Yvonne's first production as artistic director was CARMEN at Stowe Opera in 2004. After having sung the role many times in several different productions, she was given a great chance to collect some of the many questions and paradoxes that the opera had posed to her over the years and find, together with a brilliant team, some answers and solutions.

Musical Director and director of Stowe Opera, Robert Secret and designer Ian McKillop gave Yvonne the support she needed whilst directing and singing the role of Carmen. So too, were the soloists and 25 devoted chorus members who all had to accept the unusual idea of performing with their artisitic director.

Yvonne's 2004 production of Carmen was acknowledged by Roderick Dunnett in OPERA NOW under "WHO'S HOT" and called a "revelation".

For an indepth on-line review by Roderick Dunnett of

Stowe Opera's Carmen, please click here

"Fontane is a super-effective director. One only had to watch the chorus moves, its management and manipulation, in Act I, or her shifting blockings also evidenced early in Act IV, to see how clever she is at putting people in the right place. Individual chorus members had small moves, vignettes, flirtations, marital tiffs, modest in themselves, but which added much to the action."

"The mere fact that this Carmen presented so many paradoxes, and invites so many conflicting responses, is a measure of how far Fontane has managed to penetrate plot and personality, and get others to do so around her." 

"This staging by Yvonne Fontane, who not only sang the title role, but directed the production as well, is indeed Stowe's punchiest and raunchiest to date; a Carmen that would have graced Sadler's Wells, and not have disgraced the Coliseum." 
(MVDAILY.COM, Roderick Dunnett) Stowe Opera 2004 

"In the opera...Fontane really makes her presence felt, incorporating ideas that make much dramatic sense...Fontane not only directs, she also sings Carmen. It soon becomes clear, however, that manipulating everybody else into the shadows is not part of Fontane's agenda...In a curiously touching scene, Michaela doesn't just limply proffer a letter from Jose's mother, she arrives complete with rug and picnic, to firmly remind him of the pleasures of home cooking.
But the major dramatic focus is on depicting Carmen and Jose as social equals - from utterly, and explosively different social backgrounds certainly, but equals nonetheless."
(The Oxford Times)

Click here for images of CARMEN

In 2005, Robert Secret, MD of Stowe Opera, asked Yvonne to return as Artistic Director and she was now looking to make equal sense of the complex and, musically most beautiful piece COSI FAN TUTTE.

The cast consisted of the vocally, as well as dramatically strong singers Simone Sauphanor (Fiordiligi), Rebekah Coffey (Despina), Nicholas Ransley (Ferrando), Adrian Powter (Guglielmo), Simon Wilding (Don Alfonso) and Yvonne Fontane herself (Dorabella). With Robert Secret on the baton, the inspired stage and lighting designs of Ian McKillop, and the sensitive costume designs of Nicholas Boiselle, this promised to be another summer of working with a great team.

To Yvonne's mind, Cosi fan tutte is potentially a very one-sided study of human nature, claiming that the emotional arm of all women can be twisted if man only perseveres long enough.

However, in this instance the two men in question, Guglielmo and Ferrando, have to go into the realm of great pretence and lies in order to make the point of their bet and win it. And the two prove to be formidable experts in these non-virtues: "Cosi fan Tutte" when it comes to men as well?

What good is any information acquired under false pretences? And at what cost does one now own this knowledge?

In the opera, the men's competitive streak, their male ego and pride drives them to losing their bet to Don Alfonso, the stirrer of their egos. The fact that they succeed in breaking the women's resolve can make neither them nor the women feel very good. Surely, after such escapades as described by Lorenzo da Ponte, librettist of Cosi, the ending will have to be a far cry from the seemingly shallow and frivolous opening of the plot.

"Above all, Stowe is unafraid to play things straight... Fontane kept things intelligently straightforward and allowed Da Ponte's subtle homily to speak for itself... The ensuing crisp changes between the "wrong" couples, plus the set-to between Fiordiligi and Ferrando were beautifully carried off."

"Simon Wilding's Don Alfonso appeared hypermanic, but his isolation near the close, and the contrast between one couple's reconciliation and the other's continuing estrangement, were well-considered touches."
(OPERA) Stowe Opera 2005

Click here for images of COSI FAN TUTTE

In November 2005, Yvonne Fontane was asked at short notice to act as Artistic Director by Lakeland Opera for their production of CARMEN which went on a small tour through Cumbria and ended with three performances at the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick.

"(Director) Yvonne Fontane did a wonderful job. I shall long recall the Freudian swooning of the ladies on the arrival of the .. bullfighter Escamillo.. This was a thoroughly intelligent.. production."
(Whitehaven News) Carmen, Lakeland Opera 2005

www.lakelandopera.org.uk

After a successful production of CARMEN in 2005, Yvonne returned to Lakeland Opera in October/November 2007 to direct PAGLIACCI and CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA. This production went on a small tour to the Keswick Theatre by the Lake, The Coronation Hall in Ulverston and the Sands Centre in Carlisle.
David Sutton, who has worked at ENO, WNO and Scottish Opera had now been appointed as the company's Musical Director and this truly marked a new beginning for Lakeland Opera.

Both operas were written in the genre of Italian “verismo” – the true and honest portrayal of every day life. The style of “verismo” – realism and naturalism - began to emerge during the second half of the 19th century.

The great musical and dramatic effect of the two operas is due to their clearly structured stories together with the undeniable, emotional power of the strong and beautiful phrases of Belcanto.

The passionate nature of both dramas is intense and riveting. It challenges the singers and the orchestra to find shades and colours within their performances that can reflect with honesty, the strength of the characters’ emotions.

The realism of the operas show that love can both set you free, but also hold you in a strong grip of confusing emotions such as jealousy, frustration and doubt - specially within the sometimes devastating confines of rigid social and religious rules.

Although written over 100 years ago, what unfolds in the operas can be made relevant to our emotional lives in this day and age.

It is easy to identify with the characters if we as the audience accept their heightened emotional state and allow ourselves to experience their journey on a similar level.

Yvonne was asked by the company to sing the role of Santuzza and was joined by a dramatically and vocally very strong cast: Andy Morton Canio/Turridu, Michaela Bloom Nedda, Craig Smith Tonio/Alfio, Douglas Nairne Silvio, Anando Mukerjee Beppe, Mary Burman Mamma Lucia.

Set and lighting was once again taken on by the young and very creative designer Lois Maskell who also worked with Yvonne on Lakeland Opera's CARMEN production in 2005.

www.lakelandopera.org.uk

George Vass, director of the Hampstead and Highgate Festival asked Yvonne to act as Artistic Director for THAT MAN STEPHEN WARD, a piece written by the young composer Thomas Hyde for baritone, small orchestra, one actress and two dancers.

The subject matter are the various agonising thought processes that set Stephen Ward's urge into motion to commit suicide after his trial in 1963.

This production, which took place in May 2008 was in close collaboration with the composer and posed many new but nevetheless welcome challenges.

www.hamandhighfest.co.uk

Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow holds some of the most beautiful musical and dramatic moments in the repertoire of light operatic theatre. It was the prospect of finding the balance within these four components – a classic operatic score, comedy, drama and fairy tale - that drew me towards this project. I wanted to explore how well each of the four elements could be characterised, how far they could be taken and eventually be tied into a flowing and cohesive story.

The fitting parallel between the story of The Merry Widow and the current national financial situation is of course, money and how valuable assets and services ought to be kept in the country rather than being sold off and therefore lost to foreign economies. This perhaps gives an added poignancy to Lakeland Opera’s choice and this production was certainly an attempt to invite the audience on a brief respite from the daily consequences of the recession felt by so many.

Lakeland Opera felt these consequences, too but good solutions were found to stay within the tight financial constraints. This is the first year, when we hired not only the costumes, but also the entire set rather than having original designs made for both. This meant that these two main components of a theatre production provided a fairly prescriptive structure from the onset, within which artistic ideas and concepts for staging, lighting and interpretation had to run. Add to that the choice of the distinctive English translation by Jeremy Sams and this structure quickly grew very solid foundations. 


I tried to concentrate on the stories provided by the human relationships and in effect, it does not matter greatly what background is provided by set, costume, budget etc. The narrative and effects of human emotions will always stand up in theatre if questioned and taken seriously. This is helped by the music and libretto of The Merry Widow which were written by masters of their genre.

The cast consisted of professional singers Elizabeth Woods (Hannah), James Cleverton (Danilo), Catrine Kirkman (Valencienne) and Ben Kerslake (Camille) while the smaller roles were taken by members of the company and students. The commitment of the entire cast to explore these human stories had been exceptional. As Artistic Director to a professional/amateur opera company one needs to strike another balance by not only serving the piece and its interpretation, but also the members of the company - a task I very much relish at Lakeland Opera.

"Lakeland Opera is run by Yvonne Fontane, an artist blessed with forcible staging skills and raunchy acting gifts (which she demonstrated in her operatic debut, directing and singing the lead in a fabulous Carmen for Stowe Opera). Lakeland has followed up its own productions of Carmen and Cav & Pag with a thriving, large-cast The Merry Widow, colourful, flamboyant, good-looking and bursting with joie de vivre...Lakeland Opera has added welcome musical life to parts of Northumberland and Cumbria where theatre and fine art already flourish."

OPERA NOW, UK Opera Focus 2010, Roderick Dunnett

"Yvonne Fontane's exceptionally intelligent production, framed within the parameters of a sumptuously captivating hired set and costumes , maintained the necessary elegant facade behind which some less attractive 'goings on' take place! Wit, satire and irony were well to the fore though never overdone. Imaginative movement, gesture and use of stage space abounded. The quality of the dancing added further to the impact - not only that of the exhilarating and polished specialist group from her Academy choreographed and coached by Maxine Watters - but also that of the vocal chorus choreographed by Yvonne herself ..."

(Cumberland News, Brian Richardson) The Merry Widow, Lakeland Opera 2009

www.lakelandopera.org.uk