Camden Festival was an annual spring festival founded in 1954 and held in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England. Originally, it was named the St Pancras Festival until 1965. It continued until 1987.
The festival specialised in the revival of long-forgotten operas, some of which subsequently made their way back into the repertory. Performances were given at St Pancras Town Hall until 1969, and thereafter at the Bloomsbury Theatre (formerly
Collegiate Theatre
Collegiate may refer to:
* College
* Webster's Dictionary, a dictionary with editions referred to as a "Collegiate"
* ''Collegiate'' (1926 film), 1926 American silent film directed by Del Andrews
* ''Collegiate'' (1936 film), 1936 American musi ...
).
Among now well-known singers who appeared in the Festival was the young
Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa , (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te ...
who sang Elena in Rossini's ''
La donna del lago'' in 1969 prior to joining the
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
Opera in 1970.
The Camden Festival was superseded by the
Bloomsbury Festival Camden Festival was an annual spring festival founded in 1954 and held in London, England. Originally, it was named the St Pancras Festival until 1965. It continued until 1987.
The festival specialised in the revival of long-forgotten operas, some ...
in 1988. Today, the festival consists of a very broad range of cultural events, as evidenced by its 2013 programme, and opera appears as only a very small part of its programming.
References
*Anderson, James, ''The Complete Dictionary of Opera and Operetta'', London: Wings Books, 1993
Bloomsbury Festival 2103 programme
Opera festivals
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