Narropera: The Marriage of Figaro

Check the Lansdown Summer website and book direct via haydn.fenice@gmail.com then come and discover new dimensions to a much-beloved opera! In 'Lansdown(e)', one of the best known early Canterbury properties. The property's trustees are promoting a winter season of Narropera in its much-admired concert venue, The Golden Room. The Narropera Trio, founded 2013 at 'Lansdown(e)', will present four performances, in two short series. Tickets are thirty dollars each. In the first series, there are two performances of the Trio's internationally acclaimed version of 'The Marriage of Figaro'. This Narropera presentation has been developed continuously over the past 8 years, since 2013, with 40 performances in New Zealand, Germany, England and The Isle of Man. The 90-minute performance narrates the opera's entangled plot with clarity and insight, the storyline punctured, at appropriate moments in the story, with twelve pieces of music from the opera, arranged for the musical trio of soprano (Dorothee Jansen), violin (Cathy Irons) and keyboard continuo (Haydn Rawstron). Rawstron has compiled the musical score (arrangements and 'orchestrations' for trio forces), has written the accompanying narrative, which he also recites in performance. The two performances (Sunday, 27th June and Saturday, 3rd July, each from 3 pm to 4.30 pm), immediately precede the NZO's staged performances of the same opera, in the Isaac Theatre Royal. Apart from its own entertainment capability, narropera's top priority is to combine beauty with clarity. Narropera is unusually informative and, therefore, the 'PERFECT PREP' for a staged performance of the same title. For instance, how many NZ music lovers know that Mozart wrote two versions of The Marriage of Figaro (the ubiquitously performed 1786 version and the revised version of 1789)? In the latter, the texts and music of Susanna's two arias are completely different from the original, with thought-provoking implications for Susanna's personality. The well-known aria for the Countess, 'Dove sono' (made famous in NZ through Kiri's recordings of the original version) undergoes a major overhaul in 1789, which also has wider implications for the character of the Countess. How many NZ singers have ever held in their hands a copy of Mozart's final version of this famous aria? Probably none. These three arias, from the unpublished 1789 version of the opera, now form an important part of the narropera version of 'The Marriage of Figaro' at Lansdown(e), replacing their 1786 counterparts! Come and discover new dimensions to a much-beloved opera. Prepare yourself for the staged production by the NZO! (PS: what's with the double spelling of the property's name? Founded in 1857, the renowned property was originally named 'Lansdown' after Lansdown in Bath, England. A generation or so, later, it acquired an 'e', possibly during the property's ownership by Edward Stafford, NZ's 19th-century Premier. Due to the historic significance of the property, the trustees preserve both spellings.)

Email for bookings: haydn.fenice@gmail.com