Tuesday 7 February 2023

Northern Ireland Opera: a new opera for teen audiences, The Salon Series and Puccini's Tosca

Puccini: Tosca
Northern Ireland Opera is having a busy time of it under its artistic director Cameron Menzies. Later this month, NI Opera is launching The Salon Series, small-scale events staged in historic venues in Northern Ireland, then in March they premiere Nobody/Somebody, a new opera for teen and young adult audiences, and in September they are presenting a new production of Puccini's Tosca.

On 11 Feb 2023, NI Opera launches The Salon Series, performances staged in the round in spectacular venues in Northern Ireland. The first event, on 11 February, is Poulenc's La Voix Humaine performed by soprano Mary McCabe and pianist David Quigley in the Throne Room, Hillsborough Castle. Further events through February and March include song cycles by Mussorgsky, Mahler and Berlioz, cabaret and music theatre performed in venues including C Wing of Crumlin Road Gaol, St Columb’s Hall in Derry/Londonderry and the Courtyard Theatre in Newtownabbey. [further information]

On 3 March 2023, NI Opera premieres, Nobody/Somebody, a new opera for teen and young adult audiences by playwright Fionnuala Kennedy and composer Neil Martin at the Belfast Children’s Festival The production brings together NI Opera emerging artists and the young musicians of Ulster Youth Orchestra. The creative team includes director Andrea Ferran and music director Matthew Quinn, both of whom are alumni of NI Opera’s Studio Programme, and Youth Counterparts will be working alongside each key creative role. To select these young people, NI Opera is working with Belfast-based charity Springboard to find young adults interested in creative careers who may have experienced challenges and disadvantages which have excluded them from exploring their skills and options in the arts.

The opera was inspired by the youth activists of the Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR) organisation who have been campaigning and raising awareness about homelessness, housing stress and the lack of available social housing for young people in Belfast. [further information]

Then in September, the company's new production of Puccini's Tosca debuts at Belfast's Grand Opera House. Directed by Cameron Menzies, with the Ulster Orchestra in the pit, the production opens on 9 September 2023.

Full information from NI Opera website.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts this month