THE NEW LONDON OPERA GROUP
THE NEW LONDON OPERA GROUP
presents
Trial by Jury
&
Scenes from the Savoy Operas:
The Gondoliers (Opening Scene)
Patience (Act I Finale)
The Yeomen of the Guard (Act I Finale)
Libretti by WS Gilbert
Music by Arthur Sullivan
There will be one interval of 20 minutes
Sue Foister (1964 - 2007)
This evening’s concert is dedicated to the memory of Sue Foister, one of the founding directors of the New London Opera Group, who sadly died on 3rd November 2007, after a long illness.
For all those who experienced her performances, either sharing the stage or in the audience, Sue will be remembered as a true stage animal. Her boundless stage presence lit up many a production in a huge variety of roles. In the realm of Gilbert and Sullivan Sue managed to bridge the great divide by moving from the principal soprano roles (including the challenging title role in Princess Ida) to the familiar “old bags” of her later years. In the first newLOG summer tour to Louth (The Mikado in 2004), Sue gave an incredible and truly unforgettable portrayal of Katisha. When newLOG was founded in 2003, Sue was invited to join the board of directors and brought her considerable experience of performing and directing to bear during the first years of the group. In addition to Katisha, she also appeared in the first ever newLOG concert of G&S and was an enthusiastic chorus member in the two Christmas concerts of Rutland Boughton’s Bethlehem and Michael Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl. Sadly, the latter turned out to be her final performance.
All those who knew her will attest to Sue’s incredible generosity and remarkable skill at catering. When newLOG gave its first performance in Louth, Sue undertook to provide lunch and created the most miraculous picnic, including a vast game pie and a whole salmon en croute, all apparently conjured from nowhere. She was a true and faithful friend to so many of her fellow performers and never failed to engage with new company members and encourage new talent. She will be greatly missed by her many devoted friends.
Sue Foister (left) as the Fairy Queen in Iolanthe. ULOG 2003
Company
Sally Avery Tony Bannister
Nicky Berkley David Bignell
Chris Cann Fay Carradine
James Chadburn Juliet Crissell
Alan Doherty Kathy Draxlbauer
Anne Duncan Livia Farkas
Virginia Frith Michael Hall
Philip Hayes Robert Jeffrey
Tanya Knowles Sarah Logan
Jeremy Longley Nicole Oppler
Debora Parkinson Jamie Patterson
David Phipps-Davis Claire Pooley
Miriam Robertson Graham Rogers
Joanna Soane Ian Stirling
Eirian Walsh Atkins Kirsti Whitlocke
Pianist: Paul Guinery
Production Credits
Concert Devised by: Graham Rogers & Chris Cann
Musical Direction: Graham Rogers
Rehearsal Pianists: David Bignell, Clive Pollard & Tim Roe
Poster Design: Tony Bannister
Programme: Chris Cann
Front of House: Steve Greenwood, Bob Vaughan
& Robin Avery
The Gondoliersor The King of Barataria
(First performed at the Savoy Theatre, 1889)
Act I - Opening Scene
Conductor Graham Rogers
Fiametta Fay Carradine
Vittoria Eirian Walsh Atkins
Tessa Nicole Oppler
Gianetta Sally Avery
Antonio James Chadburn
Francesco Tony Bannister
Giorgio Jamie Patterson
Marco David Phipps-Davis
Giuseppe David Bignell
Chorus of Contadine and Gondoliers
Nicky Berkley, Chris Cann, Juliet Crissell, Alan Doherty, Kathy Draxlbauer, Anne Duncan, Livia Farkas, Virginia Frith, Michael Hall, Philip Hayes, Robert Jeffrey, Tanya Knowles, Sarah Logan, Jeremy Longley, Debora Parkinson, Claire Pooley, Miriam Robertson, Joanna Soane, Ian Stirling, Kirsti Whitlocke
Synopsis
On the Piazzetta in Venice, the contadine (village girls) have brought their roses to market and bind them into posies for sale (“List and learn”). However, their minds are not on their work. They prefer to think of the two handsome gondoliers, Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri, with whom they are all in love. The other gondoliers, led by Antonio, are jealous of this attention and vainly try to woo the maidens themselves (“For the merriest fellows are we”).
Marco and Giuseppe arrive (“Buon’ giorno, signorine”) and introduce themselves in the sparkling duet “We’re called Gondolieri”. They announce that they have decided to choose their brides from among the contadine. However, in order that no hint of bias can be attached to their choice, they decide that the fairest means of doing so is a game of Blind Man’s Buff. Their eyes are bound with scarves and in the course of the game Marco catches Gianetta whilst Giuseppe catches Tessa. All seems set fair and everyone dances off to the double wedding (“Thank you, gallant gondolieri”).
Patience or Bunthorne’s Bride
(First performed at the Opéra Comique, 1881)
Act I finale
Conductor Graham Rogers
The Lady Angela (A rapturous maiden) Nicole Oppler
The Lady Ella (A rapturous maiden) Sally Avery
The Lady Saphir (A rapturous maiden) Eirian Walsh Atkins
The Lady Jane (A rapturous maiden) Kirsti Whitlocke
Colonel Calverley James Chadburn
Major Murgatroyd Tony Bannister
Lieutenant, the Duke of Dunstable Philip Hayes
Reginald Bunthorne (A fleshly poet) Chris Cann
Patience (A dairy maid) Joanna Soane
Archibald Grosvenor (An idyllic poet) David Bignell
Chorus of Rapturous Maidens and Officers of Dragoon Guards
Nicky Berkley, Fay Carradine, Juliet Crissell, Alan Doherty, Kathy Draxlbauer, Anne Duncan, Livia Farkas, Virginia Frith, Michael Hall, Robert Jeffrey, Tanya Knowles, Sarah Logan, Jeremy Longley, Debora Parkinson, Jamie Patterson, David Phipps-Davis, Claire Pooley, Miriam Robertson, Ian Stirling
Synopsis
The aesthetic poet Reginald Bunthorne is madly loved by twenty lovesick maidens who have deserted their former dragoon guard fiancés to pursue him. However, Bunthorne has eyes only for Patience, the humble village milkmaid. She, however, is not interested and rejects him. The maidens arrive in procession leading a dejected Bunthorne (“Let the merry cymbals sound”). He announces that, as Patience has refused his suit, he will offer himself up as a raffle prize, to the delight of the maidens and the fury of the dragoons. The regimental adjutant, the Duke of Dunstable, pleads in vain for the maidens to return to their former fiancés (“Your maiden hearts, ah, do not steel”) as Bunthorne sells his raffle tickets. The maidens all pray that they will win the raffle (“Oh, Fortune, to my aching heart be kind”). However, just as Lady Jane is about to draw the winner, Patience rushes in and announces that she will now accept Bunthorne. There is consternation at this, but Patience explains that love is an unselfish emotion and to love such a person as Bunthorne must surely be the embodiment of unselfishness. Bunthorne is delighted, but the maidens are distraught. They seek consolation by returning to their old loves (“I hear the soft note”). Everyone pairs up most happily until the arrival of the rival poet, Archibald Grosvenor. On discovering that he is also an aesthete, the maidens desert the dragoons and mob Grosvenor, much to the horror of everyone else, including Grosvenor himself.
The Yeomen of the Guard or
The Merryman and his Maid
(First performed at the Savoy Theatre, 1888)
Act I Finale
Conductor Graham Rogers
Sergeant Meryll (of the Yeomen of the Guard) Michael Hall
Colonel Fairfax (disguised as his son, Leonard) Philip Hayes
1st Yeoman Tony Bannister
2nd Yeoman Alan Doherty
Phoebe Meryll (Sergeant Meryll’s daughter) Kirsti Whitlocke
Wilfred Shadbolt (head jailer & assistant tormenter) Chris Cann
Elsie Maynard (a strolling player) Livia Farkas
Jack Point (a strolling player) David Phipps Davis
Sir Richard Cholmondeley (Lieutenant of the Tower) Jamie Patterson
Dame Carruthers (Housekeeper of the Tower) Nicole Oppler
Chorus of Yeomen and Populace
Sally Avery, Nicky Berkley, David Bignell, Fay Carradine, James Chadburn, Juliet Crissell, Kathy Draxlbauer, Anne Duncan, Virginia Frith, Robert Jeffrey, Tanya Knowles, Sarah Logan, Jeremy Longley, Debora Parkinson, Claire Pooley, Miriam Robertson, Joanna Soane, Ian Stirling, Eirian Walsh Atkins
Synopsis
Colonel Fairfax has been condemned to death charge of sorcery trumped up by a jealous relative who hoped to inherit his estates. In order to thwart this, Fairfax contracted a blindfold marriage with the strolling player, Elsie Maynard, who would inherit the estate on his execution. However, this is not the only plot concerning the Colonel. His old friend, Sergeant Meryll, together with his daughter, Phoebe (who is in love with Fairfax), spring the Colonel from his cell and aim to pass him off as Meryll’s son, Leonard, until the expected pardon arrives from the King.
As the finale begins, the Yeomen greet the arrival of Leonard Meryll, who has been made a Yeoman in honour of his brave deeds in battle (“Oh, Sergeant Meryll, is it true”). Fairfax, now disguised as Leonard, gives an account of his career and is hailed as a hero. Phoebe enters with her erstwhile fiancé, Wilfred Shadbolt. She greets the Colonel fondly as her ‘brother’. Wilfred, not suspecting that Phoebe loves Fairfax, entrusts her to his care and all celebrate this reunion (“To thy fraternal care”). At the height of the celebrations, the funeral bell begins to toll and the populace enters with the Headsman (“The prisoner comes to meet his doom”). Fairfax and two Yeomen go to fetch the condemned man. However, they quickly return with the news that he has escaped. General consternation follows and the Lieutenant offers 100 crowns reward for his recapture, dead or alive. Everyone races madly off to raise the hue and cry (“All frenzied with despair they rave”).
Trial by Jury
(First performed at the Royalty Theatre, 1875)
Conductor David Bignell
Angelina (the Plaintiff) Joanna Soane
Edwin (the Defendant) Chris Cann
The Learned Judge David Phipps Davis
Counsel for the Plaintiff Graham Rogers
Usher James Chadburn
Foreman of the Jury Tony Bannister
Chorus of Lawyers, Jurymen, Bridesmaids and Spectators
Sally Avery, Nicky Berkley, Fay Carradine, Juliet Crissell, Alan Doherty, Kathy Draxlbauer, Anne Duncan, Livia Farkas, Virginia Frith, Michael Hall, Philip Hayes, Robert Jeffrey, Tanya Knowles, Sarah Logan, Jeremy Longley, Nicole Oppler, Debora Parkinson, Jamie Patterson, Claire Pooley, Miriam Robertson, Ian Stirling, Eirian Walsh Atkins, Kirsti Whitlocke
Synopsis
Angelina is suing her former fiancé, Edwin, for breach of promise of marriage. The spectators and lawyers are gathering for the trial (“Hark the hour of ten is sounding”) and the Usher gives the Jury a highly partisan lecture on the importance of impartiality (“Now jurymen hear my advice”). Edwin, the defendant enters and braves the storm of disgust from the mob to give an account of his actions (“When first me old, old love I knew”). This goes some way to mollifying the Jury who remember their own wild youths (“Oh I was like that when a lad”). The Judge makes his entrance and proceeds to give an account of his rather shady legal career (“When I, good friends, was called to the bar”). The Jury are sworn in and the Plaintiff is summoned. Angelina enters (“Comes the broken flower”), still in her bridal outfit and both Judge and Jury are instantly smitten. Her Counsel opens proceedings with an account of Edwin’s behaviour (“With a sense of deep emotion”) and he succeeds in whipping the Jury and gallery into a frenzy of indignation against Edwin. Edwin counters with a description of his carefree attitude to life (“Oh, gentlemen, listen, I pray”), ending with an offer to marry Angelina today and his new love tomorrow. The Judge thinks that this might be a possible solution, but the Counsel will have none of it, denouncing the suggestion as “burglaree”. Proceedings have reached an impasse and all pause to take stock of the situation (“A nice dilemma”). A bitter row erupts between Angelina and Edwin, who claims that he would have made a terrible husband, and that, when drunk, he would “thrash and kick” his wife. The Judge suggests that this assertion is tested by getting Edwin drunk there and then, but this provokes a furore of objections. The Judge, at the end of his tether, vows to resolve the case once and for all and announces that he will marry Angelina himself. All seem satisfied with this solution (“Oh joy unbounded”) and acclaim the Judge as “a good judge too”.
The Soul of Wit
Chris Cann looks at the background to Trial by Jury.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius coins the familiar phrase “brevity is the soul of wit”. In the theatre, there are few works that embody this idea better than the miniature 40-minute gem Trial by Jury, the second collaboration of WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, the first produced by Richard D’Oyly Carte and their first great success.
Gilbert and Sullivan were first introduced by a mutual friend, Frederic Clay in 1869, at a time when Gilbert had all but abandoned his career as a barrister to become an established playwright and humourist, notably with the Bab Ballads (his childhood nickname was “Bab”), published in the magazine Fun. Sullivan, meanwhile, was the doyen of the London musical establishment having already composed some significant serious music, including the symphony, ’cello concerto and his incidental music for The Tempest. However, in 1866 Sullivan had composed a one-act comic opera, Cox and Box, with verses by F.C. Burnand, the editor of Punch. It was a considerable success and marked the young Sullivan (he was only 22 years old) out as a man of the theatre. Throughout the late 1860s, each man was developing a burgeoning career in the theatre, Gilbert with his plays and burlesques (including Ages Ago which featured a gallery of animated portraits, an idea later re-used in Ruddigore, and The Princess which was later adapted into Princess Ida), and Sullivan with a second operetta with Burnand: The Contrabandista.
The man who eventually harnessed their joint talents was John Hollingshead proprietor of the Gaiety Theatre, famous for its risqué low burlesques. For the 1871 Christmas season Hollingshead commissioned a musical entertainment from Gilbert and Sullivan, resulting in their first collaboration: Thespis or The Gods Grown Old, which ran for 63 performances. Traditionally, Thespis was seen as a failure, but revisionists have modified this verdict, pointing out that it was very much a seasonal piece d’occasion and that it managed to outrun most of the other works on offer in London that year. Although Thespis was in a very different genre to the later Savoy Operas, there are some similarities in the topsy-turviness of Gilbert’s plot in which a troupe of actors swap places with the Olympian gods (a device echoed in the last collaboration The Grand Duke). By all accounts Sullivan’s score also included many sparkling parodies of the standard grand operatic repertoire. Sadly, it is impossible for us to be certain of this as the score (with a few exceptions) has been lost for over a century.
What is certain is that, after Thespis, neither Gilbert nor Sullivan was clamouring for another immediate collaboration. It was not until 1875 that the impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte brought them back together. Carte had leased the Royalty Theatre in Soho, where he was proposing to stage Offenbach’s La Périchole. However, the work was deemed too short for a full evening’s entertainment and he approached Gilbert for a filler piece. Gilbert immediately took out a libretto that he had written the previous year, based on one of his humourous pieces for Fun, written in 1868 and prophetically titled Trial by Jury: An Operetta. Carte liked the libretto and suggested Sullivan as the man to set it. Sullivan was also smitten by the scenario and the whole work was written and rehearsed in a matter of a few weeks, being premiered on March 25th 1875, concluding a triple bill with La Périchole and the absurdly titled Cryptoconchoidsyphonostomata.
The opera was an immediate success and audiences were soon flocking to enjoy Trial by Jury, rather than the Offenbach. The leading performers, including Nelly Bromley as the Plaintiff and Sullivan’s brother Fred (right) as the Judge became great stars and the successful opening run continued at the Opéra Comique and Royal Strand Theatre until May 1877, by which time it had reached nearly 300 performances and had also received its US premiere. Since that opening run Trial by Jury has been consistently performed, usually as a companion piece to one of the shorter Savoy Operas (generally The Sorcerer or HMS Pinafore) and has been professionally recorded no fewer than 14 times. It also holds the distinction of being the only Savoy Opera in which WS Gilbert himself appeared, in the silent role of the Associate (Defence Counsel) in a series of charity performances in the early 1900s.
The libretto of Trial by Jury is very tautly constructed and zips along at a fast pace. Gilbert’s 1868 piece for Fun contains just the bare bones of the plot, and only the opening chorus and Counsel’s song exist in their full versions. The Defendant does not appear at all and the Judge has only one short speech before his proposal to Angelina. From this, Gilbert fashioned his libretto, including the guitar-playing rake, Edwin; the Judge who has committed the same offence himself; and the Plaintiff, who arrives in full bridal dress escorted by her bridesmaids. The Judge’s famous autobiographical song is the first in a long line of such patter songs and includes a reference to the “elderly ugly” female who in later years became the Lady Janes and Katishas of the Savoy Operas. The character of Angelina is interesting in that, despite her apparent status as innocent victim, she is, in fact interested only in the damages that she intends to claim from Edwin and openly sings that “I am no unhappy maid”.
Sullivan’s score sparkles from beginning to end and includes some glorious musical characterisation, from the lugubrious Jurymen singing “Oh, I was like that when a lad” to the carefree Defendant accompanying himself on his guitar. The entrance of the Judge is accompanied by pompous block chords straight out of a Handel oratorio, followed by a charming miniature fugue for the chorus. The score has a marvellous arc to it, climaxing with the great ensemble “A nice dilemma”. This elicited another of Sullivan’s best musical parodies, in this case of the overblown, multi-part finales of Italian bel canto operas. The idea of the principals (particularly the tenor and soprano) singing long flowing legato lines over a ¾ accompaniment by the chorus is taken directly from the first act finale of Bellini’s La Sonnambula, and even the melody is similar.
It is a tribute to Trial by Jury that it set the partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan, together with D’Oyly Carte, on its way for the next 21 years. There are few, if any, other British operatic works from the period that hold their place on the stage so well, so enjoy this little gem and acknowledge it as “a good job, too”.
Cast Biographies
Tony Bannister (Francesco / Yeoman / Major Murgatroyd / Foreman of the Jury)
This is Tony’s eighth newLOG production. Previous roles with the company include Pish-Tush (The Mikado), an angel in Bethlehem, and chorus in The Bohemian Girl, The Pirates of Penzance, Patience, Iolanthe and Ruddigore. With ULOG he appeared as Scynthius in Princess Ida, Marcel in Divorce Me, Darling,the Emcee in Movie Star! and Bert in Cinderella. He designed the set for Patience earlier this year, and has provided technical assistance to all of newLOG’s spring concerts in Louth.
Elsewhere, he appeared as Innocent in the British premiere of Ivona, Princess of Burgundy andthe Capuchin in Cyrano de Bergerac (both Theatre Royal, Plymouth), as Jonas Fogg in Sweeney Todd (Crimson House Productions at the Electric Theatre, Guildford) as Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Frenzic Theatre at the House of St Barnabas-in-Soho), and as Rusty Charlie in Guys and Dolls (George Wood Theatre). TV includes presenting Human Rights, Human Wrongs (Channel 4).
Nicky Berkley (Chorus)
Nicky has finally migrated back down South for the winter, having spent four wonderful years singing in operettas and going to the odd lecture up in Manchester! Nicky is thrilled to have found such a lovely group as newLOG to fill the Gilbert and Sullivan shaped hole in her life, and is looking forward to singing in her first concert with them tonight.
David Bignell (Giuseppe / Grosvenor / Chorus / Conductor - Trial by Jury)
David Bignell studied music at the University of York, and subsequently at the Royal College of Music, where he gained a masters degree in advanced performance. He has been associated with newLOG for several years, though this is the first time he has joined the ranks of the singers, and his appearance tonight in the roles of Giuseppe, Grosvenor and “Guy with back to audience waving hands” marks the epoch-making zenith of a stellar musical career which has seen artistic triumph in such far flung reaches of the globe as San Francisco and Millom, Cumbria. Trained as a classical violinist, David supplements the enormous income this brings in by moonlighting as a jazz pianist, country fiddler, and full-time software developer. He just bought a banjo but has no idea how it works.
Chris Cann (Bunthorne / Wilfred Shadbolt / The Defendant / Chorus)
Chris has performed in all the extant Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Principal roles include Judge (Trial by Jury), Alexis (The Sorcerer), Major-General Stanley (The Pirates of Penzance), Bunthorne and Lady Jane [!] (Patience) Lord Chancellor, Lord Mountararat, Strephon and Private Willis (Iolanthe), Cyril (Princess Ida), Pooh-Bah (The Mikado), Dick Dauntless and Sir Despard Murgatroyd (Ruddigore), Duke of Plaza-Toro and Don Alhambra (The Gondoliers), King Paramount (Utopia Limited) and Ludwig (The Grand Duke). Chris has directed productions for the University of London Opera Group, New London Opera Group and the Centenary Opera Company. Productions include The Sorcerer, HMS Pinafore, Iolanthe, Princess Ida, The Mikado and Ruddigore as well as concerts of G&S, Viennese and French operetta at the Riverhead Theatre, Louth. At Holy Trinity Chris has produced acclaimed concert performances of Rutland Boughton’s Bethlehem (2005), in which he also sang the roles of Jem the Shepherd and Zarathustra the Wise Man; and Michael Balfe’s beautiful romantic opera The Bohemian Girl (2006).
Fay Carradine (Fiametta / Chorus)
This evening’s concert is a both ‘a blast from the past’ and an opportunity to learn some new G&S music for Fay. Trial by Jury was her first encounter with Gilbert and Sullivan at the age of 14 and she is very much looking forward to revisiting her youth by singing it again. Patience is also providing a memorable sing, having performed in it with the King’s College G&S society in 2001 and stage-managing newLOG’s production in Louth this summer. The Yeomen of the Guard and The Gondoliers are two of the three G&S operettas in which Fay has not yet performed (Utopia Limited being the third) and she has welcomed the opportunity to learn some of their most dramatic and lively music. She is particularly pleased to be singing the role of Fiametta in The Gondoliers.
James Chadburn (Antonio / Colonel Calverley / Usher / Chorus)
This is James’ first newLOG concert performance, although he has appeared with the company in the Louth summer productions – most recently as Major Murgatroyd in Patience earlier this year. He is delighted with his promotion to Colonel for this evening, and has also had immense fun learning the roles of the Usher in Trial by Jury and Antonio in The Gondoliers. He is also currently rehearsing Pooh-Bah in The Mikado with Imperial Productionsand Reginald Bunthorne in Patience for King’s College London G&S Society. In addition to the Savoy Operas, he is a baritone chorister in Southwark Cathedral’s Merbecke Choir and has just started rehearsals for the King’s Alumni Theatre Society production of Lorca’s Blood Wedding.
Juliet Crissell (Chorus)
Since joining the society as a UCL student in 1999, Juliet has been working her way slowly but steadily through the G&S repertoire. She is now a student once more, this time studying for an MSc in Physiotherapy at King’s College, London, and is delighted to be able still to get her fix of light operetta …. and, of course, to be provided with opportunities for extravagant facial expressions and wild gestures without fear of arrest. Thank you newLOG!
Alan Doherty (Yeoman / Chorus)
Alan cut his teeth on the stage in the title role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and has been seeking another eager female audience to impress ever since. In the North East he performed and directed regularly, including learning how to take a custard pie in the chops without flinching through many a panto season. Since coming South he has performed with Imperial Opera, joined the glamorous ranks of the Imperial Male Voice Choir and also sung with newLOG and Skolia.
Livia Farkas (Elsie Maynard / Chorus)
Livia was born in Ozd in northern Hungary, the land of Bull’s Blood, the great Hungarian red wine. She began her vocal training in Budapest with Palma Morvay and later joined the Hungarian Society of Dance and Musical Art. She has trained with various singing teachers in Italy and New York . She was a student of musicianship at the Bela Bartok Centre, London. She now studies singing with Philip Doghan.In 2007 she joined the opera performance course in Birkbeck College University of London.
Livia has appeared in several concerts in Hungary and school performances as a soloist, singing Mozart, Pergolesi and Franz Lehar. This is her second appearance with newLOG after taking part in the summer tour of Patience in Louth this year.
Virginia Frith (Chorus)
Tonight is Virginia’s first performance with newLOG. She is pleased to be juggling G&S with her current enrolment in the Birkbeck College Opera Foundation Course. Previous roles include Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance) and Ida (Die Fledermaus). She has enjoyed chorus parts in Iolanthe, Cavalleria Rusticana, and Les Miserables. Virginia has trained with the Sydney annex of Mamet’s New York Atlantic Theatre School and with the Sydney Dance Company.
Paul Guinery (Pianist)
Paul Guinery studied the piano and organ at the Royal College of Music in London, where he was made an ARCM; he then went on to take a degree in Modern Languages at Oxford before joining the BBC in 1980. Paul performs regularly with the wind quintet Harmoniemusik including their annual chamber-music festival at St Columb, in Cornwall. The group has now released a second CD and toured recently in France, Belgium and Germany. For several years Paul was an announcer and newsreader for the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 3 where he specialised in presenting music programmes. He’s been under the spell of Gilbert and Sullivan since the age of nine and so was delighted to find kindred spirits in newLOG: he has now worked happily with them on several previous productions.
Michael Hall (Sergeant Meryll / Chorus)
Michael is a trainee actuary in Croydon. Someone has to be. He read physics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, appearing in over twenty theatrical productions, including Patience, Iolanthe, Princess Ida, The Mikado (Minack Theatre), 42nd Street, Racing Demon, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Marat/Sade, Maschinist Hopkins (Queen Elizabeth Hall), Copacabana, Twelfth Night, West Side Story and As You Like It. He sang with his college chapel choir for a year, and joined the chorus of British Youth Opera in 2001 for their production of The Yeomen of the Guard. He has performed at four Edinburgh Fringes, playing the title role in An Evening With Joe – Stalin the Musical in 2003: that same year he was a contestant on the BBC’s revival of Treasure Hunt. This year, he joined the Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association, and appeared as Steve in A Streetcar Named Desire, and as Moose in Crazy For You. This is Michael’s first appearance with newLOG.
Philip Hayes (Colonel Fairfax / Lieutenant, the Duke of Dunstable / Chorus)
Philip was a member of the University of London Opera Group for several years, roles including the Defendant (Trial by Jury), the Duke (Patience), Lord Tolloller (Iolanthe) and Cyril (Princess Ida). With newLOG he has taken part in the concert performances of Bethlehem and The Bohemian Girl, and this year’s La Vie Parisiènne and Patience in Louth. Recent performances with other societies include Jupiter in Semele (Handel) with Aylesbury Opera Group and the Earl of Essex in Gloriana (Britten) with Brent Opera. Plans for 2008 include The Count Ory (Rossini) with Aylesbury, Wilhelm Meister in Mignon (Thomas) with Brent, and Arbace in Idomeneo (Mozart) with Hampstead Garden Opera.
He also enjoys choral singing, both as chorus and soloist. Recent and forthcoming solos include the Negro Spirituals from Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, Handel’s Messiah, Janacek’s Otcenas (The Lord’s Prayer), Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and CPE Bach’s Magnificat.
Philip works as a VAT accountant with KPMG.
Robert Jeffrey (Chorus)
Having originally trained as a hairdresser, Robert’s talent for singing eventually encouraged him to abandon his scissors for the stage. He sang in the acclaimed European premiere of Carmen Jones at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield; his portrayal of Slim ‘The Good Cook’ in Britten’s Paul Bunyan with Morley Opera earned him the accolade “A natural creature of the stage” (Rodney Milnes, Financial Times). Robert has also toured with Pavilion Opera covering the small tenor roles in The Tales of Hoffmann and chorus in Il Trovatore. He has also appeared with British Youth Opera in Eugene Onegin and Don Giovanni in 2006 and Pegasus Opera in Koanga (Delius) at Sadlers Wells. Robert has also completed his ninth year with Opera Holland Park in one the most successful seasons to date, appearing in Nabucco, La Traviata, Jenufa and L’Amore dei tre Re.
Tanya Knowles (Chorus)
Tanya first caught the G&S bug in 2003 after being dragged to the initial meeting for a production of The Grand Duke by Imperial College Opera. Since then she has taken part in a number of their musical productions including Personals, Anything Goes, Kiss Me, Kate, Chess and Babes in Arms. This is Tanya’s third performance with newLOG since joining the cast of The Mikado for the 2004 Summer Tour. The following year she was also found in the chorus of The Pirates of Penzance and is thrilled to be returning for this concert. During the day, Tanya is usually found at the Natural History Museum where she is in the final year of her PhD.
Sarah Logan (Chorus)
Sarah has been a member of the chorus since 2005, when she appeared in The Pirates of Penzance. Since then she has joined the female chorus for Bethlehem in 2005, Ruddigore in 2006 and this summer’s tour of Patience. Sarah has also appeared in Oklahoma! with the Epsom Light Opera Company. Sarah’s previous theatrical experience has centred on the production of medical revues with the self-styled Hereford Hospital Players, and a choral work with ULU Chorus and the Hereford and Banstead Choral Singers.
Jeremy Longley (Chorus)
Prior to this evening, Jeremy’s exposure to the world of operetta has been in the audience or in the orchestra pit. Sadly Sullivan’s neglect to write an electric bass guitar part for any of his shows has, on this occasion, forced Jeremy to climb out of the pit and remember how his vocal chords work, an experience he is somewhat surprised to be enjoying!
Nicole Oppler (Tessa / Lady Angela / Dame Carruthers / Chorus)
Nicole studied English Literature at Durham University and Opera at Birkbeck College, where she graduated from the Diploma course in 2006. Previous roles include Second Witch (Dido and Aeneas)for Minotaur Music Theatre, Annio (La Clemenza di Tito),Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte) and Prince Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus) for Opera Express and Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia) while atBirkbeck College. She has since sung Tisbe (La Cenerentola),Nicklaus (Les Contes d'Hoffmann) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro)with Ad Hoc Opera, as well as Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance), Lady Angela (Patience), Katisha (The Mikado) and the Duchess of Plaza-Toro (The Gondoliers). Nicole is currently studying with Paula Anglin.
Debora Parkinson (Chorus)
Debora Parkinson joined newLOG’s predecessor ULOG in 1999, for The Gondoliers. Initially a devoted member, she is now severely lapsed but is delighted to be singing in tonight’s concert, her second appearance with newLOG after Bethlehem in 2005.
Jamie Patterson (Giorgio / Sir Richard Cholmondeley / Chorus)
Jamie returns for tonight’s concert performance having become something of a newLOG veteran, appearing in the chorus in an unfamiliar bass voice in the company’s productions of The Pirates of Penzance, Patience, The Mikado and Ruddigore in Louth as well as last year’s concert performance of The Bohemian Girl. Jamie can be found purveying his more natural voice as a countertenor Lay Clerk at Ealing Abbey on Sunday mornings as well as appearing in the odd other venue as and when the call arrives.
David Phipps-Davis (Marco / Jack Point / Judge / Chorus)
David trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has played numerous roles, including Alexis in the British Premier of Cole Porter’s Silk Stockings as part of the Lost Musicals™ series at the Sadlers Wells Theatre. This year he returned to Sadlers Wells to appear as Etienne in Can-Can. Other appearances this year include Emperor Altuom in Dorset Opera’s production of Turandot. As director David has staged numerous productions of plays, musicals and revues, and as a singer he has worked on cruise ships on three continents. He is also one of the UK’s most critically acclaimed pantomime dames, this year appearing in Cinderella at The Camberley Theatre. Previous G&S roles include the three he is playing tonight, plus John Wellington Wells (The Sorcerer), Major-General Stanley (The Pirates of Penzance), the Lord Chancellor (Iolanthe), Ko-Ko (The Mikado) Sir Despard Murgatroyd (Ruddigore) and Ernest Dummkopf (The Grand Duke).
Claire Pooley (Chorus)
Claire is delighted to be able to sing in the chorus again this year in her fourth newLOG production. Previous roles have included hiding in the chorus on numerous occasions and occasionally being called upon to scream very loudly! Claire is currently training to be a primary school teacher, so if one of the ladies’ chorus appears to be asleep that will be her!
Graham Rogers (Musical Director / Conductor / Counsel for the Plaintiff)
A devotee of Gilbert & Sullivan, Graham’s many roles include Dick Deadeye (HMS Pinafore), Grosvenor (Patience), Strephon and Private Willis (Iolanthe), Florian (Princess Ida), Ko-Ko and the eponymous Mikado of Japan, Robin Oakapple (Ruddigore), and the Prince of Monte Carlo (The Grand Duke). Other recent roles include Count Arnheim in newLOG’s performance of Balfe’s romantic opera The Bohemian Girl here at Holy Trinity last Christmas; Dave the Shepherd and Merlin the Wise Man in Rutland Boughton’s nativity opera Bethlehem in 2005; and Mr. Cox in Sullivan’s Cox and Box with newLOG at the Riverhead Theatre, Louth. Other Louth performances include A Viennese Soirée and La Vie Parisiènne. As Musical Director, Graham has conducted newLOG performances of The Pirates of Penzance (2005) and Ruddigore (2006). Graham works for BBC Radio 3, and also writes on music: he has contributed a number of entries to the newly published book 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die, available now from all good bookshops!
Miriam Robertson (Chorus)
Miriam is delighted to be taking part in a concert that includes so many items from several Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. She is delighted to sing with everyone again! Her previous roles have included Cousin Hebe in HMS Pinafore, Edith in The Pirates of Penzance, and Ruth in Ruddigore.
Joanna Soane (Patience / The Plaintiff / Chorus)
Joanna studied singing at Trinity College of Music and the Royal College of Music. She is currently studying with Philip Doghan. Joanna started her career as a mezzo-soprano, roles including Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro) Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Jenny Diver (The Beggars Opera) and the title role in Iolanthe for the Buxton International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival. Since re-training as a soprano Joanna has played the role of Lidoshka in Shostakovich’s opera Cheryomushki, Angelina (Trial by Jury) and Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance)for Grim’s Dyke Opera. This year she sang Violetta (La Traviata)in Taunton, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) in London and a series of opera concerts for the Verona Arena Foundation in Italy. In oratorio, Joanna has sung most of the main repertoire. Recent concerts include Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with the Erato Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem, and Mass in C Minor, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. Joanna made her newLOG debut in the title role of Patience on this summer’s Louth tour and is delight to reprise the role this evening.
Eirian Walsh Atkins (Vittoria / Lady Saphir / Chorus)
Eirian has been performing in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas since her arrival at university in the last century. She would like to point out she has not yet managed to perform in Utopia Limited or The Grand Duke on stage, but has done Iolanthe four times, Ruddigore three times, The Mikado twice and all of the others at least once. She will be performing in The Mikado for a third time in Budleigh Salterton in a fortnight. Sometimes she wonders where it all went wrong.
Kirsti Whitlocke (Phoebe Meryll / Lady Jane / Chorus)
A graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Kirsti has performed
principal roles with a number of opera companies. She has performed the roles of Hebe, (HMS Pinafore), Fleta (Iolanthe) and Pitti-Sing (The Mikado) for the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Savoy Theatre in London. Other roles include Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus) and Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) for the 4MBS Festival of Fine Music. For Opera Australia Kirsti sang the roles of Giacinta in the Australian première of Mozart’s La finta semplice and Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. As a concert artist Kirsti has appeared with The Sydney Symphony Orchestra at The Sydney Opera House Concert Hall and in recital for the Bach, Mozart and Schubert Societies of Australia. Kirsti made her newLOG debut in the A Night at the Savoy, at the Riverhead Theatre, Louth in March 2006, returning as Mad Margaret in Ruddigore and in this year’s successful evening of French operetta. She also sang the role of the villainous Gipsy Queen in last December’s concert performance of Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl.