Written by Flora Willson June 7, 2026 Brutish … the Count (Timothy Nelson) sweeps up Susanna (Ellie Neate) as Cherubino (Abbie Ward) looks on Photograph: Lucy Toms Wild Arts Summer Opera festival, Layer Marney Tower, Essex A touring show was quite a challenge for the opera star’s first directorial gig, but dynamic singing, charismatic orchestral...
Written by Planet Hugill May 30, 2026 Wild Arts is a small but dynamic company that presents music and opera, touring from its base in Essex, under artistic director and founder Orlando Jopling . This year the company presenting a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Danielle de Niese making her directorial...
Written by Emily Baker June 5, 2026 Soprano and now opera director Danielle de Niese. 'The learning curve has been absolutely wild, but also fascinating and exciting,' she says (Photo: grace@rdmr.co.uk) Danielle de Niese on making her debut as a director with 'The Marriage of Figaro' – and how opera can thrive in the face...
Written by Imogen Tilden June 4, 2026 Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro is in the soprano’s DNA, but she’s never thought about directing it. Creating her own production has been daunting and fascinating – and her son’s building blocks even helped I am not one of those performers who has spent their life on a theatre...
Written by Ellie Neate June 2, 2026 'Danni has an incredible gift for sculpting away what is muddying the story, and letting go of handed-down conventions to find the real emotions of the characters' Why bother doing another Marriage of Figaro ? There are four more happening in 2026, from traditional powerhouse companies Royal Ballet...
