Mid Wales Opera

Mid Wales Opera thrown lifeline

Mid Wales Opera  which had been threatened with closure as a result of Arts Council Wales (ACW) cuts has been thrown a vital lifeline with a cash injection of £75,906 from Powys  County Council’s grant funding programme, aimed at supporting and transforming the creative industries within the region.  It is now asking its many supporters and…

Macbeth, Mid Wales Opera

**** It would be wrong to make what may be the last review of a full-scale work by Mid Wales Opera about the preposterous axing of the company’s funding by the increasingly out of touch Arts Council of Wales. However, the energy on the stage seemed as marked outside of the auditorium at the Riverfront,…

Mid Wales Opera funding cut appeal as tour gets underway

Mid Wales Opera’s ‘Beatrice & Benedict’ enthrals audiences and impresses critics as it begins SmallStages Tour while Arts’ Council Wales consider their appeal following their withdrawal of funding earlier this month. MWO said it is delighted with the success of their tour so far following the opening night of “Beatrice & Benedict” earlier this month…

Mid Wales Opera Shakespeare season against backdrop of funding axe

Mid Wales Opera are back on the road this season with two Shakespearean operas. In March next year the company presents its first ever production of Verdi’s great masterpiece Macbeth. Before that, this autumn, the company presents Berlioz’s effervescent Beatrice and Benedict, based on Shakespeare’s comedy Much ado about nothing. However, the tour comes against…

Mid Wales Opera Thatcher-themed Hansel and Gretel

**** As Mid Wales Opera’s take on Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel came to a close, there was no other conclusion available other than to think this was a job supremely well done by all involved. Every aspect of Mid Wales Opera’s production clicked into place, resulting in a delightfully entertaining and visually arresting show. Gone…

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…

No need for laying it on with a trowel with this clean if grubby Il tabarro from Mid Wales Opera

It is a challenging enterprise to take opera out to smaller venues at the best of times let alone when audiences are still wary in Covid days but it is one that Mid Wales Opera with Richard Studer and Jonathan Lyness at the tiller do with a sure touch and excellent musicianship. The combination of…

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…

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…

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…