We are delighted to have been able to secure excellent stalls seats for two performances in the remarkable setting of Grange Park Opera at West Horsley Place in the Surrey Hills. The renowned baritone Simon Keenlyside CBE will take one of the great roles of the Verdian repertoire Simon Boccanegra while on our other evening Puccini's Madama Butterfly is lead by Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee. On our return to the northwest we have been able to add a matinee performance of 42nd Street at the ever-popular Kilworth House Summer Theatre.
We stay three nights in the heart of the historic town of Farnham at the highly regarded Bush Hotel. The hotel is set over three floors (ground, 1st and 2nd) without elevator so please let us know if you have particular requirements. Farnham is around 35 minutes drive from West Horsley.
West Horsley Place is a 350-acre estate with a glorious, sprawling 14th century house surrounded by formal gardens with secret corners, aged trees, box hedges and a majestic crinkle crankle wall. The house was inherited in 2015 by the author and broadcaster Bamber Gascoigne from his aunt Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe.
The incredible founder and CEO Wasfi Kani CBE and her team, built a five-storey opera house modelled on La Scala, Milan, seating 700 and did it all in 11 months!. The plush red seats inside the theatre came from The Royal Opera House refurbishment of 1997. They have been reupholstered, with seat numbers embroidered by a man in Khan Market, Delhi! The Times Arts Awards acknowledged the achievement as the “fastest construction of an opera house in history”. The opera house, glimpsed amongst the trees, appears as a cross-gartered brick drum and within is an intimate five-tiered auditorium.
Wasfi even intitiated the Spend A Penny appeal to provide the best toilet facilities of probably any opera house! "With more than 14,000 visitors in the opening year, we wouldn’t want anyone to be caught short and the Lavatorium Rotundum provides a masterpiece in response to an absolute necessity, following the axiom of the great William Morris “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
Kilworth House Hotel & Summer Theatre has been a regular visit for Maestro clients for many years now. The team at Kilworth bring together outstanding West End quality casts and productions and we know 42nd Street will be another great success for them.
If you prefer to include just one opera evening (and have a free evening in Farnham with own dinner arrangements) then we will deduct £335 from your balance payment (ticket & dinner). This choice needs to be made at the time of booking and cannot be altered later.
The deposit (which includes the two opera subscriptions) is £750 and the balance will be due 15th April.
Take the time to listen to Norman Lebrecht interviewing Wasfi Kani on BBC Sounds. It's quite fascinating!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0021xzp
