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Welsh National Opera’s Spring season of operatic ‘rabble rousers’ |
Welsh National Opera presents a feast of Italian operas from three of the greatest composers for its Spring season. The season, entitled Rabble Rousers, will feature a new production of Verdi’s La forza del destino alongside revivals of Puccini’s Tosca and Mozart’s Don Giovanni.Rabble Rousers The season opens with La forza del destino directed by WNO Artistic Director David Pountney and conducted by WNO Conductor Laureate Carlo Rizzi in a personal debut for the Maestro. The well-known overture sets the scene for this dramatic opera full of twists and turns that sees the heroine Leonora torn between her lover Don Alvaro and allegiance to her family. It marks the start of a Verdi trilogy co-produced with Oper der Stadt Bonn which will run over the Spring seasons of 2018, 2019 and 2020, under the patronage of His Excellency The Italian Ambassador. The trilogy continues with Un ballo in maschera in Spring 2019 and Les Vêpres siciliennes in 2020. Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones will sing the role of Don Alvaro in La forza del destino, and is joined by soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams as Leonora. Completing the cast are Miklós Sebestyén (Il Marchese Di Calatrava / Padre Guardiano), Luis Cansino (Don Carlo Di Vargas), Justina Gringyte (Preziosilla / Curra), Donald Maxwell (Fra Melitone), Alun Rhys-Jenkins (Mastro Trabuco) and Wyn Pencarreg (Alcade). Designer Raimund Bauer, Costume Designer Marie-Jeanne Lecca and Lighting Designer Fabrice Kebour join with David Pountney to complete the production team, and have devised what they describe as a “Verdi Machine” for the set. This device consists of three interlocking frames which can create different shapes. It will be clad differently for each opera in the Verdi trilogy so as to emphasise the distinctiveness of each work and to throw up surprising links between them. We are delighted to welcome young British conductor Kerem Hasan in his first season with the Company as WNO Associate Conductor. The Associate Conductor position is the result of collaboration between WNO and the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition and offers the opportunity for one of the Competition finalists to work with WNO. Kerem will assist Carlo Rizzi on La forza del destino and will conduct a performance of the opera in Plymouth on 27 March. Already noted as a rising star, Kerem is the recipient of the Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award 2017. Most recently he has been awarded the Aspen Conductor Prize 2018 which carries with it the invitation to return to Aspen in summer 2018 as assistant conductor. Carlo Rizzi says: “Forza is the only major Italian opera that I have not conducted but is one of the first ones that I heard in my life, so my thoughts on this masterpiece span more than thirty years. To bring my ideas together with David, a wonderful cast of singers and the great ensembles of WNO's Chorus and Orchestra make it all the more exciting for me that I am finally performing this masterpiece. I hope that audiences of all ages will join us for the beautiful and dramatic music that Verdi has written - not just the well known overture, but all the glorious arias and choruses in this opera that drive its very compelling story forward.” Romance and tragedy are on the menu for WNO’s revival of its production of Tosca in this thrilling story of love, lust, murder and corruption which has become one of the best-loved operas. Featuring beautiful arias including Floria Tosca’s ‘Vissi d’arte’, the story is punctuated with twists and turns from start to its gripping finish. Conducting of Tosca in Cardiff and on tour will be shared by Carlo Rizzi and Tête à Tête Music Director Timothy Burke. The production will feature a double cast in the roles of Mario Cavaradossi and Floria Tosca; Hector Sandoval and Gwyn Hughes Jones will share the tenor role, with Claire Rutter and Mary Elizabeth Williams sharing the soprano role. Mark S Doss will take the role of the villainous Scarpia, and the cast is completed by Daniel Grice (Cesare Angelotti) and Donald Maxwell (Sacristan). Alongside the performances of Tosca, WNO are running a Design Challenge which is delivered in partnership with The National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural Skills. Now in its second year, the challenge is a competition for students from further and higher education establishments to respond to a creative brief and complete a set design for an opera in WNO’s repertoire. The competition aims to create an awareness of opportunities within opera and theatre for those studying on both theatre and non-theatre specific courses such as illustration and fine art. It will provide direct experience of working to a ‘live’ brief with access to expertise, experience and guidance from professionals working in the field. Included on the judging panel are David Pountney and La forza del destino designer, Raimund Bauer, who will announce the winner on the opening night of Tosca [9 February]. The main scale season concludes with the revival of John Caird’s 2011 staging of Don Giovanni, with design by John Napier. Based on the tale of Don Juan, Don Giovanni follows the demise of opera’s legendary seducer as his rogueish womanising catches up with him and he meets his end through a force from beyond the grave. One of the most popular and much-performed operas, this has everything from murder to lust to comedy, drama and the supernatural. Don Giovanni will be revived by Caroline Chaney, with James Southall conducting. We are delighted to welcome Irish tenor Gavan Ring who will make both his WNO debut and a role debut as Don Giovanni. Elizabeth Watts and David Stout will return following their performances in WNO’s Figaro trilogy in 2016 to sing Donna Elvira and Leporello respectively. The cast is completed by Miklós Sebestyén (Commendatore), Emily Birsan (Donna Anna), Benjamin Hulett (Don Ottavio), Katie Bray (Zerlina) and Gareth Brynmor John (Masetto). Talking about the season, David Pountney says: “As you might expect, a season of Rabble Rousers contains a lot of demonstrably noisy people – Preziosilla banging her drum for war, Don Giovanni leading a paean to “La Liberta” and Cavaradossi bursting into vocal flames at the news of Napoleon’s victory at Marengo. The three operas of our spring season bristle with rule breakers, revolutionaries and the enemies of convention – people of unbridled passion whose characters spring out so readily from the pages of an operatic score. “Our new production of the season, La forza del destino, straddles conflicting worlds very much in the manner of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” - possibly not an accidental reference as it was written for St. Petersburg. It begins with an attempted elopement and an accidental murder, and these events set in train a relentless quest for forgiveness and revenge respectively which crosses a violent and unstable world torn apart by war. It always surprises me when people complain that the plot of Forza is disjointed, untidy. Lives lived in the midst of war and terror are seldom tidy, predictable or even rational. This is a world of extremes explored with epic dramatic vision by Verdi, who is branching out at this point in his career into increasingly radical and original dramatic structures. It sets the tone for a season unashamedly dedicated to the wilder side of life.” Hong Kong Arts Festival Also during the Spring season, WNO is pleased to take its critically-acclaimed production of Pelléas and Mélisande, originally directed by David Pountney, to Hong Kong Arts Festival, marking the centenary of composer Debussy’s death. Performances will take place on 15 and 17 March conducted by former WNO Music Director Lothar Koenigs. The production will include many of the same cast from WNO’s 2015 performances, including Jacques Imbrailo (Pelléas), Jurgita Adamonyté (Mélisande), Christopher Purves (Golaud), Leah-Marian Jones (Geneviève) and Rebecca Bottone (Yniold). Also joining the cast is Alfred Reiter who will sing Arkel. Alongside the performances, WNO will take a Family Concert and a Family Adventure Day to the Hong Kong Arts Festival on 16 and 17 March, presented by the charismatic Tom Redmond; a regular presenter on BBC Radio 3. The concert will be the perfect introduction to opera and classical music as the WNO Orchestra, conducted by James Southall, guides the audience through a selection of popular favourites from the world of opera including music from Carmen, The Magic Flute, Turandot, La Traviata, William Tell, and more. They will be joined by soprano Samantha Hay and tenor Paul Charles Clarke. Activities including instrument demos and workshops, costume displays and wigs demos will take place in the foyer area before this concert, and also before the second performance of Pelléas and Mélisande on 17 March. WNO’s virtual reality experience, Magic Butterfly, will also be touring to the Festival. Welsh National Opera is delighted that international architectural firm Aedas, whose Founder Keith Griffiths is from Wales, is supporting the Company in Hong Kong. “Aedas is delighted to support Welsh National Opera to the audience in Asia,” said Keith Griffiths Global Design Principal and Chairman of Aedas. “We value diversity and we believe that cultural exchange is good for the promotion of diversity, understanding and respect among people and countries.” Developing young talent Following taster sessions and workshops throughout October and November 2017, WNO is delighted to establish two new Youth Opera groups in spring 2018; one in Birmingham, and another in North Wales, building upon the high standard of singing, drama and movement training that has been achieved so far through WNO Youth Opera in Cardiff. The new groups will meet weekly during term-time. In Birmingham, this development is in partnership with The Light House Young People’s centre in Aston and will be engaging with young people from the age of 8. WNO are working in this area of Birmingham with the deliberate intention to increase access to opportunities within the arts sector for young people from economically-challenged and BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) backgrounds, with a long-term aim to work towards diversifying the young talent coming into the sector. In North Wales, the weekly sessions which will initially be for 10-14 years olds will be held at Venue Cymru, Llandudno, and will build upon the extensive youth and community work that WNO now undertakes across the region. The development of this work in more locations is part of WNO’s ongoing commitment to train and develop the next generation of artists, with the long-term aim to offer opportunities to young singers up to the age of 25 who may then want to continue into the opera profession. WNO’s association with the recently-launched David Seligman Opera School at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff is also a demonstration of the Company’s commitment to supporting emerging opera talent. WNO Orchestra WNO Orchestra will have a busy Spring season with a series of concerts and events. The New Year begins with a Welsh tour of Viennese music, presented and directed by WNO Orchestra Leader David Adams. The tour will visit venues in Swansea, Bangor, Newtown, Cardiff and Newport between 4 – 21 January. The Orchestra will then be in concert at St David’s Hall as part of the International Concert Series on 14 January under the baton of WNO Music Director Tomáš Hanus. The programme will include Beethoven’s Overture Egmont, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Dvořák’s Symphony No 9 New World. As joint hosts of the Associated British Orchestras’ annual conference, WNO Orchestra will also jointly present a concert with BBC National Orchestra of Wales at Hoddinott Hall on 24 January. The concert will feature WNO in the first half performing Der Rosenkavalier Suite conducted by Tomáš Hanus, followed in the second half by a performance of Scheherazade by BBC NOW with Principal Conductor Thomas Søndergård.” The Spring season also sees WNO tour their Family Concert to Southampton (25 March, Turner Sims Concert Hall). Conductor James Southall will be joined by presenter Wynne Evans who will present a fun and informative concert to introduce audiences of all ages to some of opera’s most iconic arias, with popular orchestral classics as well as music from film scores. The concert is a great opportunity for families to enjoy an afternoon of music and free family-friendly foyer activities. A further Family Concert is scheduled to take place in Birmingham in June. More information on WNO’s spring 2018 season is available at wno.org.uk |
| Welsh national Opera web site: https://www.wno.org.uk |
| Christina Blakeman e-mail: Christina Blakeman |
Monday, November 27, 2017 |
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