Monty Python meets Handel this Thanksgiving weekend as the GRAMMY Award-winning Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera Series returns with an all-new production of John Frederick Lampe’s 1737 comedic opera The Dragon of Wantley. A fire-breathing dragon is terrorizing the Yorkshire countryside and only the local squire can save the day. If only he can be bothered to put down his beer!
The opera will be performed in Boston, MA on Saturday, November 25, and Sunday, November 26, 2023 at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall before going on tour to Miami, FL on Thursday, November 30, 2023 presented by RK Cultural Productions and Troy, NY on Saturday, December 2, 2023 at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. A virtual presentation will follow, available from Saturday, December 9 through Saturday, December 23, 2023.
The Dragon of Wantley was the most popular opera of the entire 18th century in England, enjoying a 45-year run. Lampe deftly lampoons the excesses of Handelian opera in this hilarious farce. This all-new production is led by BEMF’s GRAMMY-winning Musical Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs and internationally acclaimed Stage Director Gilbert Blin. The stellar cast features GRAMMY winner Aaron Sheehan, GRAMMY nominee Teresa Wakim, soprano Hannah De Priest, and bass-baritones Douglas Williams and John Taylor Ward alongside the all-star BEMF Chamber Ensemble with Concertmaster Robert Mealy and the BEMF Dance Company with Choreographer Melinda Sullivan.
Both Boston performances will be preceded by an engaging pre-performance talk by celebrated author and musicologist Ellen T. Harris.
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