Reviews for Helena in Garsington’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Helena in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Garsington Opera (Summer 2024)
“Among the four lovers the most compelling was Camilla Harris as Helena, who filled the auditorium with her voice and charisma and has the talent to have a stunning future.”
Simon Heffer for The Telegraph, 24 June 2024
“The quartet of lovers — Caspar Singh’s Lysander, Camilla Harris’s Helena, James Newby’s Demetrius and Stephanie Wake-Edwards’s Hermia — are superb.”
The Times, 17 June 2024
“The four young lovers are enthusiastically interpreted and very well sung by Caspar Singh, Stephanie Wake-Edwards, Camilla Harris and James Newby”
MusicOMH, 17 June 2024
“The four lovers scrap and make it up so convincingly that one feels one knows them, so gongs to Caspar Singh, Stephanie Wake-Edwards, James Newby, and Camilla Harris.”
iNews, 17 June 2024
“Camilla Harris’ smooth-voiced Helena”
The Stage, 17 June 2024
“A very fine quartet of lovers includes Camilla Harris as Helena…”
Financial Times, 17 June 2024
Opera North 2024/2025 Season Announcement
Camilla is excited to make her Opera North debut as Helena in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
For more information click here.
CAST INCLUDES
Oberon James Laing
Tytania Daisy Brown
Bottom Henry Waddington
Helena Camilla Harris
Lysander Joel Williams
Demetrius James Newby
Theseus Andri Björn Róbertsson
Hippolyta Molly Barker
Conductor Garry Walker
Director Martin Duncan
Set Designer Johan Engels
Costume Designer Ashley Martin-Davis
Lighting Designer Bruno Poet
Choreographer Ben Wright
Returning to Garsington Summer 2024
Camilla is excited to return to Garsington this summer for their 2024 Festival. She will be playing the role of Helena in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Nights Dream for Garsington Opera in their 2024 Opera Festival
Cast & Creative Team
Cast
Oberon - Iestyn Davies
Tytania - Lucy Crowe
Bottom - Richard Burkhard
Lysander - Caspar Singh
Demetrius - James Newby
Hermia - Stephanie Wake-Edwards
Helena - Camilla Harris
Theseus - Nicholas Crawley
Hippolyta - Christine Rice
Quince - John Savournin
Snug - Frazer Scott
Starveling - Geoffrey Dolton
Creative Team
Conductor - Douglas Boyd
Director and Designer - Netia Jones
Lighting Designer - D.M. Wood
Fight Director - Christian Sordelet
Philharmonia Orchestra
Garsington Opera Youth Company
For more information and for tickets click here
★★★★★ For Così at Garsington
Thrilled to have received really positive reviews for my performances as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte for Garsington Opera (Summer 2022):
“…the ladies were a triumphant trio. Camilla Harris had been the understudy for Fiordiligi, and when the original soprano in the role had to withdraw through illness, she took over with sensational results. Dignified in manner, elegant in presence and scrupulously musical in interpretation, her arias were high points, fearlessly negotiating the challenges yet producing beautifully soft tone when required.” ★★★★
— Melanie Eskenazi for Music OMH
“Singing Fiordiligi with infinite grace, the soprano Camilla Harris becomes the beating heart of this sparkling production,” ★★★★★
— Michael Church for iNews
“Camilla Harris’s commandingly sung Fiordiligi — remarkably, her stage debut with a major company.” ★★★★
— Neil Fisher for The Times
“Camilla Harris sings Fiordiligi’s “Come scoglio” with a secure command of its perilous leaps of register, and crucially without putting on airs of eternal chastity.” ★★★★
— Peter Quantrill for The Arts Desk
“Camilla Harris is an impressively steadfast Fiordiligi, only rarely breaking into smiles. Her ‘Come scoglio’ really sounded as if ‘this lady’s not for turning’, confidently dispatching the aria’s demanding leaps and rising admirably to the challenge of ‘Per pietà’”
— David Truslove for Opera Today
“Fiordiligi, (Camilla Harris) is an elegant blonde with a warm, sweet tone who, though virginal in looks is not above a fit of giggles. Harris was promoted from understudy at very short notice after impressing the artistic team.” ★★★★
— Amanda Holloway for The Stage
“Similarly distinctively drawn were the sisters from a thrilling Camilla Harris as a more serious and more difficult to seduce Fiordiligi… Camilla Harris well deserved the audience’s enthusiasm at the curtain call.”
— Mike Smith for Opera Scene
Image: © Julian Guidera
Garsington Opera Debut as Fiordiligi
Camilla makes her Garsington Opera debut as Fiordiligi in John Cox’s revival of Così fan tutte. Image: © Craig Fuller
Camilla is excited to be joining the cast of Così fan tutte where she will be making her Garsington Opera debut as Fiordiligi this summer.
Fiordiligi
Camilla Harris
Dorabella
Polly Leech
Ferrando
Gavan Ring
Guglielmo
Seán Boylan
Don Alfonso
Henry Waddington
Despina
Ailish Tynan
Conductor
Tobias Ringborg
Director
John Cox
Designer
Robert Perdziola
Lighting Designer
Paul Pyant
Associate Director
Bruno Ravella
The English Concert
Garsington Opera Chorus
Press release from Garsington can be viewed here.
Image © Craig Fuller
OFFIES Finalist
I am excited to have been announced as an #OFFIES finalist in the Opera Performance category from my performance of Countess for HGO’s Le nozze di Figaro last November. Really looking forward to the awards ceremony.
OFFIES Nomination for Opera Performance
I’m thrilled to have received an OFFIES nomination for Opera Performance in HGO’s production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro where I am playing the Countess. More details to follow. https://offwestend.com
HGO Le nozze di Figaro Review
Reviews are coming in from the first night of HGO’s Le nozze di Figaro.
Garsington Opera’s Alvarez Young Artist (2022) and Fiordiligi Cover
I am so excited to join Garsington Opera’s Alvarez Young Artist programme for their 2022 season. I will be covering the role of Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte which I performed for RAO last April. I will also perform in the chorus for Così fan tutte and Rusalka.
Graduation Prizes
I am so happy to have been awarded the Regency Award at Graduation for distinguished studentship. I was also awarded the Tom Hammond Opera Prize, Kendal Prize and John McAslan Prize. A great way to end two amazing years at Royal Academy of Music on their Opera Course.
Finalist in Royal Academy of Music Bicentenary Prize
Camilla is excited to compete in the final of Royal Academy of Music’s Bicentenary Prize on 18th May. Camilla will perform music by Massenet, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov and Bachelet with pianist Michel Xie.
For more information and for access to the live-stream click here
Kathleen Ferrier Semi-Finalist
Thrilled to finally be allowed to share that Natalie Burch and I got through to the semi-finals of the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Awards which happened last night. Really proud of the hard work we put in. A video of the performance will be available soon.
Our semi-final programme consisted of works by Handel, Jake Heggie, Alfred Bachelet and Verdi.
Upcoming performances
I am thrilled, considering the uncertain times at the moment due to COVID 19, to be keeping busy whilst in my final year of Opera School at Royal Academy of Music.
Some things to look forward to:
(POSTPONED due to COVID 19) - 18th and 20th November - Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Royal Academy Opera
20th January 2020 - Das Knaben Wunderhorn concert for Royal Academy of Music’s Song Circle in Duke’s Hall. (This will be live-streamed)
March 2021 - Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte for Royal Academy Opera
Royal Academy of Music’s prestigious ‘Song Circle’
Camilla is delighted to have been offered a place on Royal Academy of Music’s prestigious ‘Song Circle’.
Each year a small group of the Royal Academy of Music’s most accomplished performers of the song repertoire are selected to form the Academy Song Circle.
Since its inception in 2004, Song Circle has given over 50 concerts in venues including Wigmore Hall, The Austrian Cultural Forum, the Oxford Lieder Festival (all annual events), The German Embassy, the Institut français, the Chelsea Schubert Festival, Kings Place, the Bolivar Hall, the National Gallery, the Academy’s Duke’s Hall, the David Josefowitz Recital Hall, and in private houses across London and farther afield.
Bicentenary Scholar 2019-2020
Camilla is delighted to have been selected as one of six Bicentenary Scholars for Royal Academy of Music’s 2019-20 academic year.
“They will receive an intensive year of exceptional preparation for their professional careers, and will benefit from our ambitious creative partnership with Linn Records”
Glyndebourne Chorus
Camilla is looking forward to performing in the Glyndebourne Chorus for Glyndebourne Festival’s production of Berlioz’s Le Damnation de Faust this summer.
Camilla saw her first opera at Glyndebourne when she was at school so is extremely excited to be performing on the stage.
For more information and for tickets click here
Semi-finalist of Mozart Singing Competition
I am thrilled to have been selected to be in the semi-finals of the Mozart Singing Competition which will take place on 5th April 2019.
For more information click here
Josephine Baker Trust
Camilla is excited to have been selected to be on the Josephine Baker trust’s list of approved singers. The Josephine Baker trusts offers grants to individuals studying vocal music at The Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music by paying some or all of their performance fees at concerts. It is a great opportunity for Camilla and is a very positive start to her second year back at RCM especially alongside her success at being offered soprano solos in RCM Chamber Choir’s Autumn concert of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.
Soloist for RCM’s Autumn term Chamber Choir Concert
I am delighted to be a soprano soloist in The Royal College of Music’s autumn Chamber Choir Concert of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. I will be performing one of my favourite arias ‘O Salutaris Hostia’.
More information and tickets can be found here
Britten-Pears Young Artist
Camilla is excited to be a Britten Pears Young Artist (2018) and is now busy preparing music for her Classical Song course for Aldeburgh Festival in Snape Maltings on 17th-24th June.
The course will be run by:
John Fisher piano
Julia Faulkner soprano
Matthew Rose bass
Anne Sofie von Otter mezzo soprano
Kristian Bezuidenhout fortepiano
"In their second course of the Aldeburgh Festival, John Fisher, Julia Faulkner and Matthew Rose are joined by two more outstanding artists; Grammy award-winning mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, whose unrivalled discography spans three decades, and Kristian Bezuidenhout, one of today’s most exciting and versatile keyboard artists (who will give their own recital during the Aldeburgh Festival). Prior to a one-day intensive course on fortepiano with Kristian, Anne Sofie, Julia and John will lead participants through the poise and charm of classical song in private sessions and public masterclasses.
Participants’ repertoire choices should be confined to the classical era (e.g. Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart) but must include voice and piano songs (i.e. not only arias)."
Masterclasses will take place between Tue 19 Jun - Fri 22 Jun in the Peter Pears Recital Room. Book here
Final Recital: Saturday 23 June at 12pm in Britten Studio. Book here
For more information on the recital and public masterclasses click here