Our millennium production created three notable 'firsts' for Dorset Opera. We staged the first performance in Britain of Salvator Rosa, a dramatic and tuneful opera by the Brazilian, Carlos Gomes, which was suggested to us by one of our more ardent and knowledgeable supporters.  Secondly, because of the celebration in 2000 in London of Brazil's 500th anniversary, we gave one performance in London at the Bloomsbury Theatre - the first time that Dorset Opera has ever performed other than at Sherborne School. Lastly we made a high quality recording of the Sherborne performances and this was released in time for Christmas on the Regis label (FRC 9201). 

Salvator Rosa

Set in Naples at the time of the 1647 insurrection against Spanish rule, Salvator Rosa is a grand historical opera in 4 acts, with libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on Eugène de Méricourt's novel Masaniello.

Gomes, a Brazilian who worked in Italy from the age of 27, was one of the very few composers ever praised by Verdi. He is best known for Il Guarany, most recently performed in Bonn in 1995 and later in the USA with Placido Domingo in the title role.  Salvator Rosa, another dramatic opera, composed in 1874, is equally passionate and tuneful. It was sung in Italian

What our critics thought

Because Dorset Opera always coincides with the Edinburgh Festival, critics rarely attend our performances in Sherborne.  However, this year we were to perform an exciting virtually unknown opera which attracted early interest not only in the UK, but also in Germany and, of course, in Brazil.  15 opera critics attended the performances, and we were delighted to read the extremely favourable reviews of most of them. Here is a selection of excerpts.

" In these days when government arts policy seems to have been knocked up by a couple of the more laddish ministers over a few pints, and opera has fallen under the special anathema reserved for the inaccessible and elitist, anyone interested in keeping the art form alive had better do something about it themselves. Step forward Dorset Opera. Each year the company runs a two-week residential course at Sherborne School to train a young chorus for its production, which is staged with professional orchestra and soloists. In a part of the country not known for its opera houses, for the past 26 years many young singers have been introduced to opera, and this year they brought their production to London. ….  The company, happily, approached the work without embarrassment, and the monstrous egoists living permanently on the edge of hysteria who are such a satisfactory part of 19th-century opera were brought to life with considerable verve.….  The stars of the evening were Andrea Baker (the trouser role of Gennariello, Rosa's pupil), a pert actress and richly assured singer, and the Bulgarian bass Michail Milanov as the saturnine Viceroy, who combined an electrifying stage presence with the kind of cavernous voice you don't hear west of the Carpathians. The large chorus was willing, ….. and was effectively directed by Michael Beauchamp. Patrick Shelley kept the orchestra moving, at times a little unforgivingly, but this is a long piece which needs to go at a lick. …..  The hearty claque of Dorsetmen had a great time, and Dorset Opera has plenty to teach some jaded metropolitan companies about the virtues of energy and enthusiasm." Robert Thicknesse, The Times

"In the course of more than twenty years Dorset Opera has resurrected many rarities…..This year they offered Carlos Gomes’ ‘Salvator Rosa’, of which the music lover was only familiar with the appalling recording from distant Brazil.    Patrick Shelley conducted an orchestra of considerable ability, brought together for the event, which after first night nerves was on great form the second evening. It did not hold back in passion that the conductor uninhibitedly and vigorously supported.  The same can be said for the full-throated (amateur) chorus, who could hold its own against any professional chorus.  But in the end, with such an opera, the soloists are the decisive factor, and they were truly sensational, and, for such an enterprise unbelievably competent. Geerd Heinsen, Orpheus Oper International, Berlin

"…the largely youthful contingent of chorus members both acted and sang with tremendous panache, making this somewhat absurd piece an enjoyable melodramatic romp.   Andrea Baker from Nurnberg made a great impression, so much so that one can be sure that it will be necessary to go abroad to see her again.  I hope some talent scouts were there to note the colourful and confident acting and singing of Fernando del Valle in the title role …he is a remarkable catch for Dorset Opera.  Settings and costumes were traditional, rather lavish.  There was lots of atmosphere, and sensitive conducting from Patrick Shelley."  Michael Tanner, The Spectator.

"If one needed proof of operatic excellence reaching beyond the threshold of London, Dorset Opera's recent production of Salvator Rosa, by the Brazilian composer Carlos Gomes, is as encouraging an example as you could possibly ask for, and not just because of its bold choice of repertoire. The stature of its lead singers - many of them seasoned names abroad in their own right, who return again and again - lifts Dorset Opera onto its high footing. Fernando del Valle, in the title role, is a tenor to sing Dennis O'Neill into the ground. ….. Andrea Baker, in the well-written trousers role of Rosa's youthful apprentice, Gennariello, cuts through the orchestra like a stream of fresh water: ….rather like another Barstow and surely of international potential.  The performer who dominates this production, besides the charismatic Baker, is the Bulgarian bass Mikhail Milanov. … his characterisation and presence alone - witness the splendid soliloquy - has the awesomeness of Philip II and the Grand Inquisitor rolled into one.…Milanov's was a gigantic performance..…The German-Australian tenor Michael Gluecksmann's Masaniello …. gave yet another vocally commanding performance, interacting particularly well with Dorset Opera's excellent and vital young chorus.  Michael Beauchamp and C.David Higgins did all a director and designer should do, keeping things lucid while lending stature and dignity to the unpretentious but effective stage settings and logic to moves and ensembles alike. (There are many, and they - and the choruses - were built magnificently).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Roderick Dunnett, The Arts Pages.com

" Since 1974, Dorset Opera productions, given in Sherborne School Hall, have mingled local enthusiasm, enterprise, and prowess with professional soloists and orchestra. This Salvator Rosa at the Bloomsbury was the company's first visit to London - for a single performance, after two performances in Sherborne. The theatre was packed. The show had the merits of the Dorset Gabriella di Vergy I heard 15 years ago: Patrick Shelley's sure, fluent, conducting of able Bournemouth players: a young chorus … singing with bright, confident tone, a staging that within the constraints of a school-hall theatre represented what the composer and the librettist had in mind."  Andrew Porter, Opera Magazine.

Our younger members of the chorus and stage crew also enjoyed the experience:

Jemima de Mattos-Shipley, 16, was looking forward to the experience of working with the backstage team.  She found the sense of achievement and team spirit was amazing and she particularly appreciated that everyone who has been there before still made a point of making the newcomers feel really welcome.

Although Andrew Morley-Smith, 16, had already been involved with lighting and stage management of school productions he found the opportunity to work with such skilled professionals for two weeks was one not to be missed.

Annalise Whittlesea, 22, first sang in the Dorset Opera chorus 7 years ago, and it inspired her then to embark on a singing career.  Now in her 4th year at the Guildhall School of Music, and on the threshold of that career, she particularly enjoyed sharing the total dramatic and musical experience with such an intelligent and friendly group of soloists.  She hopes to return to Dorset Opera one day as a soloist. (She did so for Macbeth in 2001 and for Norma in 2002!)

For Anna Speedy, 18, this was her second year in the chorus.  She found all the soloists very inspiring - especially as they are all so friendly and down to earth.  The thrill of being on stage together has influenced her to become more involved in singing in the future.

Rupert Collingwood, 18, was singing in the chorus for the third time.  He found he could make the best friends of his life at Dorset Opera, and yet at the same time get a valuable experience of opera …difficult to find anywhere else.

Tom Williams, 25, who has sung in the chorus for ten productions, still finds that he learns most from Gareth Jones, the Chorus Master, champion of technique and delivery, and from the masterclass given by the Baritone, Michael Gluecksmann.