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Vanessa

Flexible Series

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Maria Miró Vanessa

Sipho Fubesi Anatol

Kathryn Rudge Erika

Ivy Mak The Baroness

Andrew Fellowes The Doctor

Jonathan Ainscough Nicholas

Matthew Kellett Footman

Gareth Jones conductor

Stefan Janski director

Francisco Rodriguez-Weil set and costume design

David Clare lighting design

Bethan Rhys Wiliam choreography

Robin Humphreys senior coach

Kevin Thraves chorus master

RNCM Opera Orchestra

RNCM Chorus

With her niece Erika by her side, Vanessa has been living the life of a recluse for 20 years, waiting for her lover Anatol to return to her. When Anatol’s son arrives in his place, it is Erika who is initially seduced by the younger man, but a cruel twist leads history to repeat itself...

Set on a large, isolated country estate during a seemingly perpetual winter, Gian Carlo Menotti’s libretto has overtones of Ibsen, the psychodrama playing out against music that is at once elegant yet fraught with tension.

Barber’s rarely performed score is a masterpiece of pent-up romanticism, sweepingly lyrical and with moments of incredible beauty – a 20th century American opera of the highest order.