Today (Saturday, May 20) WNO announced its programme for Summer 2007, a blueprint for a new way of working and one that aims to maximise on the potential of its internationally acclaimed Orchestra and Chorus.WNO’s commitment to touring mainscale opera across Wales and England will now be focused in two tours a year, in the autumn and spring, with the summer season providing an opportunity to programme some works and productions that would not necessarily be viable for full-scale touring. These works will be showcased between Saturday 12 May and Sunday 3 June in the company’s new home at Wales Millennium Centre - maximising the potential and opportunities presented by the centre -and also staged at Birmingham Hippodrome, a theatre traditionally considered to be the company’s second home, from Tuesday 19 June – Saturday 23 June. The programme: Carlo Rizzi, Music Director of WNO, conducts a trio of productions and concerts in the company’s new home in Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, one of Europe’s most prestigious new arts centres, and Birmingham Hippodrome. · WNO brings the Royal Opera House/Willy Decker production of Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle to Cardiff and Birmingham. · Andrea Silvestrelli returns to sing the title role of Duke Bluebeard with Sara Fulgoni as Judith. Andrea Silvestrelli’s most recently performed the role of the Philippe in WNO’s Don Carlos. · Diversions, the Dance Company of Wales, present Weill/Brecht’s The Seven Deadly Sins in a double bill with Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. · Rising American tenor Eric Cutler sings Faust in a concert performance of The Damnation of Faust with the acclaimed Dublin-born mezzo soprano Ann Murray as Marguerite. The season also includes a revival of Bizet’s Carmen with the popular Irish mezzo soprano Imelda Drumm in the title role. An 180-strong community choir recruited from across South Wales joins forces with the Chorus of WNO to appear in performances of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with baritone Robert Hayward. The programme will also include a performance of Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces by the Chorus of WNO. This builds on the success of WNO’s earlier projects with community choruses – Carmina Burana, the Verdi Requiem in St David’s Hall and most recently The Most Beautiful Man from the Sea, which saw a community choir of 400 people drawn from seaport cities and towns in South Wales to perform an oratorio with the company. Land Sea Sky, WNO’s trilogy of commissioned chamber operas on environmental themes, will be performed in WMC and Birmingham Hippodrome. This is an opportunity to see three new works developed in conjunction with environmentalists, teachers, young people and artists from the WNO ensemble. Conservation issues surrounding the preservation of the red kite, dolphins and the wild cats of North Wales are explored in the bi-lingual chamber operas. In Birmingham only, there will be a one-off opportunity to see City Songs, a song cycle performed by 200 young people with the WNO Orchestra. City Songs will take as its inspiration the history of Birmingham, the UK’s second largest city. This schedule for summer activity has been revised to allow for: · The performance of one-off, large scale events, such as Duke Bluebeard’s Castle; · development of rarer works in the repertoire, for example The Damnation of Faust; · scope for the world renowned WNO Chorus and Orchestra to appear at prestigious festivals. In 2007, WNO will appear at Faenol Festival and the Welsh Proms; · provide WNO with an opportunity to forge new creative partnerships including more co-productions with other theatres in the UK and abroad. John Fisher, incoming General Director for WNO said: “WNO is a company which has never been afraid to re-think and expand on its artistic vision. What we hope to achieve with the new summer schedule is the chance to provide something extra for our audiences – both those new to opera as well as established opera goers – and build on the move into our new home, one of Europe’s most prestigious new opera houses. Most importantly of all, we need to build on the extraordinary resource that is WNO as a whole – its orchestra, chorus and everyone who contributes on every level with such dedication.” Unveiling the highlights of the 2007 season, Carlo Rizzi, WNO’s Music Director, said: “This is very much evolution, not revolution. We are starting with a mixed programme of rarely performed works such as The Damnation of Faust; we also have Belshazzar’s Feast with guest baritone Robert Hayward and a community choir, which will appeal to those who like music and song on an epic scale, and a Carmen Day, featuring a host of activities throughout the WMC building providing fresh insight into one of the most popular works in the repertoire. “We have to explore and test the possibilities of this new model of working. Audiences are changing; expectations of what opera can be are changing; WNO is more than ready to meet these changes. It’s an exciting future.” |
| Welsh National Opera web site: www.wno.org.uk |
| Penny Simpson e-mail: |
Saturday, May 20, 2006 |
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