Singer

EPSG:4326

Sherlock Holmes and The Sign of Four

Leeds Beckett University

Gerald Barry’s witty and highly original adaptation of this much-loved masterpiece will be conducted by Douglas Boyd and directed by Jack Furness, following his celebrated Garsington productions of The Queen of Spades and Rusalka. The visually striking, colourful and bombastic production features the return of Jennifer France, Henry Waddington and Seán Boylan, with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

If you have any preconceptions about an opera based on Oscar Wilde’s brilliant 1894 comedy of manners and misapprehensions, be prepared to abandon them. The composer Gerald Barry adores the play and has taken inspiration from Wilde’s statement “That we should treat all trivial things in life very seriously, and all serious things in life with a sincere and studied triviality”, turning the play inside out and upside down with reckless effrontery. As Barry has said, “The play’s bones are unshatterable. My version is an X-ray of it.” Any shattering that occurs during the course of the entertainment is more likely to be of plates than of dramatic structure.

Tenor

Zahid Siddiqui

Events

Upcoming events

10 - 23 Jul, 2026

The Importance of Being Earnest · Garsington Opera

Past events

28 - 31 Aug, 2024

Sherlock Holmes and The Sign of Four · Northern Opera Group

Future and recently performed repertoire

Athelney Jones / Stamford in Sherlock Holmes and The Sign of Four by Paterson

Northern Opera Group

John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest by Barry

Garsington Opera

About

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