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HGO Savitri

Sāvitri

One act opera by Gustav Holst

DATES

13 15 20 & 22 AUG 2021

VENUE

Lauderdale House, Highgate

 

Click image to download  the flipbook programme, which can also be printed. If you choose to download, please make a donation to help support HGO. Thank you.

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HGO brings live opera back to London with an open-air, socially-distanced production of Gustav Holst’s Sāvitri , a tale of life, death, illusion and hope powerfully resonant with our times.

 

Sāvitri is told by Death that her husband Satyavān is about to die. When he returns from his day’s work in the forest he collapses. Death now offers Sāvitri a wish, and she asks for ‘Life’. Death agrees, but Sāvitri then points out that life for her is indivisible from her husband’s life. Death has been tricked and admits defeat. Satyavān revives: even death, like life, is ‘Māyā’ – illusion.

 

HGO is dedicated to supporting singers at the start of their careers – they will lead the return of vibrant opera to the capital.

 

The open-air production of this one-act opera took place, in accordance with government regulations, in the gardens of Lauderdale House, Highgate, with two performances per evening (at 18:30 and 20:00) on Thursday 13th, Saturday 15, Thursday 20th and Saturday 22nd August.

 

This was a complete performance of the opera, which lasts about 35 minutes.

 

The production was staged by Julia Mintzer, and conducted by Thomas Payne.

CAST

Sāvitri
Joanna Harries
Esme Bronwen-Smith
Lizzie Holmes
Satyavān
Jack Roberts
Alex Aldren
Death
Dan D’Souza
Theo Perry
Dancer
Laura Calcagno

PRODUCTION

Production Director
Julia Mintzer
Music Director
Thomas Payne
Choreographer
Anna-Lou Mary

REVIEWS

Music, drama, opera were reborn before our eyes and ears…….. In Julia Mintzer’s thoughtful, elegant staging, we were able to make connections, yet never pushed unduly. Sāvitri (Esme Bronwen Smith) in her struggle with the Death (Theo Perry) that would take her husband could stand for the creative act itself, both abstract and concrete (Holst), but also in a time of pandemic could lead our thoughts elsewhere, whether particular or universal. ‘The world has now become a grave.’
Yehuda Shapira in The Stage
A beautiful and hugely memorable evening
David Winskill in the Hampstead and Highgate Express
**** The show generated energy from sensitive direction that traded in closeness and distance
Neil Fisher in The Times

PRODUCTION IMAGES

VIDEOS

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