French fireworks & German heroes: David Butt Philip & Friends gala at St Paul’s Opera, Clapham

David Butt Philip & Friends Gala – Susanna Stranders, Liam James Karai, Ellie Laugharne – St Paul’s Opera (Photo: Julian Guidera)

David Butt Philip & Friends Gala; Ellie Laugharne, Marta Fontanals-Simmons, David Butt Philip, Liam James Karai, Susanna Stranders, Eric Melear; St Paul’s Opera at St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden
Reviewed 13 March 2026

A chance to get up close and personal with some first class voices in a series of stunning performances encompassing Mozart, Wagner, French opera, Handel, musicals and more. A delightful way to support this amazing company

A few days after performing Siegmund in David McVicar’s production Wagner’s Die Walküre at La Scala, Milan (his role and house debut) as part of the company Ring cycles commemorating the work’s 150th anniversary, tenor David Butt Philip was back on home territory in a rather more intimate environment.

On Friday 13 March 2026, he presented the David Butt Philip & Friends Gala at St Paul’s Church, Clapham in aid of St Paul’s Opera‘s summer production of Verdi’s La traviata. This year, for the fifth such gala, David Butt Philip was joined by soprano Ellie Laugharne, mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons and bass-baritone Liam James Karai with pianists Susanna Stranders and Eric Melear. The evening encompassed music from Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, Puccini’s Tosca and La Boheme, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Die Walkure, Massenet’s Werther, Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, and Handel’s Hercules. There were songs by Madeleine Dring, Britten and Stanford, with music theatre pieces by Bernstein, Loewe, Weill and Lehar.

We began with Urbain’s opening aria, ‘Nobles Seigneurs’ from Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots with Marta Fontanals-Simmons clearly enjoying the florid moments and displaying a nice wit. David Butt Philip followed this with a thrilling and wonderfully committed rendition of ‘Recondita l’armonia’ from Puccini’s Tosca. The two pieces demonstrating the fun to be had at this sort of gala, that of hearing favourite artists in material you might not hear them singing in the theatre.

David Butt Philip & Friends Gala – Marta Fontanals-Simmons – St Paul’s Opera (Photo: Julian Guidera)

Ellie Laugharne and Liam James Karai then gave us a potted selection from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, with Susanna and Figaro’s duet from Act One, plus their arias from Act Four. We recently heard Liam James Karai in the role at Opera North and it was delightful to hear him and Ellie Laugharne up close and personal in this music, in performances that balanced seriousness and charm.

The Evening Prayer from Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel received a beautifully simple and direct performance from Ellie Laugharne and Marta Fontanals-Simmons. And given that Wagner mentored Humperdinck (who worked on Parsifal and gave Siegfried Wagner lessons), the duet made an apt curtain raiser for a pair of excerpts from Wagner’s Ring Cycle. First Liam James Karai gave us Wotan’s ‘Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge’ from Das Rheingold, with Karai’s strong tone and fierce manner giving us hints of, perhaps, a stage Wotan to come. Then David Butt Philip gave us a tantalising snipped of his Siegmund with ‘Ein Schwert verhiess mir der Vater’, and the tenor’s focused intent performance, power and sheer tone quality impressing in such an intimate space. Oh, and we could hear the words too!

Somewhat lighter, yet serious in intent was ‘Va! laisser couler mes larmes’ from Massenet’s Werther sung movingly by Marta Fontanals Simmons. This was the start of a short French excursion. Next Ellie Laugharne wowed and charmed with performance of ‘Je veux vivre’, Juliette’s waltz song from Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette that was full of vivid excitement. The first half ended with Escamillo and Don Jose’s duet from Act Three of Bizet’s Carmen with Liam James Karai was a wonderfully self-confident, almost cocky Escamillo and David Butt Philip as a borderline disturbed Don Jose.

David Butt Philip & Friends Gala – David Butt Philip – St Paul’s Opera (Photo: Julian Guidera)

Part two opened with a vividly vigorous account of Rodolfo and Marcello’s duet from Act Four of Puccini’s La Boheme sung with wonderfully strong phrasing by David Butt Philip and Liam James Karai. Marta Fontanals-Simmons made Dejanira’s aria ‘Where shall I fly’ from Handel’s Hercules in strong stuff indeed, with some fabulous passagework.

There was a complete change of mood as Elle Laugharne performed the ‘Song of a Nightclub Proprietress’ from Madeleine Dring’s Five Betjeman Songs, making the piece touching, funny and sad. David Butt Philip created something rather unsettling of Britten’s arrangement of O Waly, Waly whilst Marta Fontanals-Simmons created a beautiful yet haunting effect with ‘The Nurse’s Song’ from Britten’s A Charm of Lullabies’. The song selection ended with Liam James Karai in a swaggering account of Drake’s Drum by Stanford.

David Butt Philip made ‘Nothing more than this’ from Bernstein’s Candide into something rather touching and almost operatic but then Ellie Laugharne carried us away with bubbling delight in ‘I could have danced all night’ from Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady. Marta Fontanals-Simmons brought out the classical overtones in a finely sung account of ‘Speak Low’ from Kurt Weill’s One Touch of Venus, then the final music theatre piece saw Ellie Laugharne and David Butt Philip waltzing away in ‘Love unspoken’ from Lehar’s The Merry Widow.

David Butt Philip & Friends Gala – Ellie Laugharne – St Paul’s Opera (Photo: Julian Guidera)

And of course, the gala ended as usual with the Brindisi from Verdi’s La traviata.

Throughout the evening, Susanna Stranders and Eric Melear performed relays at the piano, largely alternating aria and guiding us through a wide variety of eras and styles without putting a foot wrong.

David Butt Philip & Friends Gala – Ellie Laugharne, David Butt Philip St Paul’s Opera (Photo: Julian Guidera)

St Paul’s Opera is presenting Verdi’s La Traviata at St Paul’s Church, Clapham from 2 to 4 July 2026 in a production directed by Edwina Strobl and with Adrian Salinero as music director. The company’s 2025 production, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore has received five nominations in the Offies with the ceremony on 30 March, so keep your fingers crossed.