Interviews
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,…
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…