An ongoing project for  2007/8 is a new opera by Jonathan Dove for a very adventurous Dutch company called

“OT Rotterdam” :

 

The opera is based on the best selling novel The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi by Arthur Japin, who also wrote the English-language libretto. In 1837, the Ashanti princes Kwasi and Kwame were presented to King Willem I of the Netherlands. Far from their parents and their people, they lose their language and their customs. While one prince tries his hardest to fit in and become a “real” Dutchman, the other struggles to maintain his African identity. The struggles they faced, and their attempts to overcome them, make the true story of Kwasi and Kwame still painfully relevant today.   

Arthur Japin

Arthur Japin is one of the Netherlands’ best-loved and best-selling authors. After studying drama and Dutch language and literature, he acted on stage, screen and television for many years, at one point even singing as a soloist at the Dutch National Opera. As writer in residence, he has taught at Hull, Sheffield and Cambridge Universities, the University of Central London, and New York University. His work is published in over 20 countries and has been awarded many prestigious prizes, including the 2005 Libris Award. His novels include In Lucia’s Eyes (2003) and The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi, published in 1997 after ten years of research in Africa, Europe, and Indonesia.

Jonathan Dove

The music was commissioned by Opera O.T. from the British composer Jonathan Dove, a well-known composer of operas, choral, and theatrical music. He has written twenty operas and made his name with the “airport-comedy” Flight and the television opera Man on the Moon. In 1998, he won the Christopher Whelen Award for his compositions for the theatre. This summer he is composer-in-residence for the 10th edition of the Grachtenfestival in Amsterdam.

 

Philip  will perform at the Holders Festival in Barbados in March, 2008

Tuesday 4th March
Classical Double Mill B ravo! & The Montreal Guitar Trio
  

The exceptional and always entertaining Montreal Guitar Trio performs a programme of exquisite arrangements ranging from the tango to top film scores. This will be followed by a brilliant glimpse at the world of opera. Scripted by Charles Hart - the lyricist of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera - Bravo! presents the world and music of the operatic tenor and baritone - featuring singers Philip Sheffield and George Mosely.

 

In January 2008 Philip made his debut at the Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos in Lisbon in a new opera by Emmanuel Nunes : Das Märchen

 

25. 29. Janeiro 2008 às 20:00h; 27. Janeiro às 16:00h
Direcção musical Peter Rundel
Encenação Karoline Gruber
Cenografia Roy Spahn
Coreografia Amanda Miller
Figurinos Mechthild Seipel
Desenho de luz Hans Toelstede

Realização informática musical Ircam Eric Daubresse
Remix Ensemble
Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa
Coro do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
maestro titular Giovanni Andreoli
Encomenda
Teatro Nacional de São Carlos /
/ Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian / Casa da Música

Intérpretes [cantores]

Lilia  Silja Schindler
A Serpente  Chelsey Schill
A Velha  Graciela Araya
1.º Fogo-Fátuo / A Velha / 4.º Rei  Andrew Watts
2.º Fogo-Fátuo / Rei de Prata  Musa Duke Nkuna
Príncipe  Philip Sheffield
O Barqueiro / O Homem com a Lâmpada Matthias Hoelle
1.º Rei   Dieter Schweikart
3.º Rei   Luís Rodrigues
 

Philip will sing the tenor arias in the first performance of a new translation of Bach’s St.Matthew Passion published by Peters.

 

Wednesday 12 March at 7pm

St. John’s, Smith Square.

CAMDEN CHOIR*
THE NEW LONDON CHILDREN'S CHOIR
SOUTHERN PRO ARTE
Julian Williamson conductor
Janis Kelly soprano
Elizabeth Sikora mezzo-soprano
Richard Edgar-Wilson tenor
Philip Sheffield tenor -

Martin Oxenham bass -

Graeme Broadbent bass

J. S. Bach St Matthew Passion

£18.00 / £15.00 / £12.00 / £8.00

Sponsored by Lyndon van der Pump