Instagram story viewer> @newpalaceopera> Tagged

New Palace Opera

@newpalaceopera

1.6K

followers

3117

following

Opera singer and fool. Come see me as Brünnhilde in the Ring 2023/24

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Critically acclaimed Regents Opera @regentsopera and New Palace Opera are honoured to introduce
Ashley Mercer @_mercer_ashley as Orest
Shannon Roberts as An overseer
Jonathan Finney @newpalaceopera as Aegisth

in their concert performance of Richard Strauss’ monumental tragedy and operatic masterpiece ELEKTRA.

In music that encompasses both the horrific and the heart-breaking the cast and orchestra led by Ben Woodward will assure you a gripping and memorable evening.
ELEKTRA
Sunday 1 November 2026, 7:00pm
@blackheathhalls Blackheath Halls 23 Lee Road, London SE3 9RQ
Sung in German with English surtitles
Tickets VIA LINK IN BIO https://www.newpalaceopera.com/elektra
Box Office 020 8463 0100
[Blackheath is only 15 mins from London Bridge]

@_mercer_ashley Ashley Mercer recent and future engagements include Le bonimenteur/ensemble Carmen, If Opera; Orest Elektra, Messenger Oedipus Rex, New Palace Opera; Schaunard La Bohème, Leporello Don Giovanni, Regents Opera; Antonio The Marriage of Figaro, Waterperry Opera Festival; Max Kane Dinner at Eight, European premiere, Luka The Bear, Walton, German Soldier Silent Night, European premiere, Wexford Festival Opera; Blackbeard Moonfleet, Salisbury Playhouse; Dulcamara L’elisir d’amore, Morales Carmen, Frank Die Fledermaus, St Paul’s Opera.

Shannon Roberts engagements with Regents Opera include Helmwige Die Walküre, Wagner; and cover Brünnhilde Wagner Ring Cycle and debut with New Palace Opera as Brünnhilde, Act III Die Walküre, Wagnerian Farewells. Repertoire includes Turandot, Puccini; Tosca, Puccini; Elsa Lohengrin Wagner; Lady Macbeth Macbeth, Verdi; Agathe Der Freischütz; Weber; Santuzza Cavalleria Rusticana, Mascagni; and title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica. Performance experience includes Berlin Opera Project, Berlin Wagner Group, Fortitude Productions, Florida Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Natchez Festival and Opera Connecticut.

Jonathan Finney has performed all the major Wagner tenor- roles [Lohengrin excepted] and principal tenor roles in operas by Richard Strauss, Janacek and Britten. As soloist he has appeared with, amongst others, Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera, Longborough Festival Opera, Regents Opera

11

0

Get your tickets for #opera #elektra Nov 1st at Blackheath Halls 🤩🪓 7pm

54

5

BEN WOODWARD | BRITTEN & STRAUSS

Two major works for Hancock Artists conductor Ben Woodward this autumn.
On Sunday 4 October, Ben conducts Britten’s War Requiem at Fairfield Concert Hall, Croydon, with Regents Opera, a massed choir drawn from choral societies across the south of England and a large orchestra.

Soloists are Philippa Boyle, soprano, Andrew Tortise, tenor, and Felix Kemp, baritone.
The performance comes in the year marking 50 years since Benjamin Britten’s death.

Then on Sunday 1 November, Ben returns to Strauss, conducting a concert performance of Elektra at Blackheath Halls, presented by Regents Opera in collaboration with New Palace Opera.

The cast includes Catharine Woodward as Elektra, Karin Lovelius as Klytaemnestra, Ella de Jongh as Chrysothemis and Ashley Mercer as Orest.

From the vast architecture and emotional power of Britten’s War Requiem to the extraordinary intensity of Strauss’s Elektra, two formidable works and an exciting autumn ahead for Ben.

Britten: War Requiem
4th October 2026, 7.30pm
Fairfield Concert Hall, Croydon

Strauss: Elektra
1st November 2026, 7.00pm
Blackheath Halls, London

Tickets available through the respective venues.

cc @benjaminjwoodward @regentsopera @newpalaceopera @cat_woodward @philippa.boyle @karinlovelius_singsopera @elladejongh @_mercer_ashley @andrewtortise @felixkemp @croydonfairfield @blackheathhalls

#BenWoodward #HancockArtists #Britten #WarRequiem #RichardStrauss

67

1

📝 "I much admired Joanna Harries as Varvara, impish and frivolous, with a delightful voice, particularly in her folk song..."
- Seen & Heard International

A nice review of our Katya Kabanova concert performance last weekend. I think "impish and frivolous" is what I shall aspire to be at all times 😈

72

1

That's a wrap on our Katya in concert at @stjohnswaterloo for @newpalaceopera ! What a whirlwind of Janáček glory it was! I'm absolutely chuffed to have been included amongst a stellar cast of formidable performers (and absolutely lovely humans). My first foray back into Janáček since my days as a foxcub for @operaaustralia Vixen with maestro @johnhfiore - Katya's mother-in-law is VERY different in every possible way 😂 But throwing nasty looks at @philippa.boyle while her phenomenal voice cut with ease over a full orchestra at her heels was the most difficult part - I just wanted to grin ear-to-ear, I was enjoying her so much! What a privilege.

Next stop, a little jaunt as Third Lady for Die Zauberflöte in August! Gear change! Onward!! (Stay tuned)

#opera #janacek #freelance #mezzosoprano #bookme

24

3

A cheeky snippet from our boiling hot orchestral rehearsal with @newpalaceopera for #katyakabanova last week!
Katya’s desperate plea to the winds to carry her voice to her lover Boris, and the reply of the brass - is some of my favourite music in the whole opera.
The appearance of Boris (my wonderful partner in crime @schouten92) gives a hint of what happens next…but I’ll post a bonus snippet in my stories too!
Join us on Sunday at 6.30pm at St John’s Waterloo for our concert performance of Janáček’s Katya Kabanova. We hope to see you there!
#katyakabanova #czechopera #janáček

54

11

Q3/4 2026 Calendar

✨💙👻👑🗡️✍️✨

Here are a few solo bits for me to pin and for you to share *if you wish*.

Also - Cardiff friends, I will be based there for most of August, September and October at WNO!

You now know where to find me...

Photo Cred: @edmondchoophotography
Post Design: @charlotte__bateman

@hancockartists

#tenor #diary #keepingup #operasingersofinstagram #solothings

59

2

From our rehearsal today...
Getting to test out some new high notes *live* next week at St. John's Waterloo with New Palace Opera... if you like this then come see what a semitone or two higher sounds like - what a bit of technique changing can do!

Aware it could be coming home but if not (or you don't like footie) come see moi + this wicked cast and orchestra perform Czech music in English!

🇨🇿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿✨🤘

#tenor #singer #opera #janacek #highnote

50

4

Taking a break from Hansel & Gretel this weekend to practice some Janáček ahead of our Kátya Kabanová concert on 19 July 😍

I have loved this music ever since I sang in the chorus with @operahollandpark whilst at college, in a production with Sian Edwards conducting and @fuchs.o directing - a beautiful and heartbreaking show with walkways all over the reedbeds of the Volga river, designed by @yannis.thavoris (I also had a brilliant hat that looked a bit like a mushroom 😂)

I then got to sing Varvara alongside @philippa.boyle as Katya a few years later, and it's such a joy to revisit this stunning music and get to sing it - once again with Philly as Katya, plus a stellar cast: @schouten92 @laureneaston_mezzo @whitehouse3754 @_mercer_ashley @carolinecarraghermezzosoprano

If you want to be swept away by the orchestra playing some of the most exquisite music you'll ever hear, come and see us in a few weeks!

(Swipe for me with the mushroom hat 🍄)

🎻 Sunday 19 July, 6:30pm
St John's Waterloo, London
@newpalaceopera
www.newpalaceopera.com/katya-kabanova

49

0

Some spring/summer things coming up 🌸🌻

🧬 21 & 22 April
WHITE Rosalind (Lady Alice Bragg)
London Mozart Players & Helix Music
Mark Austin (conductor), James Hurley (director)

🎹 6 May
Letters from Scandinavia
Masters Lodge - Trinity College, Cambridge
with Sholto Kynoch (piano)

🎻 16 May
VIVALDI Gloria
Mountain Ash Choral Society

🎭 21, 22, 24 May, 4 June, 29 Aug, 5 Sep
Wild Arts Opera Evenings

🌳 21 June
SongPath at Durham Botanic Gardens
with Jess Dandy (contralto), Jess Lee (clarinet) & James Weeks (composer)

🎵 19 July
JANÁČEK Katya Kabanova (Varvara) – concert performance
New Palace Opera
Michael Thorne (conductor)

🍬 30 July, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 August
HUMPERDINCK Hänsel & Gretel (Hänsel)
Longborough Festival Opera
Karen Kamensek (conductor), Lucy Bailey (director)

Links to everything here:
www.joannaharries.com/diary-2026

98

0

The 2026 season promises to be an exciting one for arguably one of the UK’s most adventurous opera and symphonic conductors, @benjaminjwoodward - Conductor

From Strauss’s ‘Capriccio’ with the @regentsopera Workshops Orchestra to a thrilling season of ‘Salome’ at York Hall, Ben brings clarity, and dramatic shape to every score he conducts, a quality lauded in press “Woodward paced the opera with a fine sense for the need to sustain both mood and momentum, while savouring the episodes of transformation and transcendence.” OPERA MAGAZINE, JANUARY 2022

In summer and autumn he leads explorations of Janáček’s ‘From the House of the Dead’, Strauss’s ‘Elektra’ (with @newpalaceopera), and Puccini’s ‘Tosca’ across London stages and beyond, sharing his passion for both standard repertoire and bold workshop collaborations.

11

0

Just finished a weekend of rehearsals for Stravinsky's 'Oedipus Rex' with this excellent team. St John's, Waterloo, next Sunday at 6.30pm. Come along for jazzy, rhythmic, loud, Freudian fun.

38

1