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Installation: Five Truths

Winter 2012

14th - 25th Feb 2012

Leeds

Howard Assembly Room

Adult ticket: Free

Installation: Five Truths

Synopsis

14 - 25 February (Mon-Sat), 2pm - 8pm
Free, no ticket needed

Part film, part theatre, part art installation: Five Truths comes to the Howard Assembly Room in its first exhibition outside London. Acclaimed director Katie Mitchell presents five interpretations of Shakespeare’s Ophelia in the style of five of the most important directors of the 20th century: Stanislavski, Artaud, Brecht, Jerzy Grotowski and Peter Brook.

Be transfixed as each Ophelia tells a different story with the same words from Hamlet. Olivier Award winning actor Michelle Terry is all of these Ophelias, at once quiet and introspective, wild and untamed, detached and distant - each version offers its own truth, while at the same time contradicting and challenging the other versions. Which moves you the most? Which do you recognize? Which Ophelia are you the closest to?

Blending theatre and technology, Mitchell’s films are played simultaneously across ten screens in the Howard Assembly Room on a ten-minute loop.

‘...it’s a visceral, immersive experience’ 
The Guardian

Five Truths has been created for the V&A in association with the National Theatre. With video designer Leo Warner, set designer Vicki Mortimer, lighting designer Paule Constable and sound designer Gareth Fry

Please note that some scenes may not be suitable for younger children.

Who is Ophelia?

(opens Wednesday 1 February)

Look out for this interactive installation around Leeds city centre, specially created to accompany Five Truths. Produced by groundbreaking multi-media artists Invisible Flock, visit www.operanorth.co.uk/whoisophelia to find out more

Next Performances
Wed 22nd Feb Leeds Howard Assembly Room
Thu 23rd Feb Leeds Howard Assembly Room
Fri 24th Feb Leeds Howard Assembly Room
Sat 25th Feb Leeds Howard Assembly Room
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Giulio Cesare

Winter 2012

14th Jan - 16th Mar 2012

Nationwide

Touring 5 theatres

Adult ticket: £8 - £65

Giulio Cesare

Synopsis

Erotic entanglements, intrigue, battles and murder: the passionate romance between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra has inspired the imagination of artists across the centuries. Experience all the colour, drama, passion and epic sweep of a Hollywood blockbuster in this timeless new production of Handel’s great masterpiece.

Egypt, ancient times. Cleopatra uses all her considerable wiles to persuade Caesar to join her in an alliance against her brutish brother Ptolemy, with whom she rules the country. Plots and counter-plots ensue before Caesar and Cleopatra emerge finally triumphant in both love and war.

Sung in Italian with English titles
Lasts approximately 3 hours

Next Performances
Thu 23rd Feb Nottingham Theatre Royal
Thu 1st Mar Salford Quays The Lowry
Fri 9th Mar Newcastle Theatre Royal
Fri 16th Mar Dublin Grand Canal Theatre
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Madama Butterfly

Winter 2012

5th Feb - 17th Mar 2012

Nationwide

Touring 5 theatres

Adult ticket: £8 - £65

Madama Butterfly

Synopsis

This touching story of innocent love crushed amidst two utterly different cultures resonates as strongly as ever in today’s world. This exquisite production, with its beautiful set and costumes, intensifies the emotion in an already heartbreaking opera.

Sung in Italian with English titles
The performance lasts approximately 2 hours 30 minutes

Next Performances
Fri 24th Feb Nottingham Theatre Royal
Tue 28th Feb Salford Quays The Lowry
Fri 2nd Mar Salford Quays The Lowry
Tue 6th Mar Newcastle Theatre Royal
There are a total of 8 upcoming performances for this production
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Film: Hamlet Goes Business

Winter 2012

24th Feb 2012

Leeds

Howard Assembly Room

Adult ticket: £5

Film: Hamlet Goes Business

Cropped_kaurismaki_hamlet_gallery_4 Synopsis

(Aki Kaurismäki, 1987)
PG
86 minutes
Finnish with English subtitles

A special event pairing our Katie Mitchell video installation with Finnish Director Aki Kurasmaki’s retelling of Hamlet. A unique chance to visit the installation after hours will be followed by an informal, film club-style screening of Kurasmaki’s bizarre yet remarkably faithful re-telling of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

After the death of his father, young Hamlet inherits a seat on the board of a company controlled by his uncle that decides to move into the rubber duck market.

HAMLET GOES BUSINESS is the third in a mini series of four films presented in conjunction with Hyde Park Picture House to accompany the installation FIVE TRUTHS by director Katie Mitchell in the Howard Assembly Room.

Five Truths explores the nature of truth in performance, focussing on Ophelia’s famous madness scene from Hamlet.

8.30pm Five Truths viewing
8.45pm Hamlet Goes Business

Next Performances
Fri 24th Feb Leeds Howard Assembly Room
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Norma

Winter 2012

28th Jan - 10th Mar 2012

Nationwide

Touring 4 theatres

Adult ticket: £8 - £65

Norma

Synopsis

A rollercoaster of passion, war and destiny. Norma leads her people in a desperate struggle to protect their Pagan beliefs and traditional way of life from the unstoppable rise of the industrial revolution. But she has a terrible secret – Pollione, the father of her children, is the man leading the destruction of the very fabric of her society. Norma is torn, but it is only when he betrays her love that she urges her people to rise up and fight for their freedom. Battle looms, and Norma and Pollione’s destinies seem inextricably entwined to the last.

Sung in Italian with English titles
Lasts approximately 3 hours

Next Performances
Wed 22nd Feb Nottingham Theatre Royal
Sat 25th Feb Nottingham Theatre Royal
Wed 29th Feb Salford Quays The Lowry
Sat 3rd Mar Salford Quays The Lowry
There are a total of 6 upcoming performances for this production
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Performance: Cautionary Tales!

Winter 2012

2nd - 6th Mar 2012

Nationwide

Touring 5 theatres

Adult ticket: £5 - £12.50

Performance: Cautionary Tales!

Synopsis

Opera North’s witty adaptation of Belloc’s deliciously macabre Cautionary Tales for Children was a big hit with audiences and critics when it first premiered in March 2011.

Bad boys and girls including lying Matilda, runaway Jim and daredevil George entertain you with their disobedient ways and dreadful ends. Full of colourful tunes and stories, this is a lively short piece of musical theatre for all the family and an ideal introduction to opera.

Suitable for children aged 5+ and their families. Duration: approx 60 mins.

Based on Hilaire Belloc’s verses
Composed by Errollyn Wallen
Adapted and directed by Pia Furtado

Next Performances
Fri 2nd Mar Leeds Howard Assembly Room
Sat 3rd Mar Leeds Howard Assembly Room
Sat 3rd Mar Leeds Howard Assembly Room
Tue 6th Mar Leeds Howard Assembly Room
There are a total of 10 upcoming performances for this production
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The Northern Sinfonia: Young Genius

Spring 2012

8th Mar 2012

Dewsbury

Dewsbury Town Hall

Adult ticket: £6.50-£11

The Northern Sinfonia: Young Genius

Cropped_orchestra-generic-event-image Synopsis

Mendelssohn and Mozart vie for the title of ‘youthful genius’. Mendelssohn’s astonishing Octet was written when the composer was just 16, and Mozart wrote his Sinfonia Concertante at the ripe old age of 23. Mozart displays remarkable maturity in his writing for the solo violin and viola, and the slow movement of this work contains some of his most emotionally expressive music. The first of Mozart’s extraordinary final three symphonies, completed in just six weeks in the summer of 1788, rounds off a programme of peerless masterpieces from our great friends in the Northern Sinfonia.

Leader/Director: Bradley Creswick
Viola: Michael Gerrard

Next Performances
Thu 8th Mar Dewsbury Dewsbury Town Hall
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Leeds

Howard Assembly Room

Adult ticket: £12.50

Music: Alasdair Roberts, Emily Portman and Kris Drever

Cropped_alasdair-roberts_event-image Synopsis

This very special evening, inspired by the music of Alasdair Roberts, celebrates three of the finest folk voices around.

Glasgow based musician Alasdair Roberts is in high demand, from collaborations with folk musicians Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy and Isobel Campbell to shows with Joanna Newsom and Smog. Deeply rooted in the traditional ballads of his homeland, his music is unexpected and unadorned, with his fine free-flying voice at its heart.

Singer, writer and concertina player Emily Portman’s 2010 debut album The Glamourygained her two BBC Folk Award nominations and a reputation for a lark-like voice and original, harmony-rich narratives, inspired by the darker underbelly of folklore and balladry.

Guitarist and singer Kris Drever is best known as one-third of multiple Folk Award winning group Lau. Here, his rich, warmly lived in voice goes solo, bringing to life traditional ballads and the songs of his contemporaries.

‘All strangeness, betrayal and bloody hands, it’s powerful, magical stuff.’ **** Q on Alasdair Roberts

'One of the new British folk scene's most beguiling presences' Uncut on Emily Portman

‘Maturity and flair flow from every track’ Daily Telegraph on Kris Drever

Next Performances
Thu 8th Mar Leeds Howard Assembly Room
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Leeds

Howard Assembly Room

Adult ticket: Free

Music: The Lawson Trio with Yorkshire Young Musicians

Cropped_lawson-trio_event-image Synopsis

In a fresh, upbeat and breathless programme, the Lawson Trio joins forces with the fantastic talents of Yorkshire Young Musicians, the region’s Centre of Advanced Training for exceptionally gifted musicians aged between 8 and 18, to present new and nearly-new music, for a variety of small ensembles.

In the centre of the programme, the Lawson Trio, fast becoming recognised as one of the UK’s finest young chamber ensembles, perform two works by award-winning composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad, including the Olympic Games inspired Five Rackets for Trio Relay. The second half of the concert showcases the remarkable musical talent of Yorkshire Young Musicians, that is being nurtured under our very noses.

‘Engagingly freewheeling’ The Guardian on Cheryl Frances-Hoad

‘A remarkable talent’ The Times on Cheryl Frances-Hoad

Next Performances
Tue 13th Mar Leeds Howard Assembly Room
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Music: Quatuor Mosaïques

Winter 2012

16th Mar 2012

Leeds

Howard Assembly Room

Adult ticket: £15

Music: Quatuor Mosaïques

Cropped_quatuor-mosaics_event-image Synopsis

An exceptional opportunity to hear the work of Joseph Haydn, ‘the father of the string quartet’, played by one of today’s most celebrated ensembles on a very rare UK visit.

Founded in Austria in 1985 by four members of legendary ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien, Quatuor Mosaïques is the most prominent period-instrument quartet performing today. Playing on period gut-stringed instruments, they specialize in the music of the 18th century and have received critical acclaim throughout the world for their thoughtful and authentic interpretations, including several Gramophone Awards for their Haydn recordings.

Quatuor Mosaïques is a repeat guest of the Edinburgh International Festival, and the quartet regularly performs in Vienna, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall.

‘elegant, detailed phrasing and carefully wrought playing.’ 
The New York Times

 

Next Performances
Fri 16th Mar Leeds Howard Assembly Room
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Huddersfield

Huddersfield Town Hall

Adult ticket: £7.50-£11.50

The Orchestra of Opera North: Beethoven and Dvořák

Synopsis

Our Beethoven Symphony and Concerto cycle continues with the welcome return of Maestro Bamert to conduct the sunny Symphony No. 2 in D alongside the most popular of his Romances for violin and orchestra. Complementing these masterworks is Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, the most popular of its kind composed in the Romantic era.

Conductor: Mathias Bamert
Cello: Alban Gerhardt
Violin: David Greed

Next Performances
Thu 22nd Mar Huddersfield Huddersfield Town Hall
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Music: Claudia Aurora: Silêncio

Winter 2012

22nd Mar 2012

Leeds

Howard Assembly Room

Adult ticket: £12.50

Music: Claudia Aurora: Silêncio

Cropped_claudia-aurora_eventimage Synopsis

With a following to rival flamenco, the haunting melodies of Portuguese fado (traditional Portuguese folk-blues) hold listeners spellbound.

Following in the tradition of great female fadistas like Mariza and Ana Moura, Porto born Claudia Aurora is the powerful voice of fado’s new generation. Her original songs enrapture with the spine-tingling emotion of loss and yearning. Her extraordinary voice, drenched in a sadness that courses through the audience, gives unique dramatic expression to the soaring sound of Portugal.

‘Drenched in emotion and drama’ (Lucy Duran, BBC Radio 3)

Next Performances
Thu 22nd Mar Leeds Howard Assembly Room
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