AN opera singer who has a passion for motorbikes and hiking will be taking on the title role and directing a new production of Bizet's Carmen at Winslow Hall Opera.

Yvonne Fontane will take the lead for all six performances, alongside a cast which includes Italian tenor Gianluca Paganelli as Don José, South African baritone Njabulo Madlala (winner of the 2010 Kathleen Ferrier Competition) as Escamillo and Scottish-Polish soprano Natasha Day as Micaëla, conducted by the company’s Founder and Music Director Robert Secret.

It will mark nine years since Fontane first took on the dual role of singer and director in Carmen at Stowe Opera - now known as Winslow Hall Opera.

Winslow Hall Opera is the new incarnation of Stowe Opera, at the home of Christopher Gilmour - the famous restaurateur (and opera lover!) who decided to allow performances in the gardens of his home, the only Wren building outside of London.

Yvonne said: "It is such an impressive and imposing house. It has got kind of the old English charm and yet is architecturally very significant.

"It is one of the Christopher Wren's last buildings he built outside of London, which is very rare. "The people who own it now, Christopher and Mardi Gilmour, live there and they have made it a family home with a homely atmosphere.

"The gardens are of course, wonderful."

A performance marquee is put up on the terrace to the rear of the Hall, whilst the gardens provided a stunning backdrop and doubles up as the perfect setting for patrons to relax and enjoy the summer evening with a picnic during the 90 minute interval.

Munich born Yvonne, who lives near the Alps, said: "It is an event. It is very unique."

Despite her vocal talents, Yvonne actually began her musical studies as a flautist at the Munich Conservatoire. She later went on to study as a singer at the Mozarteum Salzburg and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she received her diploma and won awards from the ESSO/NFMS Young Concert Artists’ and the San Francisco Opera Centre.

Fontane has gone on to sing leading roles at Opera Holland Park, English National Opera, Stowe Opera, Mid Wales Opera, The Haydn Festival Eisenstadt in Austria and The Banff Festival of the Arts in Canada.

She met Robert Secret, the music director and founder of Stowe Opera, at an audition in 2003 where he was looking for a witch in Hansel and Gretel. She told him she would love to direct Carmen after performing it 140 times.

Yvonne said: "He thought about it for two months and he got in touch and said 'Would you still be interested in directing it?'

"It is a good working relationship. We are both nice and relaxed in the same sort of areas."

Bizet’s Carmen was set partly in Seville’s famous tobacco factory and Yvonne Fontane is updating the story to Franco's Spain in the late 40s and early 50s. Suppression, fear of the Nationalists' army and branches of underground movements come to the fore, amid the country’s splendid colours and waning grandeur.

The story of Don José and Carmen is fuelled further by the tension in which everyone around them has to live due to the punitive regime, with many leading a duplicitous and secretive existence.

Yvonne said: "She has been with me for so long. The first time I sung Carmen was in 1996. She has been with me in various guises. "She is such a complex character. I find her a really tricky character to play.

"Where does her strength and feistiness come from? There is never an answer. You come up with an answer each performance."

She stayed in the UK after studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She brought up daughter, Josephine, who is now 22, in the UK before recently returning to her roots.

And in her spare time she loves tango dancing and riding motorbikes. She loves them so much she even toured on a motorbike in the UK. She also holds a diploma in Personal Training, Sports Massage, Nutrition and Lifestyle Management.

Yvonne said: "I am one of those singers who has to eat two hours before a performance. I will have a carbohydrate meal. It has to be gluten free pasta or rice.

"It has to be a warm meal and then I mustn't be rushed.

"I arrive early. I have to do some warm up three hours before then I put some make up on, then get into costume and gradually turn into the character.

"It is a process and depends on how I feel on the day. "It depends how I feel on the day- if I am feeling tired then you have to do a bit more work."

Carmen is at Winslow Hall Opera from July 25 to August 3. Tickets are £75. For more details go to www.winslowhallopera.co.uk

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