Opéra de Baugé
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Opéra de Baugé is a country house opera held each summer since 2003 in the gardens of Les Capucins, a private house and former convent near the Loire town of Baugé, 40 kilometres east of Angers, France. In recent years it has drawn an audience of 2,500-3,000 to the town.
The festival is modelled on England's Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and performances feature 90-minute intervals during which members of the audience picnic in the park of Les Capucins or dine in a restaurant in the manor house.
The opera is noted for its authentic performances, with a full orchestra (40 members in 2007) and chorus (15 members in 2007) in support of fully-staged productions. Since 2005, the opera has employed a 358-seat mobile theatre built by the Théâtre du Hasard. While the cast remains largely English and French, the festival has increasingly attracted soloists from across Europe and beyond. Singers have gone on to win prizes including the Kathleen Ferrier Award and positions in the Young Artists Programme at Covent Garden.
Bernadette Grimmett has been artistic director of the festival since its inception. The festival operates without subsidy.
The 2008 season will run from 26 July to 7 August, and will include Theodora (Handel), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart), and Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky).
[edit] Past Performances
| Season | Works Performed |
|---|---|
| 2003 | Albert Herring (Britten) |
| 2004 | Martha (von Flotow) Les pêcheurs de perles (Bizet) |
| 2005 | Rodelinda (Handel) Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)/The Widow of Ephesus (Dibdin) |
| 2006 | Riccardo primo (Handel) Carmen (Bizet) Don Giovanni (Mozart) |
| 2007 | Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck) Don Pasquale (Donizetti) Idomeneo (Mozart) |
