Interviews
Ukrainian opera star Yuriy Yurchuk leads a special one-off fundraising concert in support of Ukraine.
Royal Opera House principal artist and Ukrainian baritone Yuriy Yurchuk will be joined by a host of international singers including Armenian soprano Anush Hovhannisyan and American soprano Alexandria Wregglesworth, accompanied by pianist Ed Batting, for an evening of world-class music in this special one-off fundraising concert. The night will feature a programme of much-loved arias…
Mid Wales Opera announces Fairy Tale season
Mid Wales Opera are inviting audiences to join them in a Fairy Tale world of magic and myth with their new season launched at Gregynog Hall on Sunday. Launching their Fairy Tales season at the annual Friends of MWO Gala, Executive Director Lydia Bassett said, “Lots of people are struggling at the moment, and there’s…
Michael McCarthy’s 40 years of new opera at Music Theatre Wales
Michael McCarthy is Director of Music Theatre Wales and has staged over 30 productions for the company. Productions include Richard the Lionheart by Telemann and Handel in Germany, large-scale outdoor staging’s of Tosca and Nabucco in Norway, and productions of La Traviata, Cosi fan Tutte, Il Re Pastore, Fidelio and Don Giovanni. Also, Cinderella for…
Tom Coults first opera, Violet opens at Aldeburgh Festival
Composer Tom Coult, 33, is one of the most distinctive and admired composers of his generation. In 2021, he was made Composer-in-Association with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and he has enjoyed further associations with ensembles such as Britten Sinfonia and London Sinfonietta. Violet is Tom’s first opera, which he created with acclaimed writer Alice Birch….
Longborough Festival Opera announces cast for Spell Book and La liberazione di Ruggiero
Longborough Festival Opera has announced the cast for Spell Book and La liberazione di Ruggiero, its 2022 emerging artist double bill. The Costwolds company’s Emerging Artist programme gives a vital opportunity to singers at the beginning of their careers. In 2022 audiences are treated to a double bill of love, freedom and magic. Members of…
Director Polly Graham on Longborough and further afield
Award-winning opera and theatre director Polly Graham is Artistic Director of Longborough Opera and is bringing the Cotswolds company out of Covid lockdown with ambitious plays for the both the festival and work with associated artists. A recipient of the Independent Opera Director Fellowship 2016, Graham’s productions have won Best Opera Production in the Wales…
An innovative take on Butterfly from WNO
There is plenty of tricky ground to tread when bringing Madam Butterfly to the stage. One of Puccini’s masterwork, the opera is so well-known, even within the broader boundaries of pop culture, that it is a challenge in itself to approach it from a new angle, without repeating something that has already been done to exhaustion while…
Jenůfa, Welsh National Opera
The WNO continues in its exploration of the works of Czech composer Leoš Janáček, this time going back to the early stages of his career to offer a new production of this 1904 work, known originally under the title of Její pastorkyňa (Her Stepdaughter) before being most commonly titled after the name of its protagonist….
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,…
