Opera North 2018-19 Season

[Conchis]

My recollection is that there was always a fair amount of verismo and Traviatas, as all houses have to perform, but "grand opera" Aida Tannhauser Don Carlos were staged as were Pelleas King Priam Ariane et Barbe Bleue and the musicals came rather irregularly. Now we get one work semi staged each year at least in Leeds, the rest of us really just get a concert performance and musicals are present every year.

Silent Night turns out to be an opera by Kevin Puts who I have never heard of, and after a quick listen to part of his 4th Symphonyon qobuz to me his music sounded like film music. Thats another recent trait, all "new " music is of this type, if ON cannot risk anything as modern as say Benjamin or Ades, then I would prefer they did not waste their limited resources on that sort of thing.

Billy Budd was good as was Death in Venice and the Janacek series has been worth seeing but the company are a shadow of what existed 20 years ago in terms of staged repertoire. I for one am not interested in the standard repertoire performed semi staged or in concert.

Most companies are a shadow (or even a shadow of a shadow) of what they were 20 years ago.

The story of the arts in Britain since 1979 is one of prolonged, virtually uinterrupted decline.

As to the semi-staged thing....there was something of the 'mission creep' about the way ON first staged the Ring as a concert/semi-staged performance, providing the rationale that the theatres they toured to 'did not have the resources' to mount a staged Ring cycle. This may well have been true but it set the precedent for staged performances of operas that don't require 'big budget touring' - Turandot and Salome, as well as Hollander. Hst, the (staged) ON production of Fanciulla Del West back in 2014 looked so cheap it might as well have been semi-staged.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm thinking that the Leeds TH setup must be better than the Salford alternative.

Yes - from your descriptions, I think it must be. Essentially, all that's missing from the stagings in the Town Hall is the basic "Box Set" (with or without cyclorama) of older (ie pre-Piscator, Brecht, Meyerhold, Craig, Atrtaud, Brook) theatrical set designs.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Opera North has operated on a shoe-string for several decades. The costumes were recycled for different operas, the most notable being the black cloaks/coats/dressing gowns that found their way into operas from the 18th to the 20th centuries, and looked deadly dull.

How does its Arts Council funding compare with other opera companies?

Before I betrayed my northern roots, I followed ON in Leeds, Hull, Manchester and Salford. I remember seeing a production in Leeds, that was later repeated in Hull. But the scenery was too tall for the Hull theatre, so had to be wedged in at an angle of approx. 70 degrees. It looked strange at first, but the eyes soon adjusted.

[Conchis]

Opera North has operated on a shoe-string for several decades. The costumes were recycled for different operas, the most notable being the black cloaks/coats/dressing gowns that found their way into operas from the 18th to the 20th centuries, and looked deadly dull.

How does its Arts Council funding compare with other opera companies?

Before I betrayed my northern roots, I followed ON in Leeds, Hull, Manchester and Salford. I remember seeing a production in Leeds, that was later repeated in Hull. But the scenery was too tall for the Hull theatre, so had to be wedged in at an angle of approx. 70 degrees. It looked strange at first, but the eyes soon adjusted.

I'm told other arts organisations in Leeds/West Yorkshire are deeply envious and resentful of the 'huge' ACE subisidy ON receives.

[Constantbee]

Thanks for this I'd describe the programming as cautious and middle of the road because that's probably what people within easy travelling distance of the venues will like. Armed with a shiny new Senior Railcard I intend to go myself this year, most likely to a matinee. Katya if there is one. A lot of us don't like driving long distances in the dark, you see

Thought they did a brilliant job of The Ring Cycle , btw.

[Simon B]

I'm thinking that the Leeds TH setup must be better than the Salford alternative.

The Lowry is the exception to the rule for ON "Concert Stagings". All the other venues are large concert halls, not a theatre. Especially not one with a smallish pit and the most problematic acoustic for opera (IMO) of any significant venue in the country. It's like an anechoic chamber in there and there isn't enough room to fit in the Ring concert staging in the way that was done at all the other venues.

Other than the Lowry, the Ring Cycle was mounted at - Symphony Hall Birmingham, RFH London, Leeds Town Hall, Nottingham Royal Concert Hall and Sage Gateshead. These all have large stages (though the one at Leeds is the most constricted) and acoustics ranging from generally a bit dodgy but good for Wagner (Leeds) to exceptionally good (Gateshead).

It is known that ON wanted to put on the Ring at the Bridgewater Hall, but this was precluded due to the Hallé/Elder world's-longest-and-out-of-order-Ring-Cycle (completing this year after ~10 years) being mounted there.

The Bridgewater would have been a much more suitable venue, and was used in the past for ON "Concert Stagings" - which have been going on for a long time, e.g. Elektra at the Bridgewater 10 years ago...

However many times it's repeated, it's still worth repeating again that Scottish Opera's staged Ring Cycle was generally regarded as an artistic triumph. It is also generally credited with setting the company on the path to near bankruptcy and its now vestigial existence.

ON, like WNO, are to be congratulated for doing quite a lot with not very much and being careful to live within their means and thereby keep on keeping on.

[CallMePaul]

I received an email with these details yesterday and I have to day that I was very disappointed. It's not that many years since I saw these very same productions of the Puccini operas and I may be in a minority of 0ne in saying that I find nothing of interest in Tosca (although I was pleased that the audience did not break concentration by applauding the well-known arias) and Gianni Schicchi, which hjas been recycled several times, always seems to have strange bedfellows - I saw it coupled with La Vida Breve 2 or 3 years ago.

And when is an opera company going to stage Die Lustige Witwe rather than The Merry Widow? Is there some taboo on doing it in the original? If there are copyright reasons, then I think I am correct in saying that the copyright on Léhar's works expires at the end of this year, so the publishers cannot insist on a translation being used after that! The publioshing company Glocken Verlag was set up by Léhar but I have no idea if his family still controls it.