Green Opera returns to the Grimeborn Opera Festival with TESTAMENT—a bold and thought-provoking journey through four centuries of vocal music. This immersive performance explores humanity’s evolving relationship with nature, blending timeless masterpieces with modern revelations.
The evening features dramatic stagings of Monteverdi’s gripping Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Janáček’s emotionally charged The Diary of One Who Disappeared, and the long-awaited theatrical premiere of Libby Larsen’s Try Me, Good King.
Cast & Creatives
Natalka Pasicznyk – Ensemble
Emily Hodkinson – Ensemble
Shafali Jalota – Ensemble
Katherine McIndoe – Ensemble
Brenton Spiteri – Ensemble
Tobias Millard – Stage Director
Alex Raineri – Musical Director/Pianist
Kit Hinchcliffe – Set & Costume Designer
Emilia Cadenasso – Movement Director*
Juliet Hague – Company Stage Manager on Book
Olivia Gough – Assistant Set & Costume Designer
Stanley Lawson – Assistant Director
Sean Laing – Production Manager
*MFA Movement: Directing and Teaching attachment 2024/25
Performances
For every ticket you buy, we plant a tree with Eden Reforestation Projects via our Seats for Seeds scheme.
Grimeborn Festival
ARCOLA THEATRE
24 Ashwin St, London E8 3DL
Wednesday 16th July 2025, 7.30pm
Thursday 17th July 2025, 7.30pm
Friday 18th July 2025, 7.30pm
Saturday 19th July 2025, 7.30pm
Reviews
EVERYTHING THEATRE
Philip Rham
‘Green Opera is a wonderfully vibrant opera group that always dares and innovates.’
‘we are treated to some exquisite singing by the five singers’
‘theatre is evoked by Spiteri’s energised interpretation – clean attack, shades of colour and impeccable diction create the picture of these lovers tragically fighting to the death, interspersed with occasional lines for the protagonists. Spiteri is wonderful here, clear, centred notes, ringing out.’
‘This is a tour de force for any soprano and my word does McIndoe step up to the plate! Her voice is resplendent and sumptuous across the whole range, but what marks her out is her utter commitment to the character she is playing, in the moment – all five of them!’
‘Raineri is superb on piano, always sensitive to McIndoe’s different emotional journeys.’
‘I cannot praise Spiteri highly enough. His clear clarion tenor effortlessly interprets Janáček’s difficult vocal part with pinpoint precision – and in Czech. He gives us virility, tenderness, frustration and revelation.’
‘It has to be said that Raineri on piano also comes into his own, and the demands of the score are dispatched with ease. Bravo all round!’
‘a sumptuous feast of music, superbly sung and played, with standout contributions from Spiteri and McIndoe. It’s a delight to simply wallow in the fabulous voices!’
‘I have to commend the lighting designer, Cheng Keng, who creates spaces and contrasts, pinpoints and shafts of light all through the evening.’
‘One of the perpetual pleasures of Arcola’s annual Grimeborn opera festival is exposure to pieces that one may not otherwise experience.’
‘[Tobias Millard’s] staging allows each section to segue into the next with grace and precision’
LONDON GRIP
Barbara Lewis
‘Green Opera’s “Testament” succeeds brilliantly, leaving us with the conviction intense human emotions are an organic part of nature and always have been.’
‘the performers’ power to pull us into stories of joy and despair that straddle more than four centuries’
‘crystal clear articulation of Dowland’s anguished “In Darkness Let Me Dwell”, sung by soprano Shafali Jalota.’
‘We find ourselves hoping opera is far from dead, despite swingeing arts cuts, and that such an eloquent, ambitious, disciplined plea for humans to live sustainability and harmoniously must be heard.’
‘beautifully sung by tenor Brenton Spiteri’
© Marshall Stay