REVIEW – White Horse Opera’s Gala Concert@ Devizes Town Hall – Saturday 7th October 2023

30 Years of The White Horse Opera

Andy Fawthrop

Such a pleasure to see White Horse Opera back in the saddle again after their illness-affected production of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amour” at Lavington School last October had to be part-abandoned. Tonight the cast were all dressed up in their finery and, I have to say, scrubbed up pretty well. The opera-starved public of D-Town responded in kind, dressing up for the occasion and turning out in numbers to pack the Town Hall’s Assembly Room.

Although the concert was tinged with some sadness following the recent death of the company’s dear friend Graham Billing, who passed away in July after a brave battle against cancer, there was much to celebrate in this gala concert. In a room festooned with posters and memorabilia of the last thirty years—worth of great productions, the company gave their all, augmented by several guest singers. The programme, superbly curated and pulled together by soprano Jess Phillips, consisted of many highlights from those shows, and served to highlight the company’s ambition and the calibre of their achievements.

We were treated to piano overtures, arias, duets and choral pieces. There were pieces from Puccini, Verdi, Rossini, Mozart, Bellini, Gounod, Gluck, Gilbert & Sullivan, Offenbach, Tchaikovsky, Lehar, Bizet, Donizetti, Strauss, and Saint-Saens. Quite a line-up! And it just goes to demonstrate the scope and the versatility of this very talented cast of amateur singers under the musical direction of Roland Melia.

The pianists – Dominic Irving and Tony James – provided perfect and flawless performances. The stand-out singers for me were guests Carlos Alonso and Robert Felstead, together with several members of the regular company, particularly Chrissie Higgs, the dependable Lisa House, and alto Paula Boyagis. That’s not to say that all of the soloists weren’t superb though!

This is a talented company, based in and around D-Town, so if you get the chance, go and see one of their productions – you won’t be disappointed! The next opportunities to hear them are listed below.

Future WHO events:

Sat 9^th Dec 2023 Christmas Concert 11.30am St. Johns Church, Devizes

10^th -12^th April 2024 Puccini’s La Boheme Lavington School

More information on WHO is available at www.whitehorseopera.co.uk