Media
“No overflowing orchestra or grandiloquent staging :
a single piano, under the fingers of Bryan Evans, was enough to convey all the vitality and gravity of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s score.
The deliberately pared-down staging left room for voices, glances, and breaths. So close to the audience, the singers created a warm dialogue in which opera ceased to be a demonstration and became a shared experience.”
Felix Magazine
Biography
Diva Opera was founded in 1996 by Anne Marabini Young and Bryan Evans and has now established itself as one of the leading chamber-opera companies in the UK. This success stems from its exceptionally high-quality productions, which bring together artists, directors, and designers from some of the world’s most prestigious opera houses, while also showcasing young singers among the most talented of their generation.
Each year, Diva Opera gives more than 50 performances throughout France, Switzerland, the Channel Islands, and Great Britain. For several years, the company toured with the international tenor José Carreras, and in March 2004 it had the honour of performing Rossini’s La Cenerentola at La Fenice in Venice.
Diva Opera is regularly invited to major festivals including the Les Azuriales Opera Festival (Cannes and Nice), Festival de la Vézère, Nuits Musicales en Vendée Romane, Été Musical de Dijon, Heures Musicales du Haut Anjou, Semaines Musicales de Quimper, Labeaume en Musique Festival, Nuits de la Citadelle Festival (Sisteron), Yvelines Festival, Théâtre de l’Olivier (Istres), Pin Galant (Mérignac), Domaine des Vaux (Jersey), Whittaker Hall (Guernsey), and Théâtre du Passage (Neuchâtel).
Diva Opera also gives numerous performances in support of charitable fundraising initiatives, including Hope and Homes for Children, British Red Cross, Children with Leukaemia, Marie Curie Cancer Care, and The Stroke Association.
In concert, Diva Opera has appeared in prestigious venues such as St John’s, Smith Square, and Wigmore Hall in London, in the presence of the Princess Royal, Princess Alexandra, and the Duke of Kent.
For the past 15 years (2010 to the present), the company has continually renewed itself, presenting a wide range of programmes:
Bizet : Carmen •
Donizetti : Lucia di Lammermoor, L’Elisir d’Amore, La Fille du Régiment •
Humperdinck : Hänsel und Gretel •
Mozart : Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflöte, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro •
Puccini : Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème •
Rossini : La Cenerentola, Il Barbiere di Siviglia •
Strauss : Die Fledermaus •
Tchaikovsky : Eugene Onegin •
Offenbach : La Belle Hélène, Orphée aux Enfers, Les Contes d’Hoffmann •
Verdi : La Traviata, Falstaff, Rigoletto
