Author: Mike Smith
Opera North Alcina to be available worldwide
Opera North’s first ever staging of Handel’s opera Alcina, which opens on Saturday 5 February 2022 at Leeds Grand Theatre, will be available for viewers around the globe to watch online in partnership with the European streaming platform OperaVision. The performance on Thursday 17 February at 7pm will be streamed live at operavision.eu, and will…
Natalya Romaniw can tell Houston that having survived Covid and lockdown there really isn’t a problem
It is a very long way between lockdown in Cardiff and rehearsing in Texas for the opening of Houston Grand Opera Dialogue of the Carmelites in Texas. For soprano Natalya Romaniw that journey, from the cancellation mid run of Madam Butterfly at English National Opera in 2020 to February 2022’s opening of the Poulenc opera,…
Longborough’s inaugural Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow
Longborough Festival Opera has appointed Harry Sever as its first Ring Cycle Conducting Fellow. Harry will work alongside Longborough Music Director and eminent Wagnerian Anthony Negus for the next three seasons, building towards its 2024 Ring cycle. For his first performance in the post, Harry will conduct Siegfried at Longborough on Friday 3 June 2022….
Singers and orchestra save this show from being a ring of dire
I sometimes wonder whether Wagner sets some sort of challenge from beyond the grave on the Ring Cycle to test its strength. The challenge being: who can make such a pig’s ear of a production to destroy the magnificence of the music and the impact of the story on audiences. This time it was down…
Jack Furness to produce Rusalka at Garsington
Jack Furness is to take over from Michael Boyd to produce Garsington Opera’s 2022 Rusalka. Due to ill health, director Michael Boyd has had to withdraw from the production that was originally scheduled for summer 2020. Jack Furness will make his Garsington Opera debut. The production will have designs by Tom Piper. Douglas Boyd, Artistic…
Opera North announces winter season
Questions of power and identity, love and loss, will be coming to theatres across the North of England in the new year as Opera North opens its winter season with two new productions, while also offering another chance to see its new production of Carmen which premiered in September. The Company’s eagerly-awaited concert staging of…
Opera Holland Park unleashes The Bear
Opera Holland Park’s production of William Walton’s take on the Chekhov comedy The Bear is being screened online during November on a “pay what you feel” basis. Filmed and recorded live on location in Stone House over two days in April 2021, Walton’s witty one-act opera reunites the cast and creative team of Opera Holland…
Longborough announces details of 2022 season
Longborough Festival Opera continues its Wagner voyage with Siegfried opening its 2022 season. Other works are Korngold Die tote Stadt, Bizet’s Carmen and a double bill of Waley-Cohen’s Spell Book and Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina. The new Ring cycle began with critically acclaimed performances of Das Rheingold in 2019 and a concert staging of Die Walküre in 2021. “With Siegfried we return to…
David Collins appointed Opera North Executive Director / Deputy CEO
Opera North has appointed David Collins to the new role of Executive Director / Deputy CEO. The Company said its artistic, education and community work has grown exponentially over the last five years, and continues to develop in scope, ambition and diversity. The new role of Executive Director/ Deputy CEO reflects and supports this expansion, and…