From the 3rd of June until the 9th of August (2008) the Holland Park Theatre (Holland Park Theatre, W8 6LU) hosts the Opera Holland Park event. This remarkable opera company, that has defied expectation and budgets to produce productions of the very highest standard, proposes Italian operas such like ‘Il Trovatore’, ‘Tosca’, Donizetti’s ‘La Fille du Regiment’, and Ponchielli’s ‘La Gioconda’ but also ‘The Magic Flute’ and Tchaikovsky’s odd fairytale ‘Iolanta’. The perfect scenery of the west London’s prettiest park contributes to create a magical atmosphere for all the productions! All venues are hosted in the magic Holland Park Theatre and start from about 7.30 pm. The Park is easily reachable by tube, stop Holland Park. Prices are also very affordable and range from 10-52 pounds. For more information you can contact the organization at 020 7361 2295.
For something similar but probably more familiar and easy going, you should spend an evening at Kenwood House (Hampstead Heath, NW3 7JR) where every summer (this year from 28th June- 23rd August 2008)
they organize Picnic Concerts. What is this? Let’s start saying that Kenwood House is a magnificent stately home on Hampstead Heath surrounded by a gorgeous green park, with its own lake, keeping the city beyond. This is certainly one of the finest settings where to cherish fine music on a mid-summer warm evening.
How to proceed? Well, first of all, organize your friends in a sort of pot luck where everybody takes in something to eat. Do not forget to take a bottle of champagne, a couple of good pillows and a blanket! It will be just perfect! The concerts usually take place at sunset. This summer programme includes Buena Vista Social Club, West End royalty Michael Ball and Lesley Garret, Beach Boys genius Brain. For all details contact the organizers directly!
If you like open air performances and events, you should take note that from 2nd June- 3rd September 2008, Regent’s Park (Nearest Station: Baker Street Tube / Regent’s Park Tube) organizes the 76th season for the Open Air Theatre. One of the biggest draw is ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, under a darkening summer sky, surrounded by English parkland. Probably adapted for tourists, or not an English mother-tongue audience, or teen-agers, this year they perform a new production, shortened and with some of the difficult words cut out. The other Shakespeare is an unseasonable ‘Twelfth Night’ and a ‘Romeo and Juliet’. For details of the programme you can contact the organizers directly at 0870 601811. Prices range from