News

‘A Visit To Friends’ premiere at Snape Maltings

Britten Pears Arts opened the Aldeburgh Festival with Colin Matthews first opera, ‘A Visit To Friends’. The ‘fine’ cast of Susanna Hurrell as Natalie/Nadia, Lotte Betts-Dean as ‘Vanessa/Varia, Marcus Farnsworth as Marcus/Misha, Ed Hawkins as Gregor, Gary Matthewman as Chris, and Shosty the dog as Chekhov’s dog, was conducted by Jessica Cottis with the Aurora Orchestra and directed by Rachel Hewer.

“The small cast was uniformly excellent: Susanna Hurrell a bright, brittle Nadia/Natalie” Flora Wilson - The Guardian ****

“Written with consummate skill and grateful on the ear, it’s an opera that should be taken up by any company desirous to prove there’s still life in the genre” Barry Millington - The Standard ****

“much of the music is gorgeous - gorgeously played by the Aurora orchestra, gorgeously sung by… Susanna Hurrell” Richard Morrison - The Times ****

The Times ****

The Stage ****