IL MONDO DELLA LUNA

Opera della Luna (The English Players) 1993
Iford Festival 2006
Opera East 2009

ORIGINAL CAST:

Buonafede DAVID O’BRIEN
Ecclitico IAN STOREY
Cecco STEPHEN NEWMAN
Ernesto JEFFREY CARL
Flaminia FIONA O’NEILL
Clarice NAOMI HARVEY
Lisetta LOWRI ANN RICHARDS

Conductor JOHN GIBBONS
Set Designer ADRIAN MUDD
Costume Designer NIGEL HOWARD


IFORD PRODUCTION:

Buonafede PHILIP COX
Ecclitico NICHOLAS SMITH
Cecco HENRY MOSS
Ernesto CATHERINE KING
Flaminia HELEN MASSEY
Clarice ANTHEA JANE KEMPSTON
Lisetta CAROLYN DOBBIN

Conductor BENJAMIN BAYL
Set Designer ELROY ASHMORE
Costume Designer GABRIELLA CSANYI-WILLS

Originally created for The English Players, Il Mondo della Luna was absorbed into the OdL repertoire and was also revived at the Iford Festival.

In many ways, Il Mondo della Luna embodies what Opera della Luna is all about. It features a witty but ridiculous plot by Goldoni charmingly set by Haydn. Haydn suffers from being hugely in Mozart's shadow operatically but Goldoni was, and always will be, a milestone of stage comedy. Freely adapted and translated, "Mondo" offered an opportunity to show what we could do. The original production was notable in bringing together some great voices at the beginning of their careers, and the Iford revival with new costumes by Gabriella Csanyi-Wills and sets by Elroy Ashmore was equally rewarding.

"If you were thinking of spicing up a little known Baroque opera with a bit of sex, cross dressing and the odd reference to EastEnders, Haydn wouldn’t be the first composer to spring to mind would he ? Well, actually, yes he would, if you were opera director Jeff Clarke."