Interviews

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…

Nicholas Lester, from Adelaide to Barber via Amazon

MS: You have had, and continue to have, a strong association with Wales. How did they come about and develop? NL: My first singing teacher as an adult was a Welsh baritone Jason Shute (originally from Swansea) who had emigrated to Australia with his wife. I met him through my involvement in the annual Adelaide…

The Academy of Ancient Music wins Gramophone choral award

The Choral award is given for AAM’s world premiere recording of Jan Ladislav Dussek’s Messe Solemnelle, which was released in October 2020 to critical acclaim. The recording featured an exceptional cast of soloists alongside the Choir and Orchestra of AAM and Richard Egarr. Gramophone wrote: “Dussek himself could scarcely have hoped for a performance as fine as this one … It’s a fascinating work and an important project, impressively…

Jonathan Lyness and Richard Studer on Mid Wales Opera’s Parisian love affair

Music Director Jonathan Lyness talks about creating a new score for four instruments to perform Puccini’s Il tabarro, and Artistic Director Richard Studer reflects on the production’s genesis and development during lockdown life, as they bring Mid Wales Opera’s latest tour to audiences. “Puccini seems to have felt a special affinity with Paris, so much…

Un Nos Ola Leuad – Leading Welsh singers record a new Welsh language Opera

I’ve been composing to commission for over 40 years now, in about as many genres as you could shake a baton at, but had never written an opera. Not, that is, until 2014 or thereabouts, the time when the BBC finally dispensed with my services as the presenter (since the late 70s) of the daily…

Elin Pritchard comes out fighting

Lockdown was intended to squash the COVID sombrero in early 2020 but it also flattened soprano Elin Pritchard’s rising career. Like many other singers the impact of the pandemic was sudden and dramatic. The North Wales-born, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama graduate was performing as Micaëla in Welsh National Opera’s touring production of…