The “Bartered Bride” stole designed and produced by Victoria Rees for Garsington Opera’s 2019 production of Czech composer Bedrich Smetana’ s comic opera.

The overall inspiration for this year’s “Bartered Bride” stole has been the original production of Smetana’s opera preformed in Prague in the 1860’s. The setting is a bohemian village fair where Marenka goes against her parents wishes to marry. The fiercely independent Marenka is represented, on the stole, riding away on a horse beneath the village wild cherry tree’s.

For the central panel of the “BB” stole I have used one of my original watercolours of the beautiful wild cherry tree (a symbol of bohemian weddings) at Garsington Manor, to celebrate the origins of the opera's companies 30th anniversary.