Mozart’s The Magic Flute is enduringly popular because it is the perfect mix of fantasy and fabulousness in an accessible opera that entertains and enchants regular opera-goers and those new to opera alike. Indeed, this Opera North autumn season at...
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...
I come away from Opera North’s revived production of Benjamin Britten’s adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream still trying to work out whether or not I enjoyed it. Those things that ON, almost without exception, do well, were a triumph. The...
One reviewer described this show as ‘brilliantly bonkers.’ I shall strive to be similarly generous, but I give you fair warning: I expect to fall some way short. To begin at the beginning… We are gathered to witness the birth of Diktat, a strongman...
In case you’re so pressure-cooker busy you don’t have time to read the rest of this review (cue scream-face emoji), I’ll come straight to the point: This Opera North production of Verdi’s “Falstaff” is simply splendid. Shakespeare’s Sir John...
The Bridgewater Hall currently represents the last time great architecture was permitted to plant foot in Manchester (Discuss). It is, in itself, a reason to visit the city – the quiet northern confidence of its burly, open-faced exterior, the...
Leos Janacek’s three-act opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, is a peculiar beast – part children’s folk tale, part tragedy, part modestly profound meditation on the cycle of life. It’s a difficult piece to mount successfully, but Opera North’s...
Opera North returns to the myth of Orpheus for a second night at The Lowry, but this time this ancient story takes on a whole new operatic form in a collaboration with South Asian Arts UK. In a ground-breaking exploration of musical styles this new...
If ever grief was captured in a performance, this is it. Opera North’s Orfeo ed Euridice is a dramatic concert performance, where the set and costume design is stripped back, leaving the singers and music to take centre stage. That said, the stage...
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...
Carmel Thomason
Martin Thomasson