A bold plan for a Kingston Opera Festival is on the drawing board ahead of the opening of the town's new theatre. It is the brainchild of 26-year-old conductor Howard E James, who is co-founder and musical director of the highly successful Richmond Chamber Symphony.

The festival is due to be launched next August with a week of semi-staged productions at All Saints' Church in Kingston. Casts, directors, designers and stage technicians are being recruited for what the organisers hope will become and annual fixture which will attract national interest.

The accent will be on youth, with the festival serving as a "sounding board" for aspiring student and graduate singers seeking experience on the opera stage.

"We are aiming for a mixture of study and practical performance, something for young people to have a go at," says Howard James.

The operas scheduled for the opening season are Mozart's The Magic Flute, Puccini's Madam Butterfly, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and a reduced version of Carmen. All will be semi-staged.

"We have a line-up of young directors and designers working in the West End theatre and they are producing exciting staging and lighting ideas for the church. The acoustic there is ideal for opera," James adds. "We decided on an August date because it is a quiet month for singers and musicians. And Kingston is a good location, musically vibrant and audience-friendly."

The festival will, in a sense, be a logical extension of the Richmond Chamber Symphony, similarly set up to provide groundwork for young professional instrumentalists, which has successfully filled a niche in the local concert scene by specialising in 20th century and contemporary music.

Howard James graduated in music from Kingston University and subsequently studied at Prague, Siena, the Vienna Conservatory and the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado.

December 7, 2001 15:56