Classic arias and charming tunes

Members of Opera South East and guests, together with musical director Ken Roberts, are looking forward to performing at the Emmanuel Centre, Battle, on Saturday, June 18, by invitation of the Battle Methodist Church.

This will be Opera South East’s first appearance in the town. OSE is based in Hastings and one of few companies in the South East to regularly perform opera with full chorus and orchestra. The group attracts established singers and musicians as well as young professional performers at the start of their career. At its heart is a chorus of enthusiastic amateur singers under professional music and artistic direction.

The programme, entitled P’opera, will include well-known choruses from the operatic repertoire, such as the Toreador Song from Carmen, the Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana, Brindisi from Verdi’s La Traviata, and the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s Nabucco, together with familiar Neapolitan songs, Torna a Surriento, Funiculi, Funicula.

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Ken Roberts has arranged for four parts the well-known aria, Vissi d’arte from Puccini’s opera Tosca , and to add to his arrangements, are Midnight in Moscow and None but the Lonely Heart.

Especially for show aficionados, the programme will include Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific and The Way You Look Tonight, by Jerome Kern from the film Swing Time, originally performed by Fred Astaire. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. This arrangement for four voices is by George Mitchell.

There’s music for every taste and the programme will also include solo pieces by guest artists Gary Marriott and Barnaby Beer, and members of the Company, plus trios and quartets from Rigoletto and Cosi fan tutte.

This will be a wonderful introduction to the world of opera, and hopefully dispel any myth that might have been dormant.

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Advance tickets at £10, which includes fizz and strawberries, can be purchased at Spoiled Rotten on the Abbey Green or Cook in Mount Street, Battle, or on the door at £12. Tickets can be also reserved on 01424 777029. The Emmanuel Centre on Harrier Lane, off Marley Lane, TN33 0FL.

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