Richard Farnes conducts a 5* production of Turn of the Screw at Garsington

Richard Farnes has returned to Garsington Opera to conduct Britten's Turn of the Screw, which critics have unanimously praised across the board. With a stellar cast including Sophie Bevan, Katherine Broderick, and Ed Lyon, this production was designed by Christoper Oram and directed by Louisa Miller.

"...the soloistic virtuosity of the Garsington Orchestra, conjuring up spine-chilling timbres in response to Richard Farnes’s inspired conducting." Richard Morrison, The Times*****

"In the pit, meanwhile, Richard Farnes, conducting the Garsington Opera Orchestra, inexorably ratchets up the tension while exploring every detail of Britten’s remarkable instrumentation. A truly great achievement, devastating and unforgettable." Tim Ashley, The Guardian *****

"Richard Farnes conducts the 13 players of the Garsington Opera Orchestra with an ambitious feel for the music’s range of colour." Richard Fairman, The Financial Times ****

"[the production] also boasts a top-notch cast, a suitably grand but distressed design by Christopher Oram, unsettling lighting by Malcolm Rippeth and mesmerising playing by the Orchestra of Garsington Opera under Richard Farnes." Claudia Pritchard, Culture Whisper *****

"Richard Farnes knows this score well, and he focuses on its epigrammatic lyricism in a way that reminds you of Janáček in its attack and pungency – and it looks as though Britten didn’t know the Czech composer’s music. From the flexible strength of the many instrumental lines to perfectly realised ensembles, the thirteen-piece group is at the centre of the drama." Peter Reed, Classical Source *****

"From the pugnacious treatment of the nursery rhymes to the sinister cor anglais coiling its tendrils around Miles melancholy “Malo” theme, Richard Farnes drew excellent playing from the 13 members of the Garsington Opera Orchestra, a scintillating account where every note of Britten’s most compactly composed opera was pricked with precision. An evening of ghostly goosebump tingles." Mark Pullinger, Bachtrack*****