Opera North

Classical music: Fiona Maddocks’s 10 best concerts and operas of 2022

Excellence and perilous funding went hand in hand, Salome sizzled, a piano great led the way, and India and Italy became musical neighbours

Fiona Maddocks

17, Dec, 2022 @1:00 PM

The week in classical: Orpheus; Apartment House review – rich, rewarding, different

Opera North’s teeming fusion of Monteverdi with Indian classical traditions is an inspired match. Elsewhere, more mind-bending harmonies from Apartment House

Fiona Maddocks

22, Oct, 2022 @11:30 AM

The best of both worlds: Opera North’s Orpheus reimagined

Monteverdi’s opera has been reinvented for an orchestra of baroque, classical and Indian instruments, and rescored for a cast of Indian and western classical singers. How? And why? And where to start if you don’t know your esraj from your elbow?

Tristram Kenton and Imogen Tilden

13, Oct, 2022 @2:28 PM

David Lloyd-Jones obituary

Founding conductor of Opera North and a champion of Russian operas and British symphonies

David Nice

12, Jul, 2022 @2:33 PM

A knight’s tale: Brindley Sherratt on the stamina and storytelling of Wagner’s Parsifal

The bass is singing Gurnemanz in Wagner’s epic final opera. How do you get to grips with the challenges of such a demanding role – and still not get the best dressing room?

Brindley Sherratt

15, Jun, 2022 @9:00 AM

The week in classical: Parsifal; Eugene Onegin; Scriabin: Poems of Ecstasy and Fire

Opera North’s new Wagner production is one to remember; OHP take on Tchaikovsky’s perfect opera; and Bold Tendencies go to town with Scriabin’s synaesthesia

Fiona Maddocks

11, Jun, 2022 @11:30 AM

Parsifal review – the shimmering beauty of Wagner’s score shines

Richard Farnes and the Opera North orchestra take centre stage in Sam Brown’s staging of Wagner’s final opera, with Brindley Sherratt a compelling Gurnemanz and Toby Spence a thoughtful lead

Andrew Clements

02, Jun, 2022 @1:57 PM

The week in classical: Alcina; Bajazet; Pavel Kolesnikov – review

In a tale of two 1735 works, Opera North miss a trick on Handel’s fantasy island while Irish National Opera explore every sizzling note of Vivaldi

Fiona Maddocks

12, Feb, 2022 @12:00 PM

Alcina review – Opera North clear clutter but there’s minimal magic on this enchanted isle

Handel’s opera is full of glorious music but its improbable plot makes it difficult to stage; Tim Albery’s intelligent production only fitfully succeeds

Martin Kettle

07, Feb, 2022 @12:55 PM

Rigoletto review – powerful update, led by stellar duo, is a revelation

Underlining the otherness of Verdi’s court jester by making him a black man is a masterstroke by Femi Elufowoju, the leads sung with potency by Eric Greene and Jasmine Habersham

Martin Kettle

23, Jan, 2022 @12:00 PM