Mid Wales Opera return to the glorious Grade 1 listed grounds of Gregynog Hall on Sunday July 23rd for a sensational evening of summer music.
MWO have lined up a terrific trio of Welsh performers; tenor Robyn Lyn Evans, soprano Erin Gwyn Rossington and baritone Steffan Lloyd Owen, who will sing a Shakespeare themed programme led by Music Director Charlotte Forrest.
MWO’s Friends’ concert is the highlight of their summer season – starting at 5pm in the gardens in front of the historic hall but in Gregynog’s magnificent Music Room if it rains. The Music Room option means capacity is limited so please book early – tickets are available from Hafren, Newtown at £18 for adults and £5 for children.
This year’s perfomers will be a real treat. Robyn Lyn Evans has long been a favourite of MWO audience and last performed for the company in the role of Rodolfo in La boheme alongside soprano Galina Averina as Mimi.
Rian Evans, reviewing for Opera magazine, wrote of his performance:
“Robyn Lyn Evans’s Rodolfo combined a suitably poetic lyrical line with flashes of more fiery stuff when jealousy set in…his has become a reliably projected and pleasing tenor. He and Galina Averina’s Mimi were a good match, their duets ardent, almost nonchalantly finessing their offstage ending when they go to join their friends at Café Momus.”
Steffan Lloyd Owen is better known to audiences of MWO’s friends Opra Cymru including in the role of Brenin (King) in their children’s opera Cyfrinach y Brenin by Mared Emlyn. Steffan grew up on Ynys Môn and has been awarded many vocal prizes including the W Towyn Roberts Scholarship and the Blue Riband Osborne Roberts Memorial Prize at the National Eisteddfod.
Welsh Soprano Erin Gwyn Rossington is also familiar to Opra Cymru audiences including as the Doctor for their production of Cyfrinach y Brenin and as the glamorous Fiordiligi in their recent tour of Così fan Tutte. She has worked with Buxton International Opera singing the role of La Fee in Viardot’s Cendrillon, and with Hampstead Garden Opera performing the roles of Mrs Forester and Owl in The Cunning Little Vixen conducted by Lada Valesova and directed by Eleanor Burke.
MWO’s Music Director and pianist for the event is a very familiar face to their audiences and Friends and she always ensures the Gregynog Garden concerts are a winning combination of music highlights, this year themed around MWO’s coming Shakespeare season marking to 400th anniversary of the publication of the Bard’s First Folio.
Charlotte Forrest divides her time between the recital platform, the opera house, coaching studio and the concert stage. She has spent the last 15 years on the staff at Opera North as well as being a regular member of the music staffs at Glyndebourne, Garsington, ENO, Grange Park, the Grange, Aldeburgh Music, and Birmingham Opera Company. She is a regular guest artist on BBC Radio 3‘s In Tune and Opera on 3 and has appeared on Classic FM and BBC television accompanying world-renowned singers from Dame Felicity Lott to Sir Tom Jones.
MWO’s Executive Director Lydia Bassett told us:
“The Gregynog Garden concert is always such a treat. The programme offers something for everyone and the setting is fabulous whether we’re indoors or outside in the grounds. My personal Gregynog highlights include soprano Llio Evans’ glorious Disney Princess moment in July 2021 singing ‘Some Day My Prince Will Come’ – a true delight!
“There’s a picnic interval – and as the parking charge at the hall covers the whole day why not come early to explore the hall’s formal gardens and the miles of marked walks through the woods before heading to the café for a well-earned tea break. You can even stay at the hall if you want to make a weekend of it (call 01686 650224 or email enquiries@gregynog.org.)”
Buy tickets: thehafren-tickets.thehafren.co.uk
