Opera Prelude:“Red Roses, Red Noses”

Life in the English Country House 1918-1939 with writer and historian Adrian Tinniswood, Callie Gaston (soprano), TBC (tenor) and Natalie Burch (piano)

Adrian Tinniswood, is the author of the Daily Telegraph Book of the Year “The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House Between the Wars.
In this morning’s lecture recital, we will discover the truth about a world half-forgotten. The Long Weekend gives a voice to the people who inhabited this world. Adrian brings to life the stately homes of England, showing how the image of the country house was carefully protected by its occupants above and below stairs, and how the reality was so much more interesting than the dream.

Opera Prelude’s young artists will accompany Adrian, filling the morning with an eclectic selection of music, some composed for and by the occupants of these great houses, such as Lord Berners’ “Red Roses: Red Noses”; numbers by Noel Coward and Mozart’s playful arias that mocked the difference between the classes and challenged social stereotypes of the day.

Adrian is Senior Research Fellow in History at the University of Buckingham, and a Visiting Fellow in Heritage and History at Bath Spa University. In June 2013 Adrian was awarded an OBE for services to heritage.

Opera Prelude is a small charity about supporting young professional opera singers who give lecture recitals in London. These friendly and inclusive events will introduce you to the international opera singers of tomorrow by way of recitals, concerts and masterclasses.