The Marschallin is relishing time with her young lover, when her cousin’s sudden arrival ignites a comic chain of events. With honour at risk, social status bartered and happiness illusive, the Marschallin accepts time cannot be stopped and she must set young love free. Exquisite music, poignant comedy and fairy tale romance: Der Rosenkavalier has it all. For its Garsington premiere, Bruno Ravella transposes what is perhaps Richard Strauss’s most famous opera to the glamorous 1950s. Jordan de Souza conducts the excellent Philharmonia Orchestra and a bravura cast. ‘Garsington is back with a show that’s a joy to the ears, and a feast for the eyes.’ Mail on Sunday

„Lie to me, I promise, I’ll believe“. Is a seducer always a cheat? Or is he himself being cheated on in return? Don Giovanni is the incarnation of the irresistible lover; a man who lightheartedly rushes from one conquest to another, who refuses to submit to any kind of moral claims on his person and who pays for his freedom with an incapability of forming an honest relationship with a woman or another person. Even his numerous mistresses are not really in love with Don Giovanni himself, but only make use of him as a mirrored image to project their own differing needs. Andrea Moses’ staging of Mozart’s masterpiece convincingly demonstrates how all characters are interested only in his or her own exclusive advantage. Lies and manipulation are everywhere with Don Giovanni as possibly the most honest person amongst them.

As a young child, Frederic had been apprenticed to a pirate by mistake when he should have been apprenticed to a pilot. Now, having reached his 21st year, Frederic's indentures are at last over and he happily leaves the service of the pirates. When Frederic meets the beautiful Mabel, one of the many daughters (or wards in Chancery) of Major-General Stanley, they fall in love and decide to marry. However, complications arise when the pirates decide to marry the rest of the Major-General's daughters, themselves - and Frederic's birthdate turns out to be not all it seems.