Much Ado About Nothing

 

by Charles Villiers Stanford

adapted from the play by William Shakespeare

 

extended staged excerpts with piano accompaniment

 

 

Thursday 4 August 2016

 

Left Bank Leeds

 

7.30pm

 

Production recording

 

Production images

 

Thursday 4 August we rediscovered Charles Villiers Stanford’s wonderful operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

 

Largely unperformed since its premiere at the Royal Opera House in 1901, Stanford’s opera is an hilarious, moving and hugely entertaining adaptation of Shakespeare’s play.

 

In a comedy of two sets of lovers, Hero and Claudio must overcome the devious and jealous Don John, whilst for Beatrice and Benedick, it's not exactly a case of 'love at first sight' ...

 

We performed five extended extracts from the opera, and audiences heard from the leading Stanford scholar, Professor Jeremy Dibble, on Stanford's operatic career.

 

Production programme