Summer Concert 2011

Celebrating 40 years of Opera Integra, in the presence
of the Mayor of Hammersmith & Fulham, Cllr Frances Stainton

July 2011

An evening of trios, duets, scenes and choruses, all put into historical context by Brian Galloway's encyclopaedic commentary.

The programme included extracts from:
Der Freischütz (Weber)
Fidelio (Beethoven)
Romeo et Juliet (Gounod)
Don Carlos, Il Trovatore, La Traviata (Verdi)
La Boheme (Puccini)
Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Moïse (Rossini)
Tannhäuser (Wagner)

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The Magic Flute (Mozart)

April 2011

Audience reactions:

"I just wanted to let you know how much my children and I have enjoyed The Magic Flute on the 2nd of April. The performances were outstanding. I felt very engaged and moved by the high quality of both the singing and the acting. I look forward to your next production!"

"Bravo, bravo, bravo ! Once more, OI did a great job! We really enjoyed the performance. The music, of course, and such a clever production."

"The four of us much enjoyed Opera Integra’s performance of The Magic Flute last Friday. It’s a wonderful Songspiel and difficult to bring off successfully, but you did. Congratulations. You also had an excellent Queen of the Night... I particularly liked the four hands at the piano of the overture."

"Congratulations on the Magic Flute. I was there on Friday with friends and we all thought it was fantastic. Very well done!"

"Our family thoroughly enjoyed the performance of The Magic Flute. Our three boys (12, 10 & 8) were entranced by the Queen’s voice and they found The Bird Man to be quite a funny character. My 16yr old niece was also very impressed by the singing and told me how happy she was to have come. (She has had singing lessons herself.) We try to take the opportunities to bring our children to performances such as The Magic Flute and our own Choir’s concerts because the setting is much more intimate than in a big concert hall. The singing was amazing and being so close to the action is such a treat. Please keep us informed of future events.

"I enjoyed the Magic Flute tremendously, I couldn't believe how good you all were!"

NODA report:
This group continues to bring a range of operas to an increasingly appreciative audience. This was no exception; a packed house saw an excellent performance of Mozart’s classic to a warm spring evening in West London. The casting matched the players to the demands of their roles well and the singing was excellent throughout.
This is a company with many experienced players and yet it still attracts a range of new faces regularly. Given the limitations of performing in a church without all the benefits of a custom built theatre, the performance had a real polish. An excellent chorus gave great support to the main players and added considerably to the general atmosphere. Brian Galloway’s musical direction was spot on.
Tony Sweeney, NODA Rep, London Area 3

Summer concert

July 2010

Programme included extracts from:
Alcina (Handel)
Faust (Gounod)
Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck)
La Forza del Destino (Verdi)
Carmen (Bizet)
Manon (Massenet)
Tannhäuser (Wagner)
Lohengrin (Wagner)
Orfeo (Gluck)
Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
Don Carlos (Verdi)
Arabella (Strauss)

Eugene Onegin (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

March 2010

Winner of the NODA Flame Award 2010

Audience reactions:

"You all performed brilliantly. The opera was both very well sung and acted. All of you were totally committed. And enjoying yourselves. Quality plus commitment made it immensely enjoyable for the audience too. The opera was flowing with grace. Most probably the result of hours spent on stage direction. I'm eager to know the name of the next OI opera."

"The opening chorus was sung so beautifully and sounded so Russian that it almost brought tears to my eyes"

"Onegin was the best in almost 40 years of supporting Opera Integra."

"We came to Onegin, our first Opera Integra production; we loved it and we’ll come to your next one".

"We really enjoyed Eugene Onegin and the beautiful costumes brought it more to life. Anna Slavina did well in the lead role, as did you all.

"We both enjoyed Onegin enormously, a real feeling of everyone working together and very powerful. I found myself hoping that somehow Lensky would escape death, in spite of already knowing the outcome."

"The staging was thought out in such minute detail. The director very successfully revealed the subtle undercurrents in the music and the relationships. He showed very well the relationship between Lensky, Olga and Onegin, which brought about such disgrace for the family and heartbreak for Lensky. People sometimes miss giving sufficient emphasis to the downfall Onegin caused through Olga because the honour of the family and purity of a fiancée are concepts somewhat forgotten these days."

NODA report:
This was a superb performance. Well cast, well acted and with exceptional singing throughout. The audience clearly enjoyed it and responded with prolonged applause which was well deserved. The casting was excellent reinforcing the ages of the characters well. This combined with their excellent singing voices made the performance credible and engaging.
Tony Sweeney, NODA Rep, London Area 3

Opera Integra in Concert

at the invitation of The Friends of
Chalfont St. Giles Parish Church

November 2009

Programme included excerpts from:
Don Pasquale (Donizetti)
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni)
Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)

Opera Integra in Concert

July 2009

The programme included excerpts from:
Les Troyens (Berlioz)
Béatrice et Bénédict (Berlioz)
Don Pasquale (Donizetti)
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni)
La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart)
Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss)
Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)

The Merry Wives of Windsor
(Otto Nicholai)

March 2009

A good support cast adding depth to crowd scenes and really coming to the fore in the final scene where Falstaff is tormented by a host of elves... Anthony McCarthy on piano played superbly throughout. This gave a level of sound which suited the venue and complemented the singers perfectly allowing the audience to clearly follow the plot. The sound was amazingly enhanced by the design of the church and the use of the space under an arched roof. The absence of an echo meant the sound of music and voices were blended beautifully given an effect much clearer than using microphones. Brian Galloway conducted both piano and the players keeping a good co-ordinated pace throughout.

Tony Sweeney, NODA Rep

The Tales of Hoffmann (Jaques Offenbach)

April 2008

I was happy to cover this production on behalf of John Huckle as I have been to quite a few of Opera Integra’s offerings in the past few years and always enjoy your productions. This was no exception… this was an entertaining production directed by Michael Gieleta. I’m sure that Brian Galloway had as much enjoyment in rehearsal as he appeared to do whilst conducting; the same must be said for the talented pianist Anthony McCarthy.

The ensemble are there to enjoy themselves whilst stretching their performance abilities. The enjoyment shows so please keep up the good work.

Stephen Macvicar, NODA Rep, London Area 3

Oberon (Carl Maria von Weber)

March 2007

Notable features of this Michael Gieleta production for me were the strong chorus work and significant amount of youthful performers. Opera can sometimes be seen as stuffy and not very accessible for the younger element but they were very much to the fore in this production…  I think the narration, written and performed by John Edmunds was marvellous; his rather dry, whimsical delivery brought much welcome amusement to proceedings.

Congratulations to all members of the cast, production team and the technical team who created a very entertaining evening.

Stephen Macvicar, NODA Rep, London Area 3

Ernani (Guiseppe Verdi)

March 2006

With the workshop format and encouragement offered to both amateurs and aspiring professionals, the society has much to be proud of. Many opera companies have amateur sub principals and choruses but have to hire in the leads. So from this point of view Opera Integra is unique.

Technically, everything was great – the generally simple set, the lights and especially the costumes. The military costumes were particularly effective.

The ensemble worked very hard throughout. There were many faces which were ‘working’ the whole time and this was fantastic to see.

Opera Integra do not, I assum,e have a budget for an orchestra but more than made good with the combined efforts of pianist Andrew McCarthy and conductor Brian Galloway. For more than three hours these two gentlemen gave full concentration and leadership to the ensemble. They were a pleasure to watch.

Stephen Macvicar, NODA Rep, London Area 3

A Masked Ball (Guiseppe Verdi)

March 2005

This production of Verdi's opera was a credit to the Group with its high vocal standards and ability to convey the emotions of the story... The chorus throughout the evening were in fine voice and provided a very sound platform for the telling of the story and from which the principals could perform with confidence. The director [Sarah Chew] ensured that there was a sense of spectacle to the ensemble scenes and pathos to the more intimate ones.

John Huckle, NODA rep

Previous productions include:

2004 Il Trovatore (Verdi)

2003 A Day in the Reign (Verdi)

2002 Atilla (Verdi)

2001 Der Vampyr (Marschner)

2000 Nabucco (Verdi)

1998 Macbeth (Verdi)

1997 Fidelio (Beethoven)

1996 Der Freischutz (Weber)

1995 Faust (Gounod)

1995 Die Fledermaus (Strauss)