Ardente Opera
Welcome
The Ardente Opera Company is dedicated to the performance and production of smaller-scale operas with the top up-and-coming singers and orchestral players in London and Cambridge. Our aim is to provide top-quality, professional productions of rarely performed or neglected gems of the operatic repertoire.
In January 2009, Ardente performed its first production, two early one-act operas by Paul Hindemith , Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen, and the Expressionist tour de force,Sancta Susanna, in concert performance in St James's, Piccadilly (9th &10th January). The programme also featured the composer's great masterpiece, the Symphonie Mathis der Maler. Critical response in the Opera Magazine was positive, describing the 'sturdy, even grand account' of the Symphonie, the 'electrifying' atmosphere of the operas with 'excellent if uninhibited' orchestral playing and 'inspiring leadership'.
Ardente's future plans include a staged production of Le Vin Herbé by the Swiss composer Frank Martin in early 2010, to be directed by Rosalind Parker and conducted by Julian Black. This intense and dramatic chamber opera tells the legend of Tristan and Isolde and is arguably the composer's greatest work. Le Vin Herbé is scored for twelve singers accompanied by seven string players and piano, and the lead roles emerge from the chorus of singers to relate the tragic tale with a poignant and emotionally charged musical language typical of Martin's mature work.
