John Rawnsley-Diary

Aldeburgh

Diary

2005

John will sing the title role in Verdi's 'Falstaff' in June for Stanley Hall Opera at Stanley Hall, Halstead.The production will be directed by Michael McCaffery using Amanda Holden's English translation and Jonathan Dove's imaginative reworking of the score for chamber orchestra conducted by Orlando Jopling.
Performances will take place on the 23rd, 25th and 26th of June at 6pm each day.

"...... Rawnsley is an ideal Fat Jack: charming, entirely free of malice, his boastful ardour undercut by a sort of wistful self-knowledge ..... bags of stagecraft ...."
Robert Thickness - The Times.

During the latter half of October 2005 John will visit Vietnam to sing the role of 'Tonio' in two performances of Leoncavallo's 'Pagliacci' on the 27th and 28th October at the Opera House, Hanoi.

Concert engagements during 2005 will include Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana' at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. 'A Sea Symphony' by Vaughan Williams with Bedford Choral Society, 'Carmina Burana' with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Nicholas Cleobury at Reading on October 7th, Puccini's 'Messa di Gloria' at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford on December 3rd.
On December 10th John will sing the role of 'Elijiah' in a performance of Mendelssohn's 'Elijiah' in Salisbury Cathedral.

2006

In March 2006 John will sing two concert performances of Handel's 'Messiah' with the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth.
The performances will be at the Dome Concert Hall, Brighton on the 18th of March and then at the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne on the 19th of March.
On Tuesday March 21st, John will sing 'The Priest' and the 'Angel Of The Agony' in a performance of Elgar's 'The Dream of Gerontius' at Westminster Abbey with soprano Rosalind Plowright, tenor Dominic Natoli and the Chorus of Westminster School conducted by Guy Hopkins.

On the 2nd of April John will again sing 'The Priest' and the 'Angel Of The Agony' in a performance of Elgar's 'The Dream of Gerontius' with the Plymouth Philharmonic Choir at Plymouth Guildhall, Plymouth.

On Saturday the 5th of August John will be the Narrator in a performance of 'Side by Side by Sondheim' given by the Opera Project at West Green House, Surrey.

In October John will begin rehearsals in London with The Young Vic Theatre Company for 'a musical tale' called 'The Enchanted Pig' composed by Jonathan Dove with lyrics by Alasdair Middleton, in which John will sing the roles of 'King Hildebrand' and 'The North Wind'.

'The Enchanted Pig' is directed by John Fulljames and designed by Dick Bird with lighting by Paul Anderson and choreography by Philippe Giraudeau.

'The Enchanted Pig' is a Fairy Tale .... of a Princess .... who marries a Pig .... who is of course .... a Prince....!
But don't worry, as with all Fairy Tales involving a Prince and a Princess ..... 'everyone lives happily ever after' .... well ... nearly everyone ....!

Performances begin previewing in December with the press night on December 14th at the Young Vic's recently restored and refurbished theatre.

2007

The 'Enchanted Pig' continues at the Young Vic through January until the final performance, on Saturday the 28th of January.
During February and early March 'The Enchanted Pig' will embark on a short five week tour with six performances at the Northern Stage, Newcastle-upon-Tyne - 29th January - 3rd Febraury.
Then, in conjunction with Aldeburgh Music there will two performances at The Maltings, Snape - 9th February - 11th February.
From the 14th of February to the 17th of February there will be 5 performances at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield.
Then a further 7 performances nearer London at the Richmond Theatre, Richmond - 26th February - 3rd March.

'Enchanted Pig' Reviews and Pictures

June 2007 update.

At the moment John is enjoying teaching and coaching voices - mainly baritones in various roles. He is also enjoying imparting his knowledge of stage and concert platform technique - something dear to his heart - to young singers of all voices.
All this while sustaining a busy concert career.

He is also, with his accompanist Mark Packwood, putting together a programme of Sea Songs by the British composers Michael Head, Frederick Keel and John Ireland. Also rarely performed songs by Ivor Gurney and Willie B Manson - who was sadly killed on the Western Front.
Some of these are little known settings of well known poems by A.E Houseman and John Masefield.

This programme will be performed later this year, venue to be confirmed.
Please contact John via this site for further details.

2007/2008

In December 2007 John begins rehearsals for the roles of Dr. Bartolo and Antonio in a new production of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' with the Armonico Consort conducted by Christopher Monks.

The Opera will be sung in English using a new translation by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and the production will be directed by Michael McCaffery with performances beginning at the Warwick Arts Center on the 17th, 18th and 19th of January 2008, and in Malvern at the Malvern Forum on the 24th and 25th January 2008.

"Operatic comedy at its finest......John Rawnsley's lovable Dr Bartolo......Rawnsley is an old-stager with many a hilarious comic turn: it's a bit like watching 1950s costume drama or Music-Hall, with gags straight out of the RADA's dressing-up cupboard. Wholly apt for Bartolo -- the 'revelation' scene was an utter hoot. The icing on the cake was Rawnsley's Antonio (talk about a quick change!), peppered with a wholly different set of walks and gestures, brazenly presumptuous with his master, and handsomely sung. Like watching an Old Master".
Roderic Dunnett - Music & Vision

On every Sunday during the month of April (6, 13, 20, with two performances on the 27th), John is performing the role of Charles Crowell in an Ian Marshall Fisher production of 'Park Avenue' (1946) by Ira Gershwin and Arthur Schwartz, with a book by George S Kaufman and Nunnally Johnson. This is in the season of Ian Marshall Fisher's 'Lost Musicals' - it is a semi staged performance at Sadler's Wells in the Lilian Baylis Theatre, Rosebery Avenue, London.

"Ian Marshall Fisher's LOST MUSICALS semi staged performances are a spectacular celebration of rarely heard works by America's most important writers" - The New York Times

The Independent, April 7th
".......Opera singer John Rawnsley's combination of geniality and gravitas adds a welcome gloss to his characterisation of the discarded millionaire Charles Crowell..."
Rhoda Koenig

www.classicalsource.com
Lost Musicals – Park Avenue
.....John Rawnsley is good as one of Sybil’s ex’s (Charles Crowel) and, if he wants to stay in musical comedy, he would make a fine Nicely-Nicely in “Guys and Dolls”.
Reviewed by: Michael Darvell

The Stage
Monday 13 October 2008

'The Good Old Days' at the Leeds City Varieties Theatre.
".....Bravo Mr John Rawnsley. Only rarely, in the last ten years of the Good Old Days, has a male singer made such an impact. Splendidly dressed and magnificent of voice, he has superbly appropriate material, such as The Road to Mandalay and Passing By. When he launches into Champagne Charlie, this theatre’s ghosts will surely be roused from their slumbers".
Reviewed by: Kevin Berry

2009

On March 7th John will be singing in a concert given by the London Welsh Male Voice Choir in St. Albans Cathedral.

In June 2009 John is pleased to announce that he will again be performing with Stanley Hall Opera in a production of Auber's 'Fra Diavolo' directed by Michael McCaffrey with a new English translation by Simon Butteriss.

In July 2009 John will sing the role of 'Sharpless' in a production of 'Madama Butterfly' directed by Annie Corbier at Ales in Provence, France.
Rehearsals begin at the end of June.

2010

Since the beginning of the year during January and February John has been doing quite a lot of teaching. He has also been singing in performances of 'The Victorian Music Hall' in theatres in and around London, including Wimbledon Theatre, The Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch www.queens-theatre.co.uk and the Northfields Theatre, a beautifully restored Victorian theatre in the Langdon Down Centre at Teddington www.langdondowncentre.org.uk/

In April John is pleased to announce that he will play the role of 'John Heppenstall' a cotton mill owner in a production of 'The Northerners,' a play by Harold Brighouse, directed by Tim Newns for the Finborough Theatre in London.

Harold Brighouse remains best known for his 1916 classic 'Hobson's Choice.'
'The Northerners,' which premiered in 1914 at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester www.gaietytheatre is set in 1820 in Lancashire which is in the grip of recession mainly due to the then recent war with Bonaparte.

The cotton weavers are on the brink of revolt, the Luddites are burning the new machinery and destroying the new power looms. The employers are doing everything in their power to maximise their profits, regardless of the human cost.
As the price of bread rises to over a shilling a loaf, wages fall and famillies starve, and mills and looms are engulfed in flames as the weavers fight a hopeless and desperate battle against the ever expanding factory.

A powerfull drama, 'The Northerners' is receiving its London premiere nearly 100 years after the first production and Tim Newns' production is only the third production ever of this play!

Rehearsals begin on March 9th and the premiere will be at the Finborough Theatre on Sunday April 4th with performances on the 5th, 11th, 12th, 18th and 19th of April.
Please follow this link for further information: www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/

Meanwhile, someone has kindly posted a clip of John singing the aria 'Largo al Factotum' from the Glyndebourne production of 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' on You Tube
Please click on the above link and take a look!

Snape