There are two big opera anniversaries this year: 150 years since the birth of Puccini, and 100 years since the death of Rimsky-Korsakov. We are managing to celebrate both. The choice of Snegurochka to the main stage gives us an opportunity to introduce audiences to a masterpiece very rarely performed outside Russia. Two long running themes of the Festival, the exploration of neglected but worthy opera in English and that of pre-Verdian Italian opera, are developed this year in the shape of the Mines of Sulphur and Tutti in Maschera.

"One of the pleasures of attending the festival is the chance to hear talented young singers who aren’t yet well known on international stages. There were several standouts this year: Bryan Hymel who in recital revealed a beautiful upper range; Czech mezzo Kateřina Jalovcová a major find as Ježibaba in Rusalka: and the superb Welsh baritone Paul Carey Jones, who sparked a ‘bonus’ staging of Donizetti’s comic gem Rita”
Brian Kellow, Opera News, New York, September 2007