Berwick Festival Opera kicks off with a satirical fairy-fest

The opening is spurred on by the recent announcement that Berwick Festival Opera’s 2015 production of The Mikado, a co-production between The Maltings and Newcastle-based Rocket Opera, was declared runner-up in the ‘Performance of the Year’ category at The Journal Culture Awards 2016 held in Sunderland Minster at the end of April.

This year’s programme opens with Iolanthe, with the title role being taken by Berwick-based singer and Berwick Festival Opera favourite Tamsin Davidson.

Born in Edinburgh and brought up in North Yorkshire, Tamsin trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow where she won the prestigious Jean Highgate Award.

She lives with her family in Berwick, and has sung as a soloist in oratorio performances the length and breadth of the UK.

Reuniting the creative team behind last year’s sell-out success The Mikado, Berwick Festival Opera’s Iolanthe is a twinkling fairy-filled fantasy of a comic opera that aims its distinctive political satire at the upper echelons of government and the law.

Iolanthe is on at the Maltings, Berwick, on Saturday, June 11, at 7.30pm, and Sunday, June 12, at 2pm.

Tickets (stalls £16-£20, circle £23, under 16s free) are available from the box office by calling 01289 330999, or see the Maltings website for details.