Garsington Opera to move to Buckinghamshire
29 April 2010
Wormsley House(Photo: David Ellis)
Plan of the new Garsington Opera auditorium at Wormsley(Image: Snell Associates)
Wormsley Estate in Buckinghamshire has been chosen as the preferred new location for Garsington Opera.
Set within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the spectacular 2,500 acre Estate with 18th century country house is home to the Getty family.
An agreement to hold the festival at Wormsley from 2011 has already been reached with Mark Getty, and includes plans to construct a new pavilion auditorium close to Wormsley House.
Applications for permission and consultations with the local community are now being launched.
Speaking enthusiastically about the “many merits” of Wormsley, Garsington Opera’s Chairman, Iain Mackinnon said “We feel very excited that a new era is opening for us.”
Mark Getty highlighted the importance of Garsington Opera “developing outreach activities that benefit schools and others in the local area with an interest in the performing arts.”
Garsington Opera was founded in 1989 by Leonard Ingrams and his wife Rosalind, the owners of Garsington Manor in Oxfordshire. Leonard died in 2005 and the search for a new location for the festival has been ongoing since 2008.
Meanwhile, the festival celebrated its 20th anniversary last year and recently announced a programme for 2010 that includes the first-ever British production of Rossini’s Armida.
