Open air opera shows with Hatstand Opera this September

We’ve a brace of wonderful outdoor shows in September, taking us from a private garden in Surrey to the gorgeous Romney Marsh in Kent. So, why not join us in the autumn sunshine – yes, we must be due some by then!

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Saturday 3 September 2011
Opera Under the Stars
Beech Avenue, Effingham, Surrey KT24 5PJ

This fabulous evening in aid of Cherry Trees Respite Care gives you a unique chance to view an exclusive garden, and be royally entertained with great opera favourites, presented by Hatstand Opera in their delightfully light-hearted style.

Most extracts are sung in English, including airline adverts, favourite tunes and something really unusual for the buffs, loads of laughs and much more. No need for subtitles, when compere and mezzo Kirsty Young introduces who’s singing what, when and why!

Bring a picnic and your friends to this wonderful evening of magnificent music set in beautiful surroundings. There will also be a cash bar.
Time: 7pm
Tickets: £30
Buy tickets online at: http://www.eventelephant.com/cherrytreesopera
More information from: Cherry Trees Fundraising Office, School Lane, East Clandon, Guildford GU4 7RS
T. 01483 222507
E. fundraising@cherry-trees.co.uk
W. http://www.cherry-trees.co.uk/forthcomingEvents.htm

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Saturday 10 September 2011
Opera on the Farm
Haguelands Village, Burmarsh Road, Romney Marsh, Kent, TN29 0RJ
A delightful evening of music and food in the rolling Kent countryside just half a mile from the sea at Haguelands Farm, home to Kent’s largest living maize maze, a superb Farm Shop, and a friendly herd of alpacas!

Join Hatstand Opera for the very best hilarious scenes and heart-rending arias, where quick costume changes and informal presentation combine with top-notch singing for a great evening of music and laughter.  Most extracts are sung in English, including airline adverts, favourite tunes and something really unusual for the buffs, loads of laughs and much more. No need for subtitles, when compére and mezzo Kirsty Young introduces who’s singing what, when and why!

Come early and enjoy a summer’s evening at Haguelands:
• walk the maize maze
• top up you picnic at the farm shop
• take a farm tour (until 7pm)
• meet the alpacas!
• cash bar serving local beers, wines and ciders will also be available.

Time: 7.30pm (gates open 6pm)
Tickets: £25 (bring your own picnic), or £40 including a hamper of Haguelands Bistro food and sparkling wine to share with your party
• Please bring a chair for this outdoor performance
• If weather is bad, performance will be in a large barn!
Available from: 01303 873535 or 01303 874727
Email: enquiries@haguelandsvillage.co.uk
Online: http://www.haguelandsvillage.co.uk

See you there!

Hatstand Opera at Frinton on Sea this Saturday

 

Fancy a chortle or a chuckle above the cliffs at Frinton?

We’re performing our new show “Laugh-Allowed Opera” at Frinton-on-Sea in Essex this Saturday in the Marquee on the Greensward, a lovely location overlooking the sea and sands.

We’ve performed here for several years, and the shows always have a party atmosphere, especially when unsuspecting evening dog-walkers suddenly hear Verdi or Puccini wafting across the grass! Join us for what is the highlight of our summer season, because singers too like to be beside the seaside…

 

 

Saturday 30 July 2011
Laugh-Allowed Opera
The Marquee on the Greensward, The Seafront, Frinton on Sea, Essex
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: £7
Available from: Frinton Free Church 01255 679 585
Frinton Parish Church 01255 679 164

more details on our Hatstand Opera Performance Diary

Essex Opera in the Orchard cheap tickets offer ends 30 June

Hatstand Opera are back in Essex in July for Opera in the Orchard, a weekend of great opera and gorgeous food in the heart of the Essex countryside. And you can get tickets at the special price of £20 each for either “Lights, Camera… Action” on Sat 9 July or “A Laugh at the Opera” on Sun 10 July (or both if you wish!)

You’ll need to get a wriggle on, however; on 1 July the tickets go up to £25 each, so it really is a case of book now and save! Buy your tickets today by credit card fro:

• Maldon Tourist Information Office on 01621 856 503
• Witham TIC on 01376 502674
• or download the booking form

Saturday 9 July 2011 at 5pm
Lights, Camera… Action!
and
Sunday 10 July 2011 at 5pm
A Laugh at the Opera
venue: Bouncers Farm, Wickham Hall Lane, Wickham Bishop, Essex, CM8 3JJ
time: gates open 2pm, show starts 5pm, picnic interval at 6pm
www.operaintheorchard.co.uk

Winning praise from Wales

Hatstand Opera were back at the St Brides Spa Hotel in Saundersfoot near Tenby last week for a sell-out evening of fine food and opera. We were particularly chuffed that this event was such a succes, as the evening was put on by the hotel and not under the auspices of the Tenby Festival as in previous years. It proves that there is certainly a year-round appetite for opera in this lovely part of Wales, and the management were really pleased too:

“ The evening went so well and once again we have received fantastic feedback from those who attended.”

We are already making plans to return next year, so watch this space!

In the meantime, if you fancy a break in south Wales, the St Brides Spa Hotel really is a lovely relaxing place for a weekend away from it all; we always stay overnight after the show, and the view across the bay in the morning from your breakfast table is hard to beat.

Last chance for early bird ticket offer for Hatstand Opera in Essex July 2011

The great value Hatstand Opera in the Orchard 2 for 1 early bird offer is ending soon – grab these bargain opera tickets while you can!

http://bit.ly/hHXCsn

Book your Bite at the Opera tickets before they disappear

Our next performance of A Bite at the Opera in Spalding, Lincs, is fast appraoching sell-out status, with literally around 25 tickets left. So, if you want to join us for a great everning of fine food and music, you’ll need to book asap, as tickets will not be available on the night.

 

A Bite at the Opera
South Holland Centre, Market Place, Spalding, Lincs PE11 1SS
time: 7pm for dinner at 7.30pm
tickets: £30, including 4-course dinner with Lincolnshire food, and opera performance
Box Office: 01775 764 777 – advance booking essential
Buy tickets online at http://www.southhollandcentre.co.uk/live

 

 

 

New – 2011 performance diary

We’ve just popped up some of our 2011 public performances at our main website at

http://www.hatstandopera.co.uk/diary.php

Apologies for the gaps in info such as ticket price – still gathering that info ourselves!

Vote for our new Hatstand Opera show title!

Here’s your chance to be part of Hatstand Opera history! We’re looking for a show title for our 2011 sequel to “A Laugh at the Opera”, and we’d love your input.

Just one quick note before you start. You know much much fun a Hatstand Opera show is, because you’ve seen us in action before, but a show title has to appeal to you AND those who have never seen us before.

In our poll box below, you’ll see four options, each written as “title: strap line”. (The strap line is the explanation line below the main show title on a poster or flyer.) Just click on the one that you like best.

If you don’t like any of them (and we’re not proud about this), feel free to type in your own version in the last box.

No winners or prizes I’m afraid, but shedloads of appreciation from this end for your contribution!

What opera singers do during August

Soak up the sun, boys!

Here at Hatstand Opera, we usually rest up a bit in August to enjoy the summer weather, and thank goodness this year, we’ve got some to enjoy! Hurrah! But we don’t sit around idle, never fear…  here’s what is on our “To Do” list:

1. Devise a brand new show for 2011. Yes, we’re cooking up something fun, frothy, entertaining and a total antidote to depressing news and dark economic forecasts. Title tbc – all witty (and clean) ideas welcome!

2. Make do and mend costumes. Our costumes and props can be used up to four times a week, all year round, so this is a chance to restore lost buttons, mend broken spears and repaint anything that doesn’t move too fast. And hoover the digital piano – most important after dusty outdoor gigs in hay-filled fields.

3. Research new music. We are always on the lookout for new music to sing, and there is nothing so relaxing as sitting down with a glass of chardonnay (or six) and skipping through tracks on cds you bought back in the January sales and have not even got the plastic shrink-wrap off yet.

Whatever you’re doing this August, enjoy!

Birthday Shows for Hatstand Opera Director

Pity the poor opera singer born in July, the season of outside performances and summer festivals. Hatstand Opera’s director Kirsty is nearly always singing on her birthday, and this year she’ll be playing boys and old bags (again) at our Opera in the Orchard “Golden Moments from Opera” performance.

So, we decided to see what other notable persons were born in July, which include:

B.T. Barnum, American showman and circus founder (200 years ago)
Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (150 years ago)
William Hanna, American animator, co‐founder of Hanna‐ Barbera Productions (‘Tom and Jerry’, ‘Huckleberry Hound’, ‘Yogi Bear’, ‘The Flintstones’, ‘The Jetsons’) (100 years ago)

And noted some memorable events that happened on the same date:

11 Jul 1950
The BBC’s children’s TV show ‘Andy Pandy’ was first broadcast. (Kirsty’s least favourite tv show as a child, by a mile. And no, she didn’t see the first broadcast, thank you.)

11 Jul 1960
Harper Lee’s novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was published. (Kirsty is an English graduate from Birmingham University – if that’s not a contradiction in terms…)

11 Jul 1985
The Coca‐Cola Company agreed to resume selling the original formula ‘Classic’ Coke after complaints from irate customers about New Coke. (A victory for teenage tastebuds, probably a disaster for dentists.)