Grange Festival Unveils 2027 Season: Don Giovanni, Tosca, Porgy and Bess

The Grange Festival has announced a 2027 season of seven productions running from May 23 to July 11, with Dean Murphy, Federica Vitali, Dominic Sedgwick and Mirjam Mesak leading the casts.

The Hampshire festival will stage opera, ballet, orchestral works and jazz across roughly seven weeks. Four fully staged operas anchor the program, bookended by a chamber work after Britten and a Gershwin collaboration with Cape Town Opera.

How does the season open?

Ted Huffman directs "The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor," a chamber opera after Britten, on May 23-29, 2027. Benedict Kearns conducts a cast that includes Dominic Sedgwick, Toby Spence, Hugo Brady, Thomas Chenhall, Richard Gowers, George Barton and Siwan Rhys.

The production compresses Britten's nautical tragedy into chamber forces. Sedgwick and Spence anchor a seven-singer ensemble that spans some of Britain's most active operatic performers.

Who sings the new productions?

Mozart's "Don Giovanni" receives a new production by Antony McDonald, running June 2-27, 2027. Benjamin Bayl conducts a cast led by Dean Murphy, Chanhee Cho, Mirjam Mesak, Marta Fontanals-Simmons, Dafydd Jones and Rebecca Leggett.

Puccini's "Tosca" follows on June 15-26, 2027. Richard Farnes conducts, with Christopher Luscombe directing. Federica Vitali, Mykhailo Malafii and Andrei Bondarenko star.

The two operas give the season its headline voices. Murphy and Mesak take Mozart; Vitali sings the title role in Puccini's Roman tragedy.

What else appears on the program?

Bern Ballett brings "Carmen / Unheld" for three performances only, June 4-6, 2027. The Swiss company's visit is the season's sole dance booking.

Verdi's Requiem is scheduled for a single date, June 13, 2027. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra joins The Grange Festival Chorus and the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus for the performance.

Which concerts close the season?

Joe Stilgoe and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra perform "A Jazz Club Symphony" on July 1, 2027. David Arnold then conducts the orchestra in "Symphonic Bond" on July 2-4, 2027.

Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" closes the festival on July 7-11, 2027. Cape Town Opera performs, with Enrique Mazzola conducting the Chineke! Orchestra. Magdalene Minnaar directs.

The season pairs the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with four separate programs — the Requiem, the two concerts and the Gershwin — making it the festival's most visible institutional partner in 2027. The "Porgy and Bess" staging, uniting a South African company with Mazzola and Britain's Chineke! Orchestra, positions the closing production as the season's largest-scale undertaking.