Michael Chance to step down as Artistic Director of The Grange Festival

Michael Chance CBE will step down as Artistic Director of The Grange Festival after the 2026 season, his tenth in the post. He became the Festival’s first Artistic Director in 2017, establishing a new company to sustain opera at the Hampshire estate after the previous resident ensemble departed.

A distinguished career as one of Britain’s leading countertenors has shaped Chance’s artistic direction, with Early Music and historically informed performance becoming notable elements of the Festival’s programming. His inaugural season included Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, followed by Handel’s Agrippina, a role he had himself performed. Subsequent years brought Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, and Handel’s Belshazzar in 2019, with The Sixteen joining the festival chorus. Later productions — among them Handel’s Tamerlano and a 2024 revival of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea — further established The Grange as a Baroque and Early opera haven, with performances frequently using period-instrument forces.

This emphasis mirrors Chance’s own career, which spans more than 150 recordings and includes a Grammy for Handel’s Semele. His final season includes Handel’s Giulio Cesare, staged by David Alden and conducted by Christian Curnyn, with countertenor Tim Mead in the title role. Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito will be presented in concert under Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques. (Puccini’s La Bohème and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin round out the programme for the summer of 2026.)

Chance will remain connected to the organisation as Artistic Director Laureate as Tyler Stoops — The Grange's CEO since 2024 — assumes a greater artistic role in guiding the Festival’s next phase.

Read our feature-interview, From countertenor to curator: Michael Chance at the Grange Festival, first published in June 2025.