The Fairy Queen
Watch Purcell's The Fairy Queen online for free from Sunday 23 August
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About the opera
Taking us from rowdiest, raunchiest comedy to bewitching beauty and pathos, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is a theatrical fantasy unlike any other. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream finds itself at the centre of a sequence of musical apparitions and conjurings – fairies romp and play, animals dance and mortals are manipulated by the gods. Through it all, love and desire weave their irresistible spell.
Purcell’s score brings everything from English choral writing to Italian laments and French dances together in a rich musical tapestry. There’s comedy from lusty shepherds and tenderness from separated lovers – a musical story that winds around Shakespeare’s play and characters to create an exhilarating fusion of theatre, music and dance.
Jonathan Kent’s ‘delectable’ production opens up a 17th-century cabinet of curiosities to reveal the contemporary magic within, working with conductor William Christie and a cast including Lucy Crowe, Carolyn Sampson and Ed Lyon to find the anarchic energy at the heart of this unusual work.
The Fairy Queen was captured live at Festival 2009. It is available on DVD from our shop.
Preview videos
Creative team
Conductor
William Christie
Director
Jonathan Kent
Assistant Director
Francesca Gilpin
Designer
Paul Brown
Choreographer
Kim Brandstrup
Lighting Designer
Mark Henderson
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
The Glyndebourne Chorus
Chorus Master
Oliver Gooch
Cast
Sopranos
Miriam Allan, Lucy Crowe, Claire Debono, Anna Devin, Helen-Jane Howells, Rachel Redmond, Carolyn Sampson
Tenors
Robert Burt, Sean Clayton, Ed Lyon, Adrian Ward
Baritones
Lukas Kargl, John Mackenzie
Basses
Desmond Barrit, Andrew Foster-Williams
Theseus
William Gaunt
Egeus
Terrence Hardiman
Helena
Helen Bradbury
Hermia
Susannah Wise
Demetrius
Oliver le Sueur
Lysander
Oliver Kieran Jones
Titania
Sally Dexter
Oberon
Joseph Millson
Puck
Jotham Annan
Changeling Boy
Taliesin Knight
Bottom
Desmond Barrit
Flute
Robert Burt
Quince
Paul McCleary
Snout
Jack Chissick
Snug
Brian Pettifer
Starveling
Roger Sloman
Dancers
Laura Caldow, Nuno Campos, Tommy Franzen, Omar Gordon, Anthony Kurt-Gabel, Caroline Lynn, Maurizio Montis, Sarah Stoner
Photos: Alastair Muir