Enrique Granados's GOYESCAS Coming to Wallace Collection's Great Gallery

The Grange Festival and Via Brooklyn present Goyescas, the 1915 opera by Enrique Granados, in collaboration with the Wallace Collection. Goyescas will be conducted by Mark Austin, with artistic direction by Michael Chance CBE.

This unique, one-night event will take place in the Wallace Collection's Great Gallery on 11 November 2017.

The evening will feature an introduction from Xavier Bray, Director of the Wallace Collection, and Michael Chance CBE, Artistic Director of The Grange Festival, plus Spanish wines, canapés, and a private view of the Collection's exhibition, El Greco to Goya - Spanish Masterpieces from The Bowes Museum.

The performance features: Filipa van Eck (Rosario), Emma Stannard (Pepa), Alexander Sprague (Fernando), and Grant Doyle (Paquiro).

Chorus Sopranos include: Jennifer Clark, Frances Israel, and Jenny Stafford.

Chorus Mezzos include: Elspeth Marrow, Elizabeth Humphries, and Leila Zanette.

Chorus Tenors include: Will Smith, Daniel Bartlette, and Robert Forrest.

Chorus Bass include: Jevan McAuley, Alistair Ollerenshaw, and Samuel Oram.

With Instrumentals by: Guy Button (violin 1), Tamara Elias (violin 2), Elitsa Bogdanova (viola), Sebastien van Kuijk (cello), and Thomas Ang (piano).

Performances will take place at The Wallace Collection (Hertford House, Manchester Square, Marylebone, London W1U 3BN, UK) on Saturday, 11 November 2017 at 6:30pm. For tickets (£100), go to www.wallacecollection.org/collections/event/9083.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Michael Chance CBE (Artistic Director): Over more than thirty years, Michael Chance has established an international reputation as performer, teacher and director across a broad spectrum of opera, recital, oratorio and recordings.

He has embraced old and new music with equal passion, having notable roles and song cycles written for him by composers from Harrison Birtwistle, Judith Weir and John Tavener, to Richard Rodney Bennett, Tan Dun and Elvis Costello. His range has helped develop the possibilities both for the counter-tenor voice and the interest in and passion for earlier repertoire.

He has made over 150 recordings, with solo albums devoted to composers such as Purcell, Dowland, Bach, Tavener and Vivaldi. His recording of Vivaldi's Stabat Mater was recently chosen in BBC Radio 3's Building a Library. Amongst many international awards for his recordings is a Grammy for his performance in Handel's Semele (with Kathleen Battle and Marilyn Horne). He received a CBE in 2009. Visit thegrangefestival.co.uk/michael-chance for more.

Mark Austin (Conductor): Mark Austin was invited to work on the music staff of the inaugural Grange Festival in 2017, and returns in 2018 as assistant conductor for Il Barbiere di Siviglia . He will be assistant conductor for the Royal Opera's world premiere production of Mark-Anthony Turnage's new opera Coraline in spring 2018 at the Barbican Theatre. Recent opera conducting credits include: Hansel and Gretel (Mercury Theatre), La Traviata , Le Comte Ory (Opera South), Tosca (Musique Cordiale International Festival) and Sweeney Todd (Dartington International Festival).

Mark regularly works as assistant conductor with figures including Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, David Hill and the late Sir Colin Davis, and with orchestras including BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC Proms), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hangzhou Philharmonic, China. He was awarded an International Opera Awards Bursary in 2017.

Mark conducts his own Faust Chamber Orchestra at Kings Place, LSO St Luke's, and West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge and holds the position of Musical Assistant to The Bach Choir. Go to www.mark-austin.net for more.

The Wallace Collection is one of the most significant collections of European fine and decorative arts in the world and the greatest bequest of art ever left to the British Nation. The collection encompasses old master oil paintings from the 14th to the late 19th century including works by Titian, Velázquez, Rubens and Van Dyck, princely arms and armour, and one of the finest collections of French 18th -century art in all media. Learn more at www.wallacecollection.org.

The Grange Festival launched their first season in June 2017and have a permanent home in the glorious neo-classical mansion of The Grange in Hampshire. They have established themselves as an essential player on the opera festival scene. In 2017 their performances of Carmen, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and Albert Herring received superb critical acclaim.

Via Brooklyn is a Brooklyn-based theatre company. With the recent success of their production of The 39 Steps in Southampton, New York, Via Brooklyn is heading to London to partner with the Wallace Collection and The Grange Festival on Goyescas. Via Brooklyn develops theatrical productions, together with interactive programming, to engage communities around the world. Go to www.viabrooklyn.org for more information.

Pictured: Domenikos Theotokopoulos El Greco The Tears of St Peter, 1580-89 © The Bowes Museum