Exceptional opera, dance, jazz and more The Grange Festival
Join us for exceptional opera, dance, and concerts, on an unparalleled English country estate
"No opera house can boast a more serenely beautiful setting.”
The Telegraph
The Grange Festival is an arts charity which presents an exceptionally dynamic programme of opera, dance, and concerts each summer. Held in one of the most celebrated neo-classical mansions in Britain, surrounded by a stunning countryside landscape, the Festival welcomes audiences from far and wide for awe-inspiring experiences of beauty, connection and artistic excellence.
Our tenth anniversary Festival, Brindley Sherratt’s first as Artistic Director, runs from 23 May to 11 July 2027. Highlights include a new Don Giovanni, the return of our acclaimed Tosca, Cape Town Opera’s Porgy and Bess with Chineke! Orchestra, and The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor. They sit alongside Verdi’s Requiem, Symphonic Bond, Joe Stilgoe’s A Jazz Club Symphony and Bern Ballett. Public booking opens 9 February 2027.
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The Story Of Billy Budd, Sailor
May | 23 25 29
At sea, aboard a ship at war, a young sailor loved by all is falsely accused, and one desperate blow sets the law against his captain's conscience. Composer Oliver Leith and director Ted Huffman distil Britten's Billy Budd into a tense and intimate chamber opera for six singers and four keyboard and percussion players.
Ted Huffman directs, Dominic Sedgwick as Billy and Toby Spence, returning after Eugene Onegin in 2026, as Captain Vere.
Don Giovanni
Jun | 2 7 12 17 19 25 27
In a single reckless night, a legendary seducer's conquests finally catch up with him. A jilted lover is in pursuit, a daughter is bent on vengeance, and a young bride is tempted away on her wedding day, until a stone guest arrives who will not be refused. Mozart's Don Giovanni swings from sparkling comedy to brooding menace, building to one of the most electrifying finales ever written.
Acclaimed director and designer Antony McDonald creates a new production for The Grange Festival, with Benjamin Bayl conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Dean Murphy sings Don Giovanni, with Chanhee Cho as his long-suffering servant Leporello, Mirjam Mesak as Donna Anna, Dafydd Jones as Don Ottavio and Rebecca Leggett as Zerlina.
Bern Ballett: Carmen / Unheld
Jun | 4 5 6
One of the world's best-loved operas, reborn as thrilling physical theatre. Former Nederlands Dans Theater dancer Jiří Pokorný takes Carmen, with its jealousy, desire, and fight for freedom, and tells it entirely through the body: fierce duels, explosive ensembles, and a heroine who will not be owned. Set to Bizet's music in Shchedrin's famous ballet arrangement, it sold out fifteen performances in Bern.
It is paired with Pokorný's Unheld, a short, exhilarating companion piece set to LCD Soundsystem's Dance Yourself Clean. Bern Ballett, one of Switzerland's leading contemporary dance companies, makes its Festival debut.
Verdi's Requiem
Jun | 13
Grief, grace and the promise of peace meet in one of the most powerful works ever written for the concert hall. Verdi's Requiem moves from whispered prayer to thundering judgement, and finally to a fragile, hard-won hope.
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the combined forces of The Grange Festival Chorus and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, with soloists and conductor to be announced.
Tosca
Jun | 15 18 20 22 24 26
One night in Rome: a fiery singer, a rebel painter and a police chief who will stop at nothing to possess her. Puccini's Tosca is opera at its most visceral, a searing story of love, tyranny and sacrifice that builds to a finale as shocking as it is inevitable.
Christopher Luscombe's acclaimed 2024 production returns, with Richard Farnes conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Federica Vitali sings Tosca, with Mykhailo Malafii as Cavaradossi and Andrei Bondarenko as Scarpia.
A Jazz Club Symphony With Joe Stilgoe
Jul | 1
Step inside the greatest jazz club you’ve never been to. Joe Stilgoe takes the songs from his latest album, Welcome to the Club, and expands them for full orchestra, with dazzling arrangements, virtuoso playing, and a sparkle of showbiz wit.
Singer, pianist, and bandleader Joe Stilgoe performs with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in an all-swinging, all-singing evening of jazz, theatre, and storytelling.
1 July £12 - £124
Symphonic Bond
Jul | 2 3 4
For more than sixty years, the music of James Bond has been as glamorous as the man himself, from John Barry's blazing brass to the title songs made famous by Shirley Bassey. And Bond has always had a taste for opera, most memorably at a performance of Tosca in Quantum of Solace.
Created for The Grange Festival's Tenth Anniversary, this is the Bond concert where Bassey meets Puccini. David Arnold conducts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and The Grange Festival Chorus in a celebration of the world's most famous secret agent, with Laura Tebbutt as vocalist.
Porgy and Bess
Jul | 7 8 10 11
On Catfish Row, Porgy offers Bess a tenderness she has never known, until old temptations return to threaten the fragile world they build together. Gershwin's "American folk opera" pours joy, grief and faith into some of the best-loved songs ever written, from Summertime to It Ain't Necessarily So.
In this semi-staged production from Cape Town Opera, directed by Magdalene Minnaar, Enrique Mazzola conducts the Chineke! Orchestra on stage alongside the singers. Nothing stands between you and Gershwin's glorious score. Siyabulela Ntlale sings Porgy, with Nonhlanhla Yende as Bess.
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