Opera North introduces its latest shows coming to Nottingham
Opera North is bringing its latest shows to Nottingham’s stage and promises the audience an unforgettable journey.
New this season is a reinterpretation of Wagner’s radical early masterpiece, The Flying Dutchman, from the critically acclaimed director and designer team Annabel Arden and Joanna Parker.
The theatre will be staged at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal on Saturday (March 22) at 7pm.
Displaced and dispossessed, the Dutchman’s crew are condemned to wander the seas for eternity. Every seven years, fate offers them the chance to end this cycle of purgatory but, in a world where money, power and bureaucracy hold sway, it remains to be seen whether they will ever find shelter and sanctuary on land.
Responding to Opera North’s position as the only opera company in the country to have been awarded Theatre of Sanctuary status, Arden, in collaboration with sound artist Dan Scott, has included the voices of those who, like the Dutchman himself, are without a homeland.
Together, the creative team explore the central theme of compassion embodied in the opera’s heroine Senta, a figure who stands apart as the only person who can see beyond the structures of power which dominate her world.
Opera North Music director Garry Walker conducts Wagner’s thrilling score with a cast including Robert Hayward as the Dutchman, together with Layla Claire and Edgaras Montvidas who make their Opera North debuts as Senta and Erik/ Steersman respectively.
Clive Bayley makes a welcome return to the company as Senta’s father Daland, while Molly Barker from the Chorus of Opera North takes on the role of Mary.
On Thursday (March 20) and Friday (March 21), theatre-goers will get another chance to see James Brining’s magical production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute which played to packed houses last year.
Patrick Lange and Emilia Hoving take up the baton to conduct a new cast, which includes Soraya Mafi as Pamina, Trystan Llŷr Griffiths as Tamino, Anna Dennis as the Queen of the Night and Justin Hopkins as Sarastro.
They will be joined by Emyr Wyn Jones and Pasquale Orchard who reprise the roles of Papageno and Papagena.
In a first for a major UK opera company, the Thursday performance will also feature a fully integrated British Sign Language signing.
Younger people and anyone looking for a shorter opera may prefer The Magic Flute Lite at 11am on the Thursday.
Offering the same enchanted world and beautiful music as the full-length production, this special daytime performance lasts under two hours and has been created especially for families, schoolchildren at Key Stages 2–4 and audience members who prefer a more bitesize operatic experience.
Both The Magic Flute and The Magic Flute Lite will be sung in English with English subtitles.
April 29, sees Nottingham Royal Concert Hall presenting the latest in Opera North’s highly regarded series of dramatic concert stagings, which has seen the company presenting some of the largest scale operas in concert halls across the country, placing the orchestra and chorus centre-stage.
Simon Boccanegra is a gripping story of political rivals, love and loss, and features some of Verdi’s most dramatic and thrilling music, including the composer’s celebrated Council Chamber scene with its passionate plea for peace and unity.
Opera North’s Principal Guest Conductor Antony Hermus conducts an exciting young cast including Roland Wood as former pirate and man-of-the-people Simon Boccanegra and Vazgen Gazaryan as Jacopo Fiesco, a leading member of the nobility and Boccanegra’s most hated rival.
Italian soprano Sara Cortolezzis makes her company and UK debut as Amelia, while PJ Harris returns to Opera North to direct.
Tickets are available for all four productions now from trch.co.uk or via the Box Office on 0115 989 5555.
