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Opera North

November 22, 2023

This article is about the British organisation. For the unrelated American opera company, see Opera North (U.S.A.).

Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. The company's orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North, regularly performs and records in its own right. Operas are performed either in English translation or in the original language of the libretto, in the latter case usually with surtitles.

The Grand Theatre, Leeds, home of Opera North

The major funders of Opera North include Arts Council England and, in Yorkshire, Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Grants, North Yorkshire County Council, and East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

History edit

Opera North was established in 1977 as English National Opera North, as an offshoot of English National Opera, with the specific intention of delivering high-quality opera to the northern areas of England which, up to that point, had had no permanently established opera company. The company gave its first performance, of Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah, on 15 November 1978. The founding music director of the company was David Lloyd-Jones, who held the post until 1990. In 1981, the company's name was changed to Opera North, and the official ties with English National Opera ceased to exist.

Paul Daniel became the company's second music director, serving in the post from 1990 to 1997. With general administrators Nicholas Payne and, later, Ian Ritchie and Richard Mantle, the company continued to bring operatic novelties, as well as a wide selection of familiar works, to its audience in the North of England and further afield. Following Daniel's departure, Elgar Howarth held the temporary post of music advisor, until Steven Sloane became music director in 1999.

Richard Farnes became music director in 2004. Achievements during his tenure included the company's first staging of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, over a span of 4 years.[1][2][3][4][5] Farnes stood down as music director after the 2015–2016 season.[6]

In October 2015, Aleksandar Marković made his first appearance as guest conductor with the company.[7] In February 2016, the company announced the appointment of Marković as its next music director, effective with the 2016–2017 season.[8] His first production as music director of the company was in September 2016, with Der Rosenkavalier.[9] On 18 April 2017, Opera North announced that Marković had resigned as the company's music director, with his contract formally to terminate in July 2017, but where he is not to appear with the company for the remainder of the 2016–2017 season.[10]

In June 2019, Opera North announced the appointments of Garry Walker as its next music director, and of Antony Hermus as its new principal guest conductor. Walker became music director effective with the 2020–2021 season.[11]

In October 2021, Opera North relocated their headquarters to the Howard Opera Centre, following an £18 million redevelopment. [12]

The current general director of Opera North is Sir Richard Mantle, since 1994. Mantle is scheduled to retire from the post on 1 December 2023. In April 2023, the company announced the appointment of Laura Canning as its next general director, the first woman named to the post, effective December 2023.[13]

Characteristics of the company edit

Repertory edit

As well as presenting the bread-and-butter operas of the standard repertory, the company has performed a number of operas that are rarely seen in Britain. Examples include:

In 2011, the company performed The Portrait by Mieczysław Weinberg and initiated an annual series of semi-staged concert performances of the four operas in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen by performing Das Rheingold in Leeds Town Hall. Beached, a community opera by composer Harvey Brough with a libretto by Lee Hall co-commissioned by Opera North and the sea-side resort of Bridlington premiered on 15 July 2011.

At the request of the Bridlington primary school whose 300 children performed in the opera, the company asked for the removal of an explicit reference to a gay character's sexuality from one of the scenes. Hall initially refused, and the opera was withdrawn.[14] However, following negotiations the matter was resolved when the character's contentious line "Of course I'm queer" was changed to "Of course I'm gay".[15]

World premieres edit

Opera North has given world premières of the following operas: Rebecca by Wilfred Josephs (1983), Caritas by Robert Saxton (1991), Baa, Baa, Black Sheep by Michael Berkeley (1993), Playing Away by Benedict Mason (1994), The Nightingale's to Blame by Simon Holt (1998), Jonathan Dove's The Adventures of Pinocchio (2007) and Swanhunter (2009), and Skin Deep by David Sawer and Armando Iannucci (2009). In July 2009, Opera North premièred Prima Donna, a new opera by Rufus Wainwright, at the Manchester International Festival.[16]

Musical theatre edit

Opera North has also given performances of musical theatre works. The first was Jerome Kern's Show Boat (in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company) in 1989, and productions of Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing and Sondheim's Sweeney Todd followed in 1998. A joint production with West Yorkshire Playhouse of Sondheim's Into the Woods was staged in Leeds in 2016.[17] Latterly, the works of Kurt Weill have become something of a speciality, with productions of Love Life (1996), One Touch of Venus and The Seven Deadly Sins in 2004, Arms and the Cow in 2006, and Street Scene in 2020. In 2009, Let 'Em Eat Cake, the sequel to Of Thee I Sing, was produced, and in 2012 Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel was performed in Leeds, Salford and London. It was revived in 2015, playing in Leeds before touring to Norwich, Edinburgh and Dublin.

Electronic music edit

Opera North has worked extensively with electronic composer Mira Calix, commissioning Dead Wedding (for the Manchester International Festival 2007) Onibus (2008) and the installation Chorus (2009) for the opening of the Howard Assembly Room with visual artist UVA.

Awards edit

Music directors edit

References edit

  1. ^ Tim Ashley (21 June 2011). "Das Rheingold – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  2. ^ Yorkshire Post (17 October 2021). "Take a look behind the scenes at Opera North following its £18m redevelopment". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  3. ^ Tim Ashley (17 June 2012). "Die Walküre – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  4. ^ Tim Ashley (18 June 2013). "Siegfried – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  5. ^ Alfred Hickling (15 June 2014). "Götterdämmerung review – belt-and-braces Wagner". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  6. ^ Imogen Tilden (30 April 2014). "Opera North announce first Poppea and departure of music director Farnes". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  7. ^ Martin Dreyer (23 October 2015). "Review: Opera North in Jenůfa; Grand Theatre, Leeds". The Yorkshire Press. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Opera North's new Music Director: Aleksandar Marković" (Press release). Opera North. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  9. ^ Alfred Hickling (18 September 2016). "Der Rosenkavalier – eloquently staged revival belies its age". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Statement regarding Opera North's Music Director" (Press release). Opera North. 18 April 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  11. ^ "Opera North announces new musical leadership" (Press release). Opera North. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  12. ^ Bond, Chris (17 October 2021). "Take a look behind the scenes at Opera North following its £18m redevelopment". The Yorkshire Post.
  13. ^ "Laura Canning announced as new General Director & CEO" (Press release). Opera North. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  14. ^ Mark Brown (3 July 2011). "Opera pulled after school protests over gay character". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  15. ^ "Homophobia row opera to go ahead". BBC News. 7 July 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  16. ^ Higgins, Charlotte (9 October 2008). "From pop to opera: petrified Rufus Wainwright embraces 'the dark religion'". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
  17. ^ "Into the Woods review – Opera North casts spell on Sondheim fairytale". TheGuardian.com. 12 June 2016.
  18. ^ TMA press release 14 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ RPS Music Awards site 15 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Metro report
  21. ^ Arts Council press release

External links edit

  • Official site
  • Archival material at Leeds University Library

November 22, 2023
opera, north, this, article, about, british, organisation, unrelated, american, opera, company, english, opera, company, based, leeds, company, home, theatre, leeds, grand, theatre, also, presents, regular, seasons, several, other, cities, theatre, royal, nott. This article is about the British organisation For the unrelated American opera company see Opera North U S A Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds The company s home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities at the Theatre Royal Nottingham the Lowry Centre Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal Newcastle The company s orchestra the Orchestra of Opera North regularly performs and records in its own right Operas are performed either in English translation or in the original language of the libretto in the latter case usually with surtitles The Grand Theatre Leeds home of Opera NorthThe major funders of Opera North include Arts Council England and in Yorkshire Leeds City Council West Yorkshire Grants North Yorkshire County Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council Contents 1 History 2 Characteristics of the company 2 1 Repertory 2 2 World premieres 2 3 Musical theatre 2 4 Electronic music 3 Awards 4 Music directors 5 References 6 External linksHistory editOpera North was established in 1977 as English National Opera North as an offshoot of English National Opera with the specific intention of delivering high quality opera to the northern areas of England which up to that point had had no permanently established opera company The company gave its first performance of Saint Saens s Samson and Delilah on 15 November 1978 The founding music director of the company was David Lloyd Jones who held the post until 1990 In 1981 the company s name was changed to Opera North and the official ties with English National Opera ceased to exist Paul Daniel became the company s second music director serving in the post from 1990 to 1997 With general administrators Nicholas Payne and later Ian Ritchie and Richard Mantle the company continued to bring operatic novelties as well as a wide selection of familiar works to its audience in the North of England and further afield Following Daniel s departure Elgar Howarth held the temporary post of music advisor until Steven Sloane became music director in 1999 Richard Farnes became music director in 2004 Achievements during his tenure included the company s first staging of Wagner s Der Ring des Nibelungen over a span of 4 years 1 2 3 4 5 Farnes stood down as music director after the 2015 2016 season 6 In October 2015 Aleksandar Markovic made his first appearance as guest conductor with the company 7 In February 2016 the company announced the appointment of Markovic as its next music director effective with the 2016 2017 season 8 His first production as music director of the company was in September 2016 with Der Rosenkavalier 9 On 18 April 2017 Opera North announced that Markovic had resigned as the company s music director with his contract formally to terminate in July 2017 but where he is not to appear with the company for the remainder of the 2016 2017 season 10 In June 2019 Opera North announced the appointments of Garry Walker as its next music director and of Antony Hermus as its new principal guest conductor Walker became music director effective with the 2020 2021 season 11 In October 2021 Opera North relocated their headquarters to the Howard Opera Centre following an 18 million redevelopment 12 The current general director of Opera North is Sir Richard Mantle since 1994 Mantle is scheduled to retire from the post on 1 December 2023 In April 2023 the company announced the appointment of Laura Canning as its next general director the first woman named to the post effective December 2023 13 Characteristics of the company editRepertory edit As well as presenting the bread and butter operas of the standard repertory the company has performed a number of operas that are rarely seen in Britain Examples include Les mamelles de Tiresias Poulenc 1978 The Mines of Sulphur Richard Rodney Bennett 1980 A Village Romeo and Juliet Delius 1980 Prince Igor Alexander Borodin 1982 Beatrice and Benedict Berlioz 1983 Johnny Strikes Up Krenek 1984 British premiere Intermezzo Richard Strauss 1986 Daphne Strauss 1987 British premiere La finta giardiniera Mozart 1989 Jerusalem Verdi 1990 British premiere Ariane and Bluebeard Dukas 1990 Masquerade Carl Nielsen 1990 British professional premiere King Priam Michael Tippett 1991 L etoile Chabrier 1991 The Jewel Box Mozart arranged by Paul Griffiths 1991 The Thieving Magpie Rossini 1992 Iolanta Tchaikovsky 1992 The Duenna Roberto Gerhard 1992 British premiere Der ferne Klang Schreker 1992 British premiere La Gioconda Ponchielli 1993 Gloriana Britten 1993 Il re pastore Mozart 1993 The Secret Marriage Cimarosa 1993 Oberto Verdi 1994 British stage premiere The Reluctant King Chabrier 1994 British stage premiere Troilus and Cressida William Walton 1995 Hamlet Ambroise Thomas 1995 Medea Cherubini 1996 Julietta Martinu 1997 Joan of Arc Verdi 1998 Radamisto Handel 2000 Genoveva Schumann 2000 Paradise Moscow Shostakovich 2001 Francesca da Rimini Rachmaninov 2004 Love s Luggage Lost Rossini 2004 British stage premiere Djamileh Bizet 2004 La vida breve Manuel de Falla 2004 La voix humaine Poulenc 2006 The Fortunes of King Croesus Reinhard Keiser 2007 British premiere The Excursions of Mr Broucek Janacek 2009 The Snow Maiden Rimsky Korsakov 2017 Trouble in Tahiti Leonard Bernstein 2017 The Greek Passion Martinu 2019 In 2011 the company performed The Portrait by Mieczyslaw Weinberg and initiated an annual series of semi staged concert performances of the four operas in Wagner s Der Ring des Nibelungen by performing Das Rheingold in Leeds Town Hall Beached a community opera by composer Harvey Brough with a libretto by Lee Hall co commissioned by Opera North and the sea side resort of Bridlington premiered on 15 July 2011 At the request of the Bridlington primary school whose 300 children performed in the opera the company asked for the removal of an explicit reference to a gay character s sexuality from one of the scenes Hall initially refused and the opera was withdrawn 14 However following negotiations the matter was resolved when the character s contentious line Of course I m queer was changed to Of course I m gay 15 World premieres edit Opera North has given world premieres of the following operas Rebecca by Wilfred Josephs 1983 Caritas by Robert Saxton 1991 Baa Baa Black Sheep by Michael Berkeley 1993 Playing Away by Benedict Mason 1994 The Nightingale s to Blame by Simon Holt 1998 Jonathan Dove s The Adventures of Pinocchio 2007 and Swanhunter 2009 and Skin Deep by David Sawer and Armando Iannucci 2009 In July 2009 Opera North premiered Prima Donna a new opera by Rufus Wainwright at the Manchester International Festival 16 Musical theatre edit Opera North has also given performances of musical theatre works The first was Jerome Kern s Show Boat in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1989 and productions of Gershwin s Of Thee I Sing and Sondheim s Sweeney Todd followed in 1998 A joint production with West Yorkshire Playhouse of Sondheim s Into the Woods was staged in Leeds in 2016 17 Latterly the works of Kurt Weill have become something of a speciality with productions of Love Life 1996 One Touch of Venus and The Seven Deadly Sins in 2004 Arms and the Cow in 2006 and Street Scene in 2020 In 2009 Let Em Eat Cake the sequel to Of Thee I Sing was produced and in 2012 Rodgers and Hammerstein s Carousel was performed in Leeds Salford and London It was revived in 2015 playing in Leeds before touring to Norwich Edinburgh and Dublin Electronic music edit Opera North has worked extensively with electronic composer Mira Calix commissioning Dead Wedding for the Manchester International Festival 2007 Onibus 2008 and the installation Chorus 2009 for the opening of the Howard Assembly Room with visual artist UVA Awards editWinner of the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Rigoletto 2022 music director Garry Walker stage director Femi Elufowoju Jr Winner of the TMA Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera 2007 for Peter Grimes directed by Phyllida Lloyd 18 and in 2004 Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Opera amp Music Theatre 2007 for Peter Grimes 19 and in 2005 Winner of the South Bank Show Award for Opera 2007 for Peter Grimes 20 and 2005 for its Eight Little Greats season of one act operas 21 Winner of the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards for Opera 2004 Winner of the Audiences Yorkshire Award for Best Overall Marketing and Audience Development Campaign 2004Music directors editDavid Lloyd Jones 1978 1990 Paul Daniel 1990 1997 Steven Sloane 1999 2002 Richard Farnes 2004 2016 Aleksandar Markovic 2016 2017 Garry Walker 2020 present References edit Tim Ashley 21 June 2011 Das Rheingold review The Guardian Retrieved 27 February 2016 Yorkshire Post 17 October 2021 Take a look behind the scenes at Opera North following its 18m redevelopment The Guardian Retrieved 17 October 2021 Tim Ashley 17 June 2012 Die Walkure review The Guardian Retrieved 27 February 2016 Tim Ashley 18 June 2013 Siegfried review The Guardian Retrieved 27 February 2016 Alfred Hickling 15 June 2014 Gotterdammerung review belt and braces Wagner The Guardian Retrieved 27 February 2016 Imogen Tilden 30 April 2014 Opera North announce first Poppea and departure of music director Farnes The Guardian Retrieved 27 February 2016 Martin Dreyer 23 October 2015 Review Opera North in Jenufa Grand Theatre Leeds The Yorkshire Press Retrieved 27 February 2016 Opera North s new Music Director Aleksandar Markovic Press release Opera North 24 February 2016 Retrieved 27 February 2016 Alfred Hickling 18 September 2016 Der Rosenkavalier eloquently staged revival belies its age The Guardian Retrieved 19 April 2017 Statement regarding Opera North s Music Director Press release Opera North 18 April 2017 Retrieved 19 April 2017 Opera North announces new musical leadership Press release Opera North 24 June 2019 Retrieved 4 July 2019 Bond Chris 17 October 2021 Take a look behind the scenes at Opera North following its 18m redevelopment The Yorkshire Post Laura Canning announced as new General Director amp CEO Press release Opera North 12 April 2023 Retrieved 24 April 2023 Mark Brown 3 July 2011 Opera pulled after school protests over gay character The Guardian Retrieved 27 February 2016 Homophobia row opera to go ahead BBC News 7 July 2011 Retrieved 27 February 2016 Higgins Charlotte 9 October 2008 From pop to opera petrified Rufus Wainwright embraces the dark religion The Guardian Retrieved 22 February 2009 Into the Woods review Opera North casts spell on Sondheim fairytale TheGuardian com 12 June 2016 TMA press release Archived 14 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine RPS Music Awards site Archived 15 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Metro report Arts Council press releaseExternal links editOfficial site Archival material at Leeds University Library Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Opera North amp oldid 1160577636, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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