Following the success of Opera in the Garden in June 2023, we are hugely grateful to Amanda Mann who is organising two events supporting força - strength against cancer in 2024.
Hot off the press! In 2024 there will be two events: Opera in the Garden on the evening of Saturday 8th June, followed on Sunday 9th June by an afternoon of Jazz in the Garden.
These two unique open-air performances by internationally renowned singers and musicians will be in the most stunning settings! Bring chairs and rugs, relax and enjoy a picnic on the lawn with picturesque views of the Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve and Solent shore across to the Isle of Wight. Then settle down and enjoy a world-class performance.
Tickets are now on sale... and read on for more details about the performances.
Enjoy Saturday Night at the Opera with some of the world's most beautiful Operas and Operettas performed by four of the UK's most inspiring and talented singers. We're delighted to be welcoming back tenor Colin Judson, soprano Ellie Laugharne and mezzo-soprano Annabella-Vesala Ellis , who will be joined in 2024 by baritone Dominic Sedgwick, accompanied once again by the outstanding Matthew Fletcher on the piano. Read on for more information about the performers.
Saturday ticket holders will be welcome to picnic in the garden from 4.30pm, with the performance starting at 6.45pm.
We're delighted to be welcoming to Lymington world-renowned singer Barb Jungr, accompanied by Jenny Carr on piano, Dudley Phillips on bass and Jonathan Lee on drums.
One of the most accomplished British singers of her generation. Barb Jungr’s formidable talent as a singer, composer and lyricist is only outshined by her ability to re-interpret familiar songs and reveal new depths of meaning and beauty. Internationally acclaimed, Jungr continues to evolve her signature style while her transcendent artistry both live and recorded continues to delight audiences. Read on for more information about Barb Jungr.
“The brilliant jazz singer on world-beating form. Barb Jungr proves she's a genuine jazz marvel... A true musical alchemist” (The Telegraph)
Sunday ticket holders will be welcome to picnic in the garden from 12:00 noon, with the performance starting at 2.00pm.
A frequent guest soloist at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Festival and English National Opera, Colin Judson has established himself as one of the most sought-after character tenors of his generation.
Current engagements include a return to the Royal Opera House as Monostatos Die Zauberflöte, Old Prisoner From the House of the Dead at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Don Basilio and Don Curzio with Glyndebourne Festival, Mime in Wagner’s Siegfried with the Grimeborn Opera Festival and return to Opera North.
Recent appearances include his debut with Opera de Paris as Funeral Director A Quiet Place, Youth, Hotel Porter and Guest Death in Venice, Pang Turandot, Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kunz Vogelgesang Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Night Porter Death in Venice at the Royal Opera House, Vogelgesang Die Meistersinger, Gamekeeper Rusalka, Bardolfo Falstaff, Squeak Billy Budd and the Schoolmaster Cunning Little Vixen with the Glyndebourne Festival, Spoletta Tosca, Don Basilio Le nozze di Figaro and High Priest of Amon Akhnaten for English National Opera, Flute A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera North, Mime Siegfried for Longborough Opera Festival, Opéra national du Rhin, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon, Laca Jenůfa for Pacific Opera Victoria, Dr Caius for Garsington Opera, Bob Boles Peter Grimes for Bergen National Opera and Pedrillo Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Cologne Opera.
Ellie Laugharne is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Birmingham University. She began her career as a Jerwood Young Artist at the Glyndebourne Festival and more recently was an Associate Artist for Opera North and a Company Artist for The Mozartists.
Career Highlights include: Susanna Le nozze di Figaro (The Grange Festival); Eliza Doolittle My Fair Lady (The Grange Festival and Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona); Frasquita Carmen, Cupid Orpheus in the Underworld, Phyllis Iolanthe, Barbarina The Marriage of Figaro (English National Opera); Gianetta The Gondoliers, Princess Zara Utopia Limited, Adina L’elisir d’amore, Frasquita Carmen, Mabel The Pirates of Penzance (Scottish Opera); Pamina The Magic Flute, Despina Cosí fan tutte, Gretel Hänsel und Gretel, Susanna Le nozze di Figaro (Opera North); Polissena Radamisto (English Touring Opera); Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Lucia The Rape of Lucretia (Glyndebourne on Tour); Governess The Turn of the Screw, Tina Flight, Zerlina Don Giovanni (Opera Holland Park); Bastienne Bastien&Bastienne, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Temperantia Applausus, Emirena Adriano in Siria (The Mozartists); Helene La Belle Helene (Blackheath Halls); Sandrina La Finta Giardiniera, Edna Tobias and the Angel (Buxton Festival); Valencienne The Merry Widow (International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival).
British-born Bulgarian/Turkish Annabella-Vesala Ellis is an alumni member of The Alexander Gibson Opera Studio (Royal Conservatoire Scotland), the Royal Academy of Music where she completed her Masters and Guildhall School of Music & Drama where she completed her Undergraduate studies. She won second prize both in the Isabella Jay Aria competition and the English Lied (Ivor Gurney). Annabella is a winner of the Norfolk Young Musician competition and in 2017 won second prize in the Ljuba Welitsch Vocal International Competition, Vienna. She has performed with include Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Longbrough Festival Opera, British Youth Opera, Dorset Opera, Regents Opera, Swansea City Opera, Devon Opera and Orquesta Reino de Aragón.
Recent engagements include Constance Fenimore Woolson The Master (Wexford Festival Opera); Neferneferuaten Akhnaten (ENO); New Ofglen The Handmaid’s Tale (ENO); Ankhesenpaaten Akhnaten (Opéra de Nice); Despina Così fan Tutte (Opéra de Nice); Rosina (Barber of Seville) and Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus) in several venues across Europe; Mercédès (Carmen), Suzuki (Madame Butterfly), Tonina (Prima la Musica), Mrs Coyle in (Owen Wingrave) and has covered Carmen, Dorabella (Cosi fan Tutti), La Mère/Mezzo 2 (Le Vin Herbé), Le Loup (Les Malheurs d’Orphée). She has performed alto solo in Bach’s St John Passion; Mozart’s Requiem and C Minor Mass; Bach’s B Minor Mass and his Christmas Oratorio. Annabella has also performed as a soloist in an adapted version of Aida (Savonlinna Opera Festival).
British baritone Dominic Sedgwick is fast establishing himself as a singer with unique vocal colour and physical dynamism. He was an Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment ‘Rising Star’ from 2019-2022 and a member of the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Artists Programme 2017-2019. He studied at Clare College, Cambridge and is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s Opera School.
In a season of debuts, Dominic performs Sid Albert Herring for Opera North, Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia for West Green House Opera and makes his house debut at the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier as Schaunard La bohème. Upcoming engagements include Ned Keene Peter Grimes for Welsh National Opera, Robin Oakapple Ruddigore for Opera North and return to the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Further recent performances include Marullo Rigoletto and English Clerk Death in Venice for the Royal Opera; Belcore L’elisir d’amore for Opéra National de Bordeaux; Anthony in Giorgio Battistelli’s Julius Caesar for Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Melot in a new production of Tristan und Isolde for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Harlequin Ariadne auf Naxos for Opera North and Albert Werther for Grange Park.
In concert he has performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for Beethoven’s Mass in C, and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra in Bach’s Johannes Passion.
Matthew Fletcher is an award-winning accompanist, chamber musician and répétiteur. Recent highlights include several televised performances with Danielle De Niese for the BBC, an appearance with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa on Sky Arts, recitals with Sir Thomas Allen, and Wigmore Hall debut recitals with Sam Furness, Gareth Brynmor John and Keri Fuge. He has worked as a répétiteur at Glyndebourne since 2012.
Matthew has won numerous awards for piano accompaniment, including the Help Musicians UK prize for accompaniment at the 2014 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. He is also a vocal coach and Associate at the Royal Academy of Music. Matthew studied at the Royal Academy of Music, with Michael Dussek and Pascal Nemirovsky. He holds a double 1st class degree in music from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Described as “Britain’s most gifted song stylist” and “one of Europe’s most intriguing and intelligent interpreters of the contemporary song” multi-award-winning vocalist Barb Jungr has successfully combined the intricacies of cabaret with the power of jazz to create a unique concept of popular music. This new collection “Barb Jungr My Marquee” is also the name of Barb's recent album. Read on for more information about Barb Jungr.
“Britain’s finest interpreter of song” and “One of the best cabaret artists in the world” (Time Out New York), Barb turns her attention to some of the greatest songs in British pop history. Taking classic songs from bands and songwriters who performed at the legendary Soho venue The Marquee, Barb and her long-standing collaborator Jenny Carr reimagine, reinvent and shine new light on these great songs including Substitute (The Who), Paper Sun (Traffic), Living In The Past, (Jethro Tull), Shapes of Things to Come (The Yardbirds) and Flower In The Rain (The Move) among many more.
Jungr truly found her forte and international acclaim by interpreting the songs of Bob Dylan. On Dylan’s recent 80th birthday she was named among The Times top ten artists who have covered his work, no mean feat to be on the same page as Johnny Cash, The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, Bryan Ferry, Chrissie Hynde and Stevie Wonder! In a career spanning 45 years, she has released over twenty solo albums and is a world-renowned artist. Barb has also been lauded for her work on the songs of Leonard Cohen, Jimmy Webb, Nina Simone and Bruce Springsteen. Now, in “Barb Jungr My Marquee” she is returning to her love of the great British songbook.
“…with their deep personal connection to the material, Jungr and Carr put on a magical show which lets us appreciate these timeless tunes anew.” – Musical Theatre Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Barb Jungr is a force of nature and if you want to hear Dylan and Cohen’s songs given a whole new lease of life, then get to one of her shows over the next few months – you won’t be disappointed.” – LondonTheatre1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan knew how to write the perfect love song – Jungr certainly knows how to sing them.” – The Spy In The Stalls⭐⭐⭐⭐