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Music Theatre Wales Celebrate as Artistic Directors are awarded MBE |
The founders of contemporary opera company Music Theatre Wales and the company’s artistic directors Michael McCarthy and Michael Rafferty have both been announced as being awarded with MBEs in the New Year’s Honours list.The duo initially joined forces to form Cardiff New Opera Group in 1982. Their company evolved in later years to create Music Theatre Wales which was founded in 1988 with the idea of creating a new opera company that focussed on new work. The company has developed an outstanding reputation for delivering excellent new and challenging work in Wales, across the UK and internationally and the MBE awards acknowledge the important role both men have played in taking the company forward and their contribution to music and in particular in the creation of new opera. Michael McCarthy said about the award “This is an unexpected and remarkable accolade for our shared passion and dedication to commissioning, performing and touring new opera across Wales, the UK and internationally. The fact that Music Theatre Wales is regarded as one of Europe’s leading contemporary opera companies, stands as testament to the vitality of the arts in Wales and the huge number of people who have contributed to the company’s success and shared our vision.” Michael Rafferty added “It means a great deal to me to be unexpectedly honoured with this award. Bringing new music and opera to a wider public has been a privilege and I have been fortunate to work alongside countless numbers of brilliant colleagues who have shared this passion and vision. Music Theatre Wales is all about team-work and without that, this work would have been impossible. More and more people are discovering the excitement and richness of work that comes from the imaginations of so many fantastic, living composers and this award celebrates a huge collective achievement.” Music Theatre Wales will begin 2016 by joining forces with Scottish Opera to co-commission and tour a brand new opera - The Devil Inside, by Scottish composer Stuart MacRae and acclaimed novelist Louise Welsh and based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Following its World Premiere in Glasgow (January 23, 2016), the opera’s national tour opens at London's Peacock Theatre (February 3 & 4), followed by performances in Cardiff, Basingstoke, Manchester, Aberystwyth, Huddersfield, Mold and Birmingham (February – April, 2016). In another ‘first’ for the company Music Theatre Wales will give the UK Premiere of renowned Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös’s latest opera The Golden Dragon (2014) at the Buxton Festival on July 18, 2016 followed by an autumn tour in England and Wales. Further information on Music Theatre Wales is available at musictheatrewales.org.uk |
| web site: musictheatrewales.org.uk |
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Tuesday, January 12, 2016 |
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