The Composer in Hollywood

Fresh from their sold-out Royal Opera House recital, Anush Hovhannisyan and Sam Jewison celebrate legendary composers of the Golden Age of Hollywood, from opera and operetta to classic musical theatre.

Expect timeless duets from “The New Moon” (Sigmund Romberg) and “Bitter Sweet” (Noël Coward), hailing the vocal partnership of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Celebrate the genius of Leonard Bernstein through music from “West Side Story” and “On the Town”, as well as George Gershwin’s seminal work, “An American in Paris”.

Add to that the neo-romantic splendour of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the father of film music, with selections from “Die tote Stadt” and “Kings Row”. Wrap it up with salutes to iconic performers, including Kathryn Grayson and Fred Astaire, with songs from “Kiss Me, Kate” (Cole Porter) and “Swing Time” (Jerome Kern), and you have the complete tapestry of composers in Hollywood.

Soprano Anush Hovhannisyan’s recent appearances include Violetta (La traviata / Royal Opera House) and Tatyana (Eugene Onegin / Opera Holland Park), for which it was noted that “everything [she] does is an event…she combines a charismatic presence with an almost indecently refulgent tone.”

Singer and pianist Sam Jewison headlined the 2021 BBC Radio 3 Christmas Special and the 2020 ReGeneration Festival in Florence, where he was described as “a Renaissance Man in a Jazz World”. He launched his new touring show, “The Great American Songbook”, from the award-winning Nevill Holt Opera House in June 2022.