Voila

And so before you know it the season is here and the first audiences (for the dress rehearsal of Pelleas) come through the doors. That dress was accompanied by the familiar rain and summer chill but the weather couldn't divert the impression that Debussy's opera - and this production of it - is unlike anything we have done before. It is easy to see why people are so divided on the piece but it rewards attention and Olivia Fuchs takes us into a deeply unsettling world of endless sadness and impending doom which, despite the flowing mellifluousness and shimmering beauty of the music and the startling images Olivia has created, grips and disorientates like few others do. What audiences and critics make of it we wait to discover with fascination but it is work of a definitive seriousness. Brad Cohen conducts with all the passion he has gathered in the years of his self confessed 'obsession' with the opera

Tiredness is creeping up on the company but perhaps the adrenaline of two first nights will revive everybody? Mournful grey skies are forecast for the opening of Pelleas whereas Wednesday promises blazing sun for Carmen's arrival. Good omens maybe...
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Blimey

A nice interview with James and I appeared on the Arbuturian website. You can find it here www.arbuturian.com and follow the links from the front page. An interesting website, The Arbuturian.

Less than a week to opening night and I still keep finding things to finish - I think I'm being a bit obsessive though so its nothing to worry about. Great to see the works going through their paces on stage - and the huge contrasts between them; in short, Pelleas will mesmerize and Carmen will pulverize. The new backstage is a hit too.



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We are in the middle of a spell of weather we can genuinely call 'summer' (25C + and not freezing in the shade). It may well be THE summer and autumn could arrive at any moment, but we'll make the most of it.

As is the usual way of things the critics have begun to submit their last minute review seat requests - one told me that between the 1st and 5th of June there are 9 shows opening in and around London. It doesn't exactly paint a picture of opera as a marginal art-form does it? Of course, those of us without huge subsidies have to fight for every sale and we always do well but even the smallest drop (in our case from 98 to 95 per cent, say, gives us the heebeegeebees; we've been spoiled. Having said that it is good to see Pelleas doing so well and it looks to have all the scintillating promise an Olivia Fuchs production always carries with it.

Today is Saturday and I am on babysitting duty. Fiora will have to make do with pigs and peacocks in the park.
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Help for heroes

The Chapel at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea is a fabulous place; built by Wren in 1692, it provided a glorious venue for a concert we gave in aid of the Hospital last night. Our green room was the vestry and on the wall is a list of organists who had held the post since 1693. On the list were some very distinguished names but the most extraordinary thing to my mind was that since that time only FIFTEEN people have held the post with the incumbent approaching his 36th year in the job. Next to it was a list of chaplains for the same period and the names were legion - I mentioned this to the chaplain who ruefully pointed out that the musicians get paid more!

It was a wonderful evening and I spent half an hour chatting to an old soldier who is trying, at the age of 90, to get back to Italy in September so he can visit the graves of those friends he lost there. Unfortunately he cannot afford the cost of going (a carer needs to accompany him). I have resolved to try and help; he fought very close to where my mother grew up and having recently read James Holland's book on the final year of the war in Italy, and from hearing the stories of my family, I know that it was one of the most attritional, brutal campaigns of the entire war.

The Carmen company arrives in force today and in less than a fortnight we're off...
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Hollywood or bust

James has tweeted about Woody Allen's latest movie being premiered at Cannes this week. This is significant to us because OHP was used as a backdrop to a key scene in which the ageing Anthony Hopkins introduces his new young squeeze (for whom he has left his wife) to his daughter (Naomi Watts) for the first time. I suppose its possible we don't make the final cut but it seems pivotal to the plot! There also seems to be a sizeable Woody gag in the backdrop - large banners were erected outside the theatre (on which they agreed to keep the words Opera Holland Park) that advertised a concert of Mozart's late symphonies...

We all had a fun evening playing extras on the shoot and meeting Hopkins was interesting -turns out he has ambitions to compose an opera.
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By jove we've done it

I dropped by the theatre on the way to a shopping trip with the kids (on FA Cup Final day!!) and found the site sparkling with an army of cleaners buzzing around and all but the very smallest things and some horticultural primping yet to do. I know the company have never come into such a finished site and I hope the buggers appreciate it: I shall patrol and mount snap inspections to ensure that all members of the company are keeping things in good order! I left the theatre barking at Dougie, our company manager, that he had better keep his house in order. I could see that behind his derisory chuckling he knew I meant business.
He had better beware because I learned my inspection techniques at boarding school under the tutelage of our Matron, Pam Dobie - a ferocious Scot with a dust radar the CAA would appreciate.

Now it is two weeks of madness before the 3 months of pandemonium: soon James enters the early 'eclipse' and before you can say boo to a peacock we'll have six live productions. In fact this year, with FMF we have seven of them. Lunacy really.
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Prelude

Last night, at Kent House, we held our traditional season curtain-raiser, the 'Prelude'. As ever it was a convivial event attended by over two hundred Friends who heard an array of brilliant singers from the season ahead perform a wonderfully eclectic programme of music ranging from Verdi and Mozart to Dvorak, Gounod, Lalo and Britten.
Thankfully, after my brush with alcohol last weekend, I more or less abstained and have woken up human.

These events raise a good deal of money for the Friends which of course finds it way back to the company and the work we do. I am always very humbled by the dedication and support the Friends who organise all of this show and when things are tough and busy and troublesome - as every season is at about this time - I don't suppose we can ever seem as grateful as we really are. We get much personal support from so many people too and one's expression of gratitude for that when you have the pre-season 'thousand-yard stare' is never really fulsome enough. I have to hope they all know..

This is the final weekend before the theatre is handed full time to the company - although various technical rehearsals have been taking place recently - and then we race to first night. Yesterday was fairly dramatic with diggers and all manner of works to replenish landscaping (and to resolve drainage issues). Our lovely theatre looked like a building site again but by the end of the day it was returning to normal. It is having its final manicure.
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I'm never going to drink again. Ever.

Yesterday was a day of celebration for Chelsea fans. I live near the stadium so it was easy to get out among the celebrants and to meet up afterwards with a few pals. I am afraid, however, that I may have toasted the Premiership too vigorously; today is not a good one to be meeting sponsors which is just one of the tasks I am scheduled for. I had to forego my walk to work but within seconds of getting on the train I wished I hadn't. Having been held up only by the compacted commuters around me, we then got held up at a red light for what felt like hours. So I got off to recover at a cafe in Earls Court from whence I write this. I shall stroll gently to work from here, bathed in milky sunshine and hoping nobody bumps into me since there would be just one outcome (and I am not sure I would be able to get up again.) Still it was a great day. I think.

We finish the theatre this week and the company take up residence in full from the weekend. That's a big moment for obvious reasons and it's a short hop from here to first night.

Actually I don't think I can manage that stroll so I'm off back into the station...
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Never put your daughter on the stage...

She does't look too happy but Fiora took her first steps onto the OHP stage today.

Hung

With about 70 seats still to declare the new parliament looks well hung with several unruly members ejected and a few new ones about to enter the house.
We could end up doing it all over again in a few months - weeks even. Hopefully the populous will return to something resembling normality now?

Everybody is a full pelt in the office and there is no shortage of additional demand on our time from other aspects of the business. Positive signs emanate from the rehearsal rooms which underpins everything so we have reason to be optimistic. James and I are thinking of some glitzy, interesting people to interview for our occasional podcast series (so watch this space) and the final week of the build is about to begin - mostly frilly-shirt work left now..
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Back into it

It never ceases to amaze me how the production of opera refuses to permit you a smooth passage to opening night; one of our Carmens has strained her back which means physio and osteopathy but with three or more weeks to go should hopefully present nothing more than a painful few days for her and inconvenience for the rehearsal schedule. And now the volcanic ash is making a threatening comeback...

Of course we also have the election to contend with tomorrow. Elections always send the nation into a kind of dormant state as though we expect some huge post-poll eruption that has to be gotten over before moving on (note the volcanic references). If you believe the pollsters there may well be some continuing rumblings after this one but we shall have to wait and see. General opinion has it that whoever wins, the arts might come in for some stick. For us, whatever the outcome tomorrow, we have a theatre to build and six operas to produce.

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Plugging away

A productive day ended with Chelsea winning the FA Youth Cup which is something I couldn't let pass without remark. Orchestra pit installations, lighting and electrical fit ups and fancy new concertina shutters on the bars and whizzy new surtitle monitors are one thing but the new generation of Chelsea stars is quite another.

Large pieces of set have begun to appear on site - some early technical rehearsals take place on Saturday - so within days we become a working theatre which will be nice. The process of this build has been very illuminating and I cannot begin to list the alternative solutions I now have firmly in mind but that is for the autumn; right now we are on course for an exciting season and the general build up in the public mind is gathering steam.

Julia is grafting away on the season magazine which is a complex beast, juggling with our first night invitation list and a multitude of other tasks. She seems able to manage without my constant presence and only being here for a few months appears not to be relevant. That tends to be the way of things at OHP - vertical learning curves. Soon an intern from Harvard university arrives for a few weeks and she too will be flung into the fray!
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OK, enough already

We have reached the point where we just want every contractor finished and off site so we can beautify the place. True to say this final technical piece of the jigsaw is the stuff that actually makes us a theatrical space - it will also contribute to the beautification. Anyway even the weekend deluge couldn't dampen spirits although a few carpets were..

Getting back onto the other part of the business will be good too with lots to look forwards to. Planning radio and press slots for the first two shows and starting to get a picture of the productions as they develop in the rooms is always exciting. The way shows grow and emerge from the rehearsal room is endlessly fascinating; so too is seeing the cast begin to realise what it is they are a part of. Sometimes they can't really tell until they are on-stage, with sets and lights and the real space and then it dawns. It is a wonderful process and productions come vividly to life - sometimes most extravagantly only when performed to an audience. Good noises are coming from both the Pelleas and Carmen rooms so here's hoping.

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