Opera North brings back the classics in trailer for Little Greats season
Autumn 2017 sees the return of a format Opera North first presented in 2004, for a new festival season of one act operas.
The Little Greats brings together six short operas, from the well-known to rarely performed jewels of the genre: Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, Janáček’s Destiny (Osud), Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury, and Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti.
A company of artists has been assembled for The Little Greats season, all taking on multiple roles, including Giselle Allen, Peter Auty, Katie Bray, Richard Burkhard, Wallis Giunta, John Graham-Hall, Quirijn de Lang, Rosalind Plowright, Phillip Rhodes, John Savournin, Joseph Shovelton, Jonathan Stoughton, Ann Taylor, and Fflur Wyn.
In Leeds, the six operas will be presented in changing rotation, creating new and unusual pairings and allowing audiences to create their own path through the season. On tour in Hull, Nottingham, Newcastle and Salford the short operas will be presented in double bills. Discover more about The Little Greats season.
For Winter 2018, Opera North’s first ever production of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera sees the Company’s former music director Richard Farnes return to conduct, in a production by Tim Albery with a cast including Rafael Rojas as Gustavo, Adrienn Miksch as Amelia, and Patricia Bardon as Madame Arvindson.
Winter 2018 also includes revivals of two of the most popular pieces in the repertoire. Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is presented in a classic production by Tim Albery with Anne Sophie Duprels in the title role, while Alessandro Talevi’s innovative take on Mozart’s darkest work, Don Giovanni returns with William Dazeley in the title role.
The year ends with the continuation of Opera North’s renowned series of dramatic concert stagings with Strauss’s viscerally shocking Salome, with a cast including Jennifer Holloway, Robert Hayward and Katerina Karneus. Salome will open at Leeds Town Hall before touring to Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, Warwick Arts Centre and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
