Welsh National Opera

An airbrushed show that has Madam Butterfly as a human commodity for whoever has the money to pay

Welsh National Opera at Wales Millennium Centre It must be deeply annoying for a director when the opera gets in the way of a concept. Drat – the libretto. You can fiddle with settings, play around with costumes, even tweak the translation but there are some things that you cannot escape. Well, you would have…

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…

WNO announces more details of autumn 2021 season

Welsh National Opera has announced more details of its Autumn 2021 Season which includes a new production of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly. It follows the announcement that Wales Millennium Centre, its home base, is opening the main auditorium, the Donald Gordon Theatre, on September 9, in time for the WNO season. The Company has confirmed it…

Welsh National Opera team up with Expo 2020 Dubai UEA from October 2021 to March 2022

Expo 2020 Dubai has commissioned the first Emirati opera produced in collaboration with Welsh National Opera to celebrate the United Arab Emirates, as part of Expo 2020 Dubai UEA which runs from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. Al Wasl Opera will be sung in English and Arabic and push the message of the…

A new Butterfly, a delayed migration-themed opera and three revivals for Welsh National Opera’s 21-22 season

Welsh National Opera brings back the 1980s Giles Havergal production of Rossini’s Barber of Seville to Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff in September, marking the company’s return to the stage. The company had performed a slapstick new co-production with Grand Théâtre de Genève in 2016 but has reverted to the near-40 year old show to…

WNO General Director Aidan Lang talks about the company’s 75th anniversary

As one might imagine, our plans for major productions to mark the 75 years have been shelved. We have, however, created two short films to mark the occasion. We commissioned a poem by Ifor ap Glyn, the National Poet of Wales, called Intermezzo, and this is performed by a distinguished cast of Welsh luminaries in…

Les vêpres siciliennes, Welsh National Opera

The prospect of WNO staging Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes is an exciting one. The last time it was performed by WNO was in 1954. Further, this staging (a joint production with Theater Bonn) is of the French grand opéra version, the full five acts sung in French with the ballet section included, not the revised…

The Cunning Little Vixen , Welsh National Opera, WMC

This revived production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen is another triumph for WNO. Born in Moravia in 1854 it was only in 1924 that Janáček first staged his opera. Inspired by the illustrated tales of ‘Vixen Sharp-Ears’ the opera tells the story of the life and death of the Vixen, captured by the Forester…

Un ballo in maschera, Welsh National Opera, Venue Cymru

My opera education continues in the capable hands of Welsh National Opera with Guiseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, only my third WNO production. Riccardo (Gwyn Hughes Jones) is a leader who has stepped on too many toes, collecting a few enemies hell bent on revenge for the wrongs they feel he has done…

The Magic Flute, Welsh National Opera, Venue Cymru

With an opening scene of a lobster-like creature bursting through the set’s doors, I knew from the start of Welsh National Opera’s rendition of Mozart’s The Magic Flute that I was in for a very different experience of opera. As quite the novice to opera, I went into this performance blind, so was intrigued to…