Stop press - 2010 - World premiere performance of Monteverdi's Flying Circus - based on a brand new script by Kit Hesketh Harvey - is to take place on Friday 24 September in Warwick.

'Superb' - The Times

'A Glorious Production' - Opera Now

MONTEVERDI'S FLYING CIRCUS
"The most rancid, putrid merchandise from whatever bizarre apothecary's shop you care to think of." 

Venice 1638 and the people are hungry for entertainment.  Opera is in its infancy but its creator, Monteverdi is approaching old age with fury and trepidation, his hankering for a prosperous retirement thwarted by dogmatic clergy, the inquisition, an overactive imagination, a prodigal son and his own crippling writer's block.

Armonico Consort Opera

Armonico Consort Opera takes the reputation for producing accessible, fun and exciting music to new heights. Full houses at venues across the country has brought Armonico Consort an unprecedented number of bookings at prestigious venues such as The Barbican (Mostly Mozart), The Brighton Festival, The Warwick Arts Centre, The Cadogan Hall, The Bridgewater Hall, The Salisbury Festival and The Bath Festival. Its first production, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, was rapturously received by full-house audiences and critics alike, and Mozart’s The Magic Flute with a hilarious new script by Kit Hesketh Harvey, proved just as popular. Armonico Consort Opera’s latest project was Purcell’s King Arthur, directed by Thomas Guthrie, again proved a hit at theatres across the country. In a daring concept, a setting of the first world war was chosen, and brought a new life to this extraordinary work. The independent described it as 'wondrous'!. Their new production of Mozart’s Magic Flute , again with Thomas Guthrie as director, was acclaimed by the Independent on Sunday as ‘Enchanting’ and ‘Excellent!’ The success of their opera productions has been overwhelming with repeat invitations from most of the country's major venues and festivals. 2009 saw the introduction of two new operas into our repertoire, Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, directed by Michael McCaffery and premiered at the Warwick Arts Centre in January , and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, paired with a hilarious new adaptation of Lully's La Bourgeois Gentilhomme directed by Anna Tolputt.


To find out why this production has drawn full houses of thousands and an audience of all ages at performances including The Three Choirs Festival, The Barbican, The Salisbury International Festival and Brighton Festival, please contact Jeremy Woods at Hazard Chase on the link to your left.

All our productions are possible thanks to the generous support of Arts Council England.