Carmel ThomasonSusanna marks the fourth collaboration between Leeds based Opera North and Phoenix Dance Theatre. It is a combination of art forms that still feels experimental yet is clearly emerging into something new, elevating both storytelling formats. It...
Martin ThomassonJust before the curtain goes up on this latest revival of Phyllida Lloyd’s 1993 production of Puccini’s La Bohème, Howard steps forward to remind us what a marvellous gift to the region Opera North is – providing employment for over 130...
There are likely many reasons why Ruddigore is one of the lesser performed works of Gilbert and Sullivan. But audience enjoyment is not one of them. There was a palpable lightness in the Lowry’s large Lyric auditorium for Opera North’s high energy...
Ellen Kent has been touring operas for donkey’s years (32 years, to be precise), and I’ve been watching them throughout that time. There are certain things you can bank on with this company. If you start out fearing opera is pretentious, an Ellen...
Puccini’s Madama Butterfly continues to pull the crowds; partly, of course, because of the maestro’s music, but also because it is a simple, truthful story, based (albeit at some creative distance) upon real life events. The entire opera is set at...
This extravagant production of Verdi’s La Traviata arrives at The Lowry at the end of its run for Opera North, and this last week of shows bursts with the energy of a final hurrah. Verdi’s La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) has long been one of the most...
The nice woman working security at the Lowry approaches me with her metal-detecting device.“Do you have a pacemaker,” she asks. “I don’t think so.” This is not to be found on anyone’s list of Sensible Answers. What was I thinking? That some rogue...
I posted a photograph on social media last night, showing the musicians starting to take their seats on stage at the Lowry’s Lyric theatre. You can also make out how thinly populated the auditorium is. “Sparse,” a friend of mine commented. Indeed...
Moses KabungaKurt Weil’s dramatic opera, Street Scene was awarded the inaugural Tony Award for Best Original Score in 1947. It’s based on a play by Elmer Rice and charts the events that take place over two days in the slums of a New York district. Trailer The...
Georgina WellsThe night of Opera North’s performance of The Turn of the Screw at The Lowry was a dark and stormy one, fitting weather conditions for the Benjamin Britten opera based on Henry James’ ghostly short story. The set up is, to an extent, familiar: a...