“A blinder of a first night!” - First performance of Clapham Opera Festival hailed as a great success.

The first performance of the Clapham Opera Festival –  Bel Canto Recital  “The Tribulations of love”  - has been met with a very positive response from attendees of the event which is the first of a series of opera style concerts  taking place during October and November.   The aims of the festival – founded this year – are to support and promote up-and-coming singers, musicians and production designers and to bring opera to the local community for whom it may be a new experience.

Response to bookings has been tremendous among local residents and families, according to aspire who are ‘Friends of the Festival’ and are providing backing and resources to support the event.  Under an overall theme of Love, the concerts will be showcasing different styles of opera from a variety of composers.  David Kirkup, director of aspire’s Clapham office comments; “We are delighted to be main sponsors of such an interesting programme and we are thrilled that the response to the first performance has been so favourable – we are pleased that it is creating such a lot of interest amongst local people.”

Examples of audience feedback on the Bel Canto Recitial ranges from;  “What a stunning first night!  We were blown away.  We loved the choice of music and the costumes.  Altogether a divine evening,” to; “Exciting first night; Bel Canto bites sung with verve and gusto in beautiful church setting and with scented programmes!”.  All the concerts are designed to act as a taster for people to discover various forms of opera and maybe revisit them elsewhere or as recordings.  It is hoped that this will become a popular annual event in Clapham.

The festival was founded by an established local resident, Marie Soulier who has been running Opera Pour Un Salon successfully for 5 years, offering recitals in the home and Adam Swann who is a marketing consultant for Opera Rara, the record label recording rare 19^th century opera as well as being a Trustee of baroque ensemble Arcangelo.  Marie who is also the festival’s artistic director comments, “The Festival is about enjoying the music without feeling the need to have learned about it.”  Artists include promising young talent from the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music and Glyndebourne.

For further information or to purchase festival tickets visit: www.claphamoperafestival.wordpress.com