Classical Editor: Rob Barnett                               Music Webmaster Len Mullenger: Len@musicweb.uk.net

BENJAMIN BRITTEN INTERNATIONAL OPERA SCHOOL This season the Royal College of Music launches the Benjamin Britten International Opera School which will devote even greater insight and energy than ever before to cultivating the finest opera singers of the twenty-first century. The School promises to nurture careers which resound with the energy, passion and commitment to opera characterised by our dedicatee and alumnus, Benjamin Britten. With personal training from the best names in the business, including the Heads of Music from both the Royal Opera and English National Opera and inspirational vocalists such as Sarah Walker, Philip Langridge and Sir Thomas Allen, our singers are able to develop individual strengths and interests in directions that are right for them. Our course is tailored to give each voice every possible chance to soar, with concerts, masterclasses and regular roles in sumptuously staged operas, conducted by the likes of Sir Colin Davis. The Royal College of Music's custom-built Britten Theatre (celebrating its fifteenth anniversary in November this year) presents our singers with a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a genuine operatic environment supported by a complete technical staff dedicated to providing an invaluable insight into the day-to-day atmosphere of theatrical life. To celebrate the launch of the new school, and commemorating twenty-five years since the death of its namesake, we present a vibrant new production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Following its London run, which commences on 17 November, the production will exclusively transfer to the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Britten's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream casts Shakespeare's prose against a beguiling musical landscape where inspired contrasts of voices and instruments conjure earthly and enchanted kingdoms. The opera is produced and conducted respectively by John Copley and Michael Rosewell who both hold strong associations with the work; John worked on the world premiere production in 1960, Michael conducted its first revival at the original venue in Aldeburgh in 1988. Leading the dynamic international cast as Bottom is breakthrough bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu who sang at the First Night of this year's Proms and played Bartolo opposite Barbara Bonney in The Marriage of Figaro in Gstaad this summer. Tickets for A Midsummer Night's Dream are available now. Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, London 17, 20, 22, 24 November, 7pm Tickets £5 - £15, available now by calling 020 7591 4853 Edinburgh Festival Theatre 28, 29 November, 7.15pm Tickets from £12 (£5 for groups)

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