FROM SLAVERY TO TRIUMPH
A Night at the Opera celebrates the glory of human existence with music from Bizet and Verdi to excerpts from one of the world’s most successful contemporary operas
On Sunday, November 25th 2007, at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, The Cambridge Philharmonic Society will thrill concertgoers with an evening of great music including some of the most popular choruses from the world of opera. With the help of opera star Heather Shipp and under the enthusiastic baton of their music director (and opera expert) Timothy Redmond, the Society is offering a spectacular celebration for anyone who thrills to this grandest and most popular of art forms.
The Philharmonic’s opera night includes choruses known and treasured by music lovers everywhere, including Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (Nabucco), Anvil Chorus (Il Trovatore) and the Triumphal March and chorus from Verdi’s Aida. There is music from Bizet’s Carmen too, for which soprano Heather Shipp will enthral the audience in the role of the tobacco-factory temptress. One of opera’s brightest new stars, Shipp has been garnering accolades for her singing of music by Britten and Wagner, Verdi, Mozart and contemporary composer Jonathan Dove. Critics comment not just on her exquisite voice, but also on her sensational acting ability. When she sang Carmen recently she was described as ‘sultry, sexy, bad-tempered and hot-headed…you could feel the steam rise from the stage, sending tingles down your spine… she blazes across the stage’.
Heather Shipp, together with the chorus and orchestra of the Cambridge Philharmonic Society, will also perform excerpts from Flight, one of the world’s most successful contemporary operas. Set in an airport, Jonathan Dove’s modern classic mixes humour with heart-warming pathos, a combination that has made it one of the most popular operas around.
Tickets (£12 unreserved; £6 children and students on the door) can be bought online at www.cam-phil.org.uk, and are also available from the Cambridge Arts Theatre Box Office, St Mary's Passage, Cambridge (tel: 01223 503333).
The concert starts at 7.30pm.
Notes for editors
For further information including biographies please see our web site,
www.cam-phil.org.uk.
If you would like any interviews for your publication please contact
publicity@cam-phil.org.uk,
giving as much notice as possible.