Opera North
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is about the British organisation; for the unrelated American one, see Opera North (U.S.A.).
Opera North is a British opera company. It is based at the Grand Theatre in Leeds, England, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. It also visits Sadler's Wells Theatre, London and, less regularly, the Bradford Alhambra, the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield, the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, and other venues. The company's orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North, regularly performs and records in its own right. Operas are usually, but not always, performed in English.
Contents |
[edit] History
Opera North was founded in 1977, and its first performance (of Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah) was given on 15 November 1978. It started life as an offshoot of English National Opera, and was known until 1981 as English National Opera North. It had the specific intention of delivering high-quality opera to the northern areas of the country which, up to that point, had no regular opera company. With the name change to Opera North, the official ties with English National Opera ceased to exist.
The founding Music Director of Opera North was David Lloyd-Jones (1977-1990). He was succeeded by Paul Daniel (1990-1997), Steven Sloane (1999-2002) and Richard Farnes (2004- ). Elgar Howarth was designated Principal Guest Conductor of the company between 1985 and 1988, and held the temporary post of Music Advisor during the interregnum between Daniel and Sloane.
[edit] Repertory
As well as presenting the bread-and-butter operas of the standard repertory, the company has mounted a number of operas that are rarely seen in Britain. Examples include:
In addition, the company 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) and The Adventures of Pinocchio by Jonathan Dove (2007). Skin Deep by David Sawer is expected to be mounted in 2008.
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. 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 and Arms and the Cow in 2006.
[edit] Awards
- Winner of the TMA Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera 2007 (for Peter Grimes, directed by Phyllida Lloyd),[1] and in 2004
- Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Opera & Music Theatre 2007 (for Peter Grimes)[2] and in 2005
- Winner of the South Bank Show Award for Opera 2007 (for Peter Grimes)[3] and 2005 (for its Eight Little Greats season of one-act operas)[4]
- 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 2004
[edit] Funding
Major funders of Opera North include:[5]
- Arts Council England, Yorkshire
- Leeds City Council
- West Yorkshire Grants
- North Yorkshire County Council
- East Riding of Yorkshire Council
[edit] Notes
- ^ TMA press release
- ^ RPS Music Awards site
- ^ Metro report
- ^ Arts Council press release
- ^ An Introduction to the Company. Opera North (2008). Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
