(Credit: Katherine Broderick Official Website / Mitch Jenkins)

Garsington Opera has announced that they will be performing semi-staged concerts of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” at Wormsely Park in Buckinghamshire, on September 12, 14, 18, 20, 2020.

The cast features Katherine Broderick as Leonore, and Toby Spence as Florestan. This staging, done by Peter Mumford, went on to great acclaim when it was performed at the Philharmonie in Paris in 2016.

The reduced orchestration, conducted by Artistic Director Douglas Boyd, will be joined by pre-recorded audio from their chorus.

“’Fidelio’ is a wonderfully fitting work to announce our return to the stage,” Boyd stated in a press release. “The worldwide plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary Beethoven season were of course decimated because of COVID-19 and I’m thrilled that we can still bring his opera to life in 2020. The themes of oppression and isolation, but also of hope and above all the power of love, make it the perfect opera for our times.

“This project is so important to us all – artists and audiences alike – to share the power of music, together again.”