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Opera North 2009 /2010:  A season preview by Robert J Farr (RJF)


Opera North celebrated its thirtieth anniversary with a melange of a world premiere of a rather wacky operetta, an extended visit to two Gershwin’s political satires and a distinctly off beat production of Mozart’s singspiele, Die Entführung aus dem Serail directed by Tim Hopkins in his own sets and sung in English as The Abduction from the Seraglio. This latter production seems to have had a distinctly hostile press, not least from me (see review). Fortunately the year was saved artistically by Tim Albery returning to refresh his memorable production of Verdi’s great and longest opera, Don Carlos, presented in the four act 1884 version.

The upcoming Autumn season as well as the year ahead looks more as one would expect from a mainstream opera company. It is  a positive sign that the year opens with Albery returning to refresh yet another of his productions for Opera North, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, the composer’s well woven tale of sexual politics set in 18th century Europe. Sung in English, this is a period piece with sumptuous costumes, disguises, deception and drama of crossed lovers manipulated by the old cynic Don Alfonso, portrayed by Geoffrey Dolton, who debuts in the role having previously sung Guglielmo. Dutch baritone Quirijn de Lang makes his Opera North debut in that role, whilst Allan Clayton, the young tenor who I admired as Belmonte in The Abduction from the Seraglio, will sing Ferrando. The female soloists include Victoria Simmonds returning to the Opera North stage as Dorabella; Elizabeth Atherton plays the role of the other sister, Fiordiligi. Amy Freston sings Despina, having sung many roles with Opera North.

Così fan tutte opens the Autumn season at Leeds Grand Theatre at 7.00 pm on Friday 11th Sept 2009. Further performances in Leeds are on 19, 25 September 2009, and 14, 20 and 22 October. The Leeds, Lowry and Newcastle performances will be conducted by Andrew Parrot with Justin Doyle taking over the baton in Belfast and Nottingham.

The second offering of the year is Jules Massenet’s four act Werther composed between 1885-87. Although based on Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, the composer found it difficult to get the opera staged in France and the work was first heard in German in 1892; the Paris premiere in French followed a year later. Tom Cairns who directed Jenufa for Opera North in 2002 returns alongside theatre designer Hildegard Bechtler and costume designer Amy Roberts, a winner of five BAFTA's, making her opera debut. Alice Coote, who began her career with the company and is now in demand internationally, returns to  sing Charlotte. Paul Nilon, an Opera North regular, makes his debut in the title role; Peter Savidge sings Albert. Opera North's Music Director, Richard Farnes, conducts. The performances will be sung in French with English titles.

Werther's opening will be at Leeds Grand Theatre on Sat 26 Sept 2009 at 7.30 pm. Further performances in Leeds will follow on 3, 9, 16, 21 and 24 October 2009 before being seen twice in each of the touring venues detailed below.

Perhaps even more exciting is the joint production with Scottish Opera of Janácek's comic opera The Adventures of Mr Broucek. It marks the halfway stage in Opera North’s continuing exploration of the operatic works by this composer. Sung in English, with the additional benefit of English titles, it is a rather eccentric plot being derived from two novels, The Excursions of Mr Broucek to the 15th Century and The Excursions of Mr Broucek to the Moon. It's an opera of two halves where singers play multiple characters with many costume changes. A true ensemble piece, the performances will be lead by John Graham-Hall, widely regarded as one of the finest character actors on the operatic stage, singing Broucek. Also in the cast are Anne Sophie Duprels, seen as Madama Butterfly (2007) and Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts who portrayed a memorable Peter Grimes (2008).

The premiere of The Adventures of Mr Broucek will be on Saturday 10 October 2009 at Leeds Grand Theatre with further performances on 13, 15, 17, and 23 October 2009, all from 7.30 pm. The opera will be conducted by Martin André, directed by John Fulljames, with sets and costumes designed by Alex Lowde with lighting by Lucy Carter.

To conclude the Autumn season, Opera North have commissioned yet another World Premiere in the form of Swanhunter by composer Jonathan Dove and librettist Alasdair Middleton, the duo responsible for the knockout Adventures of Pinocchio  now available on DVD (Opus Arte OA 1005 D). The cast of six in Swanhunter include Yvonne Howard, Nicholas Sharratt and Graeme Broadbent in the main parts and six instruments including accordion, violin, double bass and percussion accompany the work. At 75 minutes long Swanhunter, like its predecessor, is intended as an accessible piece appealing to children and adults alike. It will be premiered in the Howard Assembly Room at Opera North in Leeds on Friday November 13 and toured to smaller venues.

The three major productions for this  Autumn season will tour to the following venues on the dates shown.

Grand Opera House, Belfast, 28 – 31 October.

Theatre Royal, Nottingham, 3 - 7 November.

The Lowry, Salford Quays, 10 – 14 November.

Theatre Royal, Newcastle, 17 – 21 November.

The Opera North Winter season will commence on January 15, 2010 at Leeds with a revival of Phyllida Lloyd’s 1993 production of La Boheme. Set in the slightly grimy Paris of the 1950s it is revived by Peter Relton. The performances feature Anne Sophie Duprels as Mimi and the Turkish tenor Bulent Bezduz as her lover. The revival will open in Leeds on 15 January. There will be fourteen performances in the Winter season and a further eleven in the Spring with cast changes. Richard Farnes will conduct the opening performances.

The second new winter season  offering will be Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore. Opening in Leeds on January 30,  there will be twelve performances of the work. There will also be further performances of Cosi fan tutte.

These three operas will tour to:-

The Lowry, Salford Quays, 23 – 27 February 2010

Theatre Royal, Newcastle, 2 – 6 March

Theatre Royal, Nottingham, 9 – 13 March

With two performances each of La Boheme and Ruddigore and one of Cosi fan tutte.

As well as further performances of La Boheme,  the Spring season will include a revival of the well-received 2002 production of Rusalka sung in English with Giselle Allen returning in the title role, Anne Marie Owens as Jezibaba and Susannah Glanville as The Foreign Princess. The first night of this revival will be May 22 in Leeds.

The new production for the Spring season will be Donizetti’s bel canto Romantic melodrama Maria Stuarda, sung in Italian with English titles. The work is famous for the supposed meeting of the two Queens, of England and Scotland, when Elisabeth’s chiding and demeaning of Mary, beyond the latter’s patience, results with the biting response of the Catholic Stuart Queen referring to her English counterpart as Impure daughter of Anne Boleyn, adding the famous phrase Profanato e il soglio inglese, vil bastards, dal tuo pie! (The English throne is profaned, despicable bastard, by your presence!). The premiere was scheduled for the Royal Theatre of the San Carlo in Naples. When, following the dress rehearsal, the phrases got to the ears of the Bourbon King of Naples, perhaps influenced by his wife’s family connections with Mary Stuart, he banned the opera. Maria Stuarda as Donizetti wrote it had to wait until a year later when it had its premiere at La Scala when the renowned Maria Malibran, who had championed its inclusion in the season, insisted on singing the original words rather than the diluted version agreed by the censors with the result that the work was taken off after six performances. With Sarah Connolly, the formidable and admired Romeo of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi in the autumn of 2008 (see review) as Maria, and Antonia Cifrone the Lady Macbeth of the spring production of the same year singing Elisabeth (see review), formidable bel canto performances are in prospect. Buxton Festival recently played Donizetti’s near contemporaneous Lucrezia Borgia to full houses in Buxton’s lovely Matcham Edwardian Theatre (see review) and I hope there will be similar audience support for this Opera North production by Antony McDonald and conducted by Guido Johannes Rumstadt. The first night will be June 4 in the similarly elegant Leeds Grand Theatre.

These operas tour to:-

The Lowry, Salford Quays, 16 – 19 June

Theatre Royal, Newcastle, 22 – 26 June

Theatre Royal, Nottingham, 29 June – 3 July.

Robert J Farr

More details are available on Opera North's web site Here