dulcamara, Don Magnifico and Alberich. He won the Audience Prize at the Wagner Society singing competition in 2014.
Alongside his work as a singer, Martin is a playwright and theatre-maker, specialising in creating works for family audiences, often in unusual settings. He has made work for some of the country’s leading heritage sites, and his plays about science have toured the UK and throughout China. He lives in South Yorkshire with his wife and son. www.martinhlamb.com
Aennchen – Becca Madden
Becca Madden is a London based soprano currently studying for a Masters in Vocal Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance under Joan Rodgers.
Becca first studied a masters in Aeronautical Engineering at Durham University. While there she continued to sing, studying under Miranda Wright and singing regularly with Durham Opera Ensemble. She was also awarded a place at Samling Academy in both 2013 and 2014 where she studied with Patricia MacMahon, James Baillieu, Jean-Paul Pruna and Caroline Dowdle. She performed as Cis (Albert Herring) and Un pâtre & La chouette (L’enfants et les sortilèges) at Sage, Gateshead with Samling Academy Opera.
Becca graduated in 2016 and continued her studies with Mike Dewis. She performed several roles with Stanley Opera & Knighton Opera, including Sister Genovieffa (Suor Angelica), Innes (Il Trovatore), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), and Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro). In 2019 she took part in the Hinckley Opera Festival and was jointly awarded the Mollie Lane Prize for best singer under 30.
Kuno – Mike Dewis
Michael Dewis studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio. He studied with Rudolph Piernay, David Pollard and currently studies with David Barrell.
He has sung at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Opera Holland Park and Longborough Festival Opera in roles including Prince Afron (Le Coq d’Or), Flemish Deputy (Don Carlos), Zurga (The Pearl Fishers), Germont Père (La Traviata), Giacomo (Giovanna d’Arco), Belcore (The Elixir of Love), Renato (Un Ballo in Maschera), Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Sid (Albert Herring) Marcello (La Bohème) and Il Conte (Le Nozze di Figaro).
Abroad he has sung widely in Europe, including four years as Principal Baritone in the Stadttheater Bremerhaven. Roles abroad have included Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Marcello (Bohème), Valentin (Faust), Di Luna (Il Trovatore) Renato (Un Ballo in Maschera) Che (Evita) and many others. For the Wexford Festival he has sung Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) and Jack Rance (La Fanciulla del West).
On the concert platform he has sung all of the main choral works with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Sinfonietta and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra in all of the major concert venues in Great Britain (Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican etc). He is a specialist of German Lieder, is a German speaker and appears regularly for the Schubert Society of Great Britain.
Kilian – Ross Cumming
Scottish Baritone Ross Cumming is currently studying on the Masters Opera Course under the tutelage of Scott Johnson. He recently graduated his MMus in Vocal Studies from the Royal Northern College of Music.
Operatic roles include : Guglielmo Così Fan Tutte (Cumbria Opera Festival); Don Giovanni Don Giovanni (ALLO Opera); Le Baron de Pictordu Cendrillon (Buxton International Festival); The Forester The Cunning Little Vixen (RNCM); Sir Thomas Bertram Mansfield Park (RNCM); Le Marquis de la Force Dialogues des Carmelites (RNCM); Simone Gianni Schicchi (Random Opera); Macheath The Threepenny Opera (UOA Opera); Escamillo Carmen (UOA Opera).
Forthcoming roles include Father Hänsel und Gretel (ESO) and covering the lead role Agatha in Viva La Diva (Buxton International Opera Festival). Furthermore, Ross has performed in various contemporary opera commissions with Tête à tête Opera, Scottish Opera and FlatPack Opera.
Ross also performs as a Young Artist/Scholar with ensembles such as the Dunedin Consort, Genesis Sixteen and VOCES8.
Prince Ottokar – Laurence Panter
Laurence Panter is a British tenor based in Warwick and London, working in opera and oratorio as well as in musical direction. He read music at Gonville & Caius College Cambridge and went on to complete a Masters at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. He has worked with Longborough Festival Opera on seven productions to date, most recently playing Mosquito in Janacek’s ‘Cunning Little Vixen’. In 2021 he created the role of Mervyn for Barefoot Opera’s premiere of Orlando Gough’s ‘Bloom Britannia’, and also created the role of Captain in Stephen McNeff’s ‘Banished’. He has sung principal roles in full productions of Mozart (Così fan Tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro), Britten (Paul Bunyan), Donizetti (L’Elisir d’Amore), Handel (Acis & Galatea), Puccini (Gianni Schicchi, Bohème), as well as in various operettas (Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, Iolanthe, The Sorcerer, HMS Pinafore, Yeomen of the Guard).
Laurence is currently a lay clerk at Coventry Cathedral, a vocal coach for St Mary’s Warwick, music director for The Harmoneers and accompanist for the Rugby Philharmonic Choir.
Zamiel – Clinton Fung
Malaysian-born Baritone Clinton Fung was twice nominated for the New Zealand National Young Performer of the Year Award and was selected for the inaugural Dame Malvina Major Opera Programme. He holds a Master of Music (Vocal Studies) from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and has a long association with New Zealand Opera.
Clinton’s notable operatic roles include: Alcune (La Forza del Destino, Regents Opera), Notary (Gianni Schicchi, Random Opera Company), Walter (Die Dreigroschenoper, RCS), Le Gendarme (Les Mamelles de Tirésias, RCS), Dan (The Bone Feeder, Auckland Arts Festival) (World Premiere), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro, University of Waikato), Dulcamara (Elixir of Love, NZ Opera schools tour), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte, University of Otago), Waikato (This Other Eden, Otago Arts Festival), and Custom Official (La Bohème, NZ Opera).
Clinton will next be seen on stage as Dr. Falke in Guildford Opera Company’s production of Die Fledermaus.
Hermit – Richard Tegid Jones
Welsh Bass-Baritone Richard Tegid Jones studied music from an early age. He also gave up his studies at an early age, feeling that Grade 2 violin was sufficient achievement. Since then he has mostly been winging it.
Alongside a career in accountancy, Richard began performing on the amateur stage in 2003, with roles including Pooh-Bah (Mikado), Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd (Ruddigore), Sir Joseph Porter (HMS Pinafore) and Duke of Plaza-Toro (Gondoliers).
After starting Random Opera Company on a whim in 2011, Richard began training privately – first with Alison Roddy, and then with Mike Dewis – and has performed roles including Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore), Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Don Pasquale (Don Pasquale) and Zuniga (Carmen).
2022 engagements include Hermit (Der Freischütz) and Rodolfo (La Sonnambula), both for Random Opera Company.
As well as performing, directing & producing opera for Random Opera Company, Richard is also a Volunteer Director of OperaUK.
Bridesmaid – Hannah Boxall
Hannah is a London based soprano originally from East Sussex. She has recently graduated from the M.A course at the Royal Northern College of Music with distinction where she was under the tutelage of Deborah Rees. Prior to her studies at conservatoire, Hannah read Music at The University of Bristol and was a participant of the prestigious Glyndebourne Academy Program.
Recent Operatic engagements include Zerlina in Don Giovanni at The Athenaeum Club, Edith in Pirates of Penzance for Opera Holland Park, Pitti Sing in The Mikado for The National Gilbert and Sullivan Company, Sprite in Cendrillon for RNCM Opera, Frasquita in Carmen with Bristol Opera, and Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd with The University of Bristol Operatic Society. Hannah regularly performs in the chorus at Opera Holland Park, most recently performing in their productions of La Traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera, Manon Lescaut and Cosi fan tutte. She looks forward to joining the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2022 to sing chorus in Tosca, Carmen and Aida.
Hannah is passionate about working within education, learning and inclusion. It gives her the chance to meet people from all walks of life and enjoy moments of connection and spontaneous creativity. Hannah has been involved in numerous projects with Opera Holland Park, she is an associate artist with Sound Up Arts and has been involved in projects with Streetwise Opera, RNCM, Drama Queens and VaCO Summer school. She runs Longfield Voices choir in Camberwell.
Bridesmaid – Rosie Rowell
British soprano Rosie Rowell made her Grange Park Opera debut in 2021 as Stepanida Matuta in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Ivan the Terrible. She made her Welsh National Opera debut in 2019 as Sister Rose
in Dead Man Walking, before covering the Chief Hen and Jay in Sir David Pountney’s renowned production of The Cunning Little Vixen. She is due to return to WNO as the Narrator in Fantastic Fables
by Gareth Glyn, though this has been delayed since 2020.
Rosie graduated with Distinction from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama David Seligman Opera School, where she was taught by Elizabeth Atherton and coached by John Fisher and Stephen Harris. During her time at RWCMD, she was awarded the Adelina Patti Prize and the Elias Singing Prize for Soprano, alongside a Sybil Tutton Opera Award from Help Musicians UK.
Bridesmaid – Anna Gregg
Anna is a soprano, newly graduated with a BMus(Hons) degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she continues her studies on the Artist Master’s course, under the tutelage of Sarah Pring. During her time at Guildhall, Anna has received guidance from Alisdair Hogarth, Sarah Walker CBE, Jonathan Lemalu, and Liz Marcus.
Anna has performed at the Barbican, the Royal Albert Hall, Milton Court Concert Hall and Theatre, Basilique Cathédrale de Saint-Denis (Paris), St Anne’s Cathedral, and many other venues in the UK. She has an interest in contemporary music, and recently performed as the soloist in the premiere of Matt Geer’s chamber opera ‘With Mixed Effects’, and the role of Amy Hitler in the debut of another of his contemporary operas, ‘Sane and Sound’. She also performs more traditional operatic roles, including Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Adele (Die Fledermaus), 2nd Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Miles (The Turn Of the Screw), and Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos), all with GSMD.
Orchestral concerts include: the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert production of ‘Guys and Dolls’, with West Green Opera; the London Philharmonia, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen as part of the Festival de Saint Denis in Paris; and Orchestra Rheia’s debut performance of Ein Deitches Requiem by Brahms, conducted by Stephanie Childress.
Bridesmaid – Aimée Daniel
Aimée gained a first class honours degree in Vocal and Operatic Performance from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, studying with Christine Cairns. Aimée then completed her Mmus in Music at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2019, before progressing onto the at the David Seligman Opera School in Cardiff (2021), studying with renowned mezzo-soprano, Anne Mason.
Aimée has worked with the Welsh National Opera as a freelance musician on many professional engagements including Dead Man Walking, Y Pelydrau (their most recent welsh language commissioned work, Hedd Wyn, by Stephen McNeff), and one of eight semi-chorus in Gair ar Gnawd by Pwyll ap Sion, another Welsh language opera. She has also worked with WNO on an outreach basis, by conducting workshops in schools across South Wales, introducing the younger generation to opera. Aimée has also worked with many independent opera companies throughout the UK, including Opera Brava, Beechwood Opera, Forbear! Theatre Company, Lunchbreak Opera and Blackbird Opera Company.
No stranger to the recital platform, over the years Aimée has also performed as a soloist which repertoire included English and Welsh song, with a particular fondness for French song and German Lieder. She was also a finalist in the Mario Lanza Opera Prize (2016), winner of the Valetta Lacopi Memorial Prize (2019), winner of the Adelina Pattti bel canto aria prize (2020) and semi-finalist of the Sir Ian Stoutzker Prize (2021).
Chorus
Charlotte Bateman, Eleanor Kemp, Sam Leggett, Jared Michaud, Patricia Yates, Owen Winter
First performed at Temple Speech Room, Rugby on Saturday 08 April 2022