Cendrillon with Chroma
Tuesday 18 September 2018 at 7.00pm, St John’s Smith Square, London
CENDRILLON (Cinderella, 1810)
A fairy-tale opera in three acts
Libretto by Charles Guillaume Etienne after the fairy-tale by Charles Perrault
English translation by Gilly French, dialogues by Jeremy Gray
Clorinde – Aoife O’Sullivan | Tisbe – Jenny Stafford | Cinderella – Kate Howden
Prince – Bradley Smith | Dandini – Benjamin Durrant | Alidor – Nicholas Merryweather
Baron – Alistair Ollerenshaw
Chorus – Lucy Cronin, Susanne Dymott
Conductor – Harry Sever
orchestra CHROMA
Director – Jeremy Gray
Associate director and choreography – Alicia Frost
Costumes – Jess Iliad
When the orphaned Cinderella, cruelly exploited by her step-family, generously provides breakfast for an itinerant beggar, little does she realise that her reward will be the love and hand of Prince Ramiro. But first she needs a new dress for the ball – and the discarded slipper has to fit…
Isouard’s charming and lyrical telling of Perrault’s much-loved fairy-tale was composed in 1810 for the Opéra-Comique Theatre in Paris and immediately took Europe by storm, its popularity only eclipsed when Rossini adapted the same libretto for La Cenerentola seven years later. Cinderella’s sincerity is matched by simple and affecting melody, whilst her vain step-sisters battle it out with torrents of spectacular coloratura. Ensembles of almost Mozartian effect contribute to make this a jewel of an opera.
There is a pre-concert talk at 6.00pm.