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**** A fascinating piece, well worth encountering.

“Over its 46 years of existence, New Sussex Opera has shown considerable enterprise in seeking out and performing rare, worthwhile operas. Their latest rediscovery is The Silver Bell Le Timbre d’argent, in a neat English translation by Paul Featherstone. Given bags of atmosphere by Mollie Cheek’s designs, as well as James Harvey’s striking lighting, Paul Higgins’ production brings together all the diverse elements of the plot with optimum clarity.

As Conrad, Anthony Flaum’s outstanding stage savoir faire is unimpaired: Arshak Kuzikyan draws on the darker colours of his powerful baritone to summon up the demonic Dr Spiridion, while Sky Ingram’s bright soprano creates the exact vocal persona for the much-loved Hélène. Lucy Farrimond’s Rosa, Harun Tekin’s Bénédict and Hope Heaven’s Patrick all leave a positive mark. In the entirely danced roles of Circé and Fiametta and precisely matching the varied moods of Saint-Saëns’ score, Namiko Gahier-Ogawa treads the steps of her own choreography perfectly.

Working with the flexible St Paul’s Sinfonia, conductor Toby Purser demonstrates considerable sensitivity to the score’s many musical subtleties. The chorus, meanwhile, works its collective socks off.”

George Hall – The Stage (Review of the Blackheath performance)

This is another invaluable and enjoyable addition to NSO’s enterprising repertoire of little-known and forgotten works.

Curtis Rogers – Classical Source (Review of the Eastbourne performance) more… 

Showcasing a profound wealth of talent

Mike Hardy – Opera Wire more…

Affirming the already established reputation of this impressive company…

David Truslove – Operatoday more…

This was yet another first UK performance by the enterprising Sussex outfit.

“Even with a limited budget the result showed visual flair in Mollie Cheek’s designs (some outstanding costumes, speedily doffed and donned in lightning quick changes by the chorus) and James Harvey’s lighting (precisely apt to every mood called tor). Paul Higgins’s clear-eyed staging took the Viennese background as a cue for a visual focus on such later phenomena as Freudian psychoanalysis and the German cinema of the 1920s. Singing the steadily crumbling Conrad was Anthony Flaum who revealed exactly what this long, hefty role is about. His stagecraft, as always, proved faultless. Arshak Kuzikyan’s potent baritone gave the demonic Spiridion presence to spare. The role of Conrad’s doomed friend Bénédict was perfectly realised by the tenor Harun Tekin, and Lucy Farrimond brought charm and personality to Bénédict’s fiancée, Rosa. Sky Ingram’s light, bright soprano offered the ideal colouristic range for Rosa’s sister, Hélène. Hope Heaven made her mark as Patrick.

Particularly memorable was Namiko Gahier-Ogawa’s choreography, much of it conceived for herself in the dual non-singing roles of Circé and Fiametta; it fitted the shifting moods of Saint-Saëns’s score to a T. The NSO chorus worked hard and with success: so too the players of the St Paul’s Sinfonia, performing a canny orchestral reduction by the ensemble’s leader, James Widden. Toby Purser conducted with an impressive sense of style.”   Opera