IN A high-powered appointment, artistic director Roderick Kennedy has announced that Nicolas Mansfield will be taking over as guest chorus master of Dorset Opera for their productions of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci this summer.
Nicolas was formerly chorus master of the Nationale Reisopera in the Netherlands and now holds the post of head of artistic administration at the same company, which opened a new theatre sporting Europe’s largest orchestra pit, in November.
Having witnessed the standard of Dorset Opera’s Turandot in 2007, Nicolas said he had ‘no hesitation in accepting the offer’.
He takes over from James Henderson, director of music at Sherborne School, who is unavailable during the rehearsal period of this year’s productions.
Nicolas Mansfield was born in Reigate, Surrey, where he was a Music Scholar at Reigate Grammar School.
After reading music and biblical studies at Sheffield University he took the postgraduate opera course at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
In 1989 he moved to the Netherlands to sing full time with the Dutch Radio Choir. He has taught singing at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and conducted numerous professional and semi-professional choirs and orchestras.
Dorset Opera’s chorus is composed of a wide range of people some appearing in an opera for the first time. Last year nearly three quarters of the singers were under 25 and several were still at school.
Chorus manager Jerry Laker said: “ We are delighted to be able to offer such a wonderful opportunity to local people.
“We welcome applications to join this years two-week opera summer school where young chorus members, stage crew, and technical theatre students, get the opportunity to work with professionals who are well established in their careers.”
Dorset Opera, which attracts participants from across the globe, is regarded as ‘the world’s foremost residential opera summer school’. It is based at Bryanston School near Blandford and starts on Saturday, July 18.
Full details can be found at dorsetopera.com
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