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Friday 13 March 2026 Lowry, Salford ***** A viscerally powerful production of Britten's masterpiece John Findon as Peter Grimes and Philippa Boyle as Ellen Orford. Credit James Glossop In his programme note for Opera North's performance of Peter Grimes at Lowry in Salford on Friday, Andrew Mellor compares the central character in the opera with …
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Manchester was the place to be for superb performances in 2025 The Year in Classical Music Sometimes going abroad reminds you how good things are at home. In the spring of 2025, I went to the Shostakovich Festival in Leipzig, featuring world-class performers such as the Gewandhausorchester and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. So it was …
Saturday 1 February 2025 Grand Theatre, Leeds **** A superbly sung and acted new production, exploring the plight of refugees Robert Hayward as The Dutchman and Layla Claire as Senta. Photo credit: James Glossop In 2018, Opera North became the first opera company in the UK to be awarded Theatre of Sanctuary status, to recognise …
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A Memorable Year for Music: Highlights from Manchester and Beyond The BBC Philharmonic with Chief Conductor John Storgรฅrds. Image ยฉ Chris Payne. Last year marked the 30th anniversary of the death of my father, John Charles Holmes, under whose benign and loving influence I developed a lifelong passion for music. He was the choirmaster and …
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Friday 15 November 2024 Lowry Theatre, Salford **** An imaginative production brings out the humanity in Mozart's last opera Pasquale Orchard as Papagena and Emyr Wyn Jones as Papageno. Photo credit: Tristram Kenton Last Friday the revival of Opera North's 2019 production of Mozart's Magic Flute came to a packed Lowry Theatre in Salford. The …
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Saturday 12 October 2024 Grand Theatre, Leeds **** A joyful production, set in the swinging sixties, with dark undertones Henry Waddington as Nick Bottom and Daisy Brown at Tytania with the children of A Midsummer Nightโs Dream cast as Fairies. Photo credit: Richard H Smith Last Saturday was the opening night of Opera North's revival …
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Nicky Spence as Manolios with the Chorus of Opera North, The Greek Passion ยฉ Tristram Kenton Opera North The Lowry, Salford Saturday 16 November 2019 A visually striking production of a topical drama **** โThe poor are always with usโ. So are refugees, and Martinลฏโs message in his opera the Greek Passion is both topical and timeless. The …
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Opera North The Lowry, Salford Wednesday 11 March 2020 A superbly creepy staging of Britten's masterpiece ***** Sarah Tynan as the Governess and Nicholas Watts as Peter Quint ยฉTristram Kenton The small scale of the forces involved in Benjamin Britten's 1954 opera was evident when the whole cast came on stage at the end to take …
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